Agents Of SHIELD: Is J. August Richards Either Luke Cage Or Rage?

Ever since the first footage from Agents Of SHIELD premiered, there has been lots of buzz over if J. August Richards is really Luke Cage. In fact, Comicbook.com was the first to report on the possibility, based on the fleeting glimpse of a super-powered, African-American male in yellow pants rescuing a woman from a burning building. Now, multiple theories have emerged in regards to J. August Richards' identity. One theory is that J. August Richards is a brand new character, who is not based on any existing Marvel Comics character. However, the argument against the new character theory is that J. August Richards has been keeping his identity in Agents Of SHIELD a secret? Why keep the name of the character secret if it's a new character? Of course, the theory that has gotten the most press is that J. August Richards is Luke Cage. If ABC and Marvel are looking to insure the show's success, it would make sense that they would include some super heroes from the Marvel Universe in the series. Luke Cage is a big name that would help attract viewers. However, he might actually be too big of a name for the theory that he's in Agents Of SHIELD to be valid. Luke Cage is a character that Marvel Studios has actively discussed doing a feature film on in the past. If Agents Of SHIELD exists in the same universe as The Avengers movie, then Marvel will likely avoid casting any super heroes in the series that they have feature film plans for. If Tony Stark makes a cameo, we expect that it will be Robert Downey Jr. dropping by, as having separate actors would create fan confusion. If Marvel Studios is considering an eventual Luke Cage movie, then it would seem like a stretch that they would introduce a TV version of Luke Cage, because then they would be locked in with the TV actor. Also, it could potentially make it more difficult to sell a feature film for a character that is appearing on TV every week. If Marvel Studios includes existing Marvel super heroes in the Agents of SHIELD, it actually might be more likely for them to include characters who are unlikely to get their own standalone movies. Along that lines, another theory is that J. August Richards is playing a little known Marvel character named Rage, who was a member of the New Warriors. As IO9 points out, Rage actually appears in the Marvel bumper for the Agents Of SHIELD series. Since Rage is an existing character in the Marvel Universe, it would explain J. August Richards keeping his identity secret. It's also a character that's unlikely to get his own movie, so it would avoid the complications of having a character included who has feature film potential. While we would love to see Luke Cage in Agents Of SHIELD, Rage does seem like a more likely possibility, because of the simple fact that Luke Cage could one day have his own movie.