ABC Picks Up Marvel's 'Agent Carter' Straight to Series, Renews 'Agents of SHIELD'
ABC is doubling down on its Marvel fare for the 2014-15 broadcast season. The network has ordered Agent Carter -- based on the Captain America one-shot on the Iron Man 3 DVD -- straight to series and renewed Agents of SHIELD for a second season.
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited that AOS is getting picked up! (Cutting it close, but let's be real, Cap 2 saved the show.)
Yet I'm not sure why we're only gunning for a short-order series for Agent Carter? I mean, it's America in the 1950s with the potential to address still relevant gender issues, showcases a female lead, deals heavily with the creation of SHIELD, could potentially guest star the Howling Commandos (Dum Dum anyone?), and, you know, has a female lead. What isn't to love there?
So much potential and yet it's all about bridging the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gap.
Don't get me wrong, I love AOS (for the most part). I do. But when you've got a show that still relies heavily on a romance angle for two main characters, and not only supposedly kills off one of the only canon LGBT characters within the Marvel universe - who is also female by the way - but also kills off one of their few minority characters, well, I'm disappointed that we're not even going to try to make something more of what could be an absolutely amazing television show.
Peggy Carter is an amazing character. Did she get the screen time she deserves? No, because it wasn't her story. But now we're getting her story and look at what we're promised.
A woman living alone in America. A woman with a military career in the 1950s that wasn't working the assembly lines or planting victory gardens. A woman running missions for an early S.H.I.E.L.D. and basically being one of the founders of one of the most integral parts of the MCU to date.
No one can tell me that there isn't enough material here for a full, proper, multi-season television show. I mean, how awesome would it be to see Peggy inspire other women in the SSR? An all women version of the Howling Commandos? Dum Dum guest starring? Howard Stark and Peggy Carter complaining about work as they drink together?
How about the fact that a woman is one of the most powerful figures within a government military organization? Or how Peggy knowingly deals with the gender divide in the workplace? What about how Peggy represents the mixing of traditional gender roles without even batting an eye because that is just who she is, so deal with?
So much potential here. Crossing my fingers for more than just 'bridging the gap.'














