‘Agent Carter’ is the kickass lady hero primetime has been waiting for
Let me be frank with you: I love Peggy Carter. Who is Peggy Carter you ask? Well, if you’re asking that we obviously haven’t hung out enough yet. Aside from being the absolute best, Peggy features heavily in Captain America: The First Avenger and its followup, Captain America: The Winter Solider, ditto Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And that’s not even getting into the comics.
Well I’m currently high-fiving a million angels, because my beloved Peggy Carter is getting her own TV show, Marvel’s Agent Carter AND IT’S PREMIERING TONIGHT. This is seriously one of the best things to happen to primetime. Now I’ll get you up to speed on Peggy.
Having first served for the British Secret Intelligence (as a SPY!), Peggy was assigned as the liaison for the British government with the Strategic Scientific Reserve, or SSR. It’s in the SSR that she first meets Steve Rogers, who injected with the Super Solider Serum, magically grows abs, and becomes Captain America. Naturally, the two have a “thing” but it’s a short-lived thing as Captain America has to save the world, and manages to get himself frozen in ice. Flash forward like 60 years, Cap’s defrosted and has kept his youthful glow (because of the serum) while Peggy has gracefully aged and lived her years to their fullest — she learned how to fly a plane! But wait, what else did she do during those years without Steve? Cue — your new favorite TV show — Marvel’s Agent Carter.
Peggy doesn’t have superpowers. She’s human, just like you and me. So that means, everything she does comes from her own strength — both inner and outer. She has worked ridiculously hard for everything she’s accomplished in life, but because she is a woman (during the ’40s) people are still quick to judge her. But, Peggy is no “damsel in distress.” She can hold her own. She’s a fighter who just happens to have killer fashion sense.
Do you still need another HUGE reason to love her? She was one of the founding members of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, commonly known as S.H.I.E.L.D. That’s right — there was a woman on the front lines of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the very beginning. So even though S.H.I.E.L.D. appears to be a Boys Club, there’s been a lady there all along.
Peggy is by no means the first female from comics to make the jump from page to screen, but she’s the first one doing so with the show in her name. The show is not about a female sidekick, or a female love interest — it’s about Peggy’s adventures without Captain America. That’s kind of a big deal. And the success of Agent Carter will only help pave the way for more female-centric shows, whether comic or not. Hopefully Peggy is just the first in a very long line of awesome female-driven butt-kicking shows — in heels and red lipstick, no less.
Agent Carter, as played by the rad Hayley Atwell who has already been tweeting about filming:
I love that. I love that so much.
So do you get why I love Peggy Carter? She can save the day with her wits, her killer smarts, and her natural strength (no science serum needed). She’s like the 1940s Marvel version of Sydney Bristow.
Peggy Carter is bar none my favorite Marvel heroine, and I hope she becomes your favorite, too. It feels like we’ve been waiting so long for a character like Peggy to come along, and I’m so glad she’s finally here.
