Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Shuts Down Luke Cage Speculation

Yesterday’s debut of the first full trailer for “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” immediately led to fan speculation that the mysterious hooded and super-powered character played by J. August Richards might be Marvel’s Luke Cage. In a new interview with Executive Producer Jeffrey Bell, however, IGN has learned that the character in question is someone else altogether, although his identity remains a secret.

“It’s not the [character] people are talking about,” Bell said when asked about the potential of Richards playing Cage. “…Honestly, we were looking for this part, and we just said, ‘Look, all our parts are open to all diversity.’ So the fact that we have a black dude who is awesome and it’s J was just because he was the best actor. It wasn’t like, ‘You know who…!’”

So the speculation continues with the hint that the character’s ethnicity may not correspond to his comic book counterpart, whoever that might ultimately be.

What is known is that Clark Gregg will reprise his role as Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films and that the series will follow him as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet).

From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (Marvel’s The Avengers, ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel.