Recently it was revealed that Marvel was planning to develop a Peggy Carter television show. Even more recently it was revealed that Agent Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, was interested in reprising the role for the series. Now that the big question as to whether Atwell would commit to the series has been answered it’s time for fans to begin thinking about what possible adventures Peggy could face in her television debut.
In 2011 fans were introduced to Hayley Atwell’s portrayal of Peggy Carter. For many fans the relationship between Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers was seen as one of the best parts of Captain America: The First Avenger. The relationship was praised as one of if not the best relationships in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The scene where Peggy and Steve said their good byes as Captain America seemingly sacrificed his own life still brings tears to fans eyes.
Audiences believed that we had seen the last of Peggy Carter, at least the 40’s era version of herself. It was a sad ending for the relationship but we felt that it was the end of the character. Captain America would live on and we would see his adventures continue through the Avengers and his future Marvel movie appearances. A question we should have been asking ourselves, however, was “What happened to Peggy when Steve never showed up for their date“? That is the question that fans are asking themselves now and here are a few ideas that I would like to see come to life.
It’s a no brainier that one of the shows main storylines will be about Peggy facing off against her male counterparts who think she deserves to be in the kitchen instead of moping the floor… with the bad guys faces. Strong females are a big part of what we see on the small screen but what we don’t see as often is a woman being just as formidable as her male counterparts during an age where 30 years beforehand they were not even allowed to vote. Let’s face it; people love Peggy Carter and showing her take on and prove to the men who doubt her skills how wrong they are will be awesome to see.
Peggy working for S.H.I.E.L.D. is the most obvious thing to happen. In Iron Man 2 Nick Fury stated that Howard Stark helped him to form the secret espionage organization. Well S.H.I.E.L.D. could certainly make use of someone as talented as Agent Carter. Peggy could continue to track down and defeat the remnants of Hydra. Perhaps we could get a special storyline where Peggy is forced to either work with Arnim Zola or track him down after he escapes from custody? Maybe we could get an origin story of Zola creating the robotic body that he shall some day place his mind into.
If Peggy is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury helped Howard Stark to create it then maybe we could see a young Nick Fury. Getting Samuel L. Jackson to be apart of a television show full time would probably not work out but finding someone to play his younger self would absolutely be doable. Perhaps after Cap went missing Fury was put in charge of Cap’s squad and they became ‘Nick Fury’s Howling Commando’s‘? Neal McDonough has spoken in the past about his desire to play Dum Dum Dugan once more. This would be his chance to show the origin of his and Nick Fury’s friendship.
Unlike Marvel’s Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D. Peggy Carter could actually surround herself with other super heroes, namely Union Jack. JJ Field was shown as James Montgomery Falsworth in CA:TFA but perhaps an ‘Agent Carter’ series could show his transformation into the English hero, Union Jack? He and Peggy could be made into partners and work together on field assignments. I see Union Jack as more of a covert type of super hero. Sneaking in and taking out the bad guys before they realize what has happened. Something along the lines of the agent from the Splinter Cell video game series. How would Peggy feel about working with another costumed hero?
Speaking of possible heroes that we could see; it’s kind of hard to ignore some of the other heroes from the 40’s. There is a whole list of lesser known and obscure heroes from the era that could make an appearance, such as Miss America, Whizzer, Spitfire, Blonde Phantom, Patriot and many others. The list of heroes from that era goes on. The show runners would have a large selection to choose from to bring to the small screen.
Here’s another thing to think about; what if the show followed the comics and found a replacement for Steve Rogers, in the Captain America role, after he went missing? How would Peggy react to that? Surely she would be worried that whoever is filling in for Steve would not be able to live up to his example and would be very suspicious of him. Maybe we could see the story of William Naslund, the first man to fill in as Captain America after Steve Rogers. What if we saw Naslund slowly grow into the role of Captain America, and Peggy learn to trust him, only to have him die and Peggy lose another Captain America in the line of duty? How would she deal with losing two Cap’s in her lifetime? This has the potential to see Peggy go through some strong character development.
Or the show runners could go in another direction and have someone inherit the role of Captain America who actually does damage to Captain America’s name. The person I have in mind is William Burnside. Originally, he became Captain America with the best intentions in mind. However, he slowly began to go insane due to the effects of the super soldier serum not working properly on him. He began to attack innocent civilians and became such a nuisance he was put out of commission as the Sentinel of Liberty. What I’m imagining is Peggy being the one who has to go after and stop Burnside, who is ruining the reputation built by the man she loved. Can you imagine the storyline? Captain America vs. Peggy Carter. People would go crazy over that.
Obviously Peggy would still have feelings for Steve but at some point she would have to move on. Who could her potential love interest become? Maybe Falsworth or William Naslund? Peggy could turn out to have a thing for men who stand for something greater than themselves. Maybe the fact that Naslund wears the Captain America uniform repulses her at first but after seeing how well he has been holding up the reputation that Steve created she could slowly begin to have feelings for him?
There is also the chance that the show runners could choose to go the route of the comics and have her begin a relationship with Derek Luke’s character, from CA:TFA, Gabe Jones. Perhaps the show could not only have a strong feminist message but one of equality and acceptance as well. Since the show would take place in the late 40’s to early 50’s we could witness the struggles that Peggy would face with dating someone of another race and how she rises above it.
There are numerous directions in which an ‘Agent Carter’ television series could go in. The above suggestions are just some of the things that I would like to see in a show about one of Marvel’s greatest cinematic female characters.
What would you like to see in an AGENT CARTER series? Sound off below with your thoughts.