Captain America: Civil War will pit heroes against heroes in an epic battle. Aside from Captain America, Iron Man, and most of the other Avengers members, secondary characters will be returning in the film as well. One of the characters that will be making an appearance is Agent 13, whose real name is Sharon Carter. Who is this character based off of and how does she compare to her comic book counterpart?
Emily VanCamp reprises her role of Sharon Carter in this next Marvel film. She pretended to be Steve Rogers' mild-mannered neighbor, Kate, in Winter Soldier. However, this agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was actually there to keep an eye on him. She ended up being a worthwhile and trustworthy ally. She ended up joining with the CIA at the end of the film. There also seemed to be the possibility of a romantic connection between the two characters as well.
We haven't seen much of Carter in trailers for Civil War, but a few featurettes have given us an idea of her role in the new film. We've seen her hanging out with Black Widow and Iron Man. In addition, there's a fight scene where she's kicking Winter Soldier in the head. Carter is most likely still with the CIA, and since the government and Tony Stark's team have teamed up, Carter is just doing her job. She may be between a rock and a hard place as she takes on Captain America's team, considering they are close.
How does Sharon Carter differ in the comics? She was originally introduced in a Captain America story in Tales of Suspense #75. She's the niece of Peggy Carter, who was once Captain America's girlfriend and fought alongside him during World War II. Peggy was the one who inspired Sharon to join S.H.I.E.L.D., where Sharon became Agent 13.
The film and comic book versions don't differ too much. Obviously, since the comic book Sharon Carter has existed longer, she's had time to develop relationships and grow as a character over the years. She's had a romantic relationship with Steve Rogers. The film version of Carter has only been in one film: The Winter Soldier. There has been no romantic relationship between her and Rogers, if that's going to happen at all, and she's already made another big departure from her comic book counterpart: she no longer works for S.H.I.E.L.D. She's now at the CIA.
Sharon Carter, in the comics, also eventually left S.H.I.E.L.D., but instead of joining the CIA, Carter went on to join Steve Rogers on the Secret Avengers. The biggest question is whether or not (Big comic spoilers ahead) Sharon Carter will be one of the two people that kill Captain America, assuming that the death of Captain America is going to close out the film, which is a slight possibility. It is a pivotal moment for Sharon Carter. Although the action puts her through an immense amount of stress, which includes a fair amount of brainwashing, it helps define the character for a new generation in the comic books.
As far as her look goes, in the comics, she wears a typical S.H.I.E.L.D. agent uniform, and while those costumes exist in the cinematic universe, she wasn't wearing one of them. However, from what we've seen in featurettes for the film, she will be kicking butt as much as her comic counterpart.
It will be interesting to see what road Civil War chooses to go down with Sharon Carter. Will they follow the comic book closely, which will heavily involve her character? Time will tell when Civil War hits theaters in North America this week.