A Brief History of Peggy Carter as Captain America

The arrival of What If on Disney+ has introduced with it a brand new shieldbearer that Marvel Studios appears fairly eager on making the face of a multiverse of superheroics: Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter. No longer simply an Agent of SHIELD, as we finest know her, however the newest holder of the Captain mantle. As Sam Wilson’s new reign with the protect reveals, it’s about time the MCU imagined Cap past Steve Rogers—however the concept of it being Peggy with the protect is a comparatively latest one.

Although the arrival of this new “Captain America,” Captain Carter, within the new animated Disney+ streaming collection has made her virtually the de facto face of What If (presumably whereas Sam leads the cost within the subsequent Captain America film and past), Peggy choosing up the mantle will not be distinctive to the collection. Even if the concept isn’t distinctive to the present—which riffs on each the basic Marvel Comics collection of the identical identify and numerous different MCU and Marvel Comics storylines, from Marvel Zombies to movies like Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy—Peggy’s captaincy is definitely nonetheless in its infancy. In truth, she didn’t even get her begin within the comics.

When and Where Did Captain Carter First Appear?

Although Peggy’s been in Marvel Comics since 1966 (she wouldn’t be recognized as such till a whopping seven years later in Captain America #162), giving her the protect and Captain America mantle wouldn’t occur till Cap’s seventy fifth anniversary—even then it wasn’t within the comics themselves. Captain Carter was, in actual fact, launched in a cellular sport: Marvel Puzzle Quest, a match-three puzzle sport by Demiurge Studios. The sport, which launched in 2013, remains to be lively (it added What If’s version of Captain Carter last week), however Captain Carter was added as a playable avatar in 2016.

Imagined from the bottom up by Jae Tsai, Amanda Clarke, and Paige Pettoruto for the sport, Captain Carter was launched for Marvel Puzzle Quest’s celebration of the seventy fifth anniversary of Captain America, alongside a complete host of different Marvel video games celebrating the anniversary. Instead of merely being a unique pores and skin for Captain America, Peggy was given her personal place within the multiverse, and an identical backstory to the one we’d ultimately see in What If. On her Earth—(Earth-TRN665)—Peggy was a British agent who took Steve’s place within the supersoldier serum program after the latter was assassinated in an assault by Hydra brokers. However, this was all Peggy received—she doesn’t have a job in Puzzle Quest’s story, and primarily exists as an avatar for gamers to recruit to their groups of heroes, powered by the sport’s match-three puzzle gameplay to execute particular assaults. Although it wasn’t the final time a Marvel sport can be intrigued by the concept of Peggy with the supersoldier serum. A radically totally different model that was extra of a hybrid between Peggy, Nick Fury, and Captain America, President Carter, appeared final yr in Kabam’s Marvel Realm of Champions. She wouldn’t seem once more till she made the leap into comics.

Which Comics Has Captain Carter Appeared In?

After her sport debut, Captain Carter first appeared in a Marvel Comic in 2018, in Saladin Ahmed, Javier Rodriguez, Álvaro López, Chris O’Halloran, and Joe Caramagna’s Exiles #3. Following a workforce of misfit characters from throughout the Marvel multiverse lead by the teleporting mutant Blink, the Exiles encountered Peggy as Captain America on Earth-86315. Despite being aesthetically equivalent to the Captain Carter of Marvel Puzzle Quest, this model of the character had a extra fleshed-out story, together with her personal plucky companion within the type of Rebecca “Becky” Barnes, a younger queer lady who fought alongside Peggy through the Second World War.

The workforce helped Peggy and Becky cease the Red Skull from dropping an atomic bomb on New York, however unintentional harm to the gadget brought on it to ultimately detonate anyway, with the Exiles and Becky whisked away to security within the time stream. It was ultimately revealed that whereas New York was devastated by the blast, Captain America survived, becoming a member of the Exiles of their multiversal adventures. The collection ended after 12 points, and Peggy’s Captain America hasn’t been seen within the comics since.

Will Captain Carter Appear in What If Season 2?

Now that Captain Carter has returned—re-imagined for a 3rd time in What If’s premiere episode—it looks as if she is perhaps right here to remain a bit extra completely. Speaking to io9 within the run as much as the present’s launch, producer Brad Winderbaum revealed that Peggy will likely be revisited within the present’s second season, and can type the premise of an overarching narrative between the present’s multiversal one-off tales by creating a connection to Jeffrey Wright’s Uatu the Watcher. He mentioned, “We realized as we started developing the second season that Captain Carter was going to be the character we would revisit in every season, and continue that adventure.”

Last we noticed, Peggy arrived in what appeared to be the current day after coping with a large, tentacled monster summoned by the Red Skull. Where that would take her subsequent—again to the comics, into live-action properties alongside Sam Wilson’s Captain America, multiversal browsing with Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch, or wherever else—stays to be seen. But after solely the briefest moments within the highlight earlier than, it’s clear that Captain Carter is prepared for extra. Are you?

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