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Avengers: Doomsday is shaping up to be the most ambitious crossover event in Marvel Cinematic Universe history, uniting heroes from three separate universes against a shared threat. For starters, Robert Downey Jr. returns to the franchise as the film’s central villain, Doctor Doom, facing off against the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers, Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) Avengers, and the Fox-era X-Men in one sprawling battle. Marvel Studios has also confirmed that Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is rejoining the fight, bringing a fan-favorite character out of retirement for the first time since Avengers: Endgame. Recently, Hayley Atwell has officially joined that ensemble as well, and the scope of her role might be bigger than fans initially assumed.
“His presence on set was so enigmatic as Doom,” Atwell said about Downey Jr. during an interview with Collider. “Robert, in between takes, he invites people to eat lunch with him, and he’s super open and fun and wants everyone to have a good time… But when he’s Doom, it’s so enigmatic. It’s so domineering that it’s really intimidating and very powerful,” she added during the talk that happened at the SDCC. Atwell also described her own process on set, revealing that “when I was in scenes, I didn’t want that illusion to be broken for me, so I kept that feeling of, ‘I don’t know who this person really is and what they’re capable of, but I just know there’s a darkness there.’” Atwell’s need to preserve that illusion during production only makes sense if she filmed scenes standing directly opposite Downey Jr.’s Doom, which gives us new clues about her Doomsday role.
What Role Will Peggy Carter Play in Avengers: Doomsday?
The clearest hint at what role Atwell will play in Avengers: Doomsday arrived in the film’s first batch of teaser trailers, which showed Steve Rogers arriving at a countryside home and cradling a newborn baby. In Avengers: Endgame, we learn that an elderly Steve chose to remain in the past and share a dance with Peggy instead of returning home. The teaser strongly implies the baby belongs to Steve and this Peggy, and that the couple built a happy family together in a branch of the Sacred Timeline. During the SDCC, Atwell has stayed deliberately vague on whether the child seen in the teaser is real or not. However, given that Doom has already been shown interacting with a child in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the villain going after Steve and Peggy’s family would give her a reason to confront Doom directly.
The possibility remains that Atwell is instead portraying Captain Carter, the super-soldier variant of Peggy who received the Super Soldier Serum and built her own shield and uniform across the What If…? animated series. Since Avengers: Doomsday is structured around a multiversal collision folding together the mainline MCU, the Fantastic Four: First Steps universe, and the Fox-era X-Men’s timeline, Marvel Studios has the freedom to nod at other universes too. The studio has not clarified which Peggy variant appears in Doomsday, so she might appear as a hero ready to fight Doom head-on. Regardless of which version appears, Atwell’s account of filming scenes directly opposite Downey Jr.’s Doom confirms Peggy will stand face to face with the central antagonist and that her role is unlikely to be a cameo.
Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to be released in theaters on December 18th.
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