Marvel star Hayley Atwell on Cap and Peggy's Endgame reunion, plus Mission Impossible

It was the moment that made adults cry in cinemas around the world, but it was spawned countless fan theories. Hayley Atwell addresses them.

WARNING: Avengers: Endgame spoilers ahead

For fans of Marvel movies, Hayley Atwell has been a familiar face for almost a decade as Peggy Carter.

As the kick-arse British agent and one-half of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most enduring love story (the other half being Captain America), Atwell made her mark in the franchise in Captain America: The First Avenger.

But it’s the strength of that bond between Cap and Peggy, so cruelly torn apart by bad guys and time, that has sustained in fans’ imaginations across numerous cameos including in Captain America: Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron and, most significantly, in Avengers: Endgame.

The real culmination of 22 MCU movies didn’t end with a huge battle or even Tony Stark’s funeral. The movie closed out with Cap and Peggy, sometime in the past, finally getting their dance. You couldn’t have missed the sobs in the cinemas.

“It’s the classic idea of meant-to-be but timing gets between them,” Atwell told news.com.au. “It’s taken 10 years of building an audience who’s always known about Peggy and Cap, and how they never had their dance — this echo line, a repetition of a scene that the audience discovered 10 years earlier, and then it’s delivered a decade later.

“There’s a wholesomeness to it, an innocence and sweetness to it. It’s very satisfying after having such a fast-paced, action-led, powerful and, at-times, quite visually aggressive movie to end with something that’s unbelievably simple and sweet.

“At that point, when the audience has been through so much, it’s very welcome.”

Undeniable chemistry, Cap and Peggy

That ending between Cap and Peggy, in which he travels back through time to reunite with his beloved, spawned countless fan theories and questions — did he change the course of MCU history, did he branch off into an alternative timeline, was Cap the husband in Winter Soldier Peggy’s photo?

Atwell doesn’t have the answers we crave, preferring to leave them in their own bubble.

“I think that’s something that can exist in the minds of the fans and, honestly, it’s not my business to know,” she said. “What I love about the way it was filmed is you miss the moment she opened the door to him so the only time you get to see them is when they’re dancing.

“What I love about that is it’s elegant. The audience isn’t privy to a very private moment and it makes the privacy of their reunion even more special. I wonder what she did, how she reacted and what they said.”

“The fact that we don’t know, the mystery around it adds an elegance to their relationship. It’s not important what they did after. Whatever they did after is going to be less powerful than the moment of reunion, which for me ends their relationship.”

Meant to be, always

The London-based Atwell, 37, is in Australia this week and next for the Brisbane and Sydney Oz Comic-Cons. In addition to Marvel, she has numerous theatre credits in the UK, but also for period dramas such as Brideshead Revisited, Christopher Robin and the Howard’s End miniseries.

But it’s Peggy that she’s most known for and she said she’s grateful for the loyalty of fans that has allowed her to play the character for so long, even if it’s for small moments.

She also credits the fans for the Agent Carter TV spin-off which lasted for two seasons in 2015 and 2016. The series finds Peggy in New York after the end of World War II and details her adventures as a female agent in an all-male workplace and the birth of what would go on to be SHIELD.

The show was praised for its energy, writing and Atwell’s performance. But even with the advent of Disney’s streaming network Disney+, Atwell said it’s unlikely the show would be revived. For her, Peggy’s story is probably done.

“It’s such a satisfactory ending for Peggy and Cap that I wouldn’t reduce it by then going back and doing a TV show.

“In the future, if Peggy gets a bigger platform or gets to be in her own-led film or gets to be with Cap in a film, OK, that might be something I would look at if I felt the story definitely evolved into something bigger than the ending of Endgame, which is such a beautiful and big way to end — why go and revisit something on a smaller scale when it ended so perfectly?”

Hayley Atwell says it's unlikely there will be an Agent Carter revival

With Chris Evans, whom Atwell called “a lovely, fun, good-natured guy”, now done with his multi-film Marvel contract, it seems like we may never see Cap and Peggy on screen together again.

Though we will see Peggy one more time, though in animated form, as part of Disney+’s What If …? MCU series which will see many of the MCU stars returning in voice roles.

For Atwell, she’s going to be busy for the next 18 months anyway, having just signed on for two Mission Impossible movies, which she’ll be filming back-to-back.

And even though she has a thrillseeker streak — “I did firewalking when I was nine and I just got back from New Mexico where I did bungee jumping and ziplining” — it wasn’t the gargantuan stunts the franchise is famous for that attracted her.

It was the opportunity to work with and learn from the relationship between Tom Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie who together made Rogue Nation and Fallout, the fifth and sixth films in the franchise.

“I’ve been a fan of Chris’s since I was very young, he’s brilliant, an incredible storyteller and a gifted writer,” Atwell said. “I’ve met them both at previous auditions and I was really struck with Tom’s contagious enthusiasm and his commitment.

“He is a movie star unlike any other and has been for decades. Being able to work with them on that basis for a year on back-to-back movies is going to be a huge, huge challenge because I know how committed they are.”

Hayley Atwell in Disney's live-action Christopher Robin

Atwell said the movie is still four months out from the start of principal photography, so there’s no finished script as such. McQuarrie had previously said the team went into Fallout with a completed script — the screenplay was shaped as the filming happened.

Atwell said she thinks her ability to be nimble is partly why she was hired.

“I knew going into the screen tests and when I was offered the role what the character would be and what the arc of her journey is,” she said. “Chris and Tom like to improve and navigate the script as they go along.

“I knew they wanted to work with an actor who was open and willing enough to make changes and create with them as they went along. And I think that’s probably one of the reasons why they cast me — the fact that I was up for that on-your-feet work and open to trying different ways of shooting it.”

While the story and characters are important in Mission Impossible movies, it’s really the ambitious and awe-inspiring practical effects stunts the franchise is known for.

“I know Tom always does his own stunts and I would want to feel that I was pushing myself to do as much as I was allowed, insurance-wise.

“Part of my screen test was a movement, stunt test, to see what my natural abilities and fitness levels were, but also the potential of where I could get to if I had three months of training.”

Hayley Atwell will appear at the Brisbane Oz Comic-Con this weekend and Sydney Oz Comic-Con September 28 and 29

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Originally published as Marvel star Hayley Atwell on Cap and Peggy's Endgame reunion, plus Mission Impossible