Agent Carter (TV series)/Season One

## Marvel Cinematic Universe

*"These men you call your colleagues, they don't respect you. They don't even see you. Do you honestly expect they'll change their minds?"
"I expect I will make them."*
―Edwin Jarvis and Peggy Carter[src]
The **First Season** of *Agent Carter* premiered on January 6, 2015 on ABC.

## Synopsis

Years before Agent Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team swore to protect those who cannot protect themselves from threats they cannot conceive, there was Agent Peggy Carter, who pledged the same oath but lived in a different time when women weren't recognized as being as smart or as tough as their male counterparts.

But no one should ever underestimate Peggy.

It's 1946 and peace has dealt Peggy a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy finds herself stuck doing administrative work when she would rather be back out in the field; putting her vast skills into play and taking down the bad guys. But she is also trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life, Steve Rogers – aka Captain America.

When old acquaintance Howard Stark finds himself being framed for unleashing his deadliest weapons to anyone willing to pony up the cash, he contacts Peggy - the only person he can trust - to track down those responsible, dispose of the weapons and clear his name. He empowers his butler, Edwin Jarvis, to be at her beck and call when needed to help assist her as she investigates and tracks down those responsible for releasing these weapons of mass destruction. But Jarvis, who is a creature of habit and sticks to a rigid daily routine, is going to have to make some major life changes if he's going to be able to keep up with Peggy.

If caught going on these secret missions for Stark, Peggy could be targeted as a traitor and spend the rest of her days in prison – or worse. And as she delves deeper into her investigation, she may find that those she works for are not who they seem, and she might even begin to question whether Stark is as innocent as he claims.

## Plot

A year after the end of World War II, Peggy Carter, agent of the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) and old flame of Captain America, now lives in a changed world. Having left behind the life she aspired to while working with Captain America and the Howling Commandos, Carter now endures a dissatisfying position as a simple office worker under a sexist posse of SSR agents led by Chief Roger Dooley in New York City. With Steve Rogers presumably dead after the fall of HYDRA, Carter also finds herself struggling to get over his death, and manages to form close friendships with some of her fellow agents, namely Daniel Sousa, to fill the void.

In 1946, billionaire inventor Howard Stark finds himself the victim of various thefts. As a result, he is accused of loaning advanced weaponry to enemy forces overseas, and faces accusation from various law enforcement groups, especially the SSR. Before fleeing overseas to get away from the law, he contacts Carter, who was an old wartime friend of his, and convinces her to help clear his name. Assisted by Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, Carter goes undercover behind her superiors' backs, uncovering a possible terrorist plot involving a highly potent explosive called Nitramene, which has the potential of annihilating entire cities. Leviathan, a mysterious organization, are apparently the ones responsible for stealing Stark's weaponry, with the nitramene being their latest target. While trying to keep the nitramene from Leviathan's hands, Carter comes into conflict with two of their agents, Leet Brannis and a mysterious man in a green suit. A brutal encounter with the two operatives results in all of Stark's Nitramene samples exploding, and both men perish.

The license plate from Stark's car, which Carter and Jarvis were driving during one of the nitramene detonations, is recovered by the SSR, marking Jarvis as a suspect. To prevent him from falling under further suspicion, Carter presents a misplaced stolen car report, which frees Jarvis but puts Carter under enmity from her co-workers. Afterward, Carter and Jarvis investigate the theft of Stark's technology, tracing the initial theft to *The Heartbreak*, a ship located off the docks of Manhattan that is carrying much of Stark's stolen tech. The pair is then attacked by Jerome Zandow, a sideshow performer and bouncer hired by Leviathan to kill Carter. The pair works together to defeat him, leaving him and the stolen technology for the SSR. However, during transfer, both Zandow and SSR Agent Ray Krzeminski are assassinated by a disguised woman.

The SSR is driven into both depression and determination to solve the case from Krzeminski's death. At the same time, Stark returns to the U.S. after being abducted and held for ransom by a group of thugs working for Otto Mink, an underworld smuggler and black market dealer. Carter and Jarvis manage to rescue him, but unwittingly goad Mink into coming after them and killing them. However, upon arriving at Carter's apartment, he is ambushed and executed by one of her roommates, Dottie Underwood, who is actually an assassin working for Leviathan and the one responsible for the death of Krzeminski. Meanwhile, Carter harbors Stark in her home for a short time, unaware of the murder that happened only a few doors away. From Stark, Carter learns of a device in SSR custody dubbed the "Blitzkrieg Button", which he claims to be a highly dangerous EMP weapon that could potentially send New York into chaos. Upon recovering the device, however, Carter is both saddened and furious to discover that it is merely a containment device meant to house a vial containing the last of Steve Rogers' blood. Saddened and furious with Stark for his deceit, Carter forces him from her home and begins to reconsider helping him.

Returning to the SSR, Carter learns that the rest of her team have discovered a message originating from Belarus that possibly connects to Stark's case. Despite protests from her co-worker, Jack Thompson, Carter is assigned to accompany an SSR team to investigate. The team, which includes Carter and Thompson, arrive in Belarus and rendezvous with the Howling Commandos, who are led by Carter's old wartime compatriot, Dum Dum Dugan. Together, the group discover that the source of the message is what at first appears to be an old boarding school. They soon find that is actually a secret Soviet training facility that is home to the Red Room Program, an operation dedicated to the brainwashing and training of young girls into elite assassins; Dottie Underwood is a product of this program. The team soon finds that Leviathan has taken up residence in the facility, and while battling their way through armed forces, they find two prisoners: psychologist Ivchenko and scientist Nikola. The latter has been forced to perform experiments on Stark's stolen designs, which the team finds have in fact been taken by Leviathan. However, Nikola's mind has been damaged during his imprisonment and he is killed in the ensuing gunfight. The SSR team manages to escape back to New York with Ivchenko. The mission also helps improve Carter's male coworkers' opinions of her.

While still bitter towards Stark for lying about the Blitzkrieg Button, the mission in Belarus convinces Carter that he is innocent and that a Red Room assassin was more than likely the true perpetrator behind the theft. Assisted by Jarvis, Carter theorizes that the assassin would have had to have gotten close to Stark in order for them to have infiltrated his vault and seek out and question several of his past flings. Unfortunately, none of them seem to fit the puzzle.

Back at the SSR, Sousa discovers that Carter has been performing questionable activities behind the agency's back and thus she falls under suspicion. The SSR pursue her with the intention of detaining and questioning her, and chase her back to her apartment complex. With help from her housemate and close friend, Angie Martinelli, Carter is able to evade the SSR for a time until she is ambushed and incapacitated by Underwood, whom she soon realizes is the assassin she had been searching for. Before Underwood can execute Carter, the SSR intervene and take Carter away. Taken back to SSR headquarters, Carter is interrogated by Dooley, Thompson, and Sousa, who suspect her of being the assassin.

Jarvis comes to Carter's aid with a forged document of surrender from Stark. Upon realizing that Jarvis is lying, however, Carter comes clean and confesses that she had been running her own investigation, even showing them Captain America's blood as proof. Unknown to any of them, Underwood has taken up shop in the adjacent building and is communicating with Ivchenko, who himself is also a Leviathan agent. Using his talent of hypnosis, Ivchenko confuses many SSR agents, including Chief Dooley, into getting what he desires. He tricks Dooley into sending a large group of armed SSR agents to Underwood's location as a distraction while he hypnotizes Dooley into leading him to Stark's inventions. He takes one of the devices, something labeled "Item 17", before forcing Dooley to put on the Stark Heat Vest, a prototype suit of armor with an unstable heat source. Unable to remove the vest from Dooley, the SSR are forced to watch Dooley kill himself by leaping from the building, dying as the vest reaches maximum instability and detonates. In the confusion, Ivchenko meets up with Underwood, who fled the SSR as well, and the two make off with Item 17.

To test the virility of the gas, Ivchenko and Underwood release it in a movie theater; a massacre occurs as the people begin to kill one another.

The New York City Police Department contacts the SSR and the two agencies investigate. Sousa is accidentally exposed to the gas and has to be knocked unconscious before he stops fighting Thompson and Carter.

Just as the agents compare notes about recent events, Howard Stark appears and explains everything. Back during the war, Stark created a gas he named Midnight Oil to keep soldiers awake, but the side effects were too drastic; however, it was stolen by General John McGinnis and used on the Soviet Armed Forces at the town of Finow. Midnight Oil caused the Soviets to kill one another and the incident was dubbed the Battle of Finow; the brother of Johann Fennhoff was among those killed and he wants revenge.

Knowing that Fennhoff wants Stark, the SSR plans a public announcement to say that Stark has been cleared of all charges. They also use this as an attempt to catch Fennhoff in the act. During the announcement, a shot is fired from a window above, but it misses high. Carter goes to catch the shooter but upon arriving to the room, she realizes it was planned to shoot high and is a diversion. They return to the ground to find Stark has been kidnapped.

Fennhoff and Underwood bring Stark to a warehouse where Fennhoff makes Stark think that he is flying a plane to find Steve Rogers in the ice. But in actuality, Stark is flying a plane directly to New York City where Fennhoff plans for Stark to release the Midnight Oil on the populated city. Carter, Sousa, Thompson, and Jarvis arrive. Carter fights Underwood while Jarvis gets to a plane and takes off after Stark, prepared to shoot if need be. Carter pushes Underwood off a ledge, but when she looks over, Underwood is gone. She takes to the intercom and tries to tell Stark what is actually happening. Fennhoff catches Thompson by surprise and knocks him out. He then controls Sousa to kill Thompson, but Sousa instead knocks out Fennhoff revealing he had ear plugs in and wasn't listening. Carter finally convinces Stark the truth and he comes back to the warehouse. Fennhoff is arrested and sent to jail.

The team returns to the base and arrive to a government official who congratulates Thompson on his good work, leaving Carter and Sousa in the dust. Carter goes to the Brooklyn Bridge and pours Steve's last blood into the river, saying goodbye forever. Fennhoff sits in his jail sell with a muzzle and it greeted by Arnim Zola who attempts to communicate with the mute Fennhoff.

## Cast

### Starring Cast

* Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
* James D'Arcy as Edwin Jarvis
* Chad Michael Murray as Jack Thompson
* Enver Gjokaj as Daniel Sousa
* Shea Whigham as Roger Dooley

### Supporting Cast

* Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark
* Lyndsy Fonseca as Angie Martinelli
* Bridget Regan as Dottie Underwood
* Alexander Carroll as Yauch
* Ralph Brown as Johann Fennhoff
* Meagen Fay as Miriam Fry
* Kyle Bornheimer as Ray Krzeminski
* Lesley Boone as Rose Roberts

### Marvel Cinematic Universe Guest Stars

* Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan
* Toby Jones as Arnim Zola