"Agent Carter" season 2 is sticking with its comic book source when it comes to choosing the next villain the secret agent will battle, but this one has a twist. The stage is now set for masked supervillain Madame Masque to wreak havoc in town. A modern Marvel baddie, the character will get a makeover to blend in the 1940s.
In the comics, Peggy and Madame Masque exist in timelines that are very far apart. The latter was first introduced as the daughter of a notorious crime lord in 1968. She becomes one eventually although she hasn't fully committed herself to the dark side.
Madame Masque doesn't always do evil stuff. There are some points in the comics where she actually helps save the world rather than destroy it. She even falls in love with Tony Stark. But since she is to be brought into earlier years for "Agent Carter" season 2, she needs to undergo some necessary modifications.
"I think we've changed the look of her a bit obviously," executive producer Tara Butters told Slash Film. "We've made her an actress, which is very Hedy Lamar. She was a '40s siren actress who was also a scientific genius, so that's part of what we're mining with this character."
She gets to keep her signature golden mask, of course, which she uses to conceal her scarred face and by which her name was inspired. Having Peggy take on Madame Masque for "Agent Carter" is a bit "odd," as per Movie Issue Podcast, but Butters has an explanation for this.
"Here's the thing. It's a little hard. In the comic books, a lot of the Marvel period, there are issue rights," Butters told Slash Film. "Our villain from the season is very much a Marvel villain that we co-opted a little bit like we did Dr. Fennhoff in the first season."
Apart from a bad girl to trouble her, Peggy will also find romance in season 2. Steve Rogers could be showing up in the series — not necessarily Chris Evans, who plays the character in the Marvel movies — but the "skinny Steve."
"She fell in love with him before he became the Cap that the world knew. So when you're coming up with a character, it's really about finding those qualities. It's not necessarily this hunk of a guy with a shield. It's what's inside," executive producer Chris Dingess told Comicbook.
"Agent Carter" season 2 airs next year.
