Margaret Elizabeth Carter is a fictional character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

. She is usually depicted as a supporting character in books featuring

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

. Created by writer

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

and artist

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

, she debuted, unnamed, in '' Tales of Suspense'' #75 as a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

love interest of Steve Rogers in flashback sequences. She would later be better known as a relative of Captain America's modern-day significant other,

Sharon Carter Sharon Carter (also known as Agent 13) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is usually depicted as a secret agent, an ex-field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. under Nick Fury, and a love interest of St ...

Hayley Atwell Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...

portrayed the character in several projects of the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

from 2011 to 2019, including

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

, a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, and

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

, while also playing alternate versions of the character known as Captain Carter in the animated series '' What If...?'' (2021–present) and the film ''

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' is a 2022 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel ...

'' (2022).

Publication history

The character debuted in a single panel (and unnamed) as a wartime love interest of Captain America in '' Tales of Suspense'' #75 (March 1966), and then receiving a backstory in #77 (May 1966). She was created by writer

and artist

. She appeared again as the older sister of

in ''

'' #161 (May 1973). She was later

retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...

ned as Sharon's aunt, then later great-aunt, due to the unaging nature of comic book characters (see ''Captain America'' vol. 5 #25 (April 2007)). The character has appeared frequently in Captain America stories set during

Fictional character biography

Dr. Peggy Carter joins the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

as a teenager and becomes a skilled fighter, who serves on several operations alongside Captain America. The two fall in love, but an exploding shell gives her amnesia and she is sent to live with her parents in Virginia. During the "

Original Sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 ...

" storyline, it was revealed in 1952 that Peggy Carter worked with Howard Stark and Woody McCord when they investigated an alien ship in Siberia.''Operation S.I.N.'' #1. Marvel Comics. The three of them worked to keep the alien from being taken by Hydra and had the alien live with Anton Vanko. In the 1960s, Peggy Carter joined up with

S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage, special law enforcement, and counter-terrorism agency appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in ''Strange Tales'' #135 (August 1965), it often ...

for a long tenure. At the time when Captain America resurfaced in the world, Peggy Carter was taking treatments from Doctor Faustus. When she was rescued by Captain America, she maintained her friendship with him. Peggy Carter later helped Captain America fight the Secret Empire. She also dealt with his decision to stop being Captain America for a while. Peggy helps Captain America when her niece Sharon Carter and some S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents went missing while gathering information on the new Grand Director. Peggy Carter later joined the Avengers' support staff at

Avengers Mansion Avengers Mansion is a fictional building appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It has traditionally been the base of the Avengers. The enormous, city block-sized building is located at 890 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New ...

. During her retirement, Peggy lived in a nursing home and started suffering dementia where she couldn't recognize Sharon. William Burnside later visited Peggy claiming to be the original Captain America. Following her death, S.H.I.E.L.D. erected a memorial statue of her outside the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy in Newark. Steve Rogers,

Nick Fury Colonel Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, he first appeared in '' Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos' ...

, and

Dum Dum Dugan Timothy Aloysius Cadwallader "Dum Dum" Dugan is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is one of the most experienced members of Nick Fury's team, known for his mark ...

attended her funeral. Through unknown means, Peggy Carter was revived and rejuvenated where she joined Sharon in forming the Daughters of Liberty under the alias of Dryad. Besides Sharon, the only other people who knew were Falcon and Winter Soldier.''Captain America'' vol. 9 #19. Marvel Comics. She assisted the group in working to clear Captain America's name when he was framed for the death of

Thunderbolt Ross General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross (also known as the Red Hulk) is a fictional character who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics featuring the Hulk. Ross is a United States military officer, the father of Betty Ross, ex-father- ...

. Dryad fought Ross' real murder Foreigner until Crossbones and Sin fired a missile at them. Dryad survived while Foreigner presumably perishes. She secretly assists Winter Soldier into feeding false intel on Captain America's whereabouts to

Nick Fury Jr. Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury Jr. (Marcus Johnson) is a fictional comic book character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. He is a son and successor of former U.S. Army hero/super-spy and the intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nic ...

in order to throw him off. After getting some intel from Baron Strucker's mind, Peggy's location is stormed by Nick Fury Jr. and his men while Peggy was asking Sharon when she is going to tell Captain America about her revival. Peggy tells Nick Fury Jr. that he and his men will have to go through her first if they want to get to Captain America. Peggy subdues the soldiers and holds Nick Fury Jr. at gunpoint in order to straighten him out. Deciding it's time to let Steve know about her return, Peggy arranged for Daughters of Liberty teammate

Agatha Harkness Agatha Harkness is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a powerful witch, typically portrayed as a friend and teacher of Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, as well as the mother of Nicholas Scratc ...

to bring Steve to her. She revealed to him that she has been tracking Aleksander Lukin ever since the event where Lukin and Selene took a soul fragment from Sharon. In addition, Peggy stated to Steve that Lukin was behind the death of Thunderbolt Ross, the attacks of the Watchdogs, and the new Scourge. Sharon, Falcon, and Winter Soldier enter while explaining why they kept Peggy's revival a secret. Peggy and Winter Soldier reveal to Steve that the soul fragment that manifested as a stone was used to revive Lukin which also revived the remnants of Red Skull's mind that is in him.

Abilities

Peggy Carter is shown to be a superb hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist, also excelling in using firearms. She is a highly trained spy, tactician, strategist, and commander. As Dryad, Peggy wears a type of battle armor that is strong enough to protect her from a missile attack and keep her insulated when it is ablaze.

Other versions

Amalgam Comics

In ''Super-Soldier: Man of War'' #1 from

Amalgam Comics Amalgam Comics was a collaborative publishing imprint shared by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones (e.g., DC Comics' Batman and Marvel Comics' Wolverine become the Amalga ...

, Mademoiselle Peggy is a cross between Peggy Carter and

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

' World War II version of Mademoiselle Marie.

Captain Carter

As a result of the success of the new Captain Carter from the '' What If...?'' animated series, Marvel introduced a similar character in the comic ''Captain Carter'' #1. It is set in its own universe, unrelated to the main Marvel universe or the MCU one. Captain Carter is cryogenically frozen from WWII up to the modern day, as in the usual origin story of Captain America, and discovers that HYDRA is still active. Another Captain Carter, similar to the MCU character as well, appeared in ''Avengers Forever'' #4, a crossover involving the multiverse and many alternate versions of characters. She alongside Warbow and War Widow find

Moon Knight Moon Knight is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, the character first appeared in '' Werewolf by Night'' #32 (August 1975). The son of a r ...

and

Vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

from Earth-818 at the Center of Infinity and recruit them into Avenger Prime's army. The concept of Peggy Carter serving as Captain America was created for the game ''

Marvel Puzzle Quest ''Marvel Puzzle Quest'' is a video game released by D3 Publisher and Marvel Entertainment on October 3, 2013, and developed by Demiurge Studios. The fourth installment in the ''Puzzle Quest'' series, it is a free-to-play, match-three ''Bejeweled ...

'' for Captain America's 75th anniversary. She was adapted into the third series of the comic ''

Exiles Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

''.

Exiles

In ''Exiles'' Vol. 3, the titular team is joined by a Peggy Carter who became the Captain America of her universe and a female version of

Bucky Barnes James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is a Character (arts), fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally introduced as a sidekick to Captain America, the character was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby a ...

named Becky Barnes.

House of M

In the alternate reality created by Scarlet Witch in the 2005 "

House of M "House of M" is a 2005 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics, consisting of a core eight-issue comic book limited series written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel and a number of crossover tie-in books. Its fir ...

" storyline, Captain America is never frozen in the Arctic, and instead marries Peggy shortly after World War II ends.''

'' vol. 5 #10 (Oct. 2005). Marvel Comics.

Spider-Gwen

On Earth-65, Peggy Carter (designed after

) is the long-lived director of S.H.I.E.L.D., much like Nick Fury in the primary universe. She also sports an eye patch similar to the one worn by Fury, later recruiting an amnesiac Manji, the Immortal Mr. Murderhands to work for her as an assassin.

In other media

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Peggy Carter appears in media set in the

(MCU), portrayed by

. This version is a British agent of the Strategic Scientific Reserve before co-founding

with Howard Stark and becoming the aunt of

. She first appears in the live-action film '' Captain America: The First Avenger'' before making subsequent appearances in the live-action

Marvel One-Shot Marvel One-Shots are a series of direct-to-video short films produced by Marvel Studios, set within or inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Initially released from 2011 to 2014, they were included as special features on the MCU fil ...

''Agent Carter'', the live-action TV series '' Agent Carter'' and ''

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ''Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, an ...

'', and the live-action films '' Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', '' Avengers: Age of Ultron'', and ''

Ant-Man Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's first appearance was in ''Tales to Astonish'' #27 (January 1962) but first appeared in cost ...

''. While she does not appear in the live-action film '' Captain America: Civil War'', she is stated to have died. Additionally, alternate timeline versions of Peggy appear in the live-action films '' Avengers: Endgame'' and ''

'' (2022) as well as the

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

animated series '' What If...?''

Television

* Peggy Carter appears in the "Captain America segment" of ''

The Marvel Super Heroes ''The Marvel Super Heroes'' is an American animated television series starring five comic book superheroes from Marvel Comics. The first TV series based on Marvel characters, it debuted in broadcast syndication, syndication on United States, U.S. ...

'', voiced by

Peg Dixon Melissa Dixon (29 August 1923 – 26 October 2015), credited as Peg Dixon, was a Canadian actress. She was best known for her voice acting in ''Spider-Man''. She was married to Ed McNamara. She was also in an episode with Rob Paulsen Robert ...

. * Peggy Carter, based on the MCU incarnation, appears in the '' Avengers Assemble'' episode "New Year's Resolution", voiced by Hayley Atwell.

Video games

* Peggy Carter, based on the MCU incarnation, appears in '' Captain America: Super Soldier'', voiced again by Hayley Atwell. * Peggy Carter appears in ''

Lego Marvel's Avengers ''Lego Marvel's Avengers'' is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Windows ...

'', voiced again by Hayley Atwell. * Peggy Carter appears in ''

''. ** An alternate universe version of Carter who became Captain America also appears as a playable character. * Peggy Carter as Captain America appears in '' Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2''.

References

External links

Peggy Carter
at Marvel Database
Margaret "Peggy" Carter
at the Comic Book DB
Peggy Carter
at Comic Vine {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Peggy British superheroes Characters created by Stan Lee Characters created by Jack Kirby Comics characters introduced in 1966 Fictional British Army officers Fictional British secret agents Fictional characters from Virginia Fictional immigrants to the United States Fictional Special Air Service personnel Fictional female martial artists Fictional female secret agents and spies Fictional military strategists Fictional spymasters Fictional women soldiers and warriors Fictional World War II veterans Marvel Comics martial artists Marvel Comics superheroes Marvel Comics female superheroes S.H.I.E.L.D. agents United Kingdom-themed superheroes