Hayley Atwell Prefers What If...? Captain Carter to Doctor Strange 2
Hayley Atwell is back in a big screen blockbuster. The British actress stars opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, her first major franchise film since performing as Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Atwell debuted as Peggy back in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, a prequel set nearly a century before the current MCU timeline. Even though she is primarily a 1940s character, Marvel Studios still found room for Peggy throughout the Infinity Saga as she made small appearances in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man before closing out Avengers: Endgame with that now-iconic dance with Steve.
While the Infinity Saga concluded the MCU's Peggy's arc, the character has had a new lease on life in the ongoing Multiverse Saga. Marvel's What If...? animated series centered around an alternate universe story where Peggy became the super soldier instead of Steve. A live-action realization of that alternate story was realized in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) as Atwell suited up as Captain Carter for one scene before getting killed by the Scarlet Witch.
"I felt like I had much more to do in the What If...? animation series. Any actor will tell you to go into a booth in effectively your pajamas and do an animation is great fun. You're focused on the voices," Atwell told Happy Sad Confused. "I love that in that, they've been able to give her more to do as Captain Carter. Captain Britain. It felt like a frustrating moment in Strange. She had less to do than what she did before she had the shield."
Her live-action future within the MCU is unknown, but is has been confirmed that Atwell will star in an episode of Marvel's What If...? Season 2. For now, Atwell can be seen in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, currently playing in theaters.
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premiered in theaters on July 12th. It's the beginning of the end for the action-packed franchise, as Cruise reteams with longtime collaborator and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie for more death-defying and breathtaking stunts. Hunt and allies Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) attempt to track down a new weapon with the power to tear the world apart. Actors Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales join the cast for the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to wrap up with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.