Marvel has confirmed that the studio is in the midst of developing What If…?, an animated Disney+ series based on the comics of the same name. They have also stated that its first episode will answer the question, “What if Peggy Carter became Captain America?”
With Steve Rogers’ story having been explored in depth and having presumably come to a close in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s natural for fans to wonder about the premise of What If…?‘s pilot episode. Here are some of our predictions about what would have happened if the MCU’s Peggy had been given the super-soldier serum.
The Captain’s Mysterious Combat Skills
Dr. Erskine explains that the serum enhances its subject physically, making them faster and stronger. What’s still unclear is how Steve instantly becomes a skilled fighter, taking on a HYDRA operative immediately after receiving the serum and confronting Red Skull without much training at all. Those are the kinds of abilities that must be developed over time, super-powered or not.
Peggy’s combat skills had already been proven even before the serum was known to exist, so her ability to single-handedly take down even the strongest opponents would have made more sense, having already been ingrained in her as a highly trained SSR agent.
Peggy’s Story
Receiving the serum opens a wealth of opportunities for Peggy. She would get to take down HYDRA, fulfilling her purpose as an SSR agent. She would go on to become an Avenger, taking on world-threatening villains and joining the other heroes in their fight for humanity.
Of course, her becoming the Captain would also mean going under the ice for decades. She would still miss out on a life with Steve. It would also cancel out the entire storyline of Agent Carter, a series that revolved around her life in the SSR after Steve’s apparent death, where she works with her fellow agents to fight evil.
Steve’s Story
Peggy taking on the role of the Captain also means that Steve doesn’t, that he remains the skinny, asthmatic Army enlistee, struggling to simply reach the other end of his basic training. Considering his numerous health issues, he probably wouldn’t have lived as long as Peggy did in the established universe without the serum, so when Peggy takes the plunge, the two will likely never reunite.
Reportedly, the first episode of What If…? depicts Peggy and Steve working together after she receives the serum. The two remain close, and they still make a good team.
A British Captain
It would be hard to sell a Captain America with a British accent like Peggy’s, so a world in which she takes the super soldier serum would instead feature a character more similar to Marvel Comics’ Captain Britain. A sneak peek image shown at the D23 Expo last August shows the animated Captain Carter wielding a shield, which bears the Union Jack instead of the American star.
Along with a Russian and an Asgardian, the Avengers could have added a Brit to their mainly American team, which, in the real world, may have even translated to even more impressive Marvel box office stats in the UK.
The Development of S.H.I.E.L.D.
As seen in the films following Captain America: The First Avenger, including a Marvel one shot and her series Agent Carter, Peggy played an important role in how S.H.I.E.L.D. developed. She continued to work as an SSR agent in her efforts against what remained of HYDRA. On the brink of the SSR’s obsoletion, Howard Stark chose her to head up S.H.I.E.L.D.
She was the director of the organization for most of the time that Steve was under the ice. It begs, the question, then, of what S.H.I.E.L.D. would have looked like if Peggy had spent its developmental years frozen in time.
Different Decisions
Part of what has always made Peggy and Steve a good team is that they each bring different things to the table. They are different people who have had different experiences, even before the serum, so some of the decisions that Steve made, Peggy wouldn’t have done the same.
This idea opens up so many possibilities for different, world-altering routes that Captain Carter would have taken. Not having the relationship with Bucky Barnes that Steve did, she may not have gone so easy on the Winter Soldier when he tried to kill her. Without the motivation of saving him from Helmut Zemo’s grasp also, she may have chosen to sign the Sokovia Accords, putting the story of the Avengers on an entirely different course.
Treatment
It would be easy to assume that all the characters accepted Captain Carter the way they accepted Captain America, but that may not have been the case. How would the Howling Commandos, a group of big, strong men, have felt about being led by a woman? Presumably, about the same as Peggy’s fellow SSR agents felt about her being on their team and sharing their title. How about the male-dominated Avengers? Even in the modern age, she would have been held to a different standard than Steve has been, compromising her leadership over the team.
The difference in treatment she may have received from the characters, though, would have been nothing compared to that from the real-life contributors to the MCU. She likely would have joined the pool of female superheroes who have, for ages, been written differently than their male counterparts, subject to skin-tight bodysuits, forced romances, and a priority of sex appeal over heroism.
First Female Solo Film
The release of the MCU’s first female solo film, Captain Marvel, in 2019 (a full 11 years into the franchise) marked a huge milestone for the existing Marvel women and also a crucial stepping-off point for all the female-driven stories currently in the works. If Peggy had been given the super-soldier serum and transformed into the first Avenger, the first female-led solo film would have happened in 2011, when The First Avenger was released.
Although a release like Captain Marvel wouldn’t have made as big a wave as it has, it would be because Marvel’s heroes would be so much closer to equal representation that a female-led film would be not only commonplace but expected.
Rise Of Female Heroes
Having more women represented earlier in the Infinity Saga does double duty in its effect on the universe. On top of Peggy’s contribution to the Avengers narrative and the MCU as whole, having more than one woman in the original Avengers lineup and having her leading all the team’s operations would pave the way for more women to become integral parts of the story.
It’s possible the future of the MCU, which is predicted to feature more female heroes than male ones, would already have been upon us. And maybe, with the precedent of Peggy’s solo trilogy, Black Widow would have gotten her solo film sooner, as many fans had hoped.
The Message
The theme of The First Avenger, at least in part, was the ability to make a difference, no matter how small you are. The appeal of Steve Rogers was that he was big and strong but had the heart of someone who didn’t always have the privilege of being so. “There are already so many big men fighting this war,” Dr. Erskine told him. “Maybe what we need now is the little guy.”
In Peggy’s case, maybe what they needed was a woman. Like a little guy has a unique sense of compassion, a woman has a unique sense of perseverance that stems from a lifetime of being told she can’t. The film would have taken on the no less important theme of making a difference, no matter your gender, and overcoming the voices that say women can’t save the world.
