Release date:
Season one—January 6, 2015
Season two—January 19, 2016
The story: Shortly after the apparent death of Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger, Peggy Carter returns to New York to work with the SSR. Much like in the Agent Carter one-shot, the rampant misogyny or her colleagues means she’s relegated to desk duty while they go off and do real missions, but then the SSR begins investigating her friend Howard Stark for supposedly selling high-tech weapons to bad guys. Howard claims the weapons were actually stolen, and the only people he can trust to find the real culprits are Peggy and his loyal butler Edwin Jarvis. Thus, Peggy begins working outside of the SSR and eventually discovers that a Soviet organization called Leviathan is behind the theft. She takes down the Leviathan mastermind—a man with hypnosis abilities named Johann Fennhoff—and clears Stark’s name, finally gaining some respect from her male colleagues. Unfortunately for the future of the MCU, Fennhoff ends up sharing a cell with Arnim Zola, foreshadowing Hydra’s eventual takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
In Agent Carter’s second season, Peggy decides to leave New York for the Los Angeles branch of the SSR. She quickly gets wrapped up in an investigation into a company called Isodyne Energy, which has been researching a dangerous and mysterious element called Zero Matter that was pulled from an alternate universe. Famous actress Whitney Frost is also trying to get the Zero Matter, as exposure to it has given her terrifying abilities and an insatiable thirst for more power. With the help of Howard, Jarvis, and the SSR, Peggy is able to stop Frost and destroy what was left of the Zero Matter, the shock of which leaves Frost insane. SSR Chief Jack Thompson is then assassinated, with the killer stealing a file on Peggy—a cliffhanger that probably won’t be resolved, due to the show’s cancelation.
Who appears:
Noteworthy events: Agent Carter introduces Edwin Jarvis, the man Tony Stark will eventually name his AI-based operating system after. The Zero Matter also comes into play elsewhere in the MCU (specifically Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.), where it is known as Darkforce, and Agent Carter features numerous references to Roxxon, a villainously negligent oil company that pops up in the background of several MCU stories—including Daredevil, Captain America: Civil War, and Iron Man 3. Also, the show features the continuing adventures of Peggy Carter, one of the MCU’s most beloved and capable heroes.