Captain Carter Is Leaping From What If...? To The Pages Of Marvel Comics
Since her onscreen debut in "Captain America: The First Avenger," fans have been enamored by Hayley Atwell's Agent Peggy Carter. True Believers happily followed the founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D. on adventures throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both with and without her beloved Steve Rogers.
More recently though, we got to see a very different side to the character thanks to "What If...?" on Disney+. The animated anthology showed us a world where Peggy took the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve and became the mighty Captain Carter. The character quickly became a fan-favorite, so producers assured us that she would be factored into future seasons of the series and beyond.
Now it looks like we know what "and beyond" means because as we patiently wait for new episodes of "What If...?" to drop, Marvel Comics has stepped in to give us a Captain Carter fix.
Reporting For Duty
The House of Ideas announced that they will be releasing a five-issue limited series titled "Captain Carter." Just like her MCU counterpart by the end of season 1, this Marvel Comics version of the character will also be a woman out of time after being pulled from the ice and into the modern day.
In addition to providing a redesign of her costume (as seen below), Peggy's new book will be written by prolific creator Jamie McKelvie. He is probably best known for creating the iconic Captain Marvel look seen in the MCU as depicted by Brie Larson, but his work with frequent collaborator Kieron Gillen on "Young Avengers," "Phonogram,' and "The Wicked + The Divine" is some of the best comics out there. McKelvie will be joined by up and coming artist Marika Cresta, whose most recent work can be seen in the popular "Star Wars: Doctor Aphra" series.
Marvel Comics
Deja Vu
It looks like "Captain Carter" will explore a number of similar themes to Captain America. In the press release, McKelvie noted that our hero will deal with "what it would be like for Peggy to wake up nearly 80 years after the end of the war" and whether or not she fits in. It also talks about "facing the reappearance of an old foe in modern day," but isn't specific about which villain that would be. Since he played a significant part in "What If...?," it's possible that Arnim Zola (or the digitized consciousness of Arnim Zola) could be the big bad. This series could also reimagine another classic Cap adversary to go toe to toe with Captain Carter. This universe's version of Baron Zemo, the Serpent Society, or Taskmaster could be options. And of course, there's always the Red Skull.
Alternatively, Captain Carter could square up with her own Winter Soldier. It doesn't mention it in the announcement, but comic readers may remember that a Peggy variant appeared in the third volume of "Exiles" by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Rodriguez. She was referred to as her universe's Captain America and she fought alongside a team of other heroes from across the multiverse like a post-apocalyptic Kamala Khan, a cartoon Wolverine, a Valkyrie that looks an awful lot like Tessa Thompson, and a female Bucky named Becky Barnes. If McKelvie and Cresta's Captain Carter is the same Peggy from "Exiles," then maybe Becky could be her Winter Soldier in this new series. But since they're likely looking to make this more accessible to new readers, especially ones that stopped into their local comic shops because of the Captain Carter from "What If...?" or ones that happen to see an interesting new book on the racks, it's doubtful that the "Exiles" version of the character or her history will be referenced.
No matter what direction they decide to go in, it'll be interesting to see how the latest example of Disney and Marvel's synergy turns out once it hits stores in March 2022.