Peggy Carter, indisputably one of the best MCU characters, had her story changed for the better in the MCU thanks to one last-minute alteration. Hayley Atwell reveals that Captain America: The Winter Soldier was going to include a background detail that would’ve limited the franchise’s options.
“I remember when I was filming it, the prop master had put a framed photograph on Peggy’s bedside, of Peggy with her husband and her children,” Atwell tells Collider. “And Louis D’Esposito [executive producer] ran over just before we started rolling, going ‘Take that out. We don’t know yet. We don’t want to limit ourselves by kind of suggesting this is who she’s married’. And so that was taken out.”
In the scene, Steve finds out Peggy’s still alive in the modern day and visits her. While there, we see that she eventually moved on after his freezing, meeting someone and starting a family, but we never see who exactly she settled down with. It’s just one moment that contributes to The Winter Soldier being not only one of the best action movies from Marvel Studios but one of the best drama movies too.
It might seem inconsequential, but the way the moment works out, we find out the important stuff, and Marvel producers weren’t bound too strongly. Who plays Peggy’s husband in the MCU movie could still be revealed later — a mystery that’s still to be addressed.
“They’re so good at giving the audience what they want and exceeding the expectations,” Atwell continues. “And I think that’s why they’re always aware of just feeding the amount of information that the audience need to know, to keep engaged, but also delighting them and surprising them.”
Atwell recently made her grand return to the MCU in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, portraying Captain Carter. You can check out our Marvel movies in order guide for more on that. Right now, she’s got a starring role in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, opposite none other than Tom Cruise.
Read our Mission Impossible 7 review for more on that, and we actually spoke to Hayley Atwell ourselves, as well as Pom Klementieff and Cary Elwes. To get yourself geared up for Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie’s latest installment, give out Mission Impossible movies in order guide a look, as well as our piece on the Mission Impossible cast.
Keep one eye on the future using our new movies and Mission Impossible 8 release date guides too. And our best movies list is always worth a read, too.