Peggy Carter

Agent Carter heads towards its end game with its sixth episode, 'A Sin To Err', directed by Stephen Williams and written by Lindsey Allen. The sad news is that it may be a permanent end, as the show hasn't been delivering ratings that would guarantee a second season -- but I'm not ready to rule it out. I'm hoping DVR numbers will save it. The good news is, with a tight eight episodes, the show is clearly structured as a self-contained story, and assuming a strong ending, this one season will endure as a solid installment in the Marvel canon. I think the Agent Carter model is a much stronger one for future Marvel TV shows on ABC -- the Netflix model on network, in essence -- than the meandering anticlimactic flab of Agents of SHIELD. Which is a show I don't want to have to think about yet. So let's talk about Agent Carter!

OMG you guys, Dum Dum Dugan is in this episode. Ahem. Also; 'The Iron Celing' is the fifth episode of Agent Carter, and quite comfortably the best, not just because of Dum Dum, but also because it changes the scenery, places Peggy on a real mission, fleshes out Chad Michael Murray's Agent Jack Thompson, and gives us a real taste of the breadth and color of this Marvel Universe. The only thing I didn't really like was the title, a too-cute hybridization of Iron Curtain and Glass Ceiling that doesn't ultimately capture what the episode was about. 'The Iron Ceiling' was directed by Peter Leto and written by Jose Molina. And Dum Dum Dugan was in it. Let's recap it, SSR-style.

We're halfway through the eight episode run of Agent Carter, and it's now very clear that this show isn't aiming to be a procedural, and that's both a strength and a weakness. Agent Carter has a clear idea what it's about and where it's going, with this week's episode focused on moving all the characters forward (and helping us to better get to know a few of them), but the lack of a 'monster of the week' structure leaves the show -- and this episode -- feeling unfocused. 'The Blizkrieg Button' is directed by Stephen Cragg and written by Brant Englestein, and has easily the best title of the show's run; but sadly the Blizkrieg Button proves to be a bit of a decoy duck, both in the title and in the episode itself.

Chris Evans and Chris Pratt have made a bet on the outcome of this weekend's Super Bowl that will see one of them show up at the other's choice of children's hospital or hospice in their Marvel superhero costume brandishing their rival's team colors. Either Captain America will carry the flag of Pratt's Seattle Seahawks, or Star-Lord will don the jersey of Evans's New England Patriots. We couldn't let this titanic tussle between two of Marvel's super-Chrisses pass by without a contest of our own, so we're pitting the worlds of Star-Lord and Captain America head-to-head in a series of polls that we call... the Superpoll. Round one is shaping up to be a 2-to-1 victory for Evans, with Cap and the Avengers trouncing Star-Lord and the Guardians, but Star-Lord's jam -- Hooked On A Feeling -- is easily besting Cap's jam, the Star-Spangled Banner. Today we look at the parallel forces in our two heroes' lives; the villains they face, the lost eras they belong to, the extraordinary women who put up with them, and the venerable Hollywood legends that inexplicably deign to appear in their movies. Welcome to the Superpoll: Round II.

We're onto the third of eight episodes of Agent Carter, and I already know it's not going to be enough. It's not going to be enough of Hayley Atwell's awesome Peggy Carter. It's not going to be enough time in her world. It's not going to be a long enough break from... that other show. And honestly, it may not be enough time for the rest of the show to come up to the level of its star; it's a very good show, but Atwell is great. I want to spend twenty episodes with this show to see if it can raise its game to match her performance. Episode three, 'Time And Tide,' is directed by Scott Winant and written by Andy Bushnell. Opening with a breathy Peggy recap of the first two episodes, it picks up the threads of that two-parter. In fact, at this point it's clear that this story may be an eight-parter; not a procedural with an arc, but a long-form story divided into eight chapters.

Considering that she's soon to be the lead character in an ABC TV series, it only makes sense for Agent Peggy Carter to get a chance to shine in comics, too. She'll be front-and-center, along with TV co-star Howard Stark, fighting Hydra in Marvel's new Operation S.I.N. miniseries, which launches in January. Just like the Agent Carter TV show, the series is set in the 1950s and depict the Marvel Universe's version of the Cold War. Kathryn Immonen (Runaways) writes the series, and Rich Ellis (Memorial) takes on art duties.

Last week's Agents of SHIELD was a mixed bag, presenting the second season at its weakest as it revisited those malingering season one plot threads, but with the promise of something a lot stronger in our first (holographic) look at the Inhuman city of Attilan (maybe). This week, we find out if the show intends to grab hold of that exciting new 'secret city' storyline with both hands, or if it's just going stick it in a drawer for the rest of the season while Skye moans about her dad. 'The Things We Bury' is directed by Milan Cheylov and written by DJ Doyle, and it features at least one welcome return cameo, and a villainpalooza thanks to Reed Diamond, Kyle MacLachlan, and Tim DeKay. So let's break it all down in our unique 'SHLEID' recap format.

Brought to the screen by Hayley Atwell in the 2011 Marvel Studios movie Captain America: The First Avenger, Peggy Carter has experienced a major leap in prominence among Marvel's vast world of characters. She'll soon be the first female character to lead a live action Marvel Studios adaptation with Agent Carter debuting on ABC in January -- and she'll simultaneously star in her own mini-series from Marvel Comics. As announced at New York Comic-Con on Saturday, Peggy will be joined by Howard Carter and the mysterious Woodrow McCord in the five issue Original Sin prequel series Operation S.I.N., set in the weird world of the Marvel Universe of the 1950s. ComicsAlliance spoke to writer Kathryn Immonen and artist Rich Ellis to find out more about the series and their vision of Peggy.

Marvel is planning its first big cosmic event since the end of the Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning-penned Annihilation/War of Kings cycle that ran from 2006 to 2010. (Or last year's Infinity, if you count that, but that was all about Earth, so we don't.) Black Vortex will cross over between Guardians of the Galaxy, the space-bound All-New X-Men, Cyclops, Legendary Star-Lord, Nova, Captain Marvel, and more. Marvel also announced Operation S.I.N., by Kathryn Immonen and Rich Ellis, which serves as both a prequel of sorts to the recent Original Sin event and a tie-in to Marvel's Agent Carter TV show; and Kanan: The Last Padawan, a five issue mini series also written by Greg Weisman and illustrated by Pepe Larraz, tying in to the Star Wars: Rebels animated series.

The news that Paul Rudd will play Hank Pym in the 2015 Ant-Man movie is the latest piece of inspired casting from Marvel Studios. Rudd will bring charm, humor and an appealing eye-twinkle to what may prove to be Marvel's most comedic movie under writer Joe Cornish and writer-director Edgar Wright. Marvel characters have found tremendous success on the big screen, both in Marvel's own "in-house" movies such as the Avengers line and in those produced by other studios, such as the Wolverine/X-Men films. Bringing an established character to the screen is an unusual challenge because readers have a strong idea of what they want to see, and actors want to bring something new to the role. ComicsAlliance offers its view on the performers who pulled this off best.