"What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?" is the series premiere, of Marvel's Disney+ series What If...?. It premiered on August 11, 2021. It was written by showrunner A.C Bradley and directed by Bryan Andrews. This episode is based on Captain America: The First Avenger.
Synopsis[]
When Steve Rogers is seriously injured, Peggy Carter becomes the world's first super soldier.
Plot[]
Opening narration[]
- “Earth, June 1943. The Nazi army marches across Europe, leaving death and destruction. The allied armies band together to create a new kind of solider, a super soldier. At humanity's darkest hour, a skinny kid from Brooklyn became Captain America. After turning the tide of World War II, he made the ultimate sacrifice, restoring peace and saving this universe. But in another universe, a single choice created a whole new hero... There! That's the moment that created a new universe. When asked to leave the room, Margaret "Peggy" Carter chose to stay, but soon it would be her adventuring into the unknown and creating a new world.”
- ―The Watcher
During WWII, the Allies have Dr. Abraham Erskine create a super soldier serum and have Steve Rogers be its very first test subject. At the moment Peggy Carter is asked to wait in the booth, she instead chooses to stand nearby. This results in Heinz Kruger placing the bomb closer and activating it before Steve even has the chance to get the serum. During the chaos, Steve tries to stop Kruger, but is injured. Peggy takes him out and with no other option jumps into the machine and gets the super soldier serum. Despite it being a success, her superior, Colonel Flynn, refuses to put her in the field due to her being a woman.
Feeling defeated, Howard Stark offers to help Peggy out by giver her a costume and shield that he made for her. Taking the name Captain Carter, Peggy quickly takes out a group of Hydra soldiers and captures Arnim Zola and retrieves the Tesseract. Howard uses it to create a giant suit of armor for Steve called the Hydra Stomper and together liberate their fellow soldiers. Together, Peggy and Steve take out Hydra forces while also forming a close romantic bond. However, while trying to impede a train carrying Hydra weapons, it turns out to be a trap and Steve seemingly dies during the mission.
Peggy interrogates Zola and she and her allies locate the Hydra base and storm it with Peggy and Howard going to Red Skull directly while Bucky, Dum Dum Dugan and the others search for the power source. They find that not only is the Hydra Stomper still intact, but that Steve is alive and liberate him to help Peggy. Peggy and Howard come upon Red Skull using the Tesseract to unleash a giant tentacle monster that kills him immediately. Peggy and Steve work together to defeat it, but the latter is forced to push it back through the portal before Howard shuts it off; leaving Steve devastated, though the Tesseract is secured.
In the present day, Nick Fury activates the Tesseract and brings Peggy back to Earth. She is shocked to learn that it has been seventy years since WWII. While the war is over, she can no longer be with Steve.
Closing narration[]
- “Her one choice gave birth to a whole new history and gave the Multiverse a new hero. As for me, these are my stories. I observe all that transpires here, but I do not, cannot, will not interfere. For I am... THE WATCHER!”
- ―The Watcher
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher
- Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter/Captain Carter
- Stanley Tucci as Dr. Erskine
- Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
- Bradley Whitford as Colonel Flynn
- Ross Marquand as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
- Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
- Darrell Hammond as Nazi General
Guest stars[]
- Josh Keaton as Skinny Steve Rogers
- Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
- Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
- Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan
- Isaac Robinson-Smith as Brick
- Andreas Beckett as additional voices
- David Cowgill as additional voices
- Terri Douglas as additional voices
- Matthew Lindquist as additional voices
- Arthur Ortiz as additional voices
- Helen Sadler as additional voices
- Shane Sweet as additional voices
- Matthew Wood as additional voices
Trivia[]
- Bucky says "Thanks, you almost ripped my arm off", referencing his fall off the train in the film, which caused his arm to fall off and lead to his eventual Winter Soldier arm.
- Peggy emerges in the epilogue in a similar way Loki does in the beginning of The Avengers, with both meeting Hawkeye and Nick Fury, who tells them to put down the sword.
- Peggy Carter's name as Captain Carter is a play on Captain Britain from the comics.
- Series director Bryan Andrews wanted to have the Rocketeer appear alongside Captain Carter and a post-serum Steve Rogers. This was rejected, however, due to copyright issues and because it would raise the question of whether Howard Hughes would exist in the MCU (given that Howard Stark is supposed to be an analogy of Hughes).[1]
- Steve Rogers says "Let's hear it for Captain Carter!", which is a reference to Captain America: The First Avenger, when Bucky Barnes said "Let's hear it for Captain America!", after Steve saved the Howling Commandos from a HYDRA base.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
.jpg "The Watcher's Report (Operation Rebirth).jpg (125 KB)")
Screenshots[]
Merchandise[]
External links[]
What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger? on IMDb- What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger? on Wikipedia
