Jeffrey Mace was a major supporting character in the fourth season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. As part of a government plan to re-legitimize S.H.I.E.L.D., Mace was chosen to be the organization's new Director. With anti-Inhuman sentiment on the rise in the United States, it was decided that an Inhuman needed to be the new face of S.H.I.E.L.D., but without an Inhuman candidate readily available, Mace was made to imitate being an Inhuman after being provided with a knock-off version of Abraham Erskine's super-soldier serum.
History[]
Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.[]
In 2016, during Helmut Zemo's bombing of the UN Assembly in Vienna, a photograph was taken of Jeffrey Mace as he was trying to find a way out of the damaged assembly hall. The photo made it appear that Mace was attempting to save the life of one of the attendees, which is what the media ended up running with. Once the Sokovia Accords were ratified, the US Military sought to use Mace as the new public face of S.H.I.E.L.D., which was in the process of once more being recognised as a legitimate organization.
With anti-Inhuman sentiment on the rise in the United States, Brigadier-General Glenn Talbot decided that having an Inhuman represent S.H.I.E.L.D. would be a good way to put the public at ease. However, Daisy Johnson had gone AWOL following the Hive incident and Elena Rodriguez lacked leadership experience. With no other Inhuman candidates to draw on, the military resorted to using a variant of the super-soldier serum that made Captain America to give Mace superhuman strength. However, the serum's effects were only temporary and continuous use could potentially be fatal. Mace was made aware of the risks of using the serum and willingly accepted the role of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new Director.
While Mace acted as the public face of S.H.I.E.L.D., Phil Coulson continued to organize missions and lead agents in the field. While engaging in a televised debate with Senator Ellen Nadeer, Mace publicly revealed that he was an Inhuman in order to reassure the American people that Inhumans, in spite of their abilities, were still people that deserved the same rights and privileges that regular humans enjoyed. During a later incident, he demonstrated his superhuman strength to several onlookers. However, his serum only lasted a short time and due to the detremental effects continued use could have on his body, Mace only ever used the serum during photo-ops or in dire emergencies. Otherwise, he remained out of the field and was relegated to acting as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mouthpiece, with no one - not even those within S.H.I.E.L.D. - knowing the truth.
Exposure[]
Mace's false Inhuman identity would be exposed to S.H.I.E.L.D. following an assassination attempt by the Watchdogs, an anti-Inhuman hate group. While Mace escaped a sniper's bullet, a bomb had been planted on the Quinjet he used to escape, which went off while the craft was en route to a safe location. Mace's assistant Burrows - who was carrying a briefcase containing the Patriot serum - was blown out of the Quinjet when the exit hatch was breached. The jet went down in Freyer National Park in West Virginia, with the pilot dying in the crash while Mace, Coulson and Alphonso Mackenzie survived. The surviving agents could not radio for help as the Watchdogs were operating in the area and were using radio-jamming equipment. Desperate to maintain his Inhuman cover, Mace ordered a search for Burrows' body since the serum briefcase had been cuffed to his arm.
While the team managed to find Burrows' body, the Watchdogs had got to it first. They split up to take them down, but Mace did not act as expected since he simply took the briefcase and ran away without a fight, much to Coulson and Mackenzie's surprise. However, one operative found Mace before he could inject himself with the serum and shot Mace in the thigh. Coulson and Mackenzie arrived in time to save Mace, but they also discovered that Mace was not an Inhuman.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. team sought refuge in a cabin now emptied of its occupants. As more enemies kept arriving, Coulson ordered Mace to don his Patriot Suit nonetheless in an attempt to intimidate their opponents and distract them. Meanwhile, Mackenzie successfully destroyed the Watchdogs' jamming truck. A gunfight erupted and Coulson protected Mace with his energy shield before retreating into the cabin while Mackenzie fought other operatives in another cabin.
With radio communications re-established, Coulson was able to contact the Playground and call for extraction. When Daisy and Melinda May arrived, the remaining Watchdogs were defeated and Mace, Coulson and Mackenzie were retrieved. Following the incident, Mace fully disclosed the truth to Coulson and even offered to resign, but Coulson insisted he stay on to handle the politics and public relations side of things. While Leo Fitz would redesign the Patriot Suit so that it could deliver serum injections without the need of a separate syringe, Mace was advised against using it unless absolutely necessary due to the dangerous side effects of the serum.
The Framework[]
After being kidnapped by the Watchdogs, Mace was replaced with a Life-Model Decoy built by the rogue android Aida. Although S.H.I.E.L.D. launched an operation to rescue him, most of the operatives on the mission were also captured and replaced with LMDs. The real Mace, along with Coulson, Mack and Fitz, were taken to an oil rig owned by Anton Ivanov, the Superior of the Watchdogs. There, they were connected to a virtual environment known as the Framework, which had been designed to resemble the real world. However, Aida had made adjustments to the Framework to accomodate her captives, removing each subject's greatest regret. Because of this, the history algorithm of the Framework was altered and the virtual world had become a nightmarish dystopia ruled by HYDRA.
Within the Framework, Mace got to be the hero he always wanted to be. He headed the Resistance against HYDRA's rule and possessed lasting superhuman strength, which he used to undermine HYDRA's activities. However, due to his memories being re-written, he did not recognise any of his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. compatriots. In fact, after meeting Phil Coulson, Jemma Simmons and Daisy Johnson, he was hesitant to trust them, thinking that they could be HYDRA spies. It would not be too long before they won him over as they offered to support the Resistance's efforts while, at the same time, worked to find a backdoor out of the Framework. While Mace wasn't fully convinced that the world around him was virtual, he nonetheless allowed Simmons and Daisy to work towards their goal so long as they didn't impede Resistance operations.
However, Mace would meet his fate during a mission to rescue malcontents from a HYDRA Enlightenment Center where numerous young people who had spoken out against the regime were being brainwashed via the Faustus Method. During the mission, Melinda May - who was a leading HYDRA operative within the Framework - ordered a Quinjet to fire on the building so as to prevent the Resistance members from escaping. The enlightenment center was struck by a missile and began to collapse, threatening to bury the Resistance members and the escapees alive. Using his super-strength, Mace was able to hold up several tons of collapsing debris, allowing all of the children to get out. Mace could not hold up the building indefinitely and it eventually collapsed on him, resulting in his death. May witnessed Mace's heroic sacrifice and began to question whether HYDRA were truly as noble as she had been led to believe.
Because he had died in the Framework, Mace also died in the real world, his heart and brain functions ceasing abruptly. Aida and Ivanov removed Mace's body from the Framework interface and dumped it in the ocean.