Margaret "Peggy" Carter is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in books featuring Captain America. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, she first appeared in Tales of Suspense #77 as a World War II love interest of Captain America in flashback sequences. She would later be better known as a relative of Captain America's modern-day on and off love interest, Sharon Carter. Peggy Carter, portrayed by Hayley Atwell, plays a more prominent role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of feature films, beginning with 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, and continuing in the tie-in video game Captain America: Super Soldier; a Marvel One Shot short film; the 2014 feature-film sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier; and the television series Marvel's Agent Carter.
Publication history
The character first appeared, unnamed, as a wartime love interest of Captain America in Tales of Suspense #75 (single panel) and #77 (May 1966), by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. She appeared again as the older sister of Sharon Carter in Captain America #161 (May 1973). She was later retconned as Sharon's aunt due to the unaging nature of comic book characters. The character has appeared frequently in Captain America stories set during World War II.
Fictional character biography
Carter joins the French Resistance as a teenager, and becomes a skilled gunman who serves on several operations alongside Captain America. The two fall in love, but an exploding shell gives her amnesia, and she is sent to live with her parents in Virginia. With Captain America thought dead, she lives a quiet life for many years. After Captain America reemerges in the present-day, unaged after having been in suspended animation, Carter encounters the villain Doctor Faustus, from whom Captain America saves her. She joins the espionage organization S.H.I.E.L.D., eventually retires to a nursing home, and later passes away.
Other versions
In the alternate reality created by in the 2005 "House of M" storyline, Captain America is never frozen in the Arctic, and instead marries Peggy shortly after World War II ends.
In other media
Film
- Peggy Carter makes her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where she is portrayed by Hayley Atwell.
- Peggy Carter first appears in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger. Christy Lemire of the Associated Press said, "Atwell’s gorgeous looks make her a great fit for the part, but her character is better developed than you might imagine; she’s no damsel in distress, waiting for Captain America to save her, but rather a trained fighter who is very much his equal." Roger Ebert felt that she resembled "a classic military pin-up of the period" with her depicted "full red lips" of the film.
- Atwell reprised her role as Carter in the Marvel One-Shot short film Agent Carter, which was packaged with the Iron Man 3 Blu-ray disc. The film takes place one year after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, and features Carter as a member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, searching for the mysterious Zodiac, and dealing with the sexism of the period.
- Atwell reprises the role in the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Set in the present day, CGI was used to make Atwell appear as an elderly woman. Captain America visits Peggy Carter in a retirement home in Washington DC where she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She was lucid at first, but after a few minutes of conversation due to her mental deterioration, she suddenly acted as if she met Steve directly after he had crash-landed after the Battle in the Valkyrie.
- Atwell will appear again in the 2015 film, Avengers: Age of Ultron. She will be seen in a 1940s flashback sequence.
Television
- Atwell portrayed Peggy Carter for the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe). She appears in the premiere episode "Shadows" where she and the SSR raid a Hydra facility and arrest Daniel Whitehall and the Hydra Agents with him. Peggy Carter later appeared in the episode "The Things We Bury" where a flashback shows her interrogating Whitehall.
- Atwell stars in the eight-part miniseries Agent Carter (which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe). In the series set in 1946 following the events in Captain America: The First Avenger, Carter must balance the routine office work she does for the Strategic Scientific Reserve while secretly assisting Howard Stark, who finds himself framed for supplying deadly weapons to the top bidder. Carter is assisted by Stark's butler Edwin Jarvis (who would later be the inspiration for Tony Stark's AI J.A.R.V.I.S.) to find those responsible and dispose of the weapons which leads to the mysterious organization Leviathan. A running gag is that she is annoyed at how the "Captain America" radio series is portraying Captain America.
Video game
- Peggy Carter appears in the First Avenger tie-in video game, Captain America: Super Soldier voiced by Hayley Atwell.
References
External links
- Peggy Carter at Marvel Database
- Margaret "Peggy" Carter at the Comic Book DB
- Peggy Carter at Comic Vine
