The highly anticipated animated series from Marvel has finally made its debut. What If...?'s first episode, "What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger" puts Peggy Carter in the driver's seat. With pervious appearances in Captain America: The First Avenger and her series, Agent Carter, many expected Peggy's resilient nature to be on display here. Unfortunately, it seems some of Peggy's previous personality traits were lost in What If...?
Episode one begins much like Captain America: The First Avenger, Peggy accompanies Steve to the lab where he is set to become the world's first super soldier. There, Heinz Kruger shoots Steve Rogers, making him unable to take part in the super soldier experiment. Despite a number of protests, Agent Carter enters the chamber herself.
Scenes that follow feature Peggy and Steve continuing to bond as they both become acclimated with their new circumstances. Steve is healing from his gunshot wounds while Peggy familiarizes herself with her newfound strength. During this scene, Peggy throws a series of weights at the wall out of frustration. This is the first time Peggy is shown utilizing her powers and it seems that she has a strong handle on them and knows what she is capable of.
This suddenly changes when Peggy enters the field for the first time. After Howard Stark gives her a new and improved uniform and shield, Peggy goes against orders to retrieve the tesseract. When Peggy begins to use her powers against Hydra agents, they seem to take her by surprise. Following the scene where Peggy was throwing weights at the wall, the sudden shock of what she is capable of seems inconsistent.
Peggy's change of demeanor here could be chalked up to a few things. On one hand, it could be that she is seeing her powers used against a person for the first time rather than an object. In the scene with the weights, there are countless weights embedded in the wall from the strength of her toss. No matter how heavy the weights are, they are going to differ from what a person feels like. With the strength that comes with being a super soldier, both actions are rather effortless.
A second reason for Peggy's apparent surprised demeanor could not necessarily have to do with her powers. Instead, it may be a response to being in her uniform and using the shield for the first time. Steve Rogers' own use of the shield has been known to defy gravity. The power packed behind the use of the shield and how useful it can be (despite its large and slightly obstructive size) may also give Peggy reason to be surprised by the damage she is now capable of doing.
Peggy's use and surprise courtesy of her powers are entirely different than Steve's initial reaction to his newfound strength in The First Avenger. Unlike Peggy, Steve embraced his powers rather quickly. In fact, the only thing that took Steve by surprise was his newly acquired physique. Instead of being surprised by his strength and the abilities he is now able to accomplish with ease, Steve is amazed by no longer being the "skinny kid from Brooklyn." With this being a hypothetical scenario of What If...?, one would think that Marvel would want to give Peggy just as much credibility as Steve Rogers. Due to the time period and the fact that she is a woman, circumstances are going to differ. However, her initial response to her powers didn't seem to give her the same level of credibility.
Peggy's responsibility in What If...? differs from what has previously been shown in The First Avenger. In Captain America's debut film, Peggy was an extremely confident woman who was unafraid to assert herself with male soldiers who looked down on her. Gilmore Hodge, who Colonel Phillips deemed to be more worthy of receiving the super soldier serum than Steve Rogers, made lewd comments toward Agent Carter during the soldier's training. In response, Peggy punched Hodge in the face. This version of Peggy doesn't make an appearance in What If..?
This is not to say that Peggy does not still feel some level of confidence in herself. She certainly does. She still manages to defy orders (much like she does in The First Avenger). As Captain Carter, she goes against orders and hunts down the tesseract. In The First Avenger, she helps Steve rescue the 107 platoon from captivity and repeatedly advocates on Steve's behalf. Peggy played a crucial role in Steve's ability to assimilate into his role as the heroic version of Captain America the world came to love, and not the party trick that many soldiers made him out to be. In What If...? Steve is now meant to fulfill that role for Peggy, but it falls flat.
In What If...?, some of Peggy's previous development and characterization does evaporate here. With a different, hypothetical scenario, certain characters are bound to appear and act different than they have in the past. The following episodes of What If...? will feature other Marvel heroes and villains counteracting what they have previously done and behaved. Because of the hypothetical nature of the show, What If...? will continue to thwart the Marvel Universe that has existed for over a decade.
The first episode of What If...? is now streaming one Disney+.