When you think of the Avengers, images of giant green guys and shiny metal men come to mind. The core group of the Avengers have saved the world again and again, both as a team and individually, so any one of them could arguably be vital to the existence of the Marvel universe.

But what about Peggy Carter? Sure, she doesn’t have any superpowers or a snazzy stand-alone movie, but it could be argued that she’s actually the most important character in the entire MCU. Because without her, there might be no Avengers to save our humble planet, and we would have been destroyed by Nazis or tiny hornet soldiers.

See, without Carter, there would be no Iron Man. She saved the life of Howard Stark, Tony Stark’s father, so no Peggy, no Tony. Captain America might also have been stuck as the scrawny, CGI-ed Chris Evans, as Carter rescued Abraham Erskine, the creator of Cap’s serum, from the Nazis. Along with Howard Stark, Carter went on to found SHIELD, the organization that would give rise to Nick Fury and the Avengers. She also convinced Hank Pym to become the first Ant-Man.

Sure, a Marvel universe sans-Carter would still have Thor, Hulk, and a couple more people without powers, but who knows if they’d even form an avenging group. Stark, Steve Rogers, and Fury pretty much formed the team and led it, so the group might never get off the ground.

And Carter did this all, and got her own show, as a superpower-less woman in a man’s world. Black Widow never even got that. So, let’s all thank the Marvel gods (besides Thor) that the MCU has Peggy Carter.