Hayley Atwell criticized the Doctor Strange 2 cameo: Peggy’s murder upset me

Hayley Atwell is currently filming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, but the Tom Cruise-led action movie isn’t the actor’s first foray into a Hollywood mega-franchise. Atwell joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Peggy Carter in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. She reprized the role for two seasons of ABC’s Agent Carter before voicing an alternate version of Peggy in Marvel’s Disney+ series What If…?

Atwell’s Peggy Carter is a passionate Marvel fan favorite, which is why fans were so excited when the character appeared as an alternate Captain America in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and then were furious when she was almost immediately killed off. from Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). In a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Atwell called the cameo a “disappointing moment.”

“I was like, ‘It wasn’t my choice!'” Atwell spoke about the ruthless murder of Captain Carter shortly after he was introduced. “When she said, ‘I could do this all day,’ and then she immediately got cut in half by a frisbee. And the audience said, “She can’t do this all day.” Apparently you can’t, so there’s egg on your face. This doesn’t really help Peggy very well.

Atwell spoke about her experience as a voice actor on What If…? turned out to be much more useful than her cameo in the Doctor Strange sequel.

“I felt like I had a lot more to do with What If…? animated series,” Atwell said. “I mean, any actor will tell you that being able to walk into a booth in your pajamas and do animation is a lot of fun because you’re focused on the voice as an instrument and your main performative tool… (contractually), it was feels like a disappointing moment in Strange.

Atwell was one of several Multiverse of Madness cameos who were quickly killed by Scarlet Witch. Other actors included John Krasinski as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. Screenwriter Michael Waldron spoke about this. Diversity After the sequel was released in theaters, his draft script always included eliminating the cameo.

“It was actually the madness of the multiverse for me,” Waldron said. “You’ve introduced a superhero team that makes the audience feel like they’re finally safe, and then Scarlet Witch disembowels them. It was a great way to sweep the crowd off their feet. And then hopefully you’ll spend the rest of the movie terrified of Wanda and what she’s capable of.”

Audiences can currently see Atwell on the big screen in Mission: Impossible – Deadly Reckoning Part One, currently streaming nationwide from Paramount Pictures. Watch the actor’s full appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in the video below.