WARNING: The following contains spoilers for What If...? Season 1, Episode 1, "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger," streaming now on Disney+.
The premiere episode of Marvel Studios’ first animated series, What If…?, takes audiences back to World War II and ponders the question: “What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” In a retelling of Captain America: The First Avenger, Peggy Carter takes Dr. Erskine’s Super Soldier Serum and becomes Captain Carter in place of Steve Rogers, who was injured when a Hydra agent attacked. Though the episode makes some departures from the original film, the action plays out in a similar fashion, with Carter boldly going on missions after she was forbidden from doing so, bouncing the Howling Commandos from prison and receiving her shield from Howard Stark. But one scene at the end of the episode confirms that Captain Carter is much more powerful than Rogers’ Captain America.
Carter gets to shine throughout What If…?'s premiere episode as she navigates the male-dominated sphere of World War II, holding her own among the misogynistic Colonel Flynn and the German troops who brush her off because she’s a woman. One major departure from the film is that Carter is not sent on USO show tours to sell war bonds like Rogers was in The First Avenger -- though Carter and Rogers do have a conversation about the possibility of Flynn sending her on such a theatrical tour. But much like Rogers’ Captain America, Captain Carter is a physical powerhouse, who can easily knock punching bags off their stands, throw her shield and keep pace with motorcycles. Both Carter and Rogers receive superhuman strength as a result of the Serum, but Carter emerges from the transformation chamber even stronger than the Sacred Timeline's Captain America.
During the final battle of What If…?'s first episode, Carter fights a many-tentacled, kaiju-like monster that emerges from the Tesseract's portal. This battle, much like Rogers’ mission to dispose of the Tesseract from The First Avenger, is the deciding factor in defeating Hydra. At the Hydra base in a Black Forest castle, Carter comes face-to-face with the interdimensional eldritch beast that the Red Skull calls “the champion of Hydra” and is physically strong enough to push it back into the portal using brute strength alone. This scene confirms that this universe's Captain Carter is more powerful than the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Captain America.
This reveal could have been presented in a gimmicky, “three cheers for girl power” way, but the episode treats the final battle between Carter and the beast as a natural extension of her super soldier abilities. She’s momentarily incapacitated by one of the beast’s tentacles, but the sword she lodged into the ground prevents her from being sucked into the portal any further until Rogers (in the Hydra Stomper) comes to assist her. Even when Carter is pushing the beast back into the portal, Rogers doesn’t try to stop her or say she’s not strong enough to do it. It’s simply a given that Carter’s super soldier abilities make her capable of doing such a heroic feat on her own.
In the MCU, Rogers’ Captain America has never shown that level of physical prowess. He's engaged in hand-to-hand combat on multiple occasions with humans (both super soldiers and not), robots, aliens and even Thanos once. But his super soldier abilities weren't enough in Infinity War, when he unsuccessfully tried to hold back the force of the Mad Titan’s fist in the Infinity Gauntlet. While this feat proved too much for Rogers, Carter is able to force Hydra’s beast back into the portal with little resistance, implying that this battle was not the ultimate test of her abilities and that there is still more she’s physically able to perform.
The long-awaited premiere of What If…? shows audiences a super soldier-fied Peggy Carter, whose physical abilities surpass Steve Rogers’ in the MCU. They’re able to do many of the same things, like flip tanks, punch Nazis and bust down doors, but the real test of strength is seen in the episode's final battle, where Carter forces Hydra’s interdimensional beast back through its Tesseract-created portal with ease. This scene suggests that there will be more to see from her, and that her strength is far superior to Captain America's.
The first episode of What If…? is available to stream now on Disney+. New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays.