Hayley Atwell Talks About Her Frustration with Captain Carter's Role in DOCTOR STRANGE 2
It was really cool to see Hayley Atwell in action as Captain Carter in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it was short-lived as the character was too easily killed off. I would have loved to see a Captain Carter movie with Atwell leading the charge, and I guess it’s still possible because of the multiverse, but Carter’s death was still very frustrating for the actress.
During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Atwell talked about Captain Carter’s appearance and quick demise in the Doctor Strange sequel, saying:
“[Her death] wasn’t my choice! When [Captain Carter] was like, ‘I could do this all day’ and then followed by she’s immediately cut in half by a frisbee. And the audience being like, ‘She can’t do it all day. Apparently you can’t, so, egg on your face.’ That doesn’t really serve Peggy very well.”
She went on to talk about her time working on Marvel’s animated What If…? series and how she had a much better experience playing Captain Carter:
“I felt like I had much more to do in the What If…? animation series. I mean, any actor will tell you, to be able to go into a booth in effectively your pajamas and do an animation is great fun because you’re focused on the voice as the instrument and your main performative tool…It felt like a frustrating moment in Strange.”
Peggy Carter is a favorite character for Marvel fans, and we all love Atwell in the role. It’s interesting that the studios didn’t play with her more in the MCU. At least we’ve got the What If…? show and the hope that she will return at some point through the multiverse. She’s just such a fun and interesting character and Marvel has barely scratched the surface with her.
Atwell previously explained: "It was definitely not, you know, the trajectory that I see for Peggy. I would definitely like her to have more to do." As for whether Peggy will return, Atwell understands it’s out of her hands, saying: "It depends on what Marvel, and what the audiences, want," she continued:
"I'm a custodian of her. Compared to the rest of my career and everything I've done or my stage work and doing Mission: Impossible now and all the diversity of roles I've played, and the diversity that I get to explore, and to be able to play more complex roles and villains and lots of different things – she is not mine anymore. She lives in the world of people that have taken her into their heart. And that's beautiful. But it's kind of like: yeah, you can't control the impact a particular role has on the rest of the world."
Would you want to see more of Peggy Carter / Captain Carter in the MCU in the future?