Hayley Atwell Calls Captain Carter's Doctor Strange 2 Death 'a Bum Steer,' Says She Asked for Changes On Set
Hayley Atwell has called Captain Carter's death in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness "a bum steer and a complete disservice to the character," saying she pushed for changes on set and was rebuffed.
Speaking at the For the Love of Fantasy & Sci-Fi convention in London on 22–23 August 2026, Atwell described her frustration with the scene in which Scarlet Witch kills her alternate-universe Captain Carter by turning her own shield against her. "It's so small, and she gets frisbeed to death," she told the audience at the ExCel London event, billed as the city's biggest fantasy and sci-fi weekend (Facebook).
Atwell said she asked colleagues on the production to change the death scene. The answer she received: "Sure, but no." She called the outcome disappointing and frustrating — feelings she has voiced before. In 2023, she told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the death "doesn't really serve Peggy very well" (Deadline).
Captain Carter, a variant of Peggy Carter from Marvel's What If…? animated series, made her live-action debut in the 2022 sequel directed by Sam Raimi. The character appears briefly as part of the Illuminati, a council of heroes from an alternate universe, before being killed by Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch.
Atwell's relationship with the character stretches back to 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger and includes a standalone ABC television series, Agent Carter, which ran for two seasons from 2015 to 2016. At San Diego Comic-Con in July 2026, she told The Hollywood Reporter she "hopes" to still be playing Peggy Carter ten years from now (THR on YouTube).
That prospect may not be far off. Deadline reports that Atwell is expected to return as Captain Carter in Avengers: Doomsday, set for release later in 2026 (Deadline). Marvel has not confirmed the casting.
Atwell also revealed that she weaponises one of Captain Carter's lines in her own dealings with the studio. "I know my value," she said she tells Marvel in contract negotiations — a line Peggy Carter delivers in the Agent Carter television series. Atwell said she hopes Marvel will give Captain Carter more to do in the future, adding that she felt the character was having "fun" in that guise.
For fans who have followed Peggy Carter across film, television and animation for fifteen years, the comments land as a candid behind-the-scenes glimpse from an actor who has never stopped advocating for the character — even when the studio's answer was "Sure, but no."
