Whedon: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Mystery Superhero "Just A Guy."

After his appearance on the first trailer for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. left fans wondering who the heck J. August Richards was playing, pilot director Joss Whedon is suggesting that he's nobody fans will recognize. "You know, he's just a guy. I mean, the whole point of this show is, they're just guys," Whedon told IGN. "They're not The Avengers, they're not the fancy ones. They're the people that got sort of hit in the blowback of this super-world. So he's kind of an everyman. He appears to be a very fierce everyman!" We'll leave aside for a moment the fact that DC Comics had a young, African-American superhero character named Everyman, and focus on the message. Either Richards really is playing an original character made for the show, or that's what Marvel and Whedon very much want fans to think. It will likely be the fall--or at least Comic-Con--before we find out for sure, and as long as the character's name and exact powers are kept a secret, some fans will likely not believe them. Technically, though, Whedon tends to be a little more forthright than most. While Christopher Nolan and others associated with The Dark Knight Rises lied outright when asked whether Marion Cotillard was playing Talia al Ghul, and J.J. Abrams and crew did the same when confronted with the identity of Star Trek Into Darkness's central antagonist, Whedon was being truthful when he told fans that the Chitauri--essentially the Ultimate Comics Skrulls, but technically a different race--were not Skrulls in The Avengers. Of course, it's easier to be honest about the negative than it is to blow a reveal by confirming a rumor.