Hayley Atwell's Issue With Captain America And Agent 13's Kiss In Civil War

Captain America: Civil War has been out for a month and fans are still reeling from all of the awesome superheroics, grounded story, and of course that big airport battle. While the fandom might be more interested in Ant-Man’s new powers and the introduction of Spider-Man and Black Panther into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there is one plot point which seems to have gone under the radar after Civil War’s release. Namely, that Steve Rogers and Agent 13 AKA Sharon Carter had that random makeout session in the middle of the Civil War, in the same movie that his true love Peggy (Sharon’s great aunt) died. It’s some incestuous stuff out of Game of Thrones. Now Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter in both Agent Carter and a handful of MCU movies has voiced her opinion on the plot line.

At Dallas Comic Con Fan Expo (via IGN), Hayley Atwell was asked how she felt about the Sharon and Steve kiss, to which she responded:

Well, first of all she'd be turning over in her grave. She'd be like 'no.' And she'd inject herself with the blue serum and become a super villain. She'd break out of her coffin and ground [Sharon]. She'd ground her. Then she'd kick Steve's ass as well. I just feel that, you know - I wouldn't want to date my great aunt's guy. It just feels like it crosses an incestuous boundary. And Peggy just died. That's even more disrespectful, right? It's like, 'don't touch that.’ You can't tap that!’

Once again Hayley Atwell proves what a gem she is.

While Peggy wasn’t physically present in Captain America: Civil War, her influence certainly was. Steve was a pallbearer at Peggy’s funeral toward the beginning of the film, which surely helped spark his storyline, especially when Black Widow showed up at the church. Peggy was the last person from his first life that was still alive (besides Bucky), making him more alone than he’s ever been, despite being part of the Avengers.

Then there’s Steve’s budding relationship with Sharon Carter. While they flirted a bit during Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it had the possibility of just being Agent 13’s orders to keep Cap close and safe. Sharon and Steve’s relationship seemed a bit forced in Civil War, with him not even knowing that Sharon was related to Peggy until she was eulogizing her great aunt. For the majority of the film Sharon just was a mole who would help Captain America and crew with government intel.

So when they randomly started playing tonsil hockey toward the middle of the movie, it felt a bit out of place. Steve was still mourning her great aunt and in the midst of a superhero battle, yet took the time to make out like a high school student. The whole thing felt forced and kind of incestuous, as he’d macked it with two generations of Carters at this point.

At least Hayley Atwell gets how weird it is.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.