Staff Reporter | On 06, Jul 2015

Reading time: 5 mins

On Sunday 12th July, Marvel’s Agent Carter finally arrives in the UK. Months after the show first debuted in the US, the small-screen spin-off from Captain America has been snapped up by Fox, who will premiere the first season of the show at 9pm. (Read our review of the first episode here.)

Here are nine reasons why it’s worth tuning in:

1. It’s about a female Marvel hero



Photo: Bob D’Amico © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Marvel’s gigantic on-screen world has been growing for some time now. There have been movies about playboys in robotic suits, male scientists with anger issues, a soldier turned into a superhuman, a god who enjoys throwing masonry tools around and a guy who’s really good at shooting arrows. The number of films with a female role model? Zero. Even with the growing number of TV series based on comic books, there hasn’t been a show based around a heroine – until now. Agent Carter is a much-needed redressing of the balance given MCU’s poorly written female characters. After all, over half the world’s population is female. It’s hard to believe that there are none in Marvel’s inter-galactic universe.

2. Peggy doesn’t have superpowers

Not only is Agent Carter not a man, she’s also not a superhero. She doesn’t need powers or abilities to save the day: she just uses her brains, her determination and her handy skill with a gun. She uses her sexuality too – but it’s just another tool in her toolbox, rather than something that defines her. In short, she kicks ass. And she doesn’t need a lab experiment, a dead parent or a lot of money to do so. Being underestimated by the men around her: that’s her power.

3. It’s about her being a female

Created by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, ABC’s series isn’t just about a female secret agent for the Strategic Scientific Reserve – it’s also about her being a female secret agent. Taking place in 1940s America, she’s surrounded by sexist co-workers and bosses. “All hands on deck,” says her boss, as their investigation begins. “That means man the phones,” he adds to her, with a patronising smile. Minutes later and she’s dishing up justice to an unwanted kitchen intruder using a fridge and a frying pan.

4 It stars Hayley Atwell



Photo: Bob D’Amico © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hayley Atwell is awesome – and has been awesome for many years, both on the stage (A View from the Bridge) and on the screen (Cassandra’s Dream, Testament of Youth, Cassandra’s Dream and The Duchess). It’s only now, with her role of Peggy Carter in the MCU, that she’s getting a high-profile platform to justify the next-big-thing label that’s surrounded her for a long time. Needless to say, she does just that.

5. It also stars Dominic Cooper

While it’s great to have a female lead for once, Agent Carter also provides a welcome opportunity for Dominic Cooper to reprise his part of inventor Howard Stark (father of Tony Stark), which also began in the Captain America franchise. Cooper’s suave, schmoozing boffin is the catalyst for the whole plot: Howard, it turns out, has been framed for selling his weapons to the highest bidder, so he contacts her secretly to ask for help clearing his name. Even better, he brings with him James D’Arcy as Edwin Jarvis, his ever-so-British chauffeur, who proves a handy getaway in emergencies and a source of wonderfully uptight banter. Another stand-out male cast member is Enver Gjokaj as Agent Sousa, who sticks up for Peggy at work. “I heard he got his personality shot off in Iwo Jima,” he quips about one of the office’s more sexist blokes.

6. The show is part of the MCU

Part of the entertainment when it comes to Marvel’s output is working out how they fit into the wider MCU. Jarvis, for example, will eventually go on to inspire Tony Stark’s J.A.R.V.I.S. artificial intelligence. Peggy, meanwhile, is not just grieving over Steve Rogers’ death at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, but also goes on to appear in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron and even – yes – Ant-Man. Sometimes, Marvel’s intricate connections can unbalance a film entirely (see Iron Man ), but to get those and a well-rounded show to boot? Now that’s super.

7. It’s fun



Photo: Kelsey McNeal © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Marvel wowed everyone when it released Daredevil on Netflix this year – a hard-hitting, dark, brutal series that was more crime drama than comic book adventure. While the surprisingly serious tone made for a unique piece of comic book TV, though, Agent Carter is a chance to simply have fun: it takes no crap from the sexist blokes around Peggy, but also has a sense of humour.

8. It’s set in the 1940s

“I loved the Bette Davises and the Katharine Hepburns, women who seemed to be very modern, but in a different time,” Atwell told The Independent in an interview. “They weren’t just the femme fatale, or the ingenue, or the mother-in-law, or the evil, jealous girlfriend. There was a great weight and gravitas to them. So they were the women that I aspired to be and looked up to.

“There’s something quite enigmatic about the women of that time,” she added. “It’s very different to nowadays, where we over-share [and] celebrity culture is saturated with personal details.”

Add to that a whole string of cool hats and coats, not to mention period cars and diners, and you have yourself one stylish series.

9. It’s legal

After months of waiting for the show to arrive in the UK, next Sunday marks the point when you can finally watch Agent Carter online legally – supporting the creative talent that went into making the programme. Fox is available on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, BT and UPC. For non-pay TV customers, though, Agent Carter will also be available to watch through NOW TV – a VOD service from Sky that gives viewers contract-free access to Sky TV channels, such as Sky Atlantic and Fox, for £6.99 a month.