Peggy Carter: Everything You Need to Know

A small number of supporting female characters has had such a lasting impact as Marvel’s Agent Peggy Carter. Although she was, for the most time, a supporting character, she played a pivotal role in the development of the Captain America character and has, in her own right, achieved fame as an individual. Peggy Carter has recently become even more popular thanks to the new What If…? television series and that is why we have decided to dedicate today’s article to her.
Margaret “Peggy” Carter is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the comic book Tales of Suspense # 75 in May 1966. Acting under the secret identity of Agent 13 until her identity is revealed, the character appears frequently in the series. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she is Sharon Carter’s great aunt. In the comics, she is Sharon Carter’s aunt.
Now that you know who Peggy Carter is, we can continue with our article. We have decided to answer several important questions about Peggy Carter, which you are going to see in the continuation of this article. The questions are going to be presented as separate sections and each section will give you a detailed answer to the question at hand. We have selected a total of ten relevant questions so prepare yourselves for an informative article.
Why is Peggy Carter British?
And while people think that Peggy Carter is actually British thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), she is – in fact – American! As was revealed in Captain America #1 (2011), Peggy Carter was actually born in Richmond, Virginia, in June 1920. Her family was quite wealthy and was considered to be “Virginia royalty”. She would later end up joining the Daughters of Liberty and, after learning of World War II, the French Resistance. In the comic books, she was never British, although she has worked with them.
As far as the MCU is concerned, we haven’t really found a reason why the producers adapted the character as a British, rather than an American agent, but the change was welcomed by both fans and Hayley Atwell, who portrays Peggy Carter in the MCU; in fact, her casting – since she’s British – might be one of the reasons for the character ending up being British. This is what Atwell said of the character:
“I likened her character to that famous Ginger Rogers quote. She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels. She’s an English soldier through and through, although she always looks fabulous. She might stand there with a machine-gun shooting Nazis, but she’s obviously gone to the loo beforehand and applied a bit of lipstick. She doesn’t need to be rescued. That’s exciting to me – her strength. I think she’s quite stubborn, a slightly frustrated woman who struggles with being a woman in that time. But more importantly she’s a modern woman and she sees something in Captain America that she relates to, and becomes kindred spirits. He treats her very differently to how she’s been treated by lots of men, in this kind of dominated world she lives in. So she’s very much a fighter.”
– Hayley Atwell, via The Belfast Telegraph
Who did Peggy Carter end up marrying?
Up until Endgame, Peggy Carter’s personal life was quite different. Namely, as was revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Peggy Carter ended up marrying an unnamed American soldier that Captain America saved from a Hydra base during World War II. The two of them had two children, a son, and a daughter. All of this, of course, happened in the timeline where Captain America was still frozen in ice.
The identity of Peggy Carter’s husband remains a mystery, and while Michele Fazekas, producer of the canceled Agent Carter series, did state that the show would explore the identity of her husband, that never happened. This is what she said:
“We’re aware that’s a question that people are going to ask, and we will certainly hint at different options.
– Michele Fazekas, via CBR
The show eventually got canceled so we never found out anything about the unnamed soldier, but that ended up not being important at all. Namely, in the aftermath of Endgame, Steve Rogers used the Time Stone to go back to 1949 and decided he would stay there with Peggy Carter, living a full, married life with her, just as the writers and produced originally intended. So, Endgame retconned the information given in The Winder Soldier and as far as the MCU is concerned, Peggy Carter ended up marrying Steve Rogers.
Did Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter have a child?
On a related note, we’ve said that both the writers and the producers originally intended for Peggy and Cap to have a child together. With Captain America going back to 1949 and thus creating an alternative timeline, this was made possible but although the birth of their child was heavily hinted, it was never officially confirmed. This, of course, is an alternative time and is completely unrelated to the main MCU timeline in which Peggy Carter ended up marrying the unnamed soldier (see above); this makes sense if you consider how the MCU approached and explored time travel, as explained in Endgame.
If you need a brief reminder, here is Professor Hulk explaining everything:
Who is the father of Peggy Carter’s baby?
If you count all known timelines within the MCU, Peggy Carter had a total of three children. The first two, a son and a daughter, were born from her marriage with her main timeline husband, the unnamed soldier whom Captain America saved before ending up being frozen. So, in the main timeline, he is the father of her children.
But, if you consider the alternative timeline created when Captain America traveled back in time, he was the father of Peggy Carter’s baby. We don’t know much about this – we never even got a confirmation that that baby even existed – but we do know that this timeline never interfered with the main MCU timeline.
Did Steve Rogers kiss his own granddaughter?
The famous scene from Captain America: Civil War shows us Captain America sharing a passionate kiss with Sharon Carter, the (great-)niece of Peggy Carter. Now, all of this happened way before Endgame so, at that moment, it was all fine, as far as family relations were concerned; sure, Captain America ended up being a player as he fell in love with a descendant of his first love, but that’s not a big deal really. At that moment, there was no way for the two of them to be related by blood.
The problem appeared when Endgame ended, seeing how the movie showed Captain America ending up with Peggy Carter and probably having a child with her. This led people to believe that Sharon Carter was Steve’s granddaughter and that he was kissing his own granddaughter back in Civil War.
Now, if you’ve seen any other time travel movie except Endgame, this would actually be a thing, but Endgame, as explained above (and we do think that this is one of the movie’s major flaws, as the writers ended up devising a theory of their own just to explain why they had to complicate the narrative, as it would otherwise be very simple) uses its own definition of time travel.
According to that theory, Captain America never interfered with the main timeline – he created an alternative one. This means that the main timeline relations never changed and that he did not end up kissing his own granddaughter. Even if we assume that Sharon Carter ends up being Captain America’s granddaughter in the alternative timeline, that wouldn’t be the same character from Civil War, so even in that case, Cap did not end up kissing his own kin.
Who was Captain America kissing at the end of Endgame?
Another very famous MCU scene is the ending of Endgame, where we see Captain America go back in time to be with the woman he loves. Now, in case you’ve forgotten what happened in Captain America: Th First Avenger, this woman is actually Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers ends up not only kissing her, but also marrying her and spending his life with her.
The timeline implications of this event have already been explained so we won’t be repeating them in this section. Just scroll up to find out everything else that you need or that might confuse you.
Does Peggy Carter know Tony Stark?
This is an interesting question, really. Although the MCU never confirmed it, Peggy Carter has probably met Tony Stark at least once and she would certainly know of him. Tony Stark was born in 1970, when Peggy was around 50 years old. At the time of his birth, Peggy worked at the same facility as Tony’s father and they had known each other since the 1940s. This means that Peggy Carter would certainly know of Tony’s birth and that she would certainly know of him.
Now, whether they actually met is more debatable, but it’s not impossible. Peggy worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. for a good time after Tony’s birth so there is a possibility that she met him when he was still a child. Later, we know that they never crossed over once she retired – as per the main timeline movies – but there is certainly a possibility that they crossed paths at one point. They were never friends nor have they collaborated together, but while she had other things to do, there is truly a possibility that they had met at least once and she would certainly know of him due to her collaboration with Howard Stark, Tony’s father.
Is Peggy Carter Tony Stark’s mother?
Now, this is really one of the wildest fan theories we’ve heard, but it’s out there and it seems that it is quite popular, despite not having much sense when you look at the facts. The theory, as it seems, appeared on Reddit several years ago, posted by user u/savepublicdomain, and it goes like this (we’re bringing you the whole text as it would kill the magic if we redacted it):
Now, the theory makes sense if you portray it like this, especially if you leave out several important facts, but even from this subjective point of view, a lot of the fans disagreed with it, stating that it might be possible, but is still highly improbable.
The theory was, of course, heavily discussed online and when you look at all the facts, you’ll see that there is no way for Peggy Carter to possibly be Tony Stark’s mother. Namely, we know for a fact that Tony Stark was born in 1970, which means that Peggy Carter would have been near 50 years old when she’d given birth to him; this is not impossible, but it is very difficult to achieve from a purely biological standpoint. But, as we’ve said, it’s still possible that she could have had a kid at the time, despite being 50 years old. Still, you have to consider the fact that a lot of time has passed since The First Avenger, when Peggy had initially met Howard, which means that the theory becomes even more improbable.
If you remember well, you’ll know that The First Avenger takes place during the 1940s, so if Peggy had Tony in 1970, that means she and Howard would have had to meet up nearly 30 years later, which is a long time. And while Endgame has revealed to us that they worked in the same S.H.I.E.L.D. facility back then, we also know that Peggy wasn’t pregnant at the time, whereas Howard’s wife was, making it clear that Maria Stark was Tony’s mother, not Peggy. On top of this, while we know Peggy had two kids, Tony Stark wasn’t one of them, and their father wasn’t Howard.
What movie did Peggy Carter die in?
Seeing how the main timeline had Steve Rogers end up being frozen for 70 years before waking up in the 21st century, Peggy Carter continued on with her life, ending up married and with two children. Her love for Captain America never stopped though, and she had his pictures by her side all the time. In 2014, as depicted in The Winder Soldier, Captain America, looking as young as ever, met an old Peggy Carter who was struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.
The two of them shared a conversation, commenting on how things have changed since the time they first met. A year later, Scarlet Witch used telepathy to induce a vision of his reunion with Peggy Carter in Steve’s mind, which was, actually, a foreshadowing of the future (see above). Now, in 2015, Peggy Carter was quite old and way already dying as far as the main timeline is concerned.
She officially passed away during the events of Civil War, succumbing to her disease and old age. Steve was among the people who carried her coffin and he also held a speech at her funeral.
For him, this was a very emotional moment.
Captain Carter in the What If…? TV series
Hayley Atwell reprised her role in the new What If…? series, providing the voice for Peggy Carter in the show; the character debuted in the show’s first episode and as the producers told us, she is going to be a very important character for the show and is set to appear in every season.
Now, What If…? presents alternative takes on well-known characters and Peggy Carter is, absolutely, no exception here. Here, her story is a tad different. Namely, a Hydra attack on the SSR while Steve Rogers is taking the Super Soldier Serum results in Peggy Carter volunteering to take the serum instead in order to complete the whole experiment and become a Super Soldier.
When Hydra’s leader Johann Schmidt, also known as the Red Skull, finds the Tesseract, a powerful artifact he wants to use to build weapons, the new SSR leader John Flynn refuses to send his men in to stop him. He also refuses to let Carter fight at all, angry that a woman took the serum instead of a man.
Howard Stark then secretly Agent Carter a costume and a shield made of Vibranium, with which she attacks a Hydra convoy and successfully retrieves both the Tesseract and the chief Hydra scientist, Arnim Zola. After the success of this mission, she becomes the hero Captain Carter and fights alongside Steve Rogers, who controls an armored suit that Stark builds using the Tesseract.
When Rogers’ friend Bucky Barnes ends up captured by Hydra forces, Carter and Rogers go on a mission to rescue him and his comrades. The two fight in numerous other battles until Rogers goes missing in an attack on a Hydra train and is presumed dead.
Carter quickly interrogates Zola to find out where Red Skull’s secret castle is. They manage to find him using the Tesseract to open a portal to summon an interdimensional creature, which ends up killing him. Barnes finds Rogers in the castle and helps him power up his suit, but without the Tesseract, he runs out of power.
Carter sacrifices herself by pushing the creature back through the portal while Stark closes it. Seventy years later, the Tesseract opens another portal from which Carter emerges and meets Nick Fury and Clint Barton.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we have given you all the information you were looking for. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!