The brilliance of Agent Carter

By: Bella Dalba

Even with Avengers: Age of Ultron set to hit theaters in May, Agent Carter is receiving most of the attention. As the first major Marvel production to feature a female lead, the superhero franchise has tapped into a new demographic, one that was previously underrepresented in their industry: women.
Set after the events of 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, Agent Carter follows Peggy Carter, Captain America’s love interest, as she navigates 1940s New York City. Rampant with sexism and discrimination, the show finds Carter working as a double agent for the Strategic Scientific Reserve – a precursor to S.H.I.E.L.D -- as well as undergoing secret missions for Howard Stark (Tony Stark/Iron Man’s father).
The series is rather smart: it combines the current vogue for female empowerment via pseudo-historical fiction (Game of Thrones, Mad Men) with an ingenious customer-retention strategy (filling the consumer demand for a female-driven Marvel project) with a built-in audience from a hot property (Captain America). It also manages to address—not to say “pander to”—feminist concerns. “This show has been long overdue, and you can tell by the massive response from the fanbase that this isn’t a one-time deal,” says Amanda Michelle Steiner.
It’s 1946. World War II is over. Captain America is missing, presumed dead. Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is leaving the world of superheroics, and returning to work for the Strategic Scientific Reserve, where she is treated poorly. This coincides with women being pushed out of the workforce—which they had successfully claimed while the men were away at war—to give jobs to returning GIs. The parallel is duly noted.
Soon, as the laws of comic book narrative dictate, a shadowy conspiracy of supervillains begins stealing superweapons. To retrieve them, Agent Carter must go undercover and/or above her sexist bosses’ heads, which requires both a double life and a sidekick. (The sidekick is Jarvis, a British butler who becomes the eventual inspiration for the computer program named JARVIS, which runs Tony Stark’s mansion. The program will be a central character in the next Avengers film.)
“Now that fans have been given a female-led TV show, the logical next step is to make a female-led movie,” says junior Orion Zmashenski. “Honestly, we’re all hoping Marvel will finally give Black Widow a turn in the spotlight.”
Given Marvel’s influence, it’s perfect that Agent Carter has feminist ambitions, a strong female lead, even some understanding of women’s history. This is what the “representation” part of feminist analysis is good at demanding: if these entertainments are going to be ubiquitous, they had better not be harmful. Marvel already does this with political parties: Iron Man 2 is about a billionaire CEO who fights nobly to keep the government and the “liberal agenda” from restricting his business practices, and Captain America 2 is about a working-class veteran with PTSD who fights nobly against government surveillance, civilian profiling and drone warfare. These two franchises are so clearly targeted to Republicans and Democrats, respectively, that they might as well run against each other in 2016.
More seriously, though, Carter boasts both a force and a fanbase to be reckoned with. After being featured in Captain America: The First Avenger, Atwell's presence was so captivating that Marvel bet on her to run a series herself. Like Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson, who leads Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Atwell's relatively minor role in the canon quickly made her a fan favorite. If her appearance in Captain America wasn't enough to win you over, Carter surely will.
“Agent Carter is the kind of show [Marvel fans] have been waiting for. Not only does the show give us some background into the foundations of S.H.I.E.L.D., Howard Stark, and the time period that influenced Steve Rogers, but it also showcases the role that women have played in the success of the superhero genre: even among fans, women are actively discriminated against. This show kind of changes everything,” says Racheal Amelung, a former SHS student.