Type: Romantic
Show: Marvel’s Agent Carter
Featured Characters: Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa
Sometimes the best relationships are the most unexpected ones. The ones where you walk into a show not even thinking you’ll get and bam, you’re immediately hit with a plethora of feelings from day one. That was the case for me with Agent Carter’s Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa.
It wasn’t just easy to root for them to get together because the parallels between them was endless, but because together, they brought to life the second chances trope, and that’s a relatively underrated one that’s done right.
Peggy Carter was a badass heroine from day one, and when she lost Steve Rogers before they were even given the chance to be together, it was easy to want her to be happy. And it was easy to want to see that because it was made acutely clear that love is something Peggy wants in her life.
Agent Carter is a series that emphasizes the importance of a woman’s agency, but it’s also a series that beautifully showcases the fact that a strong, fierce woman isn’t weakened when she opens her heart to love.
In fact, love is a prodigious part of Peggy’s story—much like saving the world, romance is included in her happy ending. And in the way the series presents such storylines, not only are we able to forget that it plays with the god-awful “love triangle” trope, but hopefully, viewers get the sense that women aren’t weakened when they give in to their heart’s desires.
Agent Carter debunks the conception that love is a weakness by evolving a romance through a solid partnership. As Jarvis states: there’s always been something between Peggy and Daniel—a profound, kindred connection. War never really ends for those who’ve lived through it, and despite their visibility, scars don’t ache forever. One day you find yourself standing side by side with someone who’s willing to share your burdens, someone who understands pain and suffering as strongly as you do.
Peggy and Daniel: The Underdogs
As two people who’ve been constantly underestimated, ridiculed, and broken in life, at the start of their friendship, Peggy and Daniel are two people who chose to see one another as they truly are. They chose to look beyond the other’s skills and into the people they are at their core.
They were always fire and steel, but they were also every bit the kind of couple that reflected just how important it is to find the person whose heart matches yours beat for beat. Peggy and Daniel might have been underdogs, but in the eyes of the other, they were eons of hope, light in the darkness, and every bit the kind of longing that burns a fire from within.
In our review of “Hollywood Ending” I had said:
Peggy and Daniel not only understand one another on a beautifully profound level, but their partnership is one that ceaselessly thrives. Each and every mission they’ve worked on has brought them closer. Peggy sees Daniel for the kind, honest man that he is, and in Peggy, Daniel sees the brave hearted warrior.
It’s inevitable that the two will only fall deeper for one another. It’s inevitable that their story will only blossom into something even more exquisite. They’ve been bullied around, beaten down, and belittled far too many times in their lives, but neither of them has ever allowed their hearts to grow cold towards the world.
Instead, they’ve kept their moral compass pointing in the right direction.
Daniel has stood by Peggy’s side with unwavering faith in her because he’s known from the beginning that she is capable of greatness. He has ceaselessly been by her side, not to gain something in return, but because he knew she was worthy of distinguished respect and ardent adoration. As kindred spirits, they’ve believed in one another fervently, and that belief has been the emblematic force in their partnership, allowing them to fight alongside one another in perfect harmony—though the world didn’t always see them fit, they’ve always known colossal strength and nobility resides within.
As far as first “official” kisses go, add this to my endless list of favorites. Peggy’s choice to kiss Daniel validates not only her feelings, but the fact that it’s true, she’d never let anything happen to him. She isn’t a hypocrite—he’s just special. And in the ephemeral moment where they’d parted ways, their expressions allowed us to see that there’s breathtaking light and adoration in this relationship. The tenderness Atwell and Gjokaj conveyed through their eyes gave viewers the chance to see that there’s magic in this relationship—the kind that can only be found between two people who can adore, heal, and strengthen one another. It’s been a long time coming, and it’s just as good as if not better than what they’d imagined it to be.
Marvel’s canon is a strange, strange place, so for the sake of this deep dive, we are going to discuss it as though nothing else exists because really, how many multi-verses are there at this point? I refuse to believe that there isn’t a timeline where Peggy and Daniel didn’t live happily ever after. They were too impeccable, and too gorgeously reflective of second chances for that not to be the case.
There were counter arguments against the relationship during the time of air (and probably even now amongst new viewers) that Daniel was too soft to match Peggy’s vigor, but as all healthy couples, their personality types challenged one another in astounding fashion. Not to mention the detail that though Daniel was kind and soft, it never meant that he wasn’t strong or that he let people crawl all over him.
Second Chances
Daniel handled things differently than Peggy, but their beliefs were frequently on the same axis and their diverting ones helped the another get to the best result. Daniel was there to remind Peggy to slow down.
Daniel Sousa, much like Steve Rogers would always jump headfirst into a challenge because his heart always sided with doing the right things.
And though Peggy could throw the fiercest punches, she was always the character who looked towards a person’s heart—never their appearance or their rank. She found in a kindred spirit in Daniel long before he was chief of the S.S.R, and she found a kindred spirit in him because of their similarities in fighting for the causes that mattered as opposed to the recognition behind the win.
They were the lucky ones—the ones who survived in spite of the scars to tell the stories that mattered. They were the ones who came out on top by refusing to give up in spite of how badly they were bruised. And they were the ones who understood the importance of having someone to trust. Someone who’d stand by them even when everyone else told them to step aside.
We might not have gotten the chance to see how their relationship evolved, but in the moments we got, their relationship was an amazing showcase of superhero strength. I say this all the time, but please for the love of all things, listen to The Script’s “Superheroes” because it’s their song.
Now she’s stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to growAll his life he’s been told
He’ll be nothing when he’s old
All the kicks and all the blows
He won’t ever let it show‘Cause he’s stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to growWhen you’ve been fighting for it all your life
You’ve been struggling to make things right
That’s how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into powerWhen you’ve fighting for it all your life
You’ve been working every day and night
That’s how a superhero learns to fly
Every day, every hour, turn the pain into powerShe’s got lions in her heart
A fire in her soul he’s a got a beast
In his belly that’s so hard to control
‘Cause they’ve taken too much hits, taking blow by blow
Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode
Am I right, or am I right? Peggy and Daniel aren’t conventional superheroes in a world surrounded by them, but they are the backbones—they are the strength, and while they’ve never needed anyone else, they’ve been fine mastering their abilities on their own, together, they’ve proven that love is the ember that ignites every spark within someone to greatness.
A badass woman and a kind, exceptionally skilled man could conquer the world because their greatness isn’t measured by super serums, but rather because each and every day, the choices they make are the honorable ones.
When anyone doubted, they stood higher. Where they were ignored, they saw each other. Steadfast to the spirit that they found in each other, as partners, Peggy and Daniel were each other’s safe space and the very kind of armor they both needed in trying times—a second chance at love, and at the same time, a kindred spirit they never had to hide any part of themselves from.
Final note: Their “ship” name Peggysous was seriously the cutest. Tell me it doesn’t sound like the most precious, yet simultaneously badass dinosaur to ever exist?