With Captain Carter playing a major role in both seasons of Marvel’s What If..? series, there is some debate about whether or not the animated variant of the character is the same character who appeared in live-action. Having appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Hayley Atwell’s live-action Peggy Carter variant had a short tenure in the medium as Wanda Maximoff went to work against Earth-838’s Illuminati. While talking to Phase Zero for a Spotlight interview which is available now, Atwell shared her hopes for Captain Carter going forward and thinks there’s a chance the What If..? variant is not destined for that Strange fate.
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“I think because of the nature of the incredible spider web of possibility and all these parallel worlds, I think there is a freedom there to not get necessarily too attached to one thread,” Atwell said. “I think she was also fulfilling a particular role in that moment in Doctor Strange, where it was quite much more somber. It was much more serious and earnest and the setup of the gag of going, ‘I could do this all day,’ and then immediately getting cut in half by a frisbee essentially is a fun, silly gag thing.”
The animated version of Captain Carter was last seen discovering the World Tree with The Watcher, giving the What If..? series a surprising tie to Loki Season 2. While she is due for more adventures with The Watcher in What If..? Season 3, Atwell doesn’t think it needs to lead to Captain Carter joining Earth-838’s Illuminati but, instead, continue to have more stories in the multiverse. “I think it tonally is not necessarily what we’ve done in What If..?, so I think they can exist in pockets of their own world based on what each project needs to be, but it doesn’t have to be fixed,” Atwell said. “And I think anything beyond anything developed of the character of Captain Carter, I think you take many aspects of her. You take the fact that she loves what she does, and yet she still has this weight of responsibility in her shoulders. She will always love Steve, but she will be able to move past grief to have a deeper sense of purpose and who she is. And I think just that we can keep developing her based on what the audience love about her.”
This sentiment has previously been echoed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron, who wasn’t ready to deliver any new canon details through interviews but hopes the characters are separate.
Do you think Captain Carter from What If..? is destined to meet Wanda Maximoff in the Illuminati’s headquarters? Share your thoughts in the comment section! Phase Zero’s Hayley Atwell Spotlight episode is available now.
