Marvel’s Agent Carter

Abstract

Marvel’s Agent Carter was the first woman-led comics-based Marvel television show. The two-season series features Peggy Carter, a strong woman and leader who not only combated agents that endangered late 1940s America but also the sexism and racism of the period. Her most powerful opponent in each season is a similarly strong woman, in each case a version of the femme fatale of 1940s film noir. The show underlines that while both Carter and the women who oppose her seek empowerment, their goals differ. The series shows that women’s choices were constrained and sexual harassment was commonplace in this era, with links to ongoing struggle for equality in the present. One reason provided for male behavior towards women during this time is a feeling of threatened masculinity in the wake of the Second World War. Eventually, the show’s social critique is expanded to highlight the racism of the era as well, whereas Carter is shown to value people based on their character and capability, not other factors. The series also reveals the disparity between women’s lived reality and the media portrayals of the time. Critical assessments of media themes of female representation and empowerment, such as in this series, have differed: negative appraisals have criticized such narratives for not pointing to how systemic change can and needs to occur, while positive assessment can be drawn from observing changes that have resulted from “negotiations” taking place between those making the television shows and films and the audiences upon who their success depends. As a result of this ongoing process, a growing number of Marvel television shows and films are being made with strong women in leading roles. Agent Carter, an intelligent, resilient woman who is an able leader, therefore turned out to be the prototypical heroine for later Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) productions with women in leading roles.