Peggy Carter is one of the most beloved characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She is a trailblazing woman who uses her intelligence and determination to fight fascism and co-found SHIELD to protect civilians from unimaginable threats.

She did all of this despite the rampant discrimination against women during the decades spanning her career. We perhaps can see ourselves in Peggy as she enjoys a sandwich with relish or rolls her eyes at being underestimated. But Agent Carter is also inspirational. She is always quick with the comeback that we wish we could think of in the moment. Her sophisticated sense of style is unparalleled. And when Peggy tells a roomful of men, “I know my own value,” it’s the kind of line that shakes you to your core. In a fictional world filled with superpowers, Peggy’s strength lies in simply being an extraordinary human being.

However, Peggy Carter became not only an icon in her own world, but in ours as well. She first appeared on our screens as an agent in uniform directing male soldiers in 1943. The first two things that we knew as an audience about Peggy Carter was her profession and that she would not abide being undermined by a man.

It was a thrilling signal that this superhero movie female character would not be a damsel in distress. Four years later, at a time when no other female character in the MCU headlined her own live action story, Agent Carter premiered on ABC in 2015. The show was the sole instance of a MCU female-led story on our screens (big or small) until Captain Marvel premiered in 2018.

And then that story was cut short when ABC cancelled the show after the second season. So perhaps for some of us, Peggy Carter became a symbol of fighting for equality not only within her own story, but in ours as well. Her fight against discrimination in the workplace and the low ratings and cancellation of the series, in a way, mirror the struggles that women fight to overcome in real life.

And so, given what Peggy Carter means to many of us, how her onscreen journey ends is understandably rife with significance. Avengers: Endgame ends, symbolically, where its story chronologically began: with Steve Rogers, the first Avenger, and Peggy Carter, the co-founder of SHIELD. Time travel allows Steve to return to Peggy and live the life that they had planned together during The First Avenger. Immediately following the release of Endgame, which was written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (the co-creators of the Agent Carter series), a lively debate ensued regarding the impact of the final scene on canon. Did Steve’s return to the past erase the events of the Agent Carter series? Further, what MCU timeline should we understand them to be living in? And finally, how does this scene fit with Peggy’s character arc?

Recently, the first question was answered by the public release of the Avengers: Endgame script for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The script states on page 145 that the final scene of Steve and Peggy dancing takes place in 1949 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. The events of Peggy’s life depicted in the Agent Carter series took place during 1946-47. Thus, Agent Carter canon remains unchanged. And so, given this recent clarification (and the remaining questions raised by time travel), it is worthwhile to reconsider canon as a whole and explore the thematic ties that weave together Peggy Carter’s personal character arc over nearly a decade of storytelling.

Indeed, one of the aspects of the Marvel world that is so compelling is that its heroes are decidedly human; they are vulnerable and struggle with the same challenges that we do, albeit in more extraordinary circumstances. Their personal fears and desires are as much a part of the narrative as their world saving heroics. (For ease of reference, a timeline can be found at the end of this article.)

Peggy’s legacy, of course, reaches far beyond who she ends up marrying. And while that should go without saying, I am going to say it anyway. SHIELD is a foundation of the MCU for decades and countless women in that fictional world have Peggy Carter to thank for blazing the trail. Without Agent Carter, there would be no Maria Hill and Sharon Carter of the MCU films or Melinda May, Jemma Simmons, or Daisy Johnson of the Agents of SHIELD series.

For this article alone, I am choosing to focus on Peggy’s personal life because that is where the fandom discussion has seemed to center as of late. The MCU movies already showed us the end of Peggy’s professional life: she retires after serving as the Director of SHIELD and is buried a hero under the Union Jack flag. Indeed, we have no reason to speculate that Endgame disrupted Peggy’s professional trajectory. Peggy Carter was always a married woman in the original timeline and her relationship with Steve Rogers grew from a professional partnership of equals.

Over the last decade, there has been a lot that Marvel has done right and a lot that has been less than ideal with respect to telling women’s stories. However, when one considers the romantic story of Steve and Peggy, I would argue that it falls squarely within the former category. This not just your average superhero love story despite an entertainment world filled with a lot of just that. Rather, when one considers the story that sprawls across five movies and a television series as a whole, it becomes clear that they are a partnership between equals who share the same values and overcome similar obstacles. Indeed, even when they are separated, the example of the other is integral to forming who they each become on their own.

Moreover, the return of Steve Rogers to 1949 illuminates a fact that Peggy otherwise did not learn until it was too late in her life to act upon: that Steve Rogers was never dead. Therefore, Endgame reveals to Peggy a critical truth and empowers her to make a fully informed choice about the course of her personal life. This rare combination of equality and agency elevates a tragic wartime love story into one worthy of such a powerful feminist figure. Finally, Steve and Peggy’s joint triumph over loss is the kind of hopeful storytelling that runs counter to the nihilism that seems to pervade popular culture.

A partnership of equals

Several decades of superhero movies have often depicted female characters as bystanders to be rescued. Dramatic tension is often forged through the concealment of identities and the danger that the superhero life poses to a female love interest. The First Avenger emphatically rejected these tropes by firmly placing Peggy Carter as a professional at the center of the story and framing her and Steve Rogers as moral equals.

The movie is quite intentional in how it depicts Peggy and Steve connecting through shared life experience and ideals long before Steve Rogers becomes Captain America or any romantic developments unfold. First, they are both underestimated and bullied by the world for reasons outside of their control: Peggy is a woman and Steve is physically small and in poor health. Peggy’s first action on screen is to punch a soldier who addresses her disrespectfully and attempts to sexually harass her. It recalls Steve taking on the bully in the movie theater at the beginning of the film. Bullies will not be tolerated and punches in response will, quite literally, not be pulled.

Steve’s reaction to Peggy’s introduction is telling: he smiles. Indeed, Steve is not (professionally speaking) intimidated by an independent woman who stands her ground in 1943; rather he takes pleasure in it and confides in her. Peggy, in turn, is shown to be impressed by Steve’s resolve despite his physical limitations and harassment by other men in his unit. She is clearly pleased when he solves the challenge of lowering the flag on the training run by using his intelligence. Perhaps as a woman, she appreciates that Steve outmaneuvered men of larger size who expected to prevail through brute force.

Their developing emotional connection is confirmed during the car ride scene to Project Rebirth. Peggy and Steve discuss why he stands up to bullies despite being beaten throughout his life. Peggy then draws the parallel to her own life and the discrimination that she has faced as a woman. She remarks that she knows something of doors being slammed in her face. Upon re-watching this scene in the context of Agent Carter, the audience may think of Peggy’s mother telling her to become a lady or the workplace discrimination that Peggy will face after the war.

Then, significantly, the conversation turns to the subject of dancing. Steve says that he is waiting for “the right partner.” Partner is a word that clearly carries significance for Peggy because she will later echo it back to Steve. After watching Agent Carter, we now know that Peggy’s ex-fiance Fred disapproved of her doing field work. While on the surface partner is a word that is commonly associated with dancing, it also suggests equality between two people in a relationship.

Moreover, both characters are instinctively called to sacrifice for others. In one of the iconic moments of the film, Col. Phillips throws a dummy grenade into the unit. Of course, Steve Rogers jumps onto the grenade. However, Peggy also moved toward the potential explosion when every other person in the scene other than Steve ran away. On an army base surrounded by soldiers, they are the only two people present who possess the knee jerk courage to give their lives for others. It is a trait that will define both of them throughout their later MCU appearances.

Once Steve does attain super strength, Peggy is key to inspiring him to “become more.” It is the beginning of an ouroboros of inspiration that exists between these two characters and reverberates throughout their stories even when they are separated by death — real or perceived. Peggy fervently believes that Steve is meant for something more. Her call to action and belief that he can make a difference is the catalyst for Captain America’s first mission. Steve, in turn, listens to her. Before setting out, he asks whether she truly believes what she said because her opinion matters to him. In rescuing the 107th, Steve also follows Peggy’s strategic advice and planning. He counts on her as his covert operations liaison to be extracted. Despite the times, Steve never once questions her wisdom or instincts because she is a woman. Indeed, as we watch Peggy’s later story unfold, the importance of how often Steve listens to Peggy cannot be understated (and will be recalled during Agent Carter in the form of “Do as Peggy says” which originates with Peggy’s guess at what Steve would advise others to do).

Rather than returning home to the U.S. to receive a medal of honor, Steve then joins Peggy’s efforts to counter Hydra. We watch as Peggy leads strategy meetings and moves Hydra bases off the board. In one of the film’s final action sequences, Peggy is shown rescuing Captain America from enemy fire. As we will learn during the Agent Carter series, Peggy was often in the field with the Howling Commandos over these two years. It is a stark contrast to Peggy being forced to later pick up sandwiches in Agent Carter.

The episode “Bridge and Tunnel” comments on the real world erasure of women’s roles in society and stories. But it can also serve as a meta commentary about some fandom discussions on Peggy Carter’s relationship with Steve Rogers; as if their romantic union somehow diminishes Peggy. The opening scene depicts a tongue in cheek radio program called “The Captain America Adventure Program.” In it, “Betty Carver,” a “beautiful triage nurse,” is taken hostage by Nazis when the 107th troop is ambushed. We and Peggy both know that this misogynistic version of Peggy and Steve’s history is nonsense. Peggy was never in need of rescue; rather, she was Steve’s equal partner and in fact rescued him while battling Hydra. Both the radio program and unpleasant SSR office chatter are meant to reveal the sexism of the world in which Peggy lives, not the actual nature of her former relationship with Steve Rogers.

Indeed, Jarvis speaks to this point at the end of the episode when he rejects Peggy’s insistence that she can do her job alone. Interestingly, Peggy says, “If I allow people to get close to me, I am putting them in danger.” Peggy recruited Steve and he died. She also lived with a roommate who was killed in the pilot. When Peggy claims that Steve was able to singularly carry the world on his shoulders, Jarvis refutes this by saying, “From what Mr. Stark has told me, Captain Rogers relied heavily on you, for courage, strategy, and moral guidance. You were his support.” Peggy is emotional as she hears this truth observed by people who were actually there during the events of The First Avenger. But also, through Jarvis, the writers are telling us that despite audience perceptions (in the fictional or real world), Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers were equal partners.

The point is underscored by the opening voice over during the next few episodes: “I’m Peggy Carter. During the war, I fought side-by-side with Captain America. We defeated the enemy. But I lost the love of my life.” In Peggy’s own words, two key truths from her perspective are established: One, she considers Steve Rogers to be the love of her life; and Two, she fought “side-by-side” with him. Even if the world belittles her for being involved with him romantically or for simply being a woman, Peggy views their fight against Nazis together as a “side by side” endeavor. Steve Rogers never treated her as anything other than an equal partner. It should also be noted that Steve reciprocates Peggy’s sentiment in group therapy during Endgame when he too says that he lost “the love of his life” in 1945. Significantly, this voice over plays during the iconic imagery from the pilot: Peggy Carter, in her red hat, walking in the opposite direction in a crowd of men on the streets of New York City. It parallels a similar staging of a deleted scene in The Avengers of Steve Rogers also walking in the opposite direction of a crowd in New York City decades later. In some ways, Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers are both fish out of water. Peggy is a woman working in a field dominated by men; Steve is a man out of time. But perhaps most significantly, they both often stand alone against a tide of opposition when giving voice to idealism within the narrative.

The fact that Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers are comrades in arms beyond love interests is underscored by a scene in The First Avenger that takes place after the apparent death of Bucky Barnes in a ruined pub. One can easily think of scores of other movie scenes between two male soldiers discussing the nature of loss in wartime. Instead, The First Avenger gives the voice of wisdom to a female character. Peggy asks, “Did you believe in your friend? Did you respect him? Stop blaming yourself. Allow Barnes the dignity of his choice.” It is significant that Peggy’s wisdom hinges on respecting agency — something that often eludes female characters in superhero stories. And when Steve vows to destroy Hydra, Peggy tells him, “you won’t be alone.” They are a team, united in purpose. Sadly, this scene also foreshadows the sacrifice that will come at the end of the film: Peggy will soon be in Steve’s shoes and listen as he recalls her wisdom about accepting that his sacrifice is a choice. It’s his attempt to protect her from feeling a guilt after his death that he knows all too well, but it also demonstrates that he internalized Peggy’s wisdom. The writing establishes that while these two characters may be romantically interested in one another, their wartime bond goes far deeper. Its significance will be recalled when they meet again as confidants in The Winter Soldier.

This intertwining of Steve and Peggy’s moral connection is explored further in “The Blietzkrieg Button.” Peggy is furious when she discovers that Howard Stark used her to retrieve the last remaining sample of Steve’s blood. It leads to an explosive and revealing argument exploring the intersection of Peggy’s idealism versus Howard’s pragmatism. In some ways, it mirrors the future philosophical debates that will unfold between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. However, the argument is emotional precisely because of what Steve means to both of them. Howard says, “I know exactly how much Steve meant to you because I know exactly how much he means to me.” As their argument continues and Peggy grows increasingly emotional, she describes what Steve meant to her beyond the romantic. “Steve Rogers dedicated his life, his mind, and his body to the SSR and this country … I’m not as good as Steve was. I forgot my pledge running around for you like a corporate spy. So thank you Howard for reminding me of who Steve was and who I aspire to be.” The memory of Steve inspires Peggy to cling to her integrity even when the world tells her that it is naive to do so. She will ultimately reject Howard’s argument and dispose of Steve Rogers’ blood to preclude its potential misuse.

Interestingly, Peggy’s struggles with knowing what is right in the Cold War era will be mirrored by Steve’s journey in our own times in The Winter Soldier and Civil War. In those films, Peggy in turn will inspire Steve to cling to his integrity in a new world order. In The Winter Soldier, he says that he joined SHIELD in part because she founded it. He then seeks Peggy’s advice about how to navigate right and wrong in the post 9/11 era with respect to surveillance and preemptive strikes. And during Steve’s gravest crisis of conscience in Civil War, Sharon Carter’s retelling of Peggy’s advice to stand one’s ground based on principle “like a tree” during her aunt’s funeral is the final push that Steve needs to refuse signing the Sokovia Accords.

Steve inspires Peggy and then Peggy inspires Steve. Even when separated by seven decades or death, the relationship between Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers is fundamental to who they are and inspires the ethical choices that they make. They are, in every way, equals.

Peggy attains full agency

Another hallmark of feminist storytelling is that female characters have agency; that women have the power to make their own choices within the narrative. After the release of Endgame, some voices within the fandom argued that Steve’s return to the past somehow removed Peggy’s agency. However, I would argue that the opposite is true. The MCU movies and the Agent Carter series, despite their sprawling canvas, tell a moving story of tragic irony: Peggy Carter mourns Steve Rogers but he isn’t actually dead. Indeed, Peggy lives nearly her entire life without knowing this critical truth. In the original timeline, she does not learn of Steve’s survival until she is an elderly woman at the end of her life. And so, it was in fact the tragic circumstances of Steve’s disappearance that robbed Peggy of her agency, rather than the opportunity to learn the truth in 1949 while she can still act on it.

That this is information that Peggy would have wanted to know is established beginning with The First Avenger. That film frames the emotional crescendo of the movie from both Steve and Peggy’s perspective. It pointedly shows us the emotional cost of Steve’s sacrifice from Peggy’s point of view. With tears streaming down her face, Peggy joins Steve in fantasizing about a dance that can now, seemingly, never be. When the radio goes silent, the camera shows Col. Phillips observing Peggy’s grief. She has lost her partner and, in her own later words, the love of her life. In the final scene of the movie from Peggy’s perspective, Col. Phillips gives her Steve’s file. The head of the project knows that the person to whom Steve meant the most is Peggy Carter. She lovingly holds a photograph of the pre-serum Steve Rogers; the man he was and will always be on the inside. It is a photograph that she will later keep for the rest of her life — both in her bedroom mirror after the war during the Agent Carter series and in her office as the Director of SHIELD 25 years later. Peggy’s final scene is focused on her mourning someone that she believes is dead. In parallel, Steve’s final line of the movie is, “I had a date,” his first reaction to discovering that he has been asleep for 70 years is that he is separated from Peggy Carter.

The first season of the Agent Carter series, on a personal level, explores Peggy struggling to move on with her life emotionally in the wake of Steve’s death. It is an event that she is powerless to change. The storytellers could not, at that point in time during the expanding MCU, reveal the truth to Peggy. So the season finale instead creates two opportunities for her to exercise agency in a way that provides a catharsis for the loss suffered in The First Avenger.

First, Howard Stark, under the influence of mind control, is asked to imagine his biggest regret. In a dreamlike state, Howard imagines that the signal to the Valkyrie has been located. A vision of Peggy appears before him holding Steve’s shield and asking him to bring Steve home. In reality, Howard is flying a plane with a bomb headed for New York City. It is a nightmare scenario. Peggy is once again on the end of a radio listening as someone flies a plane to their certain doom with the fate of New York City hanging in the balance.

When Howard tells Peggy, “I’m bringing Cap back, Peg,” Peggy is overcome with emotion. For both of them, it is their greatest wish and biggest regret. And yet, as far as Peggy knows, it is impossible. She tells Howard, “Steve is gone. He died over a year ago…I know you loved him. I loved him too. But this won’t bring him back. You are the one person on this Earth who believes in me. I cannot lose you. Steve is gone. We have to move on, all of us. As impossible as that might sound. We have to let him go.”

Peggy is telling herself, as much as Howard, that they have to try to move on with their lives as hard as that may seem. Thankfully, by discussing their shared pain out loud, Peggy is able to save someone that she cares about (and New York City) from the other end of the radio. Of course, the painful irony that underlies these events is that, even as Howard and Peggy mourn him, Steve is alive just a few hundred miles away under the ice. And someday, he will come back.

Second, the final moments of the season 1 finale focus on Peggy grappling with moving on with her life and protecting Steve Rogers’ legacy. Her emerging confidant and friend, Jarvis, presents her with the last vial of Steve’s blood rather than return it to Howard. In an earlier episode, Peggy said that she had just wanted “a second chance” at keeping Steve safe. It was a moving admission of her regret over his apparent death but also a decidedly feminist statement: that a woman without powers could keep a male Super Soldier safe.

The iconic Brooklyn Bridge scene allows Peggy to do just that. This scene is perhaps the most emotional and cinematic of the series. A melancholy version of the 1936 song, “The Way You Look Tonight” plays. It is, poignantly, a song to which one could imagine dancing. Peggy pours her last physical link to Steve Rogers into the river and whispers through tears, “Goodbye, my darling.” Peggy acts on her integrity and will not allow Steve’s blood to be used for profit or worse. She finds a way to protect his legacy even is she could not save his life.

By doing so, Peggy listens to her inner voice rather than acceding to Howard’s more pragmatic point of view. Moreover, how Peggy chooses to do this is significant: She holds her own private memorial for Steve. She stands on the symbol of Steve’s birthplace and look out on the city where he grew up and for which he gave his life. And then she returns the last physical remains of Steve Rogers to Brooklyn. Of course, the tragic irony underlying this scene is that Peggy is crying over someone who isn’t dead; she is seeking closure and moving on from a man who will awake 70 years from now. Steve will walk those very streets and stare at Peggy’s photograph, thinking of her. The episode solidifies the tragedy of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, but it also signals that Peggy is ready to seek an emotional connection with others when she accepts a future invitation for a drink with SSR colleague Daniel Sousa.

Nearly 70 later, the audience will observe that despite living a full life, the searing loss of Steve Rogers remains just under the surface. When Steve visits Peggy in The Winter Soldier, she is elderly and frail. Steve looks at photographs of Peggy with her children and tells her that she should be proud of herself. The photographs pointedly excludes her husband. Peggy smiles as she looks at the photos of her children and says, “I have lived a life. My only regret is that you didn’t get to live yours.” Steve again confides in her that he is at sea about what to do next, as he did so long ago.

Peggy then says, “The world has changed and none of us can go back. Sometimes all that we can do is our best and start over.” While Peggy is on one level talking about navigating morality in the new world order, there is also a deeply personal level to the conversation. They — Peggy and Steve — can’t go back either. He is still a young man and she is now a woman near the end of her life. He has to start his life over just as she did during the events of Agent Carter.

However, when Steve steps away to get her some water and returns to her bedside, the elderly Peggy’s mental state becomes confused. It is as if she is seeing him again for the first time; the young man of her memories is before her anew. Peggy becomes overwrought as she whispers, “Steve?”. Then her confusion turns to an emotional joy: “You’re alive. You came back.” It is a surreal fulfillment of the deepest, most impossible wish that Peggy and Howard spoke of during the season 1 Agent Carter finale. Steve Rogers came back.

However, her happiness quickly turns to sadness as she says, “It’s been so long. So long.” Peggy has suffered the pain of losing him for decades and now, he has returned to her only when she is near the end of her life. Steve comforts her by calling her his best girl and saying that their mutually promised dance is still owed. It is a heartbreaking scene which highlights that no matter how much time has passed for Peggy (and no matter how hard Steve is trying to acclimate to our present), the life that they missed out on living together is a deep wound for both of them. For Peggy, it is a loss that persists even at the end of her long life.

The next time Steve comes face to face with Peggy Carter is in 1970 in Avengers: Endgame. When Steve finds himself in Peggy Carter’s director office at Camp Lehigh in 1970, he watches as a spirited Peggy dresses down a colleague. It is a powerful image of a professional woman firmly in command. Steve also notices the framed photo of himself prior to his transformation in the very place that they met. It is the photo that we as an audience have watched Peggy look at throughout her journey. Twenty five years after Steve’s apparent death, Peggy still keeps that photograph on her desk.

It’s the culmination of what the storytellers across the television series and films have been telling us: Steve Rogers means the world to Peggy Carter. And while she was forced to move on and live a life without him, she never forgot him. Moreover, Steve Rogers has done the same: Peggy’s compass photograph is always with him through time and space. They never stop loving and missing one another. And now he knows that his longing is reciprocated.

So that brings us to the big moment. But before we peek through the window of her 1949 Washington DC home, this is what we know before Steve ever knocked on her door: 1) In her own words, Steve Rogers was the love of her life; 2) Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter were equal partners; 3) Peggy values her agency; and 4) Peggy Carter is perfectly capable of balancing a career as the Director of SHIELD and being in a relationship because we have already received confirmation that she chose to do so.

Now, let’s step back and put ourselves in Peggy Carter’s shoes in this moment. It’s 1949. Think back to the love that Steve and Peggy shared just four years ago, born of mutual respect and equal partnership. Recall the pain of the radio going dead in The First Avenger and Peggy’s sadness well over a year after Steve’s supposed death. Remember the rawness of Peggy’s words to Howard just three years ago that Steve’s return was an impossibility; the poignant farewell to her “darling” on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since then, Peggy has had a chance to flourish professionally and heal emotionally. She is also apparently alone at her home.

Then Steve Rogers knocks on her door.

This time, Peggy Carter learns the truth in 1949. Steve Rogers never died on that fateful day. And now, he’s back and standing before her after having traveled across time and space. Recall the joy on her face during The Winter Soldier when she thought he had just returned. But now, she is a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. For the first time, Peggy Carter can choose to be with him. Like Steve Rogers in possession of the ability to time travel, Peggy Carter is given access to the truth and a second chance to restore the loss of 1945. And she chooses Steve.

Now, there are two remaining points to unpack given the time travel of it all. On the one hand, the directors of Endgame, Anthony & Joseph Russo, have stated in interviews that Steve’s actions created a branch reality where he is living in an alternate timeline with Peggy Carter. This is consistent with the Ancient One’s explanation of time travel to Bruce Banner. It would explain, for example, why Peggy described her husband as someone else in The Winter Soldier. It also preserves everything that happened in the MCU films after 1949 in a separate timeline precisely as the films unfolded.

On the other hand, the writers of Endgame, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (who also wrote all of the Captain America movies), have said in interviews that they intended that the scenes in The Winter Soldier (which predate the television show) and Civil War (which premiered after Agent Carter’s cancellation) to suggest that Steve was always the father of Peggy’s children and that a second Steve Rogers attended her funeral, hidden as an old man.

There certainly was a noticeable mystery surrounding the identity of Peggy’s husband. The idea that Steve was looking at photographs of his own children while mourning a life that he would someday have, or that Peggy had to protect the timeline, adds a tantalizing complexity to these already poignant scenes. And, it also could explain how an elderly Steve Rogers exists at Tony’s lakehouse speaking to Sam Wilson in the original timeline in 2023.

Regardless of these time travel wrinkles, everything that happened in Agent Carter remains intact. The individual story of Peggy’s life that we watched unfold on screen from 1946-47 is canon. But, at least for now, the film gives the audience the power to choose what happened next. Do you love Steve and Peggy together? Great, maybe they always were and either Peggy was as good a spy in covering the truth as we know her to be, or perhaps the time loop shifted slightly when Steve went back to 1949.

Do you wish that Peggy ended up with Daniel or someone else? Or perhaps you can’t choose and enjoy the possibility that Peggy Carter got to live two different lives? You too are in luck! Perhaps it’s a multiverse and different versions of Peggy end up with different people in two different timelines. Until future MCU films or shows clarify the time travel questions further, the end of Peggy’s story is a choose your own adventure. How fitting for a character for whom agency is so essential.

One thing is clear: Steve Rogers’ return finally gives Peggy the full agency to choose what she wants for her own personal happiness while she is still young enough to do so. The storytellers, through that knock on the door, finally reveal to Peggy a truth that was hidden for most of her life. Moreover, Peggy chooses to spend her life with a man who has proven himself to be her equal partner. By giving Peggy this full agency, Endgame honors the feminist legacy of Peggy Carter.

Hopeful storytelling that explores the nature of loss

In addition to battling discrimination, we also watch Peggy cope with personal loss through out her story. It is perhaps one of the most moving, and yet, relatable aspects of her character arc. She is a woman who (as far as she knew) lost both her brother and the love of her life during WWII. Peggy’s roommate is also killed in the pilot as an indirect consequence of Peggy’s espionage work. In the wild world of the MCU, grief over the death of a loved one is something that we sadly all experience.

And the writers of the MCU movies in which she appears and Agent Carter take the time to explore the ways that human beings cope with grief over time. In season 1 of Agent Carter, Peggy is shown processing her grief through various stages. Sometimes it is explored through the cathartic emotional scenes as discussed above. Other times, it is a dull constant as she expresses to Dum Dum Dugan in the “Iron Curtain.” When Dugan complains that “she used to be fun,” Peggy sadly responds, “yes, once upon a time.”

But Peggy carries on, and builds a life and distinguished career for herself, saving the world time and time again. During season 2 of Agent Carter, Peggy enjoys blossoming romances with two potential suitors, Daniel Sousa and brilliant scientist Dr. Jason Wilkes. Anyone who loves the character of Peggy Carter can enjoy watching her dance with Dr. Wilkes at a club or later with both suitors during a delightful dream sequence musical number.

Peggy sings about “the laws of attraction” and ponders not knowing which man to choose. Later, Peggy confides in Jarvis that she is quite surprised to find herself in such a position and isn’t sure which man she wants to pursue a relationship with. Peggy Carter is a young woman with desire and it is wonderful to see this part of her coming alive once again. There is hope for personal happiness after great loss.

There are two reminders, however, that as hard as she is trying to move on with her life, the loss of Steve Rogers will always be with her. The first occurs during an argument with Jarvis during the episode, “A Little Song and Dance.” Jarvis’ wife was shot and he holds Peggy responsible in the heat of their dispute. He says to her, “Everyone around you dies.” Peggy stops in her tracks and is visibly shaken. As the unintended import of his words hit home, Jarvis immediately apologizes as she swallows tears.

After pushing back on the responsibility that he bears, Peggy says, “Yes, there is a cost, one that I have borne a hundred times over. Your wife will survive. You can go on in your life, knowing nothing of loss. Lucky you.” Peggy contrasts Jarvis’ situation of still having the woman he loves with her own: When the man she loved was in danger, he never came home.

The second insight into Peggy’s processing of grief occurs during Dr. Wilkes and Peggy’s final scene. He wonders what would have happened had they met under different circumstances. Peggy responds rather sadly, “Dwelling on what might have been is no way to live.” It is an articulation of how she has grown since season 1: Peggy is now trying to live her life. As far as she knows, Steve Rogers is dead. There is no bringing the love of her life back. And so Peggy must live her life as she can. She breaks the cycle of loss by saving Daniel from a near self sacrifice and kisses him joyfully at the end of the episode. In her words, dwelling on what might have been is no way to live.

And yet, healing and moving on does not mean that loved ones are forgotten. In The Winter Soldier, we see a glimpse of Peggy Carter in 1953. With compass in hand, Steve watches footage of an interview with Peggy at the Smithsonian Captain America exhibit. She is identified as “SSR, New York” and is being interviewed about her work for that agency.

In the film excerpt, Peggy is wearing a wedding ring and describes how Steve Rogers fought through a Hydra blockade and saved the lives of Allied forces — including the man that Peggy married. She makes the powerful statement that, “Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life.” Peggy looks down and shows emotion as she says this. Her statement inherently suggests that Steve also changed her life while he was alive. Interestingly, although Daniel was a WWII veteran, the series (which aired after The Winter Soldier was released) never mentions whether his life was saved by Captain America despite him being the subject of frequent conversation during season 1 at the SSR office in which Daniel was included.

The full three minute long version of the interview is currently on YouTube. It provides even more insight into Peggy’s emotional state regarding Steve from her point of view. The interview is conducted by (an off screen) director Joe Russo and features a powerful, at times wordless, performance by Hayley Atwell. Peggy anticipates that the interviewer wants to discuss Steve Rogers after spending the day before discussing her work with the SSR. She takes a deep breath and keeps up a brave face until the interviewer asks whether he had a personal effect on her.

Then Peggy says, “He treated me like a person” — again affirming their bond as equals at a time when many men did not treat Peggy as such. After Peggy explains about her husband, the interviewer asks whether she can share what Steve said on the radio before he died. Peggy becomes emotionally overwhelmed. Her lack of composure is a stark contrast to her demeanor at the beginning of the interview. Peggy’s eyes well with tears and she is unable to answer.

The interview establishes that even eight years after the events of The First Avenger and despite being married, Steve Rogers still means a great deal to Peggy Carter. She has, of course, moved on with her life as people must after someone that they loved dies. However, her feelings for him and grief over his death are just below the surface. It is a moving portrait of how we as human beings carry grief with us throughout our lives even if it takes different forms as time passes.

But then, Peggy is given what we all wish that we could have: She gets her loved one back. Whatever happened between the two of them during that moment –whatever was said– will have to live in our imagination. The script suggests that this scene takes place right after Steve returned because it describes a shattered teacup on the floor. But while we were permitted to observe one of the most tragic moments of their life, conversely, their joyful reunion will forever remain private. Instead, we watch what words cannot articulate. It’s an intimate and beautiful scene bathed in golden light.

Peggy and Steve are finally dancing together, hands clasped. Peggy is looking up at him, smiling and overcome with emotion as tears run down her face and the achingly perfect “It’s Been A Long, Long Time,” plays. It is also interesting to note that the final scene of Agent Carter teased the return of her supposedly deceased brother, Michael, under the less than ideal circumstances of shooting an SSR colleague in cold blood. In contrast, Endgame restores a loved one to Peggy in a way that uplifts her happiness rather than shatters her life. Unlike Michael, this return of a loved one is not rife with betrayal and violence, but rather is an affirmation of love.

The idea that Steve and Peggy, who always tried to do the right thing, are rewarded by the storytellers with personal happiness runs counter to the nihilism that permeates so much of entertainment over the last two decades. Both characters struggle to be brave, to have integrity, to do the hard thing and it ultimately matters. These deeds save the world over and over again. And then the storytellers give these heroes the one thing that they always wanted: They allow them personal happiness with someone they had loved and lost. After years of “dark” storytelling in much of tv and film, neither should be taken for granted.

It is a rare story in our pop culture landscape which posits that sacrifice and integrity can make a difference and do not necessarily come at the cost of personal happiness; that a happy ending is as worthy as tragedy in storytelling. Moreover, a story that depicts a female character as powerful and independent but does not simultaneously punish her personally for those traits is equally singular.

Who among us wouldn’t wish that a loved one who died could come back to life? Indeed, it was the main motivation of our heroes in Endgame, to restore lost lives. It is perhaps the greatest wish fulfillment that only stories can grant us. And what if it turned out that the loved one hadn’t actually died? Wouldn’t you want to know? Why wouldn’t we then want that for our beloved Peggy Carter? She grew and healed on her own. But then she is given a second chance. Steve Rogers’ choice in turn gives Peggy a choice: She discovers the truth while she can still change the course of her life. And she does.

Over the last decade, the MCU told a love story between two equals who inspire heroism in one another. In Endgame, Peggy finally has the freedom to choose her own ending. And thanks to the open ended nature of time travel, so can you.

@acapitalchick is a recovering lawyer in Washington DC and co-hosts The Word of the Witnesses, a podcast discussing Syfy’s time travel drama 12 Monkeys .

A timeline of Peggy Carter appearances in the MCU

1940- Peggy works at Bletchley Park during WWII & joins British intelligence efforts after breaking off her engagement in the wake of her brother’s supposed death (Agent Carter)

1943-45- Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers are together during the events of The First Avenger

1946- The events of Agent Carter season 1 in New York City

1947- The events of Agent Carter season 2 in Los Angeles

1949- Steve finds Peggy alone in Washington, DC, at what appears to be her home (Endgame)

1953- Smithsonian interview of Peggy featured in The Winter Soldier

1970- Steve sees Peggy Carter at her Camp Lehigh Director’s office during Endgame

1989- Peggy Carter & Howard Stark meet with Hank Pym at SHIELD in DC (Ant-Man)

2012- Steve Rogers reviews Peggy’s file listing her as retired from SHIELD (deleted scene from The Avengers)

2014- Steve Rogers visits an elderly Peggy Carter in The Winter Soldier

2016- Peggy Carter dies and is laid to rest in Civil War