Peggy Carter

Margaret "Peggy" Carter is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is usually depicted 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 Steve Rogers in flashback sequences. She would later be better known as a relative of Captain America's modern-day significant other Sharon Carter, who happens to be his wife by common law in the comics, and was stated by The Captain himself as "The love of his life" multiple times.

Hayley Atwell portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger, and continuing in the Marvel One Shot Agent Carter, the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the television series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel's Agent Carter, and the 2015 films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.

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.^[1][2] 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 (see Captain America Vol. 5 #25 (April 2007)). The character has appeared frequently in Captain America stories set during World War II.

An unnamed blonde British agent Agent Zero was rescued from Berlin by the Young Allies after her capture by the Red Skull and then joins up with Captain America in Young Allies #1 (Summer 1941).^[3]

Fictional character biography

Peggy Carter joins the French Resistance as a teenager and becomes a skilled fighter, who serves on several operations alongside Captain America.^[4] The two fall in love, but an exploding shell gives her amnesia, and she is sent to live with her parents in Virginia.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7]
• On Earth-65, Peggy Carter is the long-lived director of S.H.I.E.L.D., much like Nick Fury in the primary universe. She also sports an eye patch similar to the one worn by Fury.^[8]

In other media

Film

Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger

Peggy Carter makes her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where she is portrayed by Hayley Atwell. This version is depicted as a British agent rather than an American.

• The character first appears in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger.^[9] 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."^[10] Roger Ebert felt that she resembled "a classic military pin-up of the period" with her depicted "full red lips" of the film.^[11]
• She then appears 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,^[12] and dealing with the sexism of the period.^[13]
• She appears in the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier.^[12][14] Set in the present day, CGI was used to make the character appear as aged in her 90s. Steve Rogers visits her in the retirement home that she is currently living in.^[15]
• She appears in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron in Steve Rogers's 1940s hallucination caused by the Scarlet Witch's powers.^[16]
• Peggy Carter makes a cameo appearance in the 2015 film Ant-Man. She is featured in a 1989 opening teaser, aged in her late 60s/early 70s, when Hank Pym resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. after discovering that Mitchell Carson was trying to replicate Pym's shrinking formula without consent.
• In the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War, Peggy Carter dies in her sleep. Rogers serves as one of the pallbearers at her funeral, where he learns of Peggy's relationship to Sharon Carter, who happens to be her great-niece.^[17]

Television

• Peggy Carter appears in the "Captain America" segment of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Peg Dixon.
• Hayley Atwell portrayed Peggy Carter for the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. She appears in the premiere episode "Shadows" where she and the SSR raid a Hydra facility and arrest Daniel Whitehall and Hydra Agents.^[18] Carter later appeared in the episode "The Things We Bury" where a flashback shows her interrogating Whitehall. In the season 3 episode "Emancipation", a newspaper headline is shown that says Agent Peggy Carter has died.
• Hayley Atwell starred as Peggy Carter in the series Agent Carter.^[19] Set in the immediate post-war years following the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, the series depicts Carter's advancement from routine office work to a position as a celebrated and well-respected agent of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. The series aired from January 6, 2015, until March 1, 2016.
• Hayley Atwell will voice Peggy Carter in Season 4 of Avengers Assemble.^[20]

Video games

• Peggy Carter appears in Captain America: Super Soldier, voiced by Hayley Atwell.^[21]
• Peggy Carter appears in Lego Marvel's Avengers, with Atwell reprising the role.
• In Marvel Puzzle Quest, an alternate version of Peggy Carter as Captain America (Part of the 75th Anniversary of Captain America Promos) is playable.^[22]

See also

• List of Marvel Comics superhero debuts

References

External links

• Peggy Carter at Marvel Database
• Margaret "Peggy" Carter at the Comic Book DB
• Peggy Carter at Comic Vine

Jack Kirby
Bibliography
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Other	Black Magic Boys' Ranch Captain 3-D Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers Destroyer Duck The Double Life of Private Strong Fighting American The Fly Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters The Kirbyverse Secret City Saga Silver Star Sky Masters Young Love Young Romance
Television work	Goldie Gold and Action Jack Mister T Thundarr the Barbarian
Related articles	Kirby Krackle Stan Lee Joe Simon Mainline Publications
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