Don’t confuse What If’s Captain Carter for Marvel’s Captain Britain

Marvel’s What If…? kicked off with one thing many Marvel followers have being ready years to see: Peggy Carter kicking butt and taking names. Imbued with the tremendous soldier serum, “Captain Carter” is each inch the superhero that Steve Rogers was within the formal MCU timeline.

However grasp on, Steve’s superhero title was Captain America, not Captain Rogers. Shouldn’t Peggy’s superhero title be Captain Britain? In any case, there was a Captain Britain in Marvel comics since 1976.

The Captain Britain of Marvel comics has a really, very totally different historical past than Captain America. “Captain Britain” is a title of magical origin, handed between members of the Braddock household, and awarded by that fantastical determine of pop cultural lore, Merlyn. Historically the varied Captains Britain are given a fairy tale-esque selection between the Amulet of Proper and the Sword of Would possibly, with those that select the sword normally rejected for his or her inclinations in direction of violence. It’s a far cry from a serum-enhanced World Battle II super-soldier.

Picture: Tini Howard, Marcus To/Marvel Comics

The character of Captain Britain — whether or not it’s Brian Braddock, his twin sister Betsy, or another person — owes plenty of their longevity to being related to the X-Males. Captain Britain wasn’t created as a mutant character, however when some X-Males writers wished to create an X-Males spinoff ebook set in England, they roped the great Captain into the group due to their affection for the character.

Which raises the query: Is Peggy “Captain Carter” as a result of Marvel Studios doesn’t wish to trace at the opportunity of X-Males earlier than they’re correctly launched?

When Polygon sat down with What If…? creator and head author A.C. Bradley, we needed to ask: Why Captain Carter? Why not Captain Britain? Bradley appeared to have anticipated the query.

“She doesn’t cover her face,” she replied, “why does she must go by a nom de plume?”

Touché.