Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company / Marvel Entertainment
AGENT CARTER
Starring Hayley Atwell (Agent Peggy Carter), James D’Arcy (Edwin Jarvis), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Chad Michael Murray (Jack Thompson), Enver Gjokaj (Daniel Sousa), Shea Whigham (Roger Dooley), Bridget Regan (Dottie Underwood), and Ralph Brown (Doctor Ivchenko / Johann Fenhoff) with Neil McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan, Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, and a special appearance by Stan Lee
Music By Christopher Lennertz
Produced by Sara E. White and Jeph Loeb with Kevin Feige
Distributed by Disney-ABC Television Group
Original Release: January 6, 2015
Number of Episodes: 8
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Peggy Carter First Comic Book Appearance:Â Tales of Suspense # 75Â (March 1966)
Peggy Carter created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company / Marvel Entertainment
Let’s Talk About Canon
From 2008-2013, what was and what wasn’t canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was very easy to understand. Any film that was produced independently by Marvel Studios was part of the MCU. Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man 2. Thor. Captain America: The First Avenger. The Avengers. Iron Man 3. This included the Marvel One-Shot short films as well. The Consultant. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer. Item 47. All Hail the King. On top of those 12 productions, forthcoming films such as Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ant-Man:Â all Marvel Studios productions, were canon as well.
Then, in 2013, along came Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This was a television series produced by Marvel Television, which was founded by Marvel Entertainment on July 28, 2010. Jeph Loeb was appointed Executive Vice President of Marvel TV. Following the monumental success of Marvel Studios’ The Avengers, Marvel TV entered into talks with ABC to produce a weekly television series that would be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Bob Iger was a fan of the Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 short film that was screened during the 2012 San Diego Comic Con on July 13, and Iger reportedly suggested that the tone and themes of the short would make for a compelling television series. In August, ABC ordered a Pilot to be written by The Avengers Director Joss Whedon, his brother Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for the show that would become Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. On May 10, 2013, ABC green-lit the show.
Four months later and inspired by another Marvel One-Shot; this being Agent Carter, which was screened at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Television began developing an Agent Carter television series.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiered on ABC on September 24, 2013. The first season centered around the return / resurrection of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson after being killed by Loki in The Avengers. Clark Gregg reprised his role as Coulson from Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, The Consultant, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer, and The Avengers. The first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. featured multiple references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, tied-in loosely to Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, and tied-in in a big way to Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the Hydra Uprising seen in that film spilled-over into the show. The first three seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also featured cameo appearances by MCU characters such as Maria Hill (portrayed by Cobie Smulders), Nick Fury (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson), the Lady Sif (portrayed by Jaimie Alexander), Agent Jasper Sitwell (portrayed by Maximiliano Hernandez), Felix Blake (portrayed by Titus Welliver), Peggy Carter (portrayed by Hayley Atwell), Dum Dum Dugan (portrayed by Neil McDonough), Jim Morita (portrayed by Kenneth Cho), Doctor List (portrayed by Henry Goodman), President Matthew Ellis (portrayed by William Sadler), and World Security Council member Gideon Malick (portrayed by Powers Boothe). Sounds like canon, yes? ⊠No!
Marvel Studios had no involvement in the development of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and people on the Marvel Studios team were reportedly not fans of Phil Coulson â the man whose death brought The Avengers together â being resurrected for the show. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was Kevin Feige’s sandbox, and he didn’t want Marvel Television playing in that sandbox. It’s Kevin Feige who’d initially suggested the idea of an Avengers film and championed the idea of a Shared Universe, and who had the vision and passion to pull it all off. Marvel Studios came out of 2012 as the hottest Studio in Hollywood, and Marvel Entertainment wanted a piece of that pie. That’s why Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was made.
Agent Carter was different. It was a series that one, was set in the 1940’s, which meant it could serve as a sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger and two, that was developed by various members of the Marvel Studios team in accordance with Jeph Loeb’s Marvel Television. Louis D’Esposito (who directed the Agent Carter One-Shot for Marvel Studios and was a member of Kevin Feige’s inner circle) championed the show and directed the first episode while Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who wrote both of Marvel Studios’ Captain America films) pitched in on the series’ development. Writer Eric Pearson (who worked on four of the five Marvel Studios’ One-Shots) also worked on the show and Joe Russo (co-Director of Captain America: The Winter Soldier) directed the second episode of the series. The series furthermore starred Hayley Atwell in a reprisal of her role as Peggy Carter, and Dominic Cooper in a reprisal of his role as Howard Stark. On top of all of that, Kevin Feige himself pitched-in as well; enough in fact to be credited as an Executive Producer of the series. Sounds like canon, yes? ⊠No!
In 2023, a Marvel Studios-endorsed book was released titled Marvel Studios: The Marvel Cinematic Universe – An Official Timeline. Marvel Studios CCO Kevin Feige wrote the forward. The book included no references to the Agent Carter series whatsoever, and in subsequent days, even when Marvel Television’s The Defenders Saga was confirmed to be MCU canon by Marvel’s Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum, no mention of Agent Carter ever materialized either vocally or on the official Disney+ MCU Timeline, which was updated to include The Defenders shows.
With Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga canonizing films dating back to the early-2000’s, Agent Carter and other projects overseen by Jeph Loeb remained unacknowledged, including Agent Carter. Officially, the closest thing Agent Carter is to being canon is that it happened on another Earth – in another Universe adjacent to the MCU 616-Universe (the Sacred Timeline).
Unlike other projects though, Agent Carter stands in a rather unique space. Its First Season is completely reliant upon the events of Captain America: The First Avenger to be fully understood in context, and actor James D’Arcy even appeared in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame in a reprisal of his role as Edwin Jarvis.
For now, and until Marvel Studios suggests otherwise, it’s best to view Agent Carter as a series that exists in its own Universe where most of the events of Captain America: The First Avenger went down in the exact same way, setting up the events of this series. It can at the same time be assumed that future events may not have gone the same way as depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that followed … or, maybe they did? Who knows? For now, this a story set in an Alternate Universe that is very similar to the 616-Universe, at least in the 1940’s. I’m including a review of Season One of this series on this site because the Marvel Studios team worked with the Marvel Television team on its production and because it’s so damn enjoyable. Watch it, please; it’s SO damn good, but remember, this does not take place on Earth-616.Â
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company / Marvel Entertainment
Memorable Agent Carter Quotes
â[Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] always was a separate thing [from the movies]â â Joss Whedon
âMy end of things is exclusively the features. Jeph Loeb runs our TV division ⊠I have some smaller involvement in Agent Carter because of Hayley and because Louis D’Esposito did the short film on which the show is based ⊠and I had asked to be a little bit more involved in that one. So, I’m helping them out there. But, primarily and exclusively, I want to make the movies.â â Kevin Feige speaking at Marvel Studios’ Phase Three slate announcement held at the El Capitan theater.
âI think actually the movie people were a little bit cross about the TV show. They were sort of like ‘Well you can have this but not this. And this but not that.’ It’s complicated enough as it is without me adding another layer of complication. We also created a TV show called S.H.I.E.L.D. right before they made a movie where they destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. so everybody’s having a great time.â â Joss Whedon speaking to IGN in 2015.
âThey had said early on. ‘Hey, we’re thinking about doing this show about the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, and Joss said, ‘I think I might do this.’ I said, ‘That’s cool. God bless you. But you should know that we’re destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. in Winter Soldier. You guys do whatever you want. But know that that’s what we’re going to do.’â â Kevin Feige speaking to BuzzFeed in 2015.
âThe Coulson thing was, I think, a little anomalous just because that really came from the television division, which is sort of considered to be its own subsection of the Marvel Universe. As far as the fiction of the movies, Coulson is dead.â â Joss Whedon speaking to Mental Floss in 2015.
âWe work really closely with Eric Carroll in Marvel Studios. He’s sort of the guy who tells us, ‘Well, you can’t really do this to that thing, because that’s going to step on this project. But what if you do this?’ They’re really generous with that world.â â Agent Carter executive producer Michele Fazekas
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company / Marvel Entertainment
Fun Agent Carter Facts
A combination of modern digital technology and traditional analogue techniques were used in Agent Carter to replicate the feel of period pieces.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark’s JARVIS program is the namesake of the character James D’Arcy portrays in Agent Carter:  Edwin Jarvis, who works as Howard Stark’s butler. D’Arcy reprised his role as a Variant of Edwin Jarvis in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. D’Arcy was the first character that debuted in a Marvel Television series and was then cast by Marvel Studios to appear in a film as essentially that same character. Charlie Cox (Daredevil: Season One, Daredevil: Season Two, The Defenders, and Daredevil: Season Three) would follow in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Agent Carter serves as a (Multiversal) origin story for important themes seen in official Marvel Cinematic Universe projects such as The Winter Soldier Program and The Black Widow Program. With The Winter Soldier Program, Doctor Faustus uses the Faustus Method to hypnotize people throughout the show. In Agent Carter, Faustus gets imprisoned alongside Toby Jones’ Arnim Zola, which implies that Faustus goes on to teach Zola his method, which Zola is later seen in the MCU using on Bucky Barnes to transform Barnes into The Winter Soldier. Meanwhile, The Red Room Academy is seen in Agent Carter, and this is an early version of what became The Black Widow Program in the MCU. The Dottie Underwood character (portrayed by Bridget Regan) is essentially a Black Widow. While Natasha Romanoff (portrayed by Scarlett Johansson) was the MCU’s Black Widow in modern times, we would meet other MCU Black Widow’s in 2021’s Black Widow, including Natasha’s âsisterâ Yelena Belova (portrayed by Florence Pugh).
Stan Lee makes a cameo in Agent Carter, sharing a scene with Dominic Cooper’s Howard Stark in the fourth episode: The Blitzkrieg Button, which aired on January 27, 2015. Stan of course cameoed in 22 MCU films from 2008’s Iron Man through 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Stan passed away of November 18, 2018, at the age of 95.
ABC announced the official cancellation of Agent Carter on May 12, 2016.
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Agent Carter Episodes
Now is Not the End â Directed by Louis D’Esposito. Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
The first episode of Agent Carter catches up with SSR Agent Peggy Carter 1-year after the (presumed) death of Steve Rogers. Peggy is working as an administrative assistant for the Strategic Scientific Reserve in the United States and is soon contacted by Howard Stark to help him clear his name after being branded a traitor. Stark is at the top of the SSR’s most wanted list, but Peggy agrees to assist him, nonetheless. Stark teams Peggy with his butler Edwin Jarvis. A young Anton Vanko is introduced, as is the Roxxon Oil corporation, and a version of the implosion bomb.
ABC TV Rating: 6.9-million viewers
Bridge and Tunnel â Directed by Joe Russo. Written by Eric Pearson
Peggy Carter goes undercover as a health inspector in search of a truckload of Nitramene Bombs. Her search leads her to the name Sheldon McFee. From there, Peggy joins her SSR colleagues as they continue to investigate the Roxxon implosion that occurred during episode one. There, Peggy recognizes scientist Miles Van Ert, who is arrested and after being tortured by Jack Thompson, reveals McFee’s location. Peggy and Edwin Jarvis team-up to try and beat the SSR to McFee. They succeed and Carter pummels McFee and then boards the truck with Leet Brannis, who is being targeted by an unidentified assailant. Said assailant mortally wounds Brannis, but dies when the truck veers off a cliff and implodes. With this case concluded, Peggy moves into the Griffith Hotel at the invitation of her waitress friend Angie Martinelli.
ABC TV Rating: 6.9-million viewers
Time and Tide â Directed by Scott Winant. Written by Andi Bushell
The SSR investigate several clues pertaining to the Roxxon and Nitramene implosions, ultimately connecting dots that lead them to Howard Stark, as his license plate was discovered at the scene of the Roxxon implosion. Venturing to Stark’s mansion, the SSR encounter Edwin Jarvis, who is in the company of Peggy Carter. In an effort not to expose Peggy’s presence, Jarvis agrees to comply with the SSR’s request that he come to the station and answer some of their questions. The mysterious past of Edwin Jarvis and the roots of his friendship with Howard Stark are then delved into during what is an uncomfortable interrogation for Jarvis. With tension rising, Peggy intervenes at the expense of her own competence and Jarvis is allowed to walk free. The episode ends with the shocking murder of SSR Agent Krzeminski.
ABC TV Rating: 5.10-million viewers
The Blitzkrieg Button â Directed by Stephen Cragg. Written by Brant Englestein
The fugitive Howard Stark shacks-up with Peggy Carter at her women-only apartment at the Griffith hotel while SSR Chief Roger Dooley investigates the mysterious Battle of Finow. Stark soon concludes that Peggy needs to get her hands on a weapon of his design called the Blitzkrieg Button which Stark says is capable of taking out the electrical grid for all of New York. Carter locates the weapon, but her curiosity gets the better of her and she activates it. The device does not release the electromagnetic pulse Howard had warned of but instead opens to reveal a Vile containing the blood of the presumed dead Steve Rogers / Captain America. A furious Peggy boots Stark from her apartment and lashes out at Jarvis as well. The episode comes to an end with the reveal that Peggy’s new neighbor Dottie Underwood is far more than what she seems.
ABC Rating: 4.6-million viewers
The Iron Ceiling â Directed by Peter Leto. Written by Jose Molina
This episode opens with the reveal that Dottie Underwood is part of an early Black Widow program in Russia which turns young girls into deadly assassins. SSR Chief Dooley meanwhile has deduced (with Peggy’s help) that Howard Stark is in cahoots with the mysterious Russian organization known as Leviathan and vows to cut Stark off at the pass. Peggy requests that Dooley include her in the mission, and he reluctantly agrees after she assures him that she can enlist the help of the notorious 107th Regiment. In Russia, Peggy meets up with her former colleagues which includes members of The Howling Commandos: Dum Dum Dugan, Happy Sam Sawyer, Junior Juniper, and Pinky Pinkerton. Peggy and the 107th ultimately stumble upon the school where Dottie had been trained in the Black Widow program where they encounter a seemingly harmless young girl who goes on to stab Dugan and kill Juniper before escaping. The group soon discover two prisoners: a weapons manufacturer and his psychiatrist. Peggy and her friends free them but a firefight ensues which sees the weapons manufacturer betray the group, provoking his psychiatrist (Doctor Ivchenko) to kill him. Ivchenko is then taken back to America, vowing to help them fight the Leviathan organization in any way that he can.
ABC TV Rating: 4.2-million viewers
A Sin to Err â Directed by Stephen Williams. Written by Lindsey Allen
Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis visit many of Howard Stark’s former flames in an effort to find the female assassin that Peggy believes killed Agent Krzeminski. Meanwhile, Agent Sousa determines that Peggy is a traitor and lets Chief Dooley in on the evidence that led him to believe this. Dooley orders Agents Thompson and Sousa to bring Carter in, but she manages to escape until she comes face-to-face with the very assassin that she’d been hunting, the woman she knew as Dottie Underwood. Dottie renders Peggy unconscious with a kiss, but before she can do any further harm, Peggy is taken into custody by Sousa and Thompson and taken back to SSR headquarters for interrogation. In the meantime, Chief Dooley befriends Dr. Ivchenko, unaware that the Russian doctor is a master of the Faustus hypnotizing technique, which he begins to use on Dooley after convincing another young SSR agent to kill himself.
ABC TV Rating: 4.5-million viewers
Snafu â Directed by Vincent Misiano. Written by Chris Dingess
This episode opens with the intense interrogation of Peggy Carter by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, who believe her to be in cahoots with Howard Stark and behind the murder of Agent Ray Krzeminski. The interrogation is soon interrupted by Edwin Jarvis, who claims to have a signed confession from Howard, but this is merely an attempt to stall for time. While incarcerated, Peggy notices Doctor Ivchenko communicating with someone across the street via hand gestures. Convinced the person he is communicating with is Dottie Underwood, and that he is up to no good, Peggy comes clean with the SSR in a desperate effort to gain their trust as she believes her colleagues to be in imminent danger. Peggy ultimately wins them over and Agents Sousa and Thompson venture across the street in search of the Black Widow. Dooley however falls under the spell of Doctor Ivchenko and obtains Howard Stark’s Item # 17 from SSR custody before being convinced to don an explosive jacket, also of Howard Stark’s design. Chief Dooley nor SSR scientists are able to remove the jacket and in a sudden act of heroism, Dooley shoots out a high-rise SSR window and dives out of it before blowing up in mid-air and losing his life. The SSR is left reeling as Dottie Underwood and Doctor Ivchenko both escape with Howard Stark’s Item # 17. This âbad babyâ is then revealed to be a device capable of turning common people into mindless killers by filling their minds with uncontrollable rage. Ivchenko and Underwood unleash this device on a theater of moviegoers who kill each other in fits of violent rage.
ABC TV Rating: 4.1-million viewers
Valediction â Directed by Christopher Misiano. Written by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters
The Strategic Scientific Reserve discover the corpses of the victims that were locked inside a theater and exposed to Howard Stark’s âMidnight Oil.â Agent Sousa himself is exposed to the gas before Howard Stark finally turns himself in to the SSR and has his name cleared. The name of Doctor Ivchenko is revealed to be Johann Fennhoff, whose people had âMidnight Oilâ used against them in Russia during the Battle of Finow. Fennhoff survived the massacre thanks to a gas mask, but his brother was amongst the victims and Fennhoff vowed to obtain vengeance. Howard Stark is soon abducted by Fennhoff and Dottie Underwood, and Fennhoff hypnotizes Howard in an effort to have Stark drop âMidnight Oilâ on Times Square. A redeemed Peggy along with Edwin Jarvis work with the SSR to prevent the massacre and Peggy finds herself speaking over the radio to Howard in a heartbreaking throwback to her conversation with Steve Rogers at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. Peggy taps-in to Howard’s sincere love and appreciation for Steve as the only noble thing that he ever created and brings Howard to his senses, preventing disaster. The SSR then take Doctor Ivchenko / Fennhoff into custody but imprison him alongside none other than Arnim Zola. Meanwhile, Peggy Carter goes on to dump the last-remaining vile of Steve Rogers’ blood into the Atlantic Ocean.
ABC TV Rating: 4-million viewers
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My Agent Carter Review
I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of Agent Carter and believe that everyone involved did a really good job in bringing this series to life and telling a cohesive story that added to the mythos of the Inaugural Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (in an Alternate Universe, anyway). If you read my Captain America: The First Avenger review, you know that I enjoy productions that are set in this time period and you know my appreciation for the Peggy Carter character, and this show gave me something that I’d been wanting for a while as a fan: more Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter!
This was the first Marvel Television production to feature a female lead, and Hayley Atwell was a great choice to lead that charge! She personifies that defiant spirit that women began to be driven by at this point in human history; that decades-long fight for equality that continues to this day. Peggy was an easy character to root for throughout this series for those reasons, and though she wasn’t âsuperâ from a physical enhancement standpoint, she was certainly a hero fueled by courage, ambition, and even stubbornness, and it was awesome to see Hayley Atwell get her moment to shine!
I also loved Dominic Cooper’s Howard Stark in this series. He too got to spread his wings and develop a character that he first portrayed (a Multiversal Variant of) in Captain America: The First Avenger and that had been portrayed by two different actors in two different Iron Man films before him within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I liked watching Howard play politics and he was especially great in the brief court scene that showed anyone that watched Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2 just how far the proverbial apple did not fall from the tree across the Multiverse! Dominic Cooper perfectly built upon the character he set-up in The First Avenger, and we even got to see a little bit of his darker side in his obsessing over the remnants of Steve’s blood and his willingness to lie to Peggy about it. Dominic and Hayley boasted tremendous chemistry during their scenes together and kudos to the showrunners for keeping their relationship non-romantic.
James D’Arcy was perfect as Edwin Jarvis in this series. He had a sort of dry personality that allowed Jarvis and Peggy to have an entertaining chemistry. He is awkward but capable while she is kick-ass first, ask questions later, and this made for a great dynamic.
Other highlights of this series were Bridget Regan as Dottie Underwood and Shea Wigham as Chief Dooley. The chief’s death hit me hard, especially with his emotional last words to Peggy. That was a very well-scripted and well-acted scene. The other scene that got me emotionally was Peggy’s solemn farewell to Steve when she emptied the last-remaining Vile of her beloved’s blood. I also need to mention the Captain America Adventure radio program. That was pretty amazing and a lot of fun!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company / Marvel Entertainment
Highlights of Agent Carter:
Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
James D’Arcy as Edwin Jarvis
Shea Whigham as Chief Roger Dooley
Chemistry between Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper
Surprise Appearance by Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan
Early look at (an Alternate Universe Version of) the Black Widow (MCU) training Program in Russia
Early look at (an Alternate Universe Version of) the Faustus Method, which would be utilized in the (MCU) creation of The Winter Soldier
Utilization of Steve Rogers’ blood as a Plot Device
Peggy Carter’s lingering love for Steve Rogers / Captain America
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