Captain Carter Star Hayley Atwell Slams Her MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS Cameo: “It Was Disrespectful”

Hayley Atwell isn’t exactly thrilled with what Marvel did to Captain Carter in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

While the movie gave fans the live-action debut of Peggy Carter’s super-powered variant, her big MCU moment ended almost as quickly as it started, and Atwell has some serious issues with how the character was handled.

Multiverse of Madness took Doctor Strange to an alternate Earth protected by the Illuminati rather than the Avengers. The group was a fun pull from Marvel Comics, where the Illuminati were among the few heroes aware of the threat posed by incursions, something their MCU counterparts also knew plenty about.

The lineup also gave Marvel an excuse to bring out some major cameos. Patrick Stewart returned as Professor X, Anson Mount was back as Black Bolt, and Atwell finally appeared in live action as Captain Carter.

Lashana Lynch returned as Maria Rambeau, who was Captain Marvel in this universe, while John Krasinski showed up as Reed Richards after years of fans campaigning to see him play Mister Fantastic.

It should have been a pretty awesome moment for Captain Carter, but Atwell doesn't see it that way. During a panel at the For the Love of Fantasy and Sci-Fi convention in London, Atwell spoke about her appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and admitted she was seriously disappointed by what happened to Peggy.

“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. She’s like, ‘I could do this all day.’ And then it’s like frisbee’d to death, and we’re like, ‘No, you couldn’t.’ And then people going, ‘Oh, she’s so lame.’”

Yeah, Captain Carter didn't exactly get the heroic showcase fans might have expected. Atwell also revealed that she wanted to bring something more to the character during the sequence. According to the actress, the filmmakers initially indicated they would hear her idea, only to ultimately reject it.

The bigger problem for Atwell appears to be what Captain Carter was actually there to accomplish. When Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff arrives to confront the Illuminati, the supposedly formidable superhero team gets completely annihilated.

Wanda asks Reed Richards whether he has children, and after learning that he has a wife and kids, she tells him that at least his children will still have a mother before killing him. Black Bolt gets an even nastier exit when Wanda seals his mouth, causing his own power to destroy his head.

Captain Carter and Captain Marvel don't fare much better. Both are killed in short order, and even Professor X fails to stop Wanda.

The entire Illuminati essentially exists to demonstrate just how dangerous the Scarlet Witch has become, which makes for a brutal sequence but doesn't give these characters much of a chance to prove why they're supposed to be among their universe's greatest heroes.

For Captain Carter in particular, the “I could do this all day” moment probably doesn't help. The phrase is so closely associated with Steve Rogers' refusal to quit that having Peggy deliver her version of it immediately before being sliced apart by her own shield turns what should be a defiant character beat into a grim punchline.

Thankfully for Atwell, her Marvel story isn't ending there. She is returning as Agent Carter in Avengers: Doomsday, and Atwell said during an interview at San Diego Comic-Con that her role will be much more substantial than the cameo she had in Multiverse of Madness.

That should give Peggy Carter another opportunity to make her mark on the MCU without being introduced primarily so Wanda has somebody else to brutally murder.

Captain Carter also got far more room to shine in Marvel's What If...? Disney+ series. The animated show explored what Peggy could really do after receiving the Super Soldier Serum, giving fans a fully developed version of the shield-slinging hero rather than the short-lived Illuminati member we met in live action.

Atwell calling her Multiverse of Madness appearance “disrespectful” is understandable when you look at how quickly Captain Carter was introduced then brutally killed. The Illuminati massacre was designed to make Wanda terrifying, and it definitely accomplished that.

Unfortunately, Captain Carter ended up paying for it with a live-action debut that didn't exactly leave her looking like one of Marvel's strongest heroes.

Now Avengers: Doomsday has a chance to give Atwell and Peggy Carter a much better return.