mothering | 5 | spoilers for Agent Carter, GOTG, and the MCU in general

Like I said this morning, I love Agent Carter even more upon reflection. One of the things that struck me about the series immediately is that Peggy is at a vulnerable stage in her life. The War is over, the man who she trained, fought alongside, and loved is dead, and she’s unsure of what’s next. It’s that vulnerability that makes this show so great.

Don’t misunderstand me. Peggy in the Captain America: The First Avenger and her one-shot is a brilliant character. She’s strong, intelligent, capable, and unapologetically feminine while doing it. One of the things that made me give Cap a chance in the first place aside from the trailer presenting a less robotic take of the character than I was familiar with at the time was the promise of a female character who could do everything Captain America could do backwards and in high heels. They delivered on that promise.

Peggy Carter was always at her best in the films. We never doubted that she would succeed in anything she set out to do with barely a hair out of place. This is the woman who trained Captain America! She blew up a HYDRA agent who tried to burn her man! She’s clearly perfect, right? Our flawless queen will always save the day.

That’s what makes the series so brilliant. We finally get to see what happens when Peggy doesn’t succeed all the time. She bumps her head while trying to steal a file. She might trust the wrong people! (Howard.) She tries to do the lone hero act after her friend is killed. She tries to shut people out and needs to be called out on it. She ignores the fact that the man she trained and loved clearly relied on her for help despite also bearing the title of flawless hero albeit by the public in the MCU rather than the audience.

The point I am trying to get at is that the MCU showed us that for two hours even the most flawless woman they have to offer is an illusion. Peggy Carter is as flawed and human as every other woman on the planet. To this point I honestly feel we do not get a lot of humanizing and relatable moments for our ladies so this was incredible welcome for me.

Jane in the first Thor movie and Betty in the Incredible Hulk can be goofy, irrational, and sometimes a little cruel in their pursuit of whatever cause they serve (SPACE!!!! and reuniting with her former love respectively) and that is great. Arguably they are allowed to do this because they are science ladies, but I am willing to give credit to Marvel since they could have taken it another way. (Please don’t make me comment on Jane in Thor: the Dark World or the fact Betty has been mysteriously lost by the plot. Please.)

Natasha is capable of fear when faced with an enemy who cannot be manipulated or overpowered in the Avengers. She is made vulnerable by the loss of Clint and facing an alien who knew all the things she had done while under someone else’s thumb. She is hard on herself and wants to live up to the person Steve sees in TWS because that person is a hero. Gamora has a devastating backstory we should really explore more? Oh she yawned once and believes in a sister who is just as likely to successfully murder her as turn to the side of good. We should work on Gamora a little.

(I don’t feel comfortable with commenting on the women of AOS so I won’t.)

My point stands is that like with Peggy before we never have any doubts about them. Black Widow wouldn’t bump her head on anything. Gamora would never need Peter to casually saunter into the scene because she took on too much alone. (In GOTG I get the impression she shows a lot of restraint out of shame for her actions while under Thanos’ control. I never felt she was genuinely in any danger until the whole team was after Groot’s sacrifice.) Maria Hill actually would laugh at whoever does that and point out ways they could have avoided that fate. (That isn’t a dig against Maria. I think she’s wonderful actually.)

Peggy is still a force to be reckoned with. We can still expect her to be capable, intelligent, and strong. She might bump her head along the way and that’s okay. That’s great even because who hasn’t? Also be seduced by a soft bed in your friend’s love shack. It happens to the best of us.

Note: this is only focusing on the MCU for a reason. I feel in the comics we largely don’t have this problem at the moment especially since most of the leading ladies are now headlining their own series. Out of the series I read, Black Widow and Captain Marvel respectively do a wonderful job of presenting the flaws of our heroines. Elektra explores one of deadliest women in the Marvel universe’s struggle with identity after a lifetime of being defined by others not unlike MCU’s Black Widow after the HYDRA reveal. The new Thor struggles with her role and how to use her powers. It’s too soon to tell with Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, but I have high hopes.