With the news that Jason O’Mara is now Director of SHIELD, a couple of things stick out. Jeph Leob teased that the character is” “A character with his roots in the 40s.” The 1940s were a gold mine of incredible unique characters, as we saw with Agent Carter.
The question remains, what sort of character could he be playing? By not revealing his name, Marvel’s teased us with two things. He’s playing a recognizable comics character – that’s because if they released his name people would instantly know who he’s playing. He’s also playing a character whose roots go back to the 1940s.
Now with the Marvel’s Most Wanted pilot, we’ve seen 1940s characters get new life with Dominic Fortune. That takes him off the list but leaves plenty of characters. With that in mind we set out to generate a list of five potential characters whose roots exist in the 1940s, could be updated to a modern take, and would be exciting enough to generate buzz on Agents of SHIELD.
It seems as though the friction between the new director and Coulson will be a major focal point in the story, while that doesn’t drive the character into a villainous standpoint, it’s clear they won’t be friends.
5. Tom Raymond, “Toro” the Human Torch.
Toro, the son of two scientists whose over exposure to their work caused them to become ill, was believed to have been affected by his parents. As a sidekick to the human torch, he had the ability to light his body on fire and create flames in the air around him.
Having recently been outed as an inhuman, having Thomas Raymond, an inhuman in charge of capturing rogue inhumans could be an intriguing way to segue into more severe inhuman representation. Putting an inhuman in charge of SHIELD trying to contain the outbreak started by Daisy Johnson and SHIELD or at least understand it could make a very intriguing story line.
While Toro is a hero, in the MCU his disagreements with Coulson could lead to him becoming a villain, or at least a villainous figure for disagreeing and hindering Coulson’s team. Having him be a connection to further older inhumans like Daisy’s mother would be a good way to return to the inhumans storyline for season 5.
4. Mark Anthony Todd, Blazing Skull
Formerly a reporter assigned to cover the second world war, Todd stumbled onto a cave of mysterious Ghost Rider like beings who told him that he was the champion of freedom and began to train him to use their powers and abilities. Becoming a “Blazing Skull”, he donned a costume and returned to the world to fight the scourge of Nazism.
One could easily make a case for “magical races” similar to what we’ve seen with the “alternate realities” teased in Doctor Strange. As a SHIELD agent or a government agent it’s perfectly possible that the “Blazing Skull” could be monitoring the Agents of SHIELD for nefarious magical forces. If his motivations were more magical in origin in order to study the inhumans, that could lead to quite a few mysterious encounters.
Since it’s most likely that Robbie will become an ally to Coulson’s team, giving him an enemy in terms of a magical monster would be a great way to further ally Robbie to Phil Coulson’s cause and prove himself to the team who might see him as a monster. In defeating the “blazing skull”, he could become the Ghost Rider for real.
3. One of the Captain Americas.
After the “death” and freezing of Captain America, a number of men stood up to take his place. Some of them could have easily been gifted with superpowers, some of them could have easily ended up with superpowers, a backstory, inhuman DNA, or a mystical connection that would draw them to Agents of SHIELD.
From William Nasland, aka the Spirit of 76 to Jeffery Mace, to William Burnside to John Walker, any of these Captain Americas could have once held the SHIELD. The question is in holding the metaphorical SHIELD again will they use it for good or for ill? Only time will tell.
2. Peggy Carter’s Brother.
With the fate of Peggy’s brother Micheal up in the air, his record a blacked out mystery as fans of Agent Carter can attest, Micheal Carter could very well have been subjected to a similar version of the super serum that created Steve Rogers, however hiding his identity and working with Simmons who was emotionally connected to Peggy would be a unique twist. If it were Micheal Carter, I’d say that we’d perhaps see some sort of antagonist for Coulson and his team and the birth of a new villain.
He stands to be a villain anyway given that he’s put between FitzSimmons, thereby making it difficult for Fitz and Simmons to be together (can’t they ever catch a break?) and that he will “Test every loyal SHIELD agent.
There’s nothing else to back up the “Peggy’s brother” theory beyond the idea that something big had to happen to him and having him return to the modern era after the death of his sister becoming a monster and battling inhumans, however the most likely theory…
1. The Son of Peggy Carter.
While Marvel could dig deep into over 70 years worth of material to come up with a character whose roots extend to the 1940s, the simplest answer would be that Jason O’Mara is playing one of the children of Peggy Carter. In the Winter Soldier we saw she had some, we had Sharon Carter confirmed as her aunt, bringing in her son would make sense.
It makes sense from a political standpoint, if you want to legitimize an organization who previously made headlines for being HYDRA you would hand it to a patriot or a person whose history is tied to patriotism. It would make sense in the context of the show, we’ve seen characters who’ve had history in the MCU (particularly Howling Commandos, #TripLives) come back. Peggy Carter’s son would be a good move politically and story wise.
Would they do it? Fans have speculated about further connections between the beloved television show whose fans still fight daily for a return for their red hatted heroine, and Agents of SHIELD. Jeph Leob has continued to tease that this show is at it’s core about family, and from Grant Ward’s twisted and harmful childhood to Daisy Johnson building herself a family only to lose it at the worst possible moment it has delivered. Driving home the long haul and stress of protecting the world with seeing the burdens placed on a person who by virtue of being Peggy Carter’s son would have to be respected would be an interesting story move.
Having Peggy Carter’s son appear would also answer the question of which character she ended up marrying, tying together some of the lost threads that were left behind with Agent Carter’s cancellation. Putting a descendant of the legendary Margaret Carter into SHIELD again could be just what Marvel, it’s fans, and Agents of SHIELD.
Whoever Mr. O’mara is playing he has big shoes to fill and uneasy ground to stand on. While Phil Coulson really does better in the field (A personal opinion.) the Director of SHIELD is a beloved character and he’ll always be beloved in our hearts. Under Phil’s tenure, SHIELD nearly ended the world, but it also helped dozens of inhumans who wouldn’t have had anywhere else to go or people to turn to if the situation had been changed. Under Phil’s tenure HYDRA was destroyed, but not without a catastrophic loss of life. Under Coulson he lost the woman he loved, but he supported and helped his family.
Will this new director measure up? Do you think he’s hiding something? Leave a comment below and tell us what you think!