Although the main version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Peggy Carter died offscreen in Captain America: Civil War, Hayley Atwell has been able to revisit the role several times since then, ranging from cameoing as a past version of that Peggy in Avengers: Endgame to playing alternate versions of the character. In the latter category, 2022 saw her appearing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as Earth-838’s Peggy, a.k.a Captain Carter. Unfortunately for the actress, in comparison to when she played a different take on Captain Carter in the animated What If… ? series, what went down with her in the Doctor Strange sequel felt like a frustrating moment.
Earth-838’s Captain Carter was featured as a member of that reality’s Illuminati, with the other members including the 838 versions of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo, Lashana Lynch’s Maria Rambeau (who became Captain Marvel), Anson Mount’s Black Bolt, Patrick Stewart’s Professor X and John Krasinski’s Mister Fantastic. But we didn’t spend a lot of time with the group, as all but Mordo were slaughtered by the main version of Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, i.e. the one from Earth-616 who became Scarlet Witch. During an interview with Josh Horowitz, Atwell had this to say about her disappointment with this Peggy’s fate in Multiverse of Madness after being asked about if she knew which characters would end up in that finished scene:
I didn’t. I think that we did lots of different things, lots of different takes, and the way that they edited it was like suddenly just very quick. And watching her, I get so much slack. I’m like, 'That wasn't my choice!' She’s like, 'I could do this all day' and then followed by she's immediately cut in half by a frisbee. And the audience being like, 'She can't do it all day. Apparently you can't, so yeah, egg on your face.' And I’m like, ‘Oh, that doesn't really serve Peggy very well.’
That’s right, Captain Carter did indeed meet her demise from her own shield thanks to Scarlet Witch telekinetically whipping it back at her. It was brutal, although I’d argue it was a better death than Mister Fantastic being spaghetti’d. Regardless, Hayley Atwell wasn’t pleased with how this alternate version of Peggy Carter was handled, particularly given that she bites the dust mere moments after declaring “I can do this all day,” the same line that a pre-Super Soldier Serum Steve Rogers said in Captain America: The First Avenger, followed by Captain America: Civil War. This also isn’t the first time Atwell has candidly voiced her thoughts on this cameo.
In contrast, the actress has had a more positive experience from her work on What If… ?, where she voices the Captain Carter from a different Earth. As Atwell explained:
I felt like I had much more to do in the What If...? animation series. I mean, any actor will tell you, to be able to go into a booth in effectively your pajamas and do an animation is great fun because you're focused on the voice as the instrument and is your main performative tool. And I love that in that, they’ve been able to give her just more to do as Captain Carter, Captain Britain. So it felt like a frustrating moment in Strange.
That’s not to say that Hayley Atwell’s time on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was entirely negative, as she also said in the interview that she enjoyed getting to do those Captain Carter stunts in the big fight scene with Scarlet Witch. Perhaps there will come a time when Atwell to play yet another version of Captain Carter in an upcoming Marvel movie, but this one manages to stick around for a lot longer. Should that happen, we’ll let you know, but for now, we continue to mourn the loss of Earth-838’s Peggy.
Both Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and What If… ? Season 1, along with nearly every other piece of MCU content, can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription. The latter show is returning for a second season, but its premiere date hasn’t been announced yet. As for Hayley Atwell, she can be seen playing Grace in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, which is now playing in theaters.
