‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Star Hayley Atwell Still Isn’t Over How Marvel Killed off Captain Carter, and She’s Not Staying Quiet About It

Few Marvel characters have had as complicated a journey through the MCU as Peggy Carter. Hayley Atwell first introduced audiences to her back in 2011’s ‘Captain America: The First Avenger,’ carried her through a beloved spin-off series, and later gave her an entirely new life as the super-soldier alter ego Captain Carter in the animated series ‘What If…?’

That reinvention made Captain Carter one of the most requested live-action additions fans wanted to see, and Marvel eventually delivered with a cameo in 2022’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’ The excitement around finally seeing the character fight in live action, however, quickly gave way to disappointment once audiences saw just how little screen time she actually received before being killed off.

That frustration hasn’t faded for Atwell herself, and she made that clear once again during a recent appearance at London’s For the Love of Fantasy and Sci-Fi convention. Speaking candidly about the character, Atwell admitted she remains genuinely upset with how the scene was handled and how quickly it undercut the character she’d spent years building.

“If I’m really, like, brutally honest, I was so disappointed with how they, how they positioned her and what happened to her in that scene,” Atwell said at the convention panel, as reported by ComicBook.com. She pointed specifically to the moment Captain Carter delivers the now-famous line “I could do this all day,” only to be killed moments later by her own shield, undercutting the confidence of the line entirely.

This isn’t the first time Atwell has voiced frustration over the sequence. In a 2025 appearance on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, she described the cameo as “blink and you’ll miss me” and said she felt the character was “so undermined” by how abruptly she was written off. She’s also previously said she pushed back on the scene during filming, though her suggestions were reportedly met with resistance.

Atwell’s renewed criticism arrives at a notable moment, given her confirmed return as Peggy Carter in ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’ With Chris Evans also set to return as Steve Rogers, fans have spent months speculating about which version of Peggy might appear, and whether Marvel will finally give the character the meaningful screen time many feel she’s been denied since her live-action debut as Captain Carter.

That anticipation has made Atwell’s comments land differently than a simple retrospective complaint. Fans have openly hoped what’s being called the “frisbee curse” might finally be broken in ‘Doomsday,’ giving Peggy a proper showcase rather than another blink-and-you-miss-it appearance.

For a character who has already been reinvented several times across animation, live action, and now an upcoming ensemble blockbuster, Atwell’s willingness to keep speaking up suggests she still sees unfinished business in how Marvel treats Peggy Carter’s legacy. Whether ‘Doomsday’ finally delivers the moment fans and Atwell herself have been waiting for remains to be seen, but the conversation around Captain Carter’s underwhelming send-off clearly isn’t going away anytime soon.

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