While Hayley Atwell's performance as Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been one of the more popular supporting characters, the role would seem to have run its course. Unless, of course, it hasn't. Recently Marvel Studios co-president Louis D'Esposito posted pictures of himself at Marvel hanging around with Hayley Atwell. The pictures themselves are worth looking at, but we have to wonder if there's more to it than that. Is there a future being planned for Atwell at Marvel?
In a Marvel Cinematic Universe that is still without a major female superhero movie, Peggy Carter stood alongside Black Widow as the two most important women in the franchise. Carter's popularity even earned the character two seasons of her own television show, giving her more overall screen time than Black Widow has seen. Of course, in Captain America: Civil War, Peggy Carter passed away, which would seem to put an end to her story, but hey, in comic books nobody is ever really dead. According to Louis D'Esposito's Twitter post, Hayley Atwell was just visiting Marvel, but maybe that's not all.
There are actually several different ways that Hayley Atwell and Agent Carter could return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. First off, there's the potential return of Agent Carter to television. While ABC decided against bringing the series back for a third season, Atwell herself has expressed interest in coming back for TV movie or one off television special of some kind. While such a project was without a home a year ago, and thus wasn't moving forward, it's certainly possible that could change.
Option two is simply setting a new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a time period where Peggy Carter is still alive. We know that Captain Marvel is going to be set in the 1990s and while Carter would be fairly old at that point, she would still be alive. Is there the potential for an Agent Carter cameo in Captain Marvel similar to what we saw in Ant-Man? Even if Hayley Atwell doesn't make an appearance in Captain Marvel, if there are any other potential period pieces coming in Phase 4 of the MCU, any of them could potentially include her character.
Finally, there's the possibility that the next two Avengers movies might completely reset the MCU, which could potentially bring the character back to life. Footage screened at D23 regarding the Infinity Stones reportedly used footage of Peggy Carter when discussing the Time Stone, which has produced the theory that the films could use the Time Stone to turn back the clock and bring Carter back.
Whatever the method, we're entirely in favor of more Hayley Atwell at Marvel. Hopefully, there really is some potential that we might see her again.
