Carter is depicted as a British MI6 agent and member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve who became Steve Rogers's love interest during World War II.

[3] Peggy Carter debuted in a single panel (at the time the character was unnamed) as a wartime love interest of Captain America in Tales of Suspense #75 (March 1966), and then being named in #77 (May 1966).

[6] Atwell expressed interest in reprising the role for Agent Carter in October 2013;[7] ABC Entertainment president Paul Lee confirmed her involvement in the project in January 2014.

[10] Captain America: The First Avenger screenwriter Christopher Markus said the film "takes place in the 40s, there weren't too many women in areas of authority at that point, and we wanted her to essentially be the most capable person on the screen at that time".

[b] In 1943, Carter is tasked by the SSR to help oversee Project Rebirth, a program to create an army of supersoldiers for the United States war effort.

After Rogers emerges from the experiment as a super soldier, an undercover Hydra agent, Heinz Kruger, kills Erskine and flees with a vial of the serum.

Using information extracted from Arnim Zola, the final Hydra stronghold is located, and Rogers leads an attack to stop Johann Schmidt from using weapons of mass destruction on America's cities.

After Schmidt is teleported away by the Tesseract,[c] Rogers, seeing no way to land the plane without the risk of detonating its weapons, radios the tearful Carter and says goodbye to her before crashing in the Arctic.

The next day, Flynn reprimands her for not going through the proper procedures to complete the mission, and dismisses the indignant Carter as just an "old flame" of Captain America's who was given her current job out of pity for her bereavement.

However, before he can officially punish her, the case line rings again, this time with Howard Stark on the other end, who informs Flynn that Carter will co-head the newly created S.H.I.E.L.D.

Later in 1946, Carter has to balance the routine office work she does for the SSR in New York City with secretly assisting Howard Stark, who finds himself framed for supplying deadly weapons to enemies of the United States.

In 1947, Carter moves from New York City to Los Angeles to deal with the threats of the new Atomic Age by the Council of Nine in the aftermath of World War II, gaining new friends, a new home, and starting a romance with Daniel Sousa.

[f] In 2014, Carter, who is now elderly, has developed Alzheimer's disease, and is living in a retirement home in Washington D.C.. Rogers visits her, having come out of suspended animation a few years prior.

In an alternate 1988, Carter, now-Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., together with Howard Stark, assembles a team composed of Bill Foster / Goliath, King T'Chaka of Wakanda, Wendy Lawson / Mar-Vell, Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier and Hank Pym / Ant-Man to stop a young Peter Quill who returned to Earth after being reunited with his father, Ego.

[21] In an alternate 1943, when Carter chooses to stay in the main theater instead of watching from a safe distance, which leads other men present for observation doing the same.

As a result, Kruger attacks Project Rebirth before it starts and shoots Rogers, leading Carter to take the Super Soldier Serum herself.

In 1945, Rogers goes missing during an attack on a Hydra train, prompting Carter to interrogate Arnim Zola to learn the location of Schmidt's castle.

In 2012, Carter becomes a member of the Avengers, consisting of Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Thor, Tony Stark, and Hope van Dyne, and fights in the Battle of New York.

Fury and Romanoff admit that there have been rumors of the Hydra Stomper still being around since the 1960s, but as the world's most deadly killer and a terrorist, Rogers having been captured and brainwashed by the Red Room.

Awakening seemingly free of his brainwashing, Rogers leads the two women to a test site in Sokovia used the Red Room and reconnects with Carter.

Once the Scarlet Witch intervenes, Carter takes the Scepter and uses the Time Stone inside on Stark's device, exposing the time-displaced person to be Rogers.

When he brings the captives to the Forge, Carter and Kahhori work together to save them, as Hela, Xu Wenwu, another Hulk, and another Thor throw their weapons to them.

[24] Atwell said it was "thrilling" to explore "the backdrop of this male-dominated world, where women are still in the workforce, unspoken for and struggling to find a place outside the home" and how it affects Carter, who must deal with this along with the missions she receives.

[26] Speaking about the influence that the apparent death of Steve Rogers has on Carter, Atwell explained that "It's only been a year and she's grieving him and I think what keeps her going is he was the greatest person she ever knew ... she's also determined to make sure that his work wasn't in vain.

"[27] Following the first season, Atwell noted that Carter did not "win everyone's respect", with Jack Thompson taking credit for her actions, for example, but "she knows her value so she doesn't need that praise".

[citation needed] For the second season, executive producer Michele Fazekas explained that after Carter "put a lot of things emotionally to bed", such as letting go of Captain America, she is now "more open to looking at her life and figuring out, does she want a relationship?"

[29] Costume designer Giovanna Ottobre-Melton gave the outfits an "hourglass style with strength in the tailoring and defined shoulders, but not overly exaggerated."

The visual effects team was not satisfied with the initial make-up used to make Atwell look older, and eventually resorted to aging her through CGI methods.

"[32] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt that she resembled "a classic military pin-up of the period" with her depicted "full red lips" of the film.

[34] Andy Hunsaker at CraveOnline said the short "gives its title character the send-off she deserves", and hoped that it would lead to further female-focused properties from Marvel.