In Marvel’s latest TV venture, Hayley Atwell reprises her role as Peggy Carter, the British-born spy from the Captain America films. Agent Carter, which is set in 1946, also features Shea Whigham as Carter’s boss, Dominic Cooper as Iron Man’s father Howard Stark and James D’Arcy as his butler. The eight-episode season kicks off Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.
“But on the whole, Atwell is so good, and the show has so much fun with the period setting, that it's a really promising start for Agent Carter — and also a very encouraging sign for all the upcoming Marvel TV shows.”
—Alan Sepinwall, HitFix
“The combination of the British actress and post-World War II setting make the Marvel-branded vehicle, Agent Carter, considerable fun, and in some ways more promising than the series it’s replacing, the uneven Agents of SHIELD.”
—Brian Lowry, Variety
“One issue is Ms. Atwell, who looks great in the period costumes and hairstyles and doesn’t do anything wrong, but is a bit too much like Carter: ferociously capable and awfully tightly wound. That’s fine for a character, but the actress could stand to loosen up a little.”
—Mike Hale, The New York Times
“Who knew the solution to Marvel's problem was to turn the clock back rather than forward — and turn the spotlight over to a British woman? By setting the story in 1946, this new short-run series immediately gets a snappy, well-tailored, Hollywood-glamour look that separates it from most of TV's offerings.”
—Robert Bianco, USA Today
“Gosh, Marvel’s Agent Carter is a heck of a lot of fun, and if that statement feels a bit old-fashioned, well, it fits the sprightly period piece about a female secret agent fighting bad guys and sexism just after World War II.”
—David Wiegand, The San Francisco Chronicle
“But its greatest asset is Atwell, who takes a character that Marvel Comics has never really done much with before and makes it her own. It’s a feat that matches the story of Peggy Carter herself: Here all along was this Marvel hero with so much potential, now finally getting to show what she can do.”
—Noel Murray, A.V. Club
