Marvel robbed Hayley Atwell — Avengers: Doomsday might finally give her that MCU moment

Marvel does love a good comeback, and this time it looks like Hayley Atwell is getting hers. If you blinked during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, you might have missed Atwell’s brief stint as Captain Carter—her alternate-universe, shield-swinging take on Peggy Carter. Shame really, because her time in that flashy suit was cut brutally short when Wanda 'Scarlet Witch' Maximoff in true Wanda fashion, executed her with a flying shield. Not exactly the hero moment everyone was hoping for, least of all Atwell herself. And she’s not shy on the subject.

During a panel at For the Love of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Atwell candidly said, 'I loved the idea that she’d be in a suit and have the shields. But if I’m really brutally honest, I was so disappointed with how they positioned her and what happened in that scene. It’s so small, and she gets frisbee’d to death. I felt like that was a bum steer and a complete disservice to the character.'

If you thought Marvel was done with Captain Carter after that, think again. Atwell is officially on board for Avengers: Doomsday, and fans are hoping she’ll finally get the sort of proper, in-the-main-action spotlight that eluded her the first time round.

Captain Carter’s not your standard Peggy Carter. In her particular branch of reality, she’s the one who takes the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers and transforms into her universe’s version of Captain America. Sounds brilliant, right? Which is exactly why that Doctor Strange cameo felt like such a let-down: all build-up, and then out the door in a minute flat.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness knocked off Atwell’s Captain Carter after just a handful of lines, leaving fans—and Atwell herself—feeling short-changed.

But Avengers: Doomsday is all about the multiverse coming together, heroes from every conceivable timeline piling in to go rounds with Doctor Doom. It’s the perfect excuse for multiple Peggys to show up if Marvel wants. The most likely option is she’ll appear as the version who shared that quiet, final dance with Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: Endgame, but there’s nothing stopping them from giving Captain Carter another live-action outing as well.

Peggy’s Journey through the MCU

Atwell has been in the MCU lineup since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, and if you’ve caught any of the animated What If…? episodes, you’ll have heard her lending voice to Captain Carter as well. But fans—and honestly, Atwell—want a bit more for her than a glorified walk-on part. The sort of sequence where she cuts loose on the battlefield, side by side with the usual Avengers lot, rather than getting memorably tossed out of frame like some overzealous stagehand got bored.

• Peggy Carter: Introduced in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger
• Animated Captain Carter: Mainstay in What If…? series
• Cameo as Captain Carter in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Earth-838)—killed off almost instantly
• Set to return—potentially in multiple forms—in Avengers: Doomsday

Others have had their moments—let’s not forget when Captain America picked up Mjolnir in Endgame to universal cheers—so the hope is that Atwell finally gets a similar on-screen payoff. She’s stuck with the MCU for over a decade; it wouldn’t be asking too much to give her something meatier than a blink-and-miss-it cameo.

Avengers: Doomsday is on the slate, with Hayley Atwell confirmed to return as Peggy Carter.