When season three of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. came to a close, one of the biggest mysteries remaining was who the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was and why Coulson was no longer in charge. Viewers left wondering the answer to the question for months, with the popular theory hoping it would be the original Human Torch himself, Jim Hammond. That has proven to not be the case with it being recently confirmed that Jason O’Mara is playing Jeffrey Mace aka Patriot. Mace is one of the oldest Marvel characters and when he is not dawning the Patriot costume, he could be seen as Captain America himself for a period of time.

For the purposes of the show, they are changing up the origin and background on Mace. Instead of Mace being a regular guy with no powers, they have made the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. an Inhuman with super-strength and potentially other mysterious powers. As for whether or not Mace will suit up in a superhero costume, fans will have to just keep watching to find out.

Screen Rant had the chance to talk to the Head of Marvel TV, Jeph Loeb, at New York Comic-Con and asked him about the decision to make Patriot the newest director. Loeb points to the deep catalog of characters that Marvel has at their disposal as helping to make this choice, but was non-committal as to Mace ever picking up an actual shield:

“I think one of the things that Marvel does very well is that we have this incredibly rich catalogue and there are characters that pop out for us that in some cases we need to share with some of the other divisions and in some cases they’re all ours. So we take a look at each character and – I think Jeff Bell said it best – there’s no point in taking any character unless they generate story.

When we first started talking about Director Mace and where’s he’s headed and the story that will come out of it – and whatever ties there may or may not be to the Patriot – is something you’ll hopefully stick around and watch and enjoy.”

Viewers have only been able to catch a glimpse of the character so far, but as the season progresses they are sure to learn more about the new director. Fans are still wondering how and when he became an Inhuman and why Coulson would recommend him specifically for the job. His complete powers are still a mystery as well, but these questions and more should start to be answered over the coming weeks.

As for O’Mara getting to suit up as Patriot over the course of the show, it does not seem likely. He has so far not been portrayed as a man eager to put on a costume and literally fight crime, but that could change as they reveal more about his character. If he does by chance suit up, fans should not expect him to wear a comic accurate costume that has him wearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo across his chest. There could be a variation of the costume in play somewhere down the line, but fans will just have to wait and see if that turns out to be the case.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues with ‘Uprising’ Tuesday, October 11 at 10pm on ABC.