Hayley Atwell Reportedly Returning to the MCU for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

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Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter / Captain Carter in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. Photo: Marvel Studios.

Preview:

Hayley Atwell is reportedly headed back to the MCU for ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’
Joe and Anthony Russo are aboard to direct the movie.
Robert Downey Jr. will be playing Dr. Doom, and Chris Evans is also coming back in some capacity.

It appears that, while it has a newer crop of heroes who will be tackling a giant new threat, Marvel intends to get at least some of the old gang back together –– in both familiar and fresh roles.

Following on from this summer’s huge announcement that Robert Downey Jr. would return to the MCU (albeit as the villainous Victor Von Doom rather than Tony Stark) for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’) and the more recent word that Chris Evans is also in talks to show up, we now have word via Deadline that Hayley Atwell is also in line to show up.

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While there has been chatter about Evans possibly playing a character other than Steve “Captain America” Rogers –– Nomad, a title that Rogers takes on after giving up the Cap mantle to Sam Wilson, it seems Atwell would be back as Peggy Carter, AKA the MI6 and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is the great love of Steve’s life.

What has happened with the new ‘Avengers’ movies so far?

To say the road to the new ‘Avengers’ films has been problematic is to say ‘Kraven the Hunter’ had a slightly disappointing start at the box office this past weekend.

Originally announced as part of a big reveal by studio boss Kevin Feige at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con about future “phase” developments, the new movies were called ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’.

‘The Kang Dynasty’ has been the real sticking point here. Though the plan had presumably been to build to a confrontation with Jonathan Majors’ multiversal villain, Majors found himself cut by Marvel after accusations (and, later a guilty result) of harassment.

While ‘Shang-Chi’ director Destin Daniel Cretton boarded the film shortly after it was announced, he’s since stepped away. ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy has reportedly offered been the gig since then, but the July Con announcement also confirmed that ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’ directors Joe and Anthony Russo are back to handle the two giant team-up efforts.

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ will focus on the likes of the current Avengers team and the Fantastic Four (played by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bacharach, and set to be introduced in their own movie next July) having to face the new threat of Doom.

‘Secret Wars’ has been more of a mystery on the filmmaking front.

What is Marvel’s ‘Secret Wars?

‘Secret Wars’ would draw from (through the usual Marvel movie filter where changes will be made) a pair of 1980s comic book series focused on an all-powerful antagonist known as the Beyonder, who in the first installment pitted Marvel’s heroes and villains against each other on a planet known as Battleworld.

In a 2015 revival by Jonathan Hickman, the resulting conflict left the multiverse collapsed, the survivors living on a single planet ruled by classic villain Doctor Doom.

The Russos have previously talked about their enthusiasm for ‘Secret Wars’, and they’re bringing along scripter Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote most of their previous Marvel output.

Carter’s return also makes sense for McFeely, who along with regular writer Christopher Markus, created the ‘Agent Carter’ series.

Who else will be in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’?

Robert Downey Jr. to play Doctor Doom in 'Avengers: Doomsday'.

Alongside Evans in whatever capacity, we’ll of course see Downey plus the ‘Fantastic Four’ cast.

Mackie is very likely to show up as Cap, and Benedict Cumberbatch has been talked about to return as Doctor Strange. We’ll have to wait and see whether the likes of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man or any of the other stalwarts will be back.

There’s good money on Chris Hemsworth as Thor (since he’s still active) and hopefully the likes of Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes will report for duty.

What is Peggy Carter’s Marvel history?

Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter / Captain Carter in ‘Agent Carter’. Photo: Marvel Studios.

Introduced (on screen, at least) in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger,’ Peggy Carter is a heroic British agent who met Evans’ Steve Rogers before the experiment that turned him into Captain America.

Believing Steve lost for decades at the end of that film, Peggy forged ahead with her own career, helping to build S.H.I.E.L.D. and appearing in her own TV series, ‘Agent Carter.’

By the time Rogers was discovered in the ice, Peggy was an old woman, and the pair had an emotional reunion. At the end of ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ Steve chose to go back in time and live a life with Peggy.

Where and when (and how) we’ll find Peggy this time around remains to be seen. Could it be a multiversal variant of the character? (We met an ill-fated version of Peggy, who got the Super Soldier Serum herself and became Captain Carter in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’)

However she returns, we’ll be happy to see Peggy on screen again.

Outside of the MCU, Peggy has been busy in other action movies, including the most recent ‘Mission: Impossible’ outing ‘Dead Reckoning.’ She’ll be back as Grace for ‘The Final Reckoning’ in May.