What If’s Captain Carter episode was a top priority for Marvel
WhatWhatIf Marvel Studios’ first animated series continues to fulfil the unfulfilled promise of Hayley Atwell’s Agent Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger. Joe Johnston, The Rocketeer’s director, created this throwback movie that depicted Steve Rogers as an ultimate couple of golden age, who could endure a mad science transformation and 70 years on ice.
Peggy, as Atwell played her, was a hero. Peggy was a spy with the intelligence and wit of a genius. She was able to plan and execute an attack or better than any man of higher rank. Marvel wouldn’t have needed to unveil Chris Evans’ Cap in less than two hours. The First Avenger might have allowed Peggy to be more than an accessory.
Although there was no acknowledgement that Atwell was not being served in First Avenger, the future Marvel stories will implicitly acknowledge that there is still work to be done. Marvel brought Atwell back to Marvel in 2013 for the “One-Shot” short film Agent Carter. This saw Peggy back in action, chasing MacGuffins and battling off Dumb Men before she founded SHIELD. This short was released along with the Iron Man 3 DVD. It served as a proof-of-concept for ABC’s Agent Carter, a two-season spy drama that further defined Peggy’s post-Steve world and confronted American sexual sexism head-on. Agent Carter was buried on a traditional network in 2015. It lasted only two seasons before becoming a cult favourite, at least as far as Marvel TV.
Agent Carter’s underdog status makes them more powerful. There was still time to redeem, empower and envision Peggy as the badass heroine she was meant to be. Marvel could have done more for this character, but Marvel did it.
According to Polygon, Captain Carter was one of the original concepts for What If series executive producer Brad Winderbaum. “She had an incredible story to tell. With just one small element shifted, we knew we’d have the ability to challenge the character with ways that were born out of that time in the era, if all the sudden the only super soldier on Earth wasn’t a woman hero.”
AC Bradley, showrunner, says that Peggy Carter was the original Super Soldier. She also admitted she had a different story in mind than the Captain America timeline. They were like, “We really want to do that story.”
Winderbaum met Atwell first on the One-Shot set. He started his career as an assistant at Marvel. He says that Hayley was an amazing actor to work with. Atwell will be returning to the role of Hayley on What if. “And figuring what to do about that character who we left behind in 1945 has always been an exciting [team at Marvel] task.”
Bradley’s task was finding a way for Peggy to enter the super-soldier chamber. This would be logical given the events of First Avenger. She grabbed the moment Dr Erskine asked her to wait in the viewing room.
“I was like, That’s it. Here we are. In the 1940s, a woman who stays in the room’ was incredibly powerful. I believe this will be even more in 2021 because that is how we can change the world. We all knew that Peggy Carter would be a hero when it came to the character. Peggy Carter doesn’t have the Iron Man suit, the shield, or the hammer. This was my chance to make the outside match the interior finally.
Bradley came to What If …? __S.28__ The character was so dear to her that the episode even includes a few references to One-Shot. One voice cameo is carried over from the Marvel short. Fans should pay attention.
