Here at the Marvel Report, we are big fans of Peggy Carter. When an alternate version of Peggy Carter became a playable character in Marvel Puzzle Quest to help celebrate Captain America’s 75th birthday, we got very excited. Adding to this excitement, we got the chance to interview Demiurge Studios‘ Game Designer Paige Pettoruto and Artist Jae Tsai about Peggy Carter Captain America. Thank you, Paige and Jae, for taking time out to answer some of our questions! Thank you for giving us a chance to see what could be if Peggy Carter was the star-spangled Avenger!
1. This is a dream come true for many fans! Have you seen Alex Schlitz‘s design or Starbuck Cosplay‘s take on Schlitz’s design? You can expect many, many more fans to start fashioning their own costumes after your Captain Carter. What do you think of costume play (“cosplay”) and Peggy Carter being a prominent character that people cosplay?
Jae: Wow, that version looks cool and similar to our Peggy-Cap. I’m not sure if anyone at our studio has seen that design before, but good to know other people dig the retro contemporary military look. It would be great to see our version of Peg being cosplayed as a lot of cosplayers are very devoted to their craft and really dig into the mythology. I’m interested to see how other people interpret the design and also what materials they use.
2. What elements of Peggy Carter were important to you to incorporate into the design? How many times did you have to design Peggy’s look as Cap before you were satisfied? Where did the inspiration for the shirt and tie/suit look of the collar come from? What about Captain Carter’s hair style?
Jae: I really wanted to capture the 1940’s flavor of her character that everyone is familiar with in the MCU and also in the agent carter show. Her initial design included a lot of the older style military leather that made it into her final design. Ryan Meinerding’s Steve Rogers’ Cap designs were a huge influence as well. As the design progressed, we decided she would exist alongside the contemporary MPQ characters and her costume evolved into something sort of mashed up with retro and contemporary elements. Originally, she had a retro military scarf with a vertical white stripe that was tucked into her suit top that eventually evolved into the white tie. There was something very balanced about those high contrast whites on her neck, arms and abs that worked with the reds and grounded by the blues. All of the elements sort of radiate out from the iconic star. Also, originally I had planned to give her a helmet, but her retro hairstyle just seemed right.
3. When and how did the idea of making Peggy Carter into Captain America come about?
Paige: Marvel reached out to us with the opportunity to create a new take on Captain America for Cap’s 75th anniversary, and we were pretty excited at the possibilities. We knew right away that we wanted to take advantage of the chance to do something special, maybe branching out a bit from Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes versions of Cap. The idea of Peggy Carter as Captain America came up very early in brainstorming, and it was immediately obvious that this was a concept we were all thrilled about and eager to bring to life. Fortunately, Marvel was incredibly supportive of the idea. We’re so happy it all came together so well!
4. How did you choose Peggy’s powers? Particularly “Do as Peggy says”? What other abilities of Captain Carter’s do we have to look forward to?
Paige: we wanted to capture the idea that Peggy’s got this commando instinct – she’s a tactician; she’s cool under pressure; she knows how to bring out the best in her teammates – so we wanted to build an ability that reflected that in its functionality. I think it worked out! The ability’s damage potential hinges on Peggy’s teammates, and a bit of strategizing on the player’s part allows for greater control over the course of battle. We kind of had to name this ability “Do as Peggy Says” – it’s just too perfect a fit. And honestly, I think we were attached to the name before the ability was even fully designed – it’s quintessential Peggy.
Peggy’s other abilities include “Ultimate Soldier,” where she uses her combat training to deal direct damage to an enemy, and “Legendary Presence,” a passive ability where Peggy’s reputation intimidates her opponents, causing them to use their abilities less frequently. She’s definitely a fun character to play.
5. For people who are not familiar with the game, how does one go about getting the Captain Carter character in the game?
Paige: Characters are are acquired in a few different way in Marvel Puzzle Quest. Specifically, Peggy can be acquired in three main ways –
- Chance. The game features a variety of comic packs that you can purchase with tokens you win or buy. Any time you open a “For Victory” pack, you’ll have a chance to draw Peggy.
- Competition. You can also win Peggy by earning 800 points in the currently-running PVP event, “For Victory.” This event also awards additional comic pack tokens that will give you an extra shot at a random Peggy draw.
- Special Offer. In honor of Captain America’s 75th Anniversary, we’ve created a special “75 Years of Cap” store that features Steve Rogers and Peggy at much higher odds than usual. This store is available in-game until 7/06, and is the fastest way to unlock Captain Carter.
6. Story wise, how does Captain Peggy Carter differ from Marvel’s Agent Carter Agent Carter? Is she still friends with Edwin Jarvis?
Paige: As we designed this character, we tried to imagine that, by taking Steve’s place as Captain America, Peggy signed herself up for a similar timeline. We worked under the assumption that Peggy, too, would end up frozen and thawed in the present. In fact, our version is meant to represent a thawed, modern Peggy who fights alongside the other contemporary Avengers (but brings her solid 40’s aesthetic sensibilities along for the ride). This is just musing on our part, but in a world where she’s frozen before the events of Agent Carter, it’s probably true that she would miss out on the wonderful relationship with Jarvis that we see develop in the show. That said, if she and Howard Stark knew each other prior to her transformation into Captain America, who’s to say what that would spell for his (and Jarvis’) involvement with her wartime efforts?
7. Is there any chance that fans might see Captain Carter appear in other platforms besides the game? Perhaps in her own comic book?
Paige: As far as I know, nothing’s currently in the works. But, who knows what the future holds? I’m sure having more Peggy in the world would make a lot of people (myself included) very, very happy.
Stay with The Marvel Report for all news about Peggy Carter and the 75th anniversary celebration of Captain America.