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Peggy Carter & the Power of Choosing Her Own Ending

Peggy Carter is one of the most inspiring characters of the MCU. She is a trailblazing woman who uses her intelligence, courage, and determination to protect others even at great personal cost. Peggy fought fascism during WWII, foiled espionage and supernatural threats in the immediate post-war era, and then went on to found SHIELD with Howard Stark to protect civilians from unimaginable danger. She did all of this despite the rampant discrimination against women during the decades spanning her career. In a fictional world filled with superpowers, Peggy’s strength lies in simply being an extraordinary human being.

However, Peggy Carter became not only an icon in her own world, but in ours as well. She first appeared on our screens, thrillingly, as an agent in uniform directing male soldiers in 1943. When confronted with a subordinate attempting to reduce her to a sexual object, she swiftly (and memorably) put the offending man in his place. It was a signal to the audience: this is not your typical damsel in distress. Her journey throughout The First Avenger as a leader, confidant, and comrade in arms of Captain America confirms that first impression.

Four years later, at a time when no other female character in the MCU headlined her own live action story, Agent Carter premiered on ABC in 2015. Her story was the sole instance of a MCU female-led story on our screens (big or small) until Captain Marvel premiered in 2018. And then that story was cut short when ABC cancelled the show after the second season. So perhaps for some of us, Peggy Carter became a symbol of fighting for equality not only within her own story, but in our world as well. Her struggles against discrimination in the workplace and the low ratings and cancellation of the series in a way mirror the struggles that women fight to overcome in real life.

And yet, despite these heroics and symbolism, we also love Peggy Carter because of who she is. She overcomes a shattering loss in The First Avenger without losing her humanity or vulnerability. Peggy is a loyal friend and shows compassion for others despite the hardening nature of espionage. She fiercely holds onto her integrity despite being surrounded by lies and self interest. And while Peggy is relatable (she enjoys a sandwich with relish and loves to dance), she is also inspirational: Agent Carter is always quick with the comeback that we wish we could think of in the moment. Her sophisticated sense of style is unparalleled. And when Peggy tells a roomful of men, “I know my own value,” it’s the kind of line that shakes you to your core and you want to live your life by.

And so, given what Peggy Carter means to many of us, how her on screen journey ends is understandably rife with significance. Avengers: Endgame ends, symbolically, where its story chronologically began: with Steve Rogers, the first Avenger, and Peggy Carter, the co-founder of SHIELD. Time travel allows Steve to return to Peggy and live the life that they had planned together during The First Avenger. I recently wrote on this blog about what this choice means for Steve’s character journey . But given the lively debate surrounding how it fits into Peggy’s character arc, I would like to explore what Avengers: Endgame means for her personal journey now that we can consider her television series and appearances in the MCU films as a whole.

This is a lengthy post. I hope Peggy Carter would approve of my thoroughness. However, your time is valuable and so let me lay my cards out on the table before you launch into the many paragraphs that will follow: I will argue that the romantic pairing of Steve and Peggy is not just your average superhero love story. Rather, they are a partnership between equals who share the same values and overcome similar obstacles. Indeed, even when they are separated, the example of the other is integral to forming who they each become on their own. Moreover, the return of Steve Rogers to 1949 illuminates a fact that Peggy otherwise did not learn until it was too late in her life to act upon: that Steve Rogers was never dead. Therefore, Endgame reveals to Peggy a critical truth and empowers her to make a fully informed choice about the course of her personal life. This rare combination of equality and agency elevates a tragic wartime love story into one worthy of such a powerful feminist figure.

Finally, Steve and Peggy’s joint triumph over tragedy and loss is the kind of hopeful storytelling that the world could use more of right now. One of the aspects of the Marvel world that is so compelling and relatable is that its heroes are decidedly human; they are vulnerable and struggle with the same challenges that we do, albeit in more extraordinary circumstances. In addition to battling discrimination, we also watch Peggy grapple with personal loss. She is a character who (as far as she knew) lost both her brother and the love of her life during WWII. In the wild world of the MCU, grief over the death of a loved one is something that we sadly all experience. But she carries on and builds a life and distinguished career for herself, saving the world time and time again.

But then, Peggy is given what we all wish that we could have: she gets her loved one back. The idea that Steve and Peggy, who always tried to do the right thing, are rewarded by the storytellers with personal happiness runs counter to the nihilism that permeates so much of entertainment over the last two decades. Both characters struggle to be brave, to have integrity, to do the hard thing and it ultimately matters. These deeds save the world over and over again. And then the storytellers give these heroes the one thing that they always wanted: they allow them personal happiness with someone they had loved and lost. After nearly two decades of “dark” storytelling in much of television and film, neither should be taken for granted.

Three important points “before we get started”:

(1) The creators of the Agent Carter series, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, also wrote the scripts for all of the Captain America movies and Avengers: Endgame;

(2) according to the Avengers: Endgame script submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the final scene of Steve and Peggy dancing takes place in 1949 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. Thus, the events of Peggy’s life from 1946-7 featured in the Agent Carter series remain unchanged; and

3) Peggy’s legacy, of course, reaches far beyond who she ends up marrying. And while that should go without saying, I am going to say it anyway. SHIELD is a foundation of the MCU for decades and countless women in that fictional world have her to thank for blazing the trail and providing an example of service. Without Peggy Carter, there would be no Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, or Daisy Johnson. For this post alone I am choosing to focus on Peggy’s romantic personal life because that is where the fandom discussion has seemed to center as of late. I believe that based on the fact that she was married in the original timeline and because her relationship with Steve Rogers was originally based on a professional partnership of equals, no matter who Peggy ends up with she will be the founder and director of SHIELD in any timeline. The MCU movies already showed us the end of Peggy’s professional life: she retires after serving as the Director of SHIELD and is buried a hero under the Union Jack flag.

For ease of reference, here is a timeline of Peggy’s appearances in the MCU:

TIMELINE

1940 Peggy works at Bletchley Park during WWII & joins British intelligence efforts after breaking off her engagement in the wake of her brother’s supposed death (Agent Carter)

1943-45 Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers are together during the events of The First Avenger

1946 The events of Agent Carter season 1 in New York City

1947 The events of Agent Carter season 2 in Los Angeles

1949 Steve finds Peggy alone in Washington, DC, at what appears to be her home (Endgame)

1953 Smithsonian interview of Peggy featured in The Winter Soldier

1970 Steve sees Peggy Carter at her Camp Lehigh Director’s office (Endgame)

1989 Peggy Carter & Howard Stark meet with Hank Pym at SHIELD in DC (Antman)

2012 Steve Rogers reviews Peggy’s file listing her as retired from SHIELD (deleted scene from The Avengers)

2014 Steve Rogers visits an elderly Peggy Carter in The Winter Soldier

2016 Peggy Carter dies & is laid to rest in Civil War

The First Avenger (1943-45)

The First Avenger is quite intentional in how it depicts Peggy and Steve connecting through shared life experience and ideals long before Steve Rogers becomes Captain America or any romantic developments unfold.

First, they are both underestimated and bullied by the world for reasons outside of their control: Peggy is a woman and Steve is physically small and in poor health. As discussed above, Peggy’s first action on screen is to punch a soldier who addresses her disrespectfully and attempts to sexually harass her. Peggy’s response is similar to Steve taking on the bully in the movie theater at the beginning of the film. Bullies will not be tolerated and punches in response will, quite literally, not be pulled.

Steve’s reaction to Peggy’s introduction is telling: he smiles. Indeed, Steve is not (professionally speaking) intimidated by an independent woman who stands her ground in 1943; rather he takes pleasure in it and confides in her. Peggy, in turn, is shown to be impressed by Steve’s resolve despite his physical limitations and harassment by other men in his unit. She is clearly pleased when he solves the challenge of lowering the flag on the training run by using his intelligence. Perhaps as a woman, she appreciates that Steve outmaneuvered men of larger size who expected to prevail through brute force.

Moreover, both characters are instinctually called to sacrifice for others. In one of the iconic moments of the film, Col. Phillips throws a dummy grenade into the unit. Of course, Steve Rogers jumps onto the grenade. However, Peggy also moved toward the potential explosion when every other person in the scene other than Steve ran away. On an Army base surrounded by soldiers, they are the only two people present who possess the knee jerk courage to give their lives for others.

Their developing emotional connection is confirmed during the car ride scene to Project Rebirth. Peggy and Steve discuss why he stands up to bullies despite being beaten throughout his life. Peggy then draws the parallel to her own life and the discrimination that she has faced as a woman. She remarks that she knows something of doors being slammed in her face. Upon rewatching this scene in the context of Agent Carter, the audience may think of Peggy’s mother telling her to become a lady or the workplace discrimination that Peggy will face after the war.

Then, significantly, the car ride conversation turns to the subject of dancing. Steve says that he is waiting for “the right partner.” Partner is a word that clearly carries significance for Peggy because she will later echo it back to Steve. After watching Agent Carter, we now know that Peggy’s ex-fiance Fred disapproved of her doing field work. While, on the surface, partner is a word that is commonly associated with dancing, it also suggests equality between two people in a relationship or activity. Steve refuses to dance with just anyone; rather he is searching for someone who would be the “right” fit. For a woman like Peggy fighting for an equal place in the world, it would be refreshing to hear that a man is seeking a partner beyond “a beautiful dame”. Indeed, for Steve and Peggy, “dancing,” becomes symbolic of a shared life together as the story unfolds.

Once Steve does attain super strength, Peggy is key to inspiring him to “become more.” It is the beginning of an ouroboros of inspiration that exists between these two characters and reverberates throughout their stories even when they are separated by death - real or perceived. Peggy fervently believes that Steve is meant for something more. Her call to action and belief that he can make a difference is the catalyst for Captain America’s first mission.

Steve, in turn, listens to her. Before setting out, he asks whether she truly believes what she said because her opinion matters to him. In rescuing the 107th, Steve also follows Peggy’s strategic advice and planning. He counts on her as his covert operations liaison to be extracted. Steve never once questions her wisdom or instincts because she is a woman. Indeed, as we watch Peggy’s later story unfold, the importance of how often Steve listens to Peggy cannot be understated (and will be recalled during Agent Carter in the form of “Do as Peggy says” which originates with Peggy’s guess at what Steve would advise others to do).

At this time, the romantic tension between the two unfolds in parallel to their professional partnership: Peggy is amused by Steve’s naive jealousy of Howard Stark and the two flirt upon his return in front of the entire unit. They are comrades in arms at a time of war who are clearly drawn to one another emotionally. They also verbally spar as equals: Steve matches Peggy’s iconic “you’re late” barb with an equally tongue in cheek response: “I couldn’t find my ride.”

Rather than returning home to the U.S. to receive a medal of honor, Steve then joins Peggy’s efforts to counter Hydra. We watch at Peggy leads strategy meetings and moves Hydra bases off the board. It’s a stark contrast to Peggy being forced to later pick up sandwiches in Agent Carter. Until Steve’s apparent death in 1945, the two characters work side by side for two years with the Howling Commandos. As we will learn during the Agent Carter series, Peggy was often in the field with the Howling Commandos over these two years.

During this time, Peggy approaches Steve at a pub. She is dressed in civilian clothes and suggests to him that they dance together once the war has ended. She echoes back his “right partner” language from the car ride. Peggy acts first to establish an overt romantic connection with Steve even if the two feel bound by war time duty to delay personal happiness. Indeed, the fact that Peggy frames them as being together “after the war,” suggests that she longs for more than a simple dance, but rather a lasting connection.

The obvious romantic feelings between the two are later confirmed by their argument after Steve is kissed by another woman and by Peggy’s knowing reaction to Steve carrying her picture with him in the field. Steve Rogers is a man who does not play games and wears his feelings on his sleeve. Indeed, he reveals his feelings for her to the entire world in the wartime propaganda film.

In hindsight, the second scene between Steve and Peggy at the pub, now in ruins after being bombed, is key to understanding the importance of their relationship. Steve believes that he has just lost his closest friend in the world, Bucky Barnes. He is overwhelmed with guilt and regret. The writing establishes that while these two characters may be romantically interested in one another, their wartime bond goes far deeper. It is a bond that will be recalled when they meet again as confidants in The Winter Soldier.

Again, it is Peggy who seeks Steve out. She is the one person who he can talk to in this moment of abject grief. Peggy asks, “Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him? Stop blaming yourself. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought you were worth it.” Again, Steve listens to Peggy’s wisdom regarding the importance of respecting another person’s agency. And, when Steve vows to destroy Hydra, Peggy tells him, “you won’t be alone.” They are a team, united in purpose. Sadly, this scene also foreshadows the sacrifice that will come at the end of the film: Peggy will soon be in Steve’s shoes.

During the final confrontation with Hydra, Peggy and Steve are briefly reunited after she rescues him from being pinned down by enemy fire. As they do throughout the film to one another, Steve then echoes Peggy’s line of “you’re late.” The romantic tension between the two of them is palpable before the surrounding firefight intrudes on the moment. As Steve is about to face Schmidt alone, it is again Peggy who makes the first move to physically express her feelings. Duty is finally shoved aside because of the stakes of the moment: Peggy seizes the fleeting chance and kisses a shocked Steve.

The film then poignantly shows her taking one last look at Steve as the plane disappears over the horizon.

It is significant that the emotional crescendo of the movie is shown to the audience from both Steve and Peggy’s perspective.

The movie may be entitled “The First Avenger” and tell the origin story of Steve Rogers, but the movie pointedly shows us the emotional cost of Steve’s ultimate sacrifice from Peggy’s perspective. Steve recalls Peggy’s wisdom about accepting that this is his choice. It’s his attempt to protect her from feeling guilt after his death. It also demonstrates that he internalized Peggy’s wisdom. Then Peggy, who already believes that she has lost her brother in this war, must now talk the man that she loves through the final moments of his life. With tears streaming down her face, Peggy joins Steve in fantasizing about a dance that can now, seemingly, never be. What she cannot know is that the last image that Steve ever sees before slipping into those icy waters is her face. When the radio goes silent, the camera shows Col. Phillips observing Peggy’s grief. She has lost her partner and, in her own later words, the love of her life. The scene is moving and tragic.

In the final scene of the movie from Peggy’s perspective, Col. Phillips gives her Steve’s file. The head of the project knows that the person to whom Steve meant the most is Peggy Carter. She lovingly holds a photograph of the pre-serum Steve Rogers; the man he was and will always be on the inside. It is a photograph that she will later keep for the rest of her life – both in her bedroom mirror after the war and in her office as the Director of SHIELD twenty five years later. Peggy’s final scene is focused on her mourning someone that she believes is dead. In parallel, Steve’s final line of the movie is “I had a date”; his first reaction to discovering that he has been asleep for 70 years is that he is separated from Peggy Carter.

Agent Carter (aired 2015-16)

Agent Carter explores the early days of Peggy’s post-war professional, personal, and leadership story. There are of course many layers to Peggy’s character journey, particularly in Season One. However, for the purposes of this post alone, I am responding to fandom discussion regarding her connection to Steve Rogers and how it fits with Avengers: Endgame. With respect to Peggy’s personal life, the Agent Carter series can be divided into two acts. The first season is focused on Peggy processing her grief over Steve, protecting his legacy, and finding renewed inspiration in his example to follow her inner voice to act with integrity as an agent. The second season shows her opening herself up to others and enjoying romantic connections with two suitors.

Season One (1946)

Season One takes place during 1946, a year after the events of The First Avenger. The iconic image of “Now Is Not The End,” is Peggy Carter, in her red hat, walking in the opposite direction in a crowd of men on the streets of New York City. It parallels a similar staging of a deleted scene in The Avengers of Steve Rogers, also walking in the opposite direction of a crowd in New York City, decades later. In some ways, Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers are both fish out of water. Peggy is a woman working in a field dominated by men; Steve is a man out of time. They both often stand alone against a tide of opposition when they try to do the right thing. And they both carry with them a searing personal loss: being separated from each other.

The pilot opens with the final conversation between Steve and Peggy as his plane went down. Peggy is staring out the window, clearly sad and lost in thought as a tea kettle whistles. The song that plays during the montage of Peggy getting ready for work and remembering moments with Steve is “Ooh I want to love that man.” She is then shown twice looking wistfully at Steve’s photograph during the pilot. First, at the diner, as Angie comments on Steve’s photograph in the paper. Later, Peggy reviews Steve’s Project Rebirth file. She takes a moment and stares at his pre-serum photograph while the editing reveals that she is thinking about their mutual promise to dance with one another. Peggy not only mourns the man; she mourns the life that she wanted to have with Steve Rogers. In a later episode, Peggy advises an undercover Dottie Underwood to explore New York City by getting to know it’s people and starting in Brooklyn - the home of Steve Rogers. The writers subtly remind the audience throughout Season One that Steve Rogers is always in Peggy’s thoughts.

The next episode, “Bridge and Tunnel,” comments on the real world erasure of women’s roles in society and stories. But it can also serve as a meta commentary about some fandom discussion about Peggy Carter’s relationship with Steve Rogers; as if their romantic union somehow diminishes Peggy. The opening scene depicts a tongue in cheek radio program called “The Captain America Adventure Program.” In it, “Betty Carver,” a beautiful triage nurse, is taken hostage by Nazis when the 107th is ambushed. We and Peggy both know that this misogynistic version of Peggy and Steve’s history is nonsense. Peggy was never a damsel in distress; rather, she was Steve’s equal partner and in fact rescued him in one of the final sequences of The First Avenger. Both the radio program and unpleasant SSR office chatter are meant to reveal the sexism of the world in which Peggy lives; not the actual nature of her former relationship with Steve Rogers.

Indeed, Jarvis speaks to this point at the end of the episode when he rejects Peggy’s insistence that she can do her job alone. Interestingly, Peggy says, “If I allow people to get close to me I am putting them in danger.” Peggy recruited Steve and he died. She lived with Colleen and she was killed. When Peggy claims that Steve was able to singularly carry the world on his shoulders, Jarvis refutes this by saying, “From what Mr. Stark has told me, Captain Rogers relied heavily on you, for courage, strategy, and moral guidance. You were his support.” Peggy is emotional as she hears this truth observed by people who were actually there during the events of The First Avenger. But also, through Jarvis, the writers are telling us that despite audience perceptions (in the fictional or real world), Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers were equal partners.

The next few episodes begin with Peggy saying, “I’m Peggy Carter. During the war, I fought side-by-side with Captain America. We defeated the enemy. But I lost the love of my life.” In Peggy’s own words, two key truths from Peggy’s perspective are established: 1) she considers Steve Rogers to be the love of her life; and 2) she fought “side-by-side” with him. Even if the world belittles her for being involved with him romantically or for simply being a woman, Peggy views their fight against Nazis together as a “side by side” endeavor. Steve Rogers never treated her as anything other than an equal partner. It should also be noted that Steve reciprocates Peggy’s sentiment in group therapy during Endgame when he says that he lost “the love of his life” in 1945.

The intertwining of Steve and Peggy’s romantic and moral connection is explored further in “The Blietzkrieg Button.” Peggy is furious when she discovers that Howard Stark used her to retrieve the last remaining sample of Steve’s blood. It leads to an explosive and revealing argument between the two of them exploring the intersection of Peggy’s idealism versus Howard’s pragmatism. In some ways, it mirrors the future philosophical debates that will unfold between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.

However, the argument is emotional precisely because of what Steve means to both of them. Howard says, “I know exactly how much Steve meant to you because I know exactly how much he means to me.” As their argument continues and Peggy grows increasingly emotional, she describes what Steve meant to her beyond the romantic. “Steve Rogers dedicated his life, his mind, and his body to the SSR and this country … I’m not as good as Steve was. I forgot my pledge running around for you like a corporate spy. So thank you Howard for reminding me of who Steve was and who I aspire to be.” The memory of Steve inspires Peggy to cling to her integrity even when the world tells her that it’s naive to do so.

Interestingly, Peggy’s struggle with knowing what is right after the war will be mirrored by Steve’s journey in The Winter Soldier and Civil War. He joins SHIELD in part because she founded it. Steve seeks Peggy’s advice about how to navigate right and wrong in the post 9/11 era with respect to surveillance and preemptive strikes. And during Steve’s gravest crisis of conscience, the story about standing one’s ground based on principle “like a tree” that Sharon Carter shares about Peggy during her funeral is the final push that Steve needs to refuse signing the Sokovia Accords. Thus, Steve inspires Peggy and then Peggy inspires Steve. Even when separated by seven decades or death, the relationship between Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers is fundamental to who they are and the choices that they make.

“The Iron Ceiling” explores Peggy’s war time experience with the Howling Commandos and her continued dull grief over Steve. It is a key episode that propels Peggy back into the field and sets her onto a path of earning a measure of respect from her discriminating colleagues at the SSR. It is significant that an episode that confirms Peggy’s talent in the field is tied to her work in The First Avenger. Dum Dum Dugan notably treats Peggy as an equal, in contrast to her SSR colleague Jack Thompson. It is with her former Howling Commandos comrades in arms that Peggy’s courage and innate calm under pressure shine. Indeed, the origination of the iconic line (which is repeated in Season 2) “Do As Peggy Says,” originates with Dum Dum asking what Cap would say about leaving “his best girl behind.” Peggy responds with how she believes Steve would answer: to listen to her, as he always did.

But Dum Dum was also a dear friend of Steve Rogers. And so he is the only other character other than Howard and Jarvis with whom Peggy can speak of her loss. When Peggy throws his cigar out the window of their transport, Dugan objects and says, “you used to be fun.” Peggy looks down at her bourbon and sadly responds, “yes, once upon a time.” After a moment of weighty silence, Dugan commiserates and says, “Yeah, I miss him too.” Meanwhile in New York City, we learn as Dottie rifles through Peggy’s apartment, that Peggy keeps a photograph of Steve on her vanity mirror. More than a year later, Peggy is very much still mourning Steve Rogers.

It is significant that for Peggy, the nature of her loss is a bit different than for Steve. He is, at least until Civil War, separated from the life that he wanted with Peggy by time. Peggy on the other hand believes that she is separated from Steve by death. In essence, they both lost the chance to share a life with one another. But while Steve grapples with the bizarre circumstance of waking up and realizing that a loved one is now elderly and lived a full life without him, Peggy believes that Steve died. In some ways it is a grief that seems more final but is also more relatable in that people suffer that kind of loss every day.

The finale of Season One serves as a catharsis for both Peggy and Howard in processing their grief over Steve’s “death.” Howard, under the influence of mind control, is asked to think about his biggest regret. In a dream like state, Howard imagines that the signal to the Valkyrie has been located. A vision of Peggy appears before him holding Steve’s shield and asking him to bring Steve home. In reality, Howard is flying a plane with a bomb headed for New York City.

Howard’s peril sets up the first of two second chances for Peggy in this episode. It is a nightmare scenario. She is once again on the end of a radio listening as someone flies a plane to their certain doom with the fate of New York City hanging in the balance. When Howard tells Peggy, “I’m bringing Cap back, Peg,” Peggy is overcome with emotion. For both of them, it is their greatest wish and biggest regret. And yet, as far as Peggy knows, it is impossible. She tells Howard, “Steve is gone. He died over a year ago…I know you loved him. I loved him too. But this won’t bring him back. You are the one person on this Earth who believes in me. I cannot lose you. Steve is gone. We have to move on, all of us. As impossible as that might sound. We have to let him go.” Peggy is telling herself, as much as Howard, that they have to try to move on with their lives as hard as that may seem. Thankfully, this time, Peggy is able to save someone that she cares about (and NYC) from the other end of the radio. Of course, the painful irony that underlies the entire first season is that Steve Rogers is actually alive throughout the events of Agent Carter. Even as Howard and Peggy mourn him, Steve is just a few hundred miles away under the ice. And someday, he will come back.

The final moments of the Season One finale focus on Peggy grappling with moving on with her life and protecting Steve Rogers’ legacy. Her emerging confidant and friend, Jarvis, presents her with the last vial of Steve’s blood rather than return it to Howard. In an earlier episode, Peggy had told Jarvis that she had just wanted “a second chance” at keeping Steve safe. It was a moving admission of her regret over his apparent death but also a decidedly feminist statement: that a woman without powers could keep a male supersoldier safe.

The iconic Brooklyn Bridge scene allows Peggy to do just that. This scene is perhaps the most emotional and cinematic of the series. A melancholy version of the 1936 song “The Way You Look Tonight” plays. It is, poignantly, a song to which one could imagine dancing. The lyrics, that can be heard as the camera reveals where Peggy is, speak to the profound sadness of the moment: “Some day, when I’m awfully low, When the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you, And the way you look tonight.”

As the duet between a man and a woman continues, Peggy pours her last physical link to Steve Rogers into the river and whispers through tears, “Goodbye, my darling.” Peggy acts on her integrity and will not allow Steve’s blood to be used for profit or worse. She finds a way to protect his legacy even is she could not save his life. Moreover, how Peggy chooses to do this is significant: she holds her own private memorial for Steve. She stands on the symbol of Steve’s birthplace and look out on the city where he grew up and for which he gave his life. And then she returns the last physical remains of Steve Rogers to Brooklyn.

Of course, the tragic irony to this scene is that Peggy is crying over someone who isn’t dead; she is seeking closure and moving on from a man who will awake 70 years from now. Steve will walk those very streets and stare at Peggy’s photograph, thinking of her. The episode solidifies the tragedy of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, but it also signals that Peggy is ready to seek an emotional connection with others when she accepts a future invitation for a drink with Daniel Sousa.

Season 2 (1947)

If Season One, on a personal level, explored Peggy coming to terms with her loss, Season Two delves into her opening up emotionally to two suitors: Daniel Sousa, her former SSR New York colleague and Dr. Jason Wilkes, a brilliant scientist. Interestingly, both men have something in common with Peggy (and Steve Rogers). They both face discrimination for characteristics out of their control and are undervalued; Sousa for becoming disabled due to a war injury and Wilkes because he is a person of color living in the 1940s.

Despite the promise of a drink at the end of Season One, the audience is told via a brief conversation that Daniel moved away to Los Angeles to become its SSR bureau chief and never returned any of Peggy’s phone calls. It is a rather disappointing development given that Peggy was opening herself up again emotionally. We are never given an explanation for why that occurred on screen. It is then revealed that Daniel is dating, and then becomes engaged to, a nurse named Violet.

In the meantime, Peggy connects with the charming Dr. Jason Wilkes. They talk about their shared experiences facing barriers in the workplace, dance together, and share two kisses. However, ultimately Dr. Wilkes’ struggle with losing his corporal form to zero matter results in him betraying Peggy. As for Daniel, Violet ultimately ends the engagement because she believes that Daniel loves Peggy. We never see her again.

Anyone who loves the character of Peggy Carter can enjoy watching her dance with Dr. Wilkes at a club or later with both suitors during a delightful dream sequence musical number. Peggy sings about “the laws of attraction” and ponders not knowing which man to choose. Later, Peggy confides in Jarvis that she is quite surprised to find herself in such a position and isn’t sure which man she wants to pursue a relationship with. Peggy Carter is a young woman with desire and it is wonderful to see this part of her coming alive once again.

There are two reminders, however, that as hard as she is trying to move on with her life, the loss of Steve Rogers will always be with her. The first occurs during an argument with Jarvis during the episode, “A Little Song and Dance.” Jarvis’ wife was shot and he holds Peggy responsible in the heat of their dispute. He says to her, “Everyone around you dies.” Peggy stops in her tracks and is visibly shaken. As the unintended import of his words hit home, Jarvis immediately apologizes as she swallows tears. After pushing back on the responsibility that he bears, Peggy says, “Yes, there is a cost, one that I have borne a hundred times over. Your wife will survive. You can go on in your life, knowing nothing of loss. Lucky you.” Peggy contrasts Jarvis’ situation of still having the woman he loves to go home to with her own: when the man she loved was in danger, he never came home.

The second insight into Peggy’s processing of grief occurs during Dr. Wilkes and Peggy’s final scene. He wonders what would have happened had they met under different circumstances. Peggy responds rather sadly, “Dwelling on what might have been is no way to live.” It is an articulation of how she has grown since Season One: Peggy is now trying to live her life. As far as she knows, Steve Rogers is dead. There is no bringing the love of her life back. And so Peggy must live her life as she can. She breaks the cycle of loss by saving Daniel from a near self sacrifice and kisses him joyfully at the end of the episode. In her words, dwelling on what might have been is no way to live.

Interestingly, Season Two closed with a cliffhanger that is the nightmare inverse of Endgame for Peggy. In the final scene, a shadowy figure shoots Jack Thompson in cold blood. The redacted file that Jack had previously obtained suggested that a “M. Carter” had committed atrocities during the war. Peggy confirmed that the file was not about her. Producer Jose Molina has since confirmed in an interview that Season 3 would have explored the return of Peggy’s brother Michael Carter. Thus, within the world of the MCU, perhaps Peggy Carter had to grapple with return of a loved one under horrific circumstances off screen: her beloved brother lied about his death and is not the man that she thought he was.

The Smithsonian Interview (1953)

And yet, healing and moving on does not mean that loved ones are forgotten. In The Winter Soldier, we see a glimpse of Peggy Carter in 1953. With compass in hand, Steve watches footage of an interview with Peggy at the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit. She is identified as “SSR, New York” and is being interviewed about her work for that agency. In the film excerpt, Peggy is wearing a wedding ring and describes how Steve Rogers fought through a Hydra blockade and saved the lives of Allied forces— including the man that Peggy married. She makes the powerful statement that, “Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life.” Peggy looks down and shows emotion as she says this. Her statement inherently suggests that Steve also changed her life while he was alive. Interestingly, although Daniel was a WWII veteran, the series (which aired after The Winter Soldier was released) never mentions whether his life was saved by Captain America despite him being the subject of frequent conversation during Season One at the SSR office in which Daniel was included.

The full three minute long version of the interview is available with the Captain America box set and on YouTube. It provides even more insight into Peggy’s emotional state regarding Steve from her point of view. The interview is conducted by (an off screen) director Joe Russo and features a powerful, at times wordless, performance by Hayley Atwell. Peggy anticipates that the interviewer wants to discuss Steve Rogers after spending the day before discussing her work with the SSR. She takes a deep breath and keeps up a brave face until the interviewer asks whether he had a personal effect on her. Then Peggy says, “he treated me like a person” – again affirming their bond as equals at a time when many men did not treat Peggy as such. After Peggy explains about her husband, the interviewer asks whether she can share what Steve said on the radio before he died. Peggy becomes emotionally overwhelmed. Her lack of composure is a stark contrast to her demeanor at the beginning of the interview. Peggy’s eyes well with tears and she is unable to answer.

The interview establishes that even eight years after the events of The First Avenger and despite being married, Steve Rogers still means a great deal to Peggy Carter. She has, of course, moved on with her life as people must after someone that they loved dies. However, her feelings for him and grief over his death are just below the surface.

The Winter Soldier Scene (2014)

When Steve visits Peggy in his time, which we presume to be 2014, she is elderly and frail. Steve looks at photographs of Peggy with her children and tells her that she should be proud of herself. The photographs pointedly exclude her husband. Peggy smiles as she looks at the photos of her children and says “I have lived a life. My only regret is that you didn’t get to live yours.” When Steve is silent, she still knows him well enough (even after seven decades) to ask him what is wrong. Indeed, it recalls her perceptiveness back in 1943 Italy after the USO show when Peggy asked him “what?” after sensing that he was holding back.

Steve again confides in her that he is sea about what to do next, as he did so long ago. She affectionately jokes that he is “always so dramatic.” There is an ease and comfort between the two of them that is remarkable given the differing amounts of time that have passed since they last spoke (for Steve three years, for Peggy nearly 70). After Steve tells Peggy that he joined SHIELD partly because she founded it, Peggy grows emotional and firmly takes hold of his hand. One can only imagine what she must be feeling seeing this man, whom she so deeply respected, tell her that he joined her cause once again.

Peggy then says, “The world has changed and none of us can go back. Sometimes all that we can do is our best and start over.” While Peggy is on one level talking about navigating morality in the new world order, there is also a deeply personal level to the conversation. They – Peggy and Steve – can’t go back either. He is still a young man and she is now a woman near the end of her life. He has to start his life over just as she did during the events of Agent Carter.

However, when Steve steps away to get her some water and returns to her bedside, the elderly Peggy’s mental state becomes confused. It is as if she is seeing him again for the first time; the young man of her memories is before her anew. Peggy becomes overwrought as she whispers “Steve?” Then her confusion turns to an emotional joy: “You’re alive. You came back.” It is a surreal fulfillment of the deepest, most impossible wish that Peggy and Howard spoke of during the Season One Agent Carter finale. Steve Rogers came back.

However, her happiness quickly turns to sadness as she says “It’s been so long. So long.” Peggy has suffered the pain of losing him for decades and now he has returned to her only when she is near the end of her own life. Steve comforts her by calling her his best girl and saying that their mutually promised dance is still owed. It is a heartbreaking scene which highlights that no matter how much time has passed for Peggy (and no matter how hard Steve is trying to acclimate to our present), the life that they missed out on living together is a deep wound for both of them. For Peggy, it is a loss that persists even after seventy years.

Civil War (2016)

In Civil War, there is of course little that we can glean about Peggy’s point of view in the wake of her death. She is accorded a state funeral and therefore died being held in high regard. It is gratifying to know that the world finally came to appreciate her service and brilliance despite her struggles against sexism early in her career. There are a few items to note however. First, again, no husband is shown. Steve Rogers is a lead pallbearer. Either Peggy requested this role or her family knew that he meant a great deal to her.

Second, when Steve confides in Natasha Romanoff following the funeral that he was so lucky to have her back, she responds that Peggy “had him back too.” Repeatedly, the idea of restoration is discussed in a mutual way. Peggy and Steve, and those that know them, consistently frame their loss as reciprocal. Finally, Sharon Carter tells Steve that she did not tell her aunt that she was watching over him on behalf of SHIELD because she did not want Peggy to have secrets from him. Peggy’s niece knew what Steve Rogers meant to her mentor and hero even after 70 years had passed.

Avengers: Endgame

When Steve finds himself in Peggy Carter’s director office at Camp Lehigh in 1970, he comes face to face with a spirited Peggy dressing down a colleague. It’s a powerful image of a professional woman firmly in command. Steve watches Peggy with palpable longing.

Steve also notices the framed photo of himself prior to his transformation in the very place that they met. It is the photo that we as an audience have watched Peggy look at throughout her journey. Twenty five years after Steve’s apparent death, Peggy still keeps that photograph on her desk. It’s the culmination of what the storytellers across the television series and films have been telling us: Steve Rogers means the world to Peggy Carter. And while she was forced to move on and live a life without him, she never forgot him. Moreover, Steve Rogers has done the same: Peggy’s compass photograph is always with him through time and space. They never stop loving and missing one another. And now he knows that his longing is reciprocated.

So that brings us to the big moment. But before we peek through the window of her 1949 Washington DC home, this is what we know about Peggy Carter before Steve ever knocked on her door: 1) in her own words, Steve Rogers was the love of her life; 2) Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter were equal partners; 3) Peggy values her agency; 4) Steve almost always tells the truth; and 5) Peggy Carter is perfectly capable of balancing a career as the Director of SHIELD and being in a relationship because we have already received confirmation that she chose to do so.

Now, let’s step back and put ourselves in Peggy Carter’s shoes in this moment. It’s 1949. Think back to the love that Steve and Peggy shared just four years ago, born of equal respect and partnership. Recall the pain of the radio going dead in The First Avenger and Peggy’s sadness well over a year after Steve’s supposed death. Remember the rawness of Peggy’s words to Howard just three years ago that Steve’s return is an impossibility; the poignant farewell to her “darling” on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since then, Peggy has had a chance to flourish professionally and heal emotionally. She is also apparently alone at her home.

Then Steve Rogers knocks on her door.

This time, Peggy Carter learns the truth in 1949. Steve Rogers never died on that fateful day. And now he’s back and standing before her after having traveled across time and space. Recall the joy on her face during The Winter Soldier when she thought he had just returned. But now she is a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. For the first time, Peggy Carter can choose to be with him. Like Steve Rogers in possession of the ability to time travel, Peggy Carter is given the truth and a second chance to restore the loss of 1945. And she chooses Steve.

It is also interesting to note that if Peggy had to grapple with the return of a loved one who becomes a villain off screen, Endgame reverses that nightmare by restoring a loved one to Peggy in a way that uplifts her happiness rather than shatters her life. Unlike Michael, this return of a loved one is not rife with betrayal and violence, but rather is an affirmation that Steve always loved her as she loved him.

Whatever happened between the two of them during that moment —whatever was said— will have to live in our imagination. The script suggests that this scene takes place right after Steve returned because it describes a shattered teacup on the floor. But while we were permitted to observe one of the most tragic moments of their life; conversely, their joyful reunion will forever remain private. Instead, we watch what words cannot articulate. It’s an intimate and beautiful scene bathed in golden light. Peggy and Steve are finally dancing together, hands clasped. Peggy is looking up at him, smiling and overcome with emotion as tears run down her face. And then as the achingly perfect words of “It’s Been A Long, Long Time,” command, they kiss. The impossible happened. And, as we know from the prior scene with an elderly Steve Rogers, they go on to live a happy life together.

Now, there are two remaining points to unpack given the time travel of it all. On the one hand, the directors of Endgame believe that Steve’s actions created a branch reality where he is living in an alternate timeline with Peggy Carter. This is consistent with the Ancient One’s explanation of time travel to Bruce Banner. It would explain, for example, why Peggy described her husband as someone else in the Smithsonian film. It also preserves everything that happened in the MCU films after 1949 in a separate timeline precisely as the films unfolded.

On the other hand, the writers of all of the Captain America movies, Endgame (and creators of Agent Carter), claim that they intended that the scenes in The Winter Soldier (which predates the television show) and Civil War (which premiered after its cancellation) to suggest that Steve was always the father of Peggy’s children and that a second Steve Rogers attended her funeral, hidden as an old man. There certainly was a noticeable mystery surrounding the identity of Peggy’s husband. The idea that Steve was looking at photographs of his own children while mourning a life that he would someday have or that Peggy had to protect the timeline adds a tantalizing complexity to these already poignant scenes. And it also could explain how an elderly Steve Rogers exists at Tony’s lake house speaking to Sam Wilson in the original timeline in 2023.

Regardless of these time travel wrinkles, everything that happened in Agent Carter remains intact. The individual story of Peggy’s life that we watched unfold on screen from 1946-47 remains. But, at least for now, the film gives the audience the power to choose what happened next. Do you love Steve and Peggy together? Great, maybe they always were and either Peggy was as good a spy in covering the truth as we know her to be or perhaps the time loop shifted slightly when Steve went back to 1949. Or maybe they are simply in another timeline. Do you wish that Peggy ended up with Daniel or someone else? You too are in luck! Perhaps it’s a multiverse and different versions of Peggy end up with different people in two different timelines. Unless future MCU films or shows clarify the time travel questions further, the end of Peggy and Steve’s story is a choose your own adventure.

One thing is clear: Steve Rogers’ return finally gives Peggy the full agency to choose what she wants for her own personal happiness while she is still young enough to do so. The storytellers, through that knock on the door, finally reveal to Peggy a truth that was hidden for most of her life. Moreover, Peggy chooses to spend her life with a man who has proven himself to be her equal partner. By giving Peggy this full agency, Endgame honors the feminist legacy of Peggy Carter.

Moreover, the storytelling also rewards Peggy, who always acted with integrity and suffered great personal losses, with an ending that runs counter to the nihilism of our current popular culture. Who among us wouldn’t wish that a loved one who died could come back to life? Indeed, it was the main motivation of our heroes in Endgame; to restore lost lives. And what if it turned out that the loved one hadn’t actually died? Wouldn’t you want to know? Why wouldn’t we then want that for our beloved Peggy Carter? Steve Rogers’ choice allows Peggy to know the truth while she can still change the course of her life. And she does.

In Endgame, Peggy finally has the freedom to choose her own ending. And thanks to the open ended nature of time travel, so can you.

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