The superhero the Patriot debuted in The Human Torch #4, with both a two-page text story by writer Ray Gill, with a spot illustration by artist Bill Everett, and a 10-page comics story by writer Gill and artist George Mandel. The character went on to appear in the first of two Human Torch issues both inadvertently numbered #5, and known to collectors as #5, in a story by Gill and artist Sid Greene. Concurrently, the Patriot began as regular feature in the superhero anthology Marvel Mystery Comics, appearing in issues #21–44 and #49 -74, making him one of Timely's most popular characters in the second tier beneath stars Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner. The Patriot story "Death Stalks the Shipyard", from Marvel Mystery Comics #29, was reprinted during the Silver Age of Comic Books in Marvel Super-Heroes #16. In The Avengers #97, a simulacrum of the Patriot was temporarily created from the mind of Rick Jones, along with those of the Blazing Skull, the Fin, and the Golden AgeAngel and Vision, to aid the superhero team the Avengers during the Kree-Skrull War. The Patriot appeared in a four-part flashback story running through The Invaders #5–6 and Marvel Premiere #29–30, set during World War II which retconned him as a member of a newly created superhero team, the Liberty Legion. That team later appeared alongside Fantastic Four member the Thing in a two-part time travel story, set during World War II, in Marvel Two-in-One #20 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual. When Marvel Comics had revived the character Captain America in 1964, the story explained that he had been missing in action and in suspended animation since 1945. This discrepancy with his postwar comic-book appearances was later explained as the result of replacement heroes taking on the mantle. As the third Captain America, Jeffrey Mace would have been behind the mask in Captain America Comics #59–75 and other comics during that period. Mace succeeded the second Captain America, William Naslund, who was shown in What If? vol. 1, #4 as having been killed in 1946. Mace appeared briefly in a flashback in Captain America #215, then as a guest-star in Captain America Annual #6 with his death depicted in #285. In a flashback, the Patriot co-starred in a World War II adventure with Captain America in Captain America Annual #13 and in a post-war adventure with the All Winners Squad in All Winners Squad 70th Anniversary Special. A retelling of Jeffrey Mace's origin and time as Captain America is told in the 2010 mini-series Captain America: Patriot. This was collected with the All Winners Squad 70th Anniversary Special and What If? #4 in 2011. What If? #4 was also collected that same year in a Captain America Legacy volume collecting the debuts of the Captain America replacements.
Jeffrey Mace was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a reporter at the Daily Bugle, who was inspired to become a superhero after seeing Captain America in action. As the Patriot, Mace becomes one of several superheroes who fight Nazi saboteurs and supervillains during World War II, sometimes alongside his sidekick Mary Morgan, a.k.a. Miss Patriot. He helps found the superhero team known as the Liberty Legion, billed as "America's home front heroes" who fight saboteurs, fifth columnists and other wartime threats within the United States. After the war, the Patriot continues to fight crime on a regular basis, eventually helping the All-Winners Squad prevent the assassination of a young SenatorJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1946. The skirmish costs the life of the second Captain America, William Naslund formerly the Spirit of '76. Mace is recruited to be the third Captain America, retiring in 1949. He marries Betsy Ross who, as the superhero Golden Girl, had briefly been the post-war sidekick of his Captain America, and eventually succumbs to cancer at an old age.
Powers and abilities
Jeffrey Mace had no superpowers but he was an exceptional athlete, a superb hand-to-hand combatant and a licensed pilot. As Captain America, he carried a shield, similar to that used by his predecessors, that was made of enhanced titanium.
Reception
In American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944, Kurt Mitchell and Roy Thomas call the Patriot "a bargain-basement Captain America with an uncanny knack for stumbling into Axis conspiracies. Though Arthur "Art" Gates and Sidney "Sid" Greene did their best to replicate Jack Kirby's frenetic fight scenes, the feature had none of the charisma of its inspiration."
In other media
Television
Jeffrey Mace appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portrayed by Jason O'Mara. Debuting in the episode "Meet the New Boss", he is the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., after, and an ex-journalist survivor of an attack on Vienna. Although thought to be an Inhuman with super-strength and enhanced durability, he is actually empowered by a serum that is part of Project Patriot that was derived from Calvin Zabo's formula minus the side effects. In episode "No Regrets", Mace sacrifices himself inside the world of the Framework saving the Team and Inhumans from a HYDRA attack which also caused the death of his real world body.
Jason O'Mara reprises his role of Jeffrey Mace in a six-part digital series titled . This digital series acts as a prologue to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4.
