WARNING: The following contains spoilers for What If...? Season 1, Episode 9, "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?," streaming now on Disney+.
With the possible exception of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, there in no more enduring love in the Marvel Cinematic Universe than Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers. The final image of Avengers: Endgame found the two of them finally sharing their long-delayed dance, a happy ending for a duo asked to give it all up for so long in the name of the greater good. What If…? delivered an elegant reversal of their story with its Captain Carter reality, in which Peggy received the Super Soldier serum instead of Steve. She too was rocketed forward in time, leaving the love of her life behind, and she too desired to reunite with the soul she was destined to be with.
The season finale of What If…? continued their long-delayed romance, and in the process showed something that the prime MCU hadn’t. Captain Carter, more aware of her responsibilities, turns away from the temptation of going back to Steve in the name of all the things she still needs to do as a superhero. The deck is stacked in her favor a little – simply put, she’s better informed about her future than Steve is – but the gesture still demonstrates an absolute truth about her character. In some ways, she may be even more heroic than Steve.
What If…? Season 1, Episode 9, “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?” finds Captain Carter pulled out of her reality in order to stop the mad robot Ultron. Following Ultron’s defeat, the remainder of the Guardians of the Multiverse are returned to their respective realities to continue their stories. Of the lot of them (Black Widow being the exception for entirely separate reasons), only Carter hesitates before leaving. Instead, she quietly asks why she can’t be taken to a time where she and Steve are reunited. “Haven’t I earned my happy ending?” she challenges the Watcher. Uatu tells her that her world and her time need her, and she reluctantly decides to trust him.
The moment echoes the finale of Endgame, where Steve Rogers returned the Infinity Stones to their place in the timeline and opted to stay in the 1940s and live out his life with Peggy. No one begrudged him the choice, particularly once he passed the shield and its legacy on to Sam Wilson, and the sense of a well-earned “retirement” for both he and Carter felt karmically fitting. Numerous other heroes remained as well, including Bucky Barnes, which meant that Rogers could stand down with the assurance that others would continue to keep the world safe.
Even so, his loss has consequences. Rogers had been the Avengers’ natural leader from the beginning, and with both Stark and Natasha gone, the vacuum at the top of the MCU’s hero order has been, and will be felt. However well-earned, Rogers’ retirement came at the expense of the future, which may have arrived with a few more missteps thanks to his absence. Carter – mollified both by her duty and the knowledge that her friend Black Widow is waiting for her – is able to see the bigger picture more clearly.
That said, Captain Carter’s appearance in “Broke His Oath” comes far earlier in her story than Steve’s Endgame retirement. The Watcher calls her at the very beginning of the events of The Winter Soldier, meaning Thanos is likely still due to arrive in her universe. Furthermore, the episode ends with the strong implication that she and Steve are about to be reunited, though Steve’s condition has yet to be determined. All of that helps make Carter’s choice easier than the prime MCU’s Captain Rogers, and had he been tapped on the shoulder to save the Multiverse at the same point in his story, he might have made the same choice to return that she did.
Carter’s devotion to duty was ingrained more deeply in her before her universe diverged from the prime MCU, which might account for why she stepped up. Even so, the difference is notable, since the two Captains both walk very similar paths in most other aspects of their lives. It’s safe to assume that Season 2 will reveal more of Carter’s version of the story, as well as points where she may surpass – or fall short of – her prime MCU counterpart again.
To see Captain Carter's latest exploits, What If...? Episode 9 is streaming now on Disney+.