19 Great Performances by Women Playing Love Interests
By Amy Woolsey
Hayley Atwell and Chris Evans in Captain America: The First Avengers (2011), screenshot courtesy of Paramount Pictures
3. Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger)
The role: Peggy Carter is a Strategic Scientific Reserve officer serving in WWII who develops an attachment to Chris Evans’s super-soldier, Steve Rogers.
Why she’s great: She pretty much single-handedly elevates First Avenger from a run-of-the-mill popcorn flick to a legitimately entertaining popcorn flick. In contrast to the majority of love interests in superhero movies, who merely feel obligatory, Peggy feels necessary. Not only does she supply the spectacle with a sense of tangible stakes (the climax revolves around her and Steve’s relationship rather than an elaborate, apocalypse-sized battle), but she also brings a spark of life to an otherwise by-the-numbers origin story. Whether shooting a pistol or modeling a vintage, noir-red dress, Atwell appears to be having a blast, nicely balancing out Evans’s steely righteousness. It’s a shame that her TV spin-off, Agent Carter, failed to realize its full potential, because she certainly has the skill and charisma to headline her own story.
Standout moment: After defeating Hugo Weaving’s villainous Red Skull and commandeering his aircraft, Steve realizes that the only way to prevent the weapons of mass destruction on board from detonating and killing a lot of people is to crash in the ocean (yeah, it’s preposterous, just go along with it). As he begins to angle the plane downward, he radios Peggy at the SSR base. At first, Peggy takes a practical approach, insisting that she can find a safe landing site. But once the reality of the situation sinks in, chinks appear in her calm, professional veneer. Atwell’s eyes dart back and forth, shining with tears that she doesn’t dare let fall, and she speaks in a measured yet faltering voice. Only when Steve goes silent and her repeated utterances of his name are greeted by static does her face at last crumple in heartache. In Marvel’s relentlessly “fun” franchise, it’s a rare instance of earnest feeling, and Atwell makes sure it lands.