Our favorite 1940s wartime British agent is back to dance and fight Doombots. And she’s all out of dance partners.
As reported in a Deadline exclusive, Hayley Atwell is set to reprise her role as Peggy Carter in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Unfortunately, she wasn’t announced by a chair, which is rude. Thanks, X-Men. I’m blaming you.
Atwell’s portrayal as the beloved Carter first crossed audiences' paths in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, where she served as a British liaison to the United States Armed Forces during their battles with the Nazis. Introduced to a frail Steve Rogers, she witnessed his selflessness and bravery, even in the most dire of situations. Carter soon fell in love with Rogers, but lost him to an air vessel trapped in ice for over 70 years.
That wouldn’t be the end of her in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Marvel Studios brought Atwell back for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. flashbacks, an elderly appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a middle-aged 1989 presentation in Ant-Man, and even two seasons of her own show titled Agent Carter. Her time as an agent and a harbinger of S.H.I.E.L.D. kept her relevant despite her fixed point in time.
Most likely with Secret Wars on the horizon, her re-entry could come as an “incursion”, an event that crashes worlds together. As seen in the comic book crossover event of the same name, this likely will see a blend of universes. This can be an event, such as a cataclysm that the TVA and the God of Stories, Loki, cannot prevent. This means anyone can show up.
Peggy Carter has left enough of an impression on Marvel and fans to warrant her select returns in new and interesting ways. Since expanding the MCU into multiversal territory, several stars have debuted or returned as fan-favorite characters. From Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and John Krasinski as Reed Richards, anyone can show up. Just because a character's death or a change in studios happens doesn’t always mean the erasure of characters.
With Carter, I have a few ideas for how that return can happen.
Captain Carter
Starting with the obvious is the variant of Peggy infused with the same super-soldier serum that empowered Steve Rogers to become Captain America. Due to the deviation in an event set in motion by HYDRA agent Heinz Kruger, the story we knew would not come to fruition. Leaving Steve Rogers unable to take the serum, Carter takes it herself, with no hesitation. Holding her own shield with the Union Jack emblazoned on it and her suit, she took to the same mission that, in another life, Captain America would’ve taken.
Thus, Captain Carter was born. With Rogers in tow as the operator of a HYDRA Stomper machine, the pair helped liberate the world from the AXIS powers and thwart HYDRA operations. After a battle with an interdimensional monster, Rogers and Howard Stark obliged Carter to sacrifice herself by using the Tesseract to send the pair away. Carter then found herself thrown 70 years into the future, discovered by Nick Fury and Clint Barton.
Disney+’s What If?... series told this alternate origin story. Captain Carter would then become a recurring character in the series, teaming with Uatu the Watcher to stop further breaches of the multiverse. Inevitably, she once again sacrificed herself to help Uatu, Kahhori, Storm, the Goddess of Thunder, and Byrdie the Duck to stop the rest of The Watchers from ensuring further damage to the multiverse.
Atwell would embody a different variant of Captain Carter in live-action in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as part of the Illuminati. Consisting of herself, Professor Charles Xavier, Black Bolt, Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), Karl Mordo, and Maria Rambeau, that universe’s Captain Marvel. Unfortunately, thanks to Earth-616’s Wanda Maximoff, this version of Carter was sliced in half by her shield like a 50 percent discount.
It wouldn’t be off-the-wall to imagine Hayley Atwell entering the fray in Avengers: Doomsday as her super soldier self. Whether the What If...? version came back to life or even a new live-action version debuted, she could even be introduced into a future mainline Marvel Studios film or streaming series.
First Appearance Origins
In 1966, Peggy Carter had a (very) small role in the comics. Introduced as a wartime lover of Steve Rogers, she wasn’t even British. No, she was a red, white, and blue American. Furthermore, she didn’t even have a name until 1973. Though she served in the French Resistance before becoming a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., her identity mostly revolved around Steve and her much younger relative, Sharon Carter.
There’s potential for Atwell to star as a different version of Peggy Carter due to the prospect of the multiverse. Either as a time variant or a modern-day Peggy, she’d be a blank slate to become someone that fans can get behind. Whether she’s an espionage spy agent or a superhuman sentinel of hope, she’d be one of the new faces of the MCU as she finds her identity separate from Steve Rogers.
Exploring various other facets of Carter would be interesting. What would she be like in more substantial roles? Could she have a marquee position in the cast? She wouldn’t even have to be British; acting as an American could give her something new to play with. After all, Atwell’s father is American, hailing from Kansas City, Missouri. That heritage is evident in Agent Carter when she goes incognito as a blonde American. She further showed her American accent in Paddington in Peru in a small role.
Endgame
Last seen in the 1940s dancing with Steve Rogers, fans watched the original version of Peggy Carter get that happy ending as the pair put a nice little bow on Chris Evans’s time as Captain America. A cosmic love story quietly wrapped up in the small, realistic comforts of a past America. Steve, in the MCU as we knew him, was always meant to return to her arms. Just as we’re always meant to hide our sobs from our friends, as “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” finishes their story.
But what if Doctor Doom’s presence and the multiversal incursions send her away from him? This is a possible route to take, although one that I’d feel would cheapen, maybe ruin the impact of that moment built up for almost a decade. I don’t see it happening, as it would just be a flip of a coin unless she never returns to him again. Or, even worse, this could set up bringing Evans back as Cap, as we’d be denied her stories and she’d be denied her agency as a character.
If this were to happen, I’m sure Marvel Studios would find a way to make this work without touching my misgivings. But it’s a hard line to walk. Perhaps I’m way off. However, if she were the hero of this story, that puts a cap (heh) to her character in a meaningful way, it could yet again put to rest one of the long-running stories of the MCU.
Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Following Captain America: Brave New World, Thaddeus Ross’s rampage as The Red Hulk could leave Americans distrustful of their leaders, and the world questioning the competence of the United States. One of the world’s top superpowers being compromised by emotionally fragile and manipulative men in power could leave a sour taste in several mouths. Someone would need to clean up his mess.
As MCU history has shown, Carter’s heading of S.H.I.E.L.D. saw the world’s background machinations secretly handled by top-secret agents successfully. The most likely route to get to here (bear with me) is that maybe she’s a variant from a universe that Doctor Doom may have impacted and would want revenge. Naturally, Nick Fury might object to this, opting to maintain control from an outsider. Since many incidents in the MCU were under Fury’s time as S.H.I.E.L.D. and his inability to quell them, Carter would conceivably view him as an unreliable leader. Furthermore, Maria Hill’s death in Secret Invasion may lead Carter to believe she’d be the only person proficient enough to run the organization amid future deadly threats.
That’s one possible direction for Atwell to embody. Either as a villain or an antihero, her skewed visions, albeit well-intentioned, would make for a foil for what she initially fought for. If Marvel Studios chooses this path, they’d have a Peggy who’s in control, someone in power. A leader. Someone with layers. Atwell’s shown in a plethora of her starring roles that she has depth and range; this would be a homerun for her.
Someone Else Entirely
Until now, I’ve reached for the most obvious choices. Hayley Atwell is forever tied to Peggy Carter. But what if they didn’t stick to that? Robert Downey Jr. is doing something different as he portrays Victor Von Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. Chris Evans, Captain America himself, stepped back into his role of Johnny Storm’s Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine. Stars big and small have blended into different roles in the MCU. Why should Hayley Atwell's return be any different? Atwell wields incredible talent as an actress, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to simply be someone else. A Black Widow, an Asgardian, a mutant, a cashier behind the counter at Sephora. The sky is the limit.
As iconic as Peggy Carter is in the MCU, there would understandably be a shelf life. But if anyone can blend into other roles, so should Hayley Atwell. She’s versatile. For example, take her performance as Martha Powell in the second series of Netflix’s Black Mirror episode, “Be Right Back.” Martha, much like Peggy Carter, loses her love interest to a method of vehicular destruction. The only difference? She’s not as strong as Peggy. She doesn’t move on. Martha orders an artificial replica of her late husband, and she falls deeply into a fantasy where he’s here and everything she remembers. She loses track of the world around her as he’s here and in front of her, and she cannot move on. It’s a great episode, carried by Hayley Atwell’s chemistry with Domhnall Gleeson, just as she had strong chemistry with Chris Evans in Captain America.
Atwell is fluid. The fact that she embodied the same role but as a different character with separate motives and nuances showcases that. Whether it’s as a strong, female role model or a human, flawed character, she’s a proven professional. Whatever character she’d portray in Avengers: Doomsday, she’d knock it out of the park.
What do you think?
While several of the leading actors and actresses of the MCU have starred in multiple films, Peggy Carter hasn’t been explored as much, yet she sticks out enough that she feels like she’s been there all along. She’s left an indelible imprint on fans.
Any variation of her character is welcome, as is any other character Hayley Atwell could fill the shoes of. Throughout her tenure, she’s put in the work for a role that elevated her to career heights. By all accounts, she’s knocked it out of the park.
But I’m not Kevin Feige or anyone in the chair of Marvel’s cinematic creative team. I’m only one man who has enjoyed her work and am filled with nothing short of excitement at what Atwell may be doing, Peggy or not.
How about you? What do you think she would play in these future Avengers movies?