What If…Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?
What If…?
Episode One
What If…Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?
This episode starts with Steve Rogers getting ready to enter the chamber to be injected with the serum. However, the Hydra spy sets off the bomb before the experiment starts and Steve jumps in to stop him, but is shot by the spy. The spy grabs the serum to escape with it, but Peggy Carter is there to stop him. Due to the bomb going off the experiment has to happen right then or else they will lose their chance. Peggy gets in the chamber and Howard Stark flips the switch. Peggy Carter emerges as the first super soldier.
Peggy is known as Captain Carter and has Great Britain‘s flag on her chest and on the vibranium shield that Stark makes for her. Instead of going on the tour to boost the morale for the troops, Peggy’s first mission is to retrieve the Tesseract from Red Skull before he returns it to Hitler. Peggy is able to take out the Hydra soldiers and steal the Tesseract all on her own and returns it to Stark and the Allies.
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Steve Rogers is still alive and he and Peggy are good friends. Howard Stark is able to make the first Iron Man suit, now that he has the power of the Tesseract to power it. Steve Rogers and Captain Carter fight side by side and are able to rescue Bucky Barnes and his soldiers, the Howling Commandos, from Hydra. This Iron Man suit becomes known as the Hydra Stomper after this battle due to it’s seeming invincibility against the soldiers from Hydra. They go on a mission to intercept Red Skull on the train in the snowy mountains, like what we saw in the First Avenger movie, and it’s a trap. The trap is set to capture Steve Rogers and the Tesseract. The train explodes and Steve Rogers and the suit are lost. Peggy and Bucky think that he is dead.
Peggy and Steve are still a thing in What If…?
Red Skull uses the Tesseract to build a machine that will open other dimensions and bring destruction from another realm to Earth. Just as the other dimension is opening, Peggy, Howard, Bucky, and the other soldiers arrive to Red Skull’s castle and infiltrate the castle. Peggy and Howard find where Red Skull is and watch as the Tesseract opens the other dimension and a Hydra-like monster emerges and starts to lay waste to the Hydra soldiers and even kills Red Skull.
This wonder woman has no problem with using a sword and a shield against the bad guys, no matter what WB says.
In another area of the castle, Bucky and his soldiers find Steve Rogers held captive and the Hydra Stomper suit. They free Steve and use a generator power up the suit. Steve goes to help Peggy and Howard with the monster. Howard is able to use the machine to send the monster back, but the monster is strong and able to resist. Peggy and Steve work together to push the monster back. However, the monster is able to endanger Bucky and the other soldiers so Steve grabs them and gets them out of the way of harm. Steve comes back but since the suit isn’t powered by the Tesseract anymore, it runs out of power and the battery dies. Steve isn’t able to help Peggy. Captain Carter is left with pushing the monster through to the other dimension by herself and disappears on the other side. Steve is left to mourn her loss holding the Tesseract.
Jump ahead to modern day and we have Nick Fury and Hawkeye at the SHIELD facility using the Tesseract to open a doorway to the other dimension. Out comes Captain Carter not having lost a minute. Peggy asks where is Steve Rogers, and Fury tells Carter that the war ended 70 years ago. Peggy is devastated and the story ends.
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I enjoyed this alternate reality story and the idea that Peggy Carter talks up the shield and becomes Captain Carter. Peggy Carter is one of my favorite non-Avenger characters and so it was awesome to see her become an Avenger and shine in the spotlight. The relationship between her and Steve Rogers was great to see and how even thought the roles are reversed they still found each other.
Seeing Captain Carter in action was fun to watch and see her personality react to similar situations that we saw in the First Avenger movie. I liked seeing how Howard was able to create the Iron Man suit powered by the Tesseract, something that he wanted to do in the movies, but was unable to find the power source to do so.
I did feel that the story was rushed and that it needed more time to breathe, especially the emotional moments. It seemed like they were cutting things down for time which, for me, affected the overall impact of the story. Overall I liked the episode and want to see more in this timeline, but it felt rushed.
I give this What If…? episode a 4 out of 5 and I hope to see more of Captain Carter at some point.