Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter: Some MCU Fans Still Aren’t Impressed
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has seen several big-name stars both take the reins of established roles or break into stardom because of them, not every casting decision resonates with fans.
When Emily VanCamp entered the Marvel universe as the grand-niece of Captain America’s love interest, Peggy Carter, inklings of a romance began to unfold. As fans on Reddit recently pointed out, however, that plan was changed. A group of Redditors spoke on this in a thread about the subject.
Emily VanCamp’s most famous roles
A native Canadian, VanCamp started acting as a teenager and has not looked back since. She got her start on the hit Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark and quickly moved on to high-profile work soon after. From playing a young Jackie Kennedy to a brief turn on short-lived series like Glory Days, VanCamp was not a household name, but she was well on her way to becoming one.
Her first significant role came in Everwood, where VanCamp played Amy Abbott for five years. Not long after Everwood went off the air, VanCamp played Rebecca Harper in the hit series Brothers and Sisters for four years and then played Amanda Clark on Revenge for five more years. However, with so much television success behind her, VanCamp was yet to have a hit film to her name.
This changed in 2014 when she entered the lucrative MCU as Agent 13. Her character, however, did not become the staple that was implied in the early appearances.
Who is Agent 13?
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Agent 13 teams up with the titular superhero in his first solo adventure set in modern-day America. The mysterious agent fought by his side as he tracked down his old friend Bucky, but familiar energy arose between them.
Later on, it is revealed that Agent 13 is the grand-niece of Peggy Carter, meaning that her connection to Captain America went more in depth than was previously realized.
Sharon Carter, as we learn to be her name, appeared one more time in Captain America: Civil War, where she helped Captain America in his fight against his friends. Afterward, however, Carter was largely forgotten, and she didn’t appear in either of the last two Avengers movies.
Fans on Reddit discussed this in a thread about the weakest actors in the MCU. When one Reddit user brought up VanCamp’s name, discussions arose about whether it was a bad performance or a poorly written character. To another Reddit user, however, the issue wasn’t so much a bad performance as it was a lack of chemistry with Evans.
“I’ve always felt the main issues with [Van Camp] is that there’s very obviously zero chemistry between her and Evans. So little I question if there’s a behind-the-scenes connection.”
That discussion goes on to point out that she’s barely been in the movies so it’s hard to judge the worth of her character or whether she belongs in the MCU.”
Evans got along wonderfully with Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy. With VanCamp, however, it was hard to buy the romance. For one, she was the grand-niece of someone that the character was also in love with. Second, she did not have much screentime to develop a great relationship. Whatever the case may be, all is not a lost cause.
VanCamp will reprise her role in the upcoming The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+.
What’s next for Emily VanCamp?
Not much is known about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Last we saw the titular characters. They were taking over the reins from an aging Captain America. With Chris Evans out of the picture, however, the chemistry issues could be a thing of the past.
Fans can find out in 2021 when the show is scheduled to be released. Until then, they only have what they have seen to work off of, and many fans do not like that at all.
[Correction: An earlier version referred to Sharon Carter as Peggy Carter’s granddaughter, not grand-niece.]
