These days, Marvel is everywhere. It's been that way for most of the decade thanks to the success of the Avengers franchise, but ever since the series' Multiverse Saga commenced, we literally mean everywhere. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has continued its dominance on the big screen by reaching out to the small one too, producing multiple Disney Plus shows a year that almost all share continuity with the MCU movies.
Being in a world where there are Marvel TV shows may not seem that unlikely for viewers who grew up fans of the classic series such as The Amazing Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, but the older fans of the MCU likely never saw the day coming when the franchise would make its presence felt across film and TV. Or maybe they did, for once upon a time, there were a number of Marvel TV shows that were thought to exist as part of the MCU (until Marvel Studios decided otherwise).
One of them just celebrated a major milestone.
Marvel's Agent Carter TV series turns 10 years old
No, you didn't read that headline wrong: Marvel's Agent Carter has officially turned 10 years old. The series premiered on the ABC network back on January 6, 2015 and ran for two seasons before its untimely cancellation. Starring Hayley Atwell in the title role, the show was a spinoff of 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, retelling the story of the MCU's Agent Carter one-shot across its debut season.
The show was a strong performer for ABC throughout its first season, with Peggy Carter's fight to stand up to the misogyny of her time making for a compelling arc. The ratings unfortunately declined in its second season; they were still holding up enough to justify a third season but the network ultimately cancelled it so that Hayley Atwell could lead a different modern-day drama for them instead. That series lasted one season, and a decade later, fans are still unhappy with how the beloved show was treated and the fact that it was never continued in another form - even in this new age of Marvel shows on Disney Plus.
While Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD were thought to be canon to the MCU, it's now believed that - although those two exist in the same universe - they take place in a parallel dimension to the film franchise. Along with the fact that Agent Carter adapts the story already portrayed in the one-shot of the same name, Agents of SHIELD's time-travel logic is different to that of the MCU's Avengers: Endgame.
Furthermore, when Marvel Studios began producing its own shows for the Disney Plus streaming service, the two ABC shows (along with a host of other Marvel shows thought to exist within the franchise) were moved to the "Marvel Alumni" section of the streamer, once again implying that they weren't canon. As for why they have been seemingly retconned from the franchise, the running theory is that they weren't produced by Marvel Studios (both shows were produced by Marvel Television). Ironically, the studio now uses the Marvel Television moniker for its newest wave of Disney Plus shows.
The studio's foray into television with the launch of Disney Plus brought forward critically-acclaimed outings such as WandaVision, Loki, and Agatha All Along, as well as over 10 other well-received shows. But we shouldn't forget the era of the ABC shows, for those ones were the MCU's first venture into TV - even if they are no longer considered canon. And it has left fans who know Agent Carter's value asking for a revival of the show at some point.
It would be hard to find a way of continuing Agent Carter simply due to the fact that Marvel has implied that the events of the show are no longer canon to the MCU. Yes, it's a sequel to an MCU movie, but the subsequent MCU movies ended up revealing the majority of Peggy Carter's story, disregarding the events of the series.
Atwell reprised her role in films such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man before Captain America: Civil War revealed that Peggy had died an elderly woman. However, Steve Rogers himself would eventually travel back in time in Avengers: Endgame to be with her. And now the pair are expected to return in 2026's Avengers: Doomsday and perhaps its 2027 sequel Avengers: Secret Wars.
Nevertheless, the show's value should not be ignored. Agent Carter's gripping narrative and its period setting was a welcome change for Marvel at a time when it was simply full of straightforward superhero movies. It offered up a compelling thriller of an arc and spotlighted just how imperative Peggy Carter is to the modern day Marvel franchise that we know. It was also just some damn good television.
As we celebrate a decade of Agent Carter, never forget the immense legacy of the short-lived show and its absolutely thrilling run. A third season would be more than welcome, even now.