Margaret “Peggy” Carter is a skilled fighter, tactician, and markswoman that was created 60 years ago by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. She has used her skills to aid Captain America and work with S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers, and the Daughters of Liberty. Peggy has had a disjointed journey in comics, appearing in stories written in the 1960s and later that take place in the present and during World War II.

She debuted in Tales of Suspense #75 (March 1966) as Cap’s unnamed love interest during the war and often appears in Captain America’s stories that took place during World War II. Initially created to build Sharon Carter’s family background, Peggy was her older sister, then she was retconned as Sharon’s aunt and then great-aunt. This was done to account for Sharon’s continued youthfulness (the more prominently featured of the two) as it became less plausible for her to have a sister or aunt that served during World War II.

Peggy learned how to fight when she was a teenage member of the French Resistance and became Agent 13. Through her work, she met Captain America and they served together on multiple operations, falling in love in the process. Their affair ended when a shell exploded near Peggy, she was injured in the blast, and lost her memory. The amnesia forced her to end her wartime service and return to her family home in Virginia.

Once she healed, Peggy worked with Howard Stark and Woody McCord in the early 1950s, investigating an alien ship that was found in Siberia. They saved an alien and protected it from Hydra by placing it with Anton Vanko. Her long career with S.H.I.E.L.D. began in the ‘60s and she became friends with the resurfaced Captain America.

Peggy helped Cap to fight the Secret Empire and supported him when he chose to stop being Cap for a while. When Sharon and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents went missing while investigating the Grand Director, Peggy and Cap worked together to find them.

In addition to her work with S.H.I.E.L.D., Peggy was part of the Avengers support staff and was stationed at Avengers Mansion. Following her retirement, Peggy lived out her days at an assisted living facility where she eventually died. Then as often happens in comics, she was mysteriously resurrected and became a founding member of the Daughters of Liberty. When Captain America was framed for the death of Thunderbolt Ross, Peggy and the Daughters of Liberty proved that he was innocent. She has also starred in her own Captain Carter series based on the character’s appearance in What If…? the MCU/Disney+ animated series.