If you were to name the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s most prolific recurring character, then Samuel L. Jackson would obviously be at the top of the list given that the upcoming duo of The Marvels and Secret Invasion will bring him up to a whopping 17 appearances across film, television, and video games.
Behind the longtime Nick Fury, Chris Hemsworth has racked up an impressive 14 outings in total, but just behind the ever-present Odinson is Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter. The actress has played the role in no less than six feature films, a Marvel One-Shot, four TV shows (comprised of two apiece in live-action and animation), as well as a pair of video games, for a grand total of 13 stints as the fan favorite.
Despite claiming to be stepping away from the part following Avengers: Endgame, Atwell made a surprise (at least if you avoided spoilers) return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the Captain Carter variant, but she admitted in an interview with Digital Spy that it wasn’t exactly the comeback she had in mind for a character held close to her heart.
“It was definitely not, you know, the trajectory that I see for Peggy. I would definitely like her to have more to do… I’m a custodian of her. Compared to the rest of my career and everything I’ve done or my stage work and doing Mission: Impossible now and all the diversity of roles I’ve played, and the diversity that I get to explore, and to be able to play more complex roles and villains and lots of different things – she is not mine anymore. She lives in the world of people that have taken her into their heart. And that’s beautiful. But it’s kind of like: yeah, you can’t control the impact a particular role has on the rest of the world.”
We heard plenty of rumors claiming a Captain Carter solo project was in the works, but it’s never amounted to anything more than hearsay. However, it sounds as though Atwell wouldn’t be too thrilled to carry on down that particular path, even if definitely can’t be discounted that we’ll see her again.
