Spoilers
One of the joys ofWandaVisionwas how that show took underused side characters like Darcy Lewis and Jimmy Woo and made them more fulsome characters in the MCU. Sure, they’re still exposition machines, butWandaVisiongave them a chance to demonstrate expertise and contribute beyond just silly side antics—there’s a reason everyone suddenly wants to seea Woo-centric,X-Filesstyle show, and it’s becauseWandaVisionshowed us a competent, capable Woo who is still the goofy nerd we met inAnt-Man and the Wasp. He went from comic relief to a character who was funny, but also cool and up to some interesting stuff on his own. With the debut ofThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I was hoping the same would happen for Sharon Carter, the much-maligned character played by Emily VanCamp. Known as “Agent 13” in the comics, Sharon has a rich story history of her own, and, at least on paper, should be a cool character on screen. Suffice it to say, that did not happen.
First introduced as Steve Rogers’ neighbor-cum-SHIELD-agent inCaptain America: The Winter Soldier, Sharon never really got her feet under her in the MCU. She appeared again inCaptain America: Civil War, but at that point it was clear no one in the Marvel machine had any idea what to do with her. In the comics, she’s Steve’s ride-or-die, but the movies went a different way, painting Sharon’s great-aunt, Peggy Carter, as Steve’s great love. That made any romantic pairing with Steve inherently weird, and a sexless kiss void of any chemistry inCivil Waronly sealed the deal: no one wanted to see Steve and Sharon together. Also, the time f-cking inEndgamemeans Sharon is probably Steve’s great-niece, so he kissed his niece. Gross.
After botching the character so badly that she’s retroactively making out with her uncle,Falconrepresented a chance to reboot the character in a fresh, post-Steve Rogers world. ExceptFalcondidn’t really reboot Sharon, it basically made Sharon a whole new person, and a bad one at that. In its final episode,Falconrevealed what fans already suspected: Sharon was the mysterious Power Broker running the criminal underground in Madripoor and dealing supersoldier serum on the black market (among other things). And I’m into it! I LOVE the idea of a villainous Sharon Carter. The character is already completely f-cked up and has no shot of approximating her comic book counterpart, why NOT do something fun and totally different with her? Lean into it, I say. They also had a perfectly good reason for Sharon to break bad – that following the events ofCivil War, she was forced on the run and never got a pardon like Bucky, and presumably Sam, also did.
Making Sharon a villain also makes her an interesting modern foil for Peggy, one of the founders of SHIELD and a formidable woman in her own right. I’m a little grossed out by Malcolm Spellman,Falcon’s showrunner, describing Sharon as “the Princess of Marvel”, but I get what he’s saying. She comes from a significantly important lineage within the story, and it’s fun to play against those expectations. It’s because of that lineage that Sharon has great potential as a villain. ThroughoutFalconpeople kept saying “the world is upside down”; well, nothing is more upside down than a Carter turning traitor and throwing in with the Zemos and Vals of the world. And Sharon’s character was so insignificant and screwy before, there is literally no downside to making her an all-out villain now. It can only make her more interesting and engaging.
毫无疑问,莎伦的脚跟把再保险是100%sult of shoddy writing and one of Marvel’s besetting sins, that they cannot imagine female characters with lives independent of the men with whom they work. Not unlike Natasha Romanov, once a romantic storyline was off the table for Sharon, they simply had no idea what to do with her and could not imagine a Sharon without a Steve. So, despite being a significant character in the comics, Sharon got sidelined and was one of the few characters to make NO appearance inInfinity WarorEndgame. Now, she’s a whole new person, but at least she has places to go and things to do that don’t HAVE to be dictated by the actions of the men around her. My fear, though, is that they won’t commit to Fully Villainous Sharon and she’ll turn out to be a double agent, secretly working for Nick Fury or similar—it’s happened in the comics—or she’ll be a Skrull impostor, and the “real” Sharon will reemerge with her total lack of personality intact. That would be an even bigger waste of potential than Sharon has already been up to this point. Just let a bad bitch be a Bad Bitch and turn Sharon Carter into one of the running antagonists of the MCU.
