Sharon Carter

Superherobox|


caption=Sharon Carter.
Art by Mike Perkins.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Sharon Carter
real_name=Sharon Carter
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Tales of Suspense" (1st series), #75 (Mar 1966)
creators=Stan Lee
Jack Kirby
Dick Ayers
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=S.H.I.E.L.D.
aliases=Agent 13
powers=Skilled athlete and martial artist,
Trained in espionage, weaponry, and computers|

Sharon Carter, alias Agent 13, is a fictional character, a secret agent in the Marvel Comics universe. She is a field of S.H.I.E.L.D. under Nick Fury and occasionally the girlfriend of Captain America.

In original continuity, Sharon was said to be the younger sister of Captain America's wartime love interest, Peggy Carter, but due to the unaging nature of comic book characters, she was later retconned as Peggy's niece.

Publication history

Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Dick Ayers, Sharon first appeared in "Tales of Suspense" (1st series) #75 (March 1966).

Fictional character biography

Sharon was born in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of two wealthy Virginians, Harrison and Amanda Carter. She grew up with the stories of her aunt, Margaret "Peggy" Carter, who was a freedom fighter with the French Resistance during World War II. During this time, Peggy worked alongside Steve Rogers, the patriotic hero known as Captain America, on several occasions. The two fell in love despite Rogers never finding out her name, but were separated in the closing weeks of the war. They did not find each other again before Rogers was thought dead, lost in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic.

Inspired by her aunt's adventures, Sharon joined the international security agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and was assigned the code name "Agent 13". By this time, Rogers had been revived from suspended animation, and during one of Sharon's earliest missions, he came to her aid when she came under attack by a mercenary known as Batroc the Leaper. Rogers could not help but notice the remarkable resemblance Sharon bore to his lost love, but did not connect the two. However, the two of them crossed paths again and again, teaming up on several missions against A.I.M., HYDRA, Red Skull, and many others.

Over time, Sharon and Rogers eventually fell in love. However, the dangerous nature of Sharon's work constantly placed a strain on their relationship, with Rogers wanting Sharon to give up her life as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Eventually, Sharon brought Rogers back to the place she was born, and he was also reunited with the much older Peggy. Peggy would also join S.H.I.E.L.D., and in later years serve as one of the support crew for the super-hero team the Avengers.

While working as a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison with the New York Police Department, Sharon investigated and infiltrated a white supremacist terrorist organization known as the National Force. During one of the National Force's battles with street criminals in Harlem, the National Guard was sent in to put an end to it. Under the effects of a mind-altering gas, however, Sharon apparently activated a self-destruct device in her National Force uniform and committed suicide. Rogers was shown the event on videotape"Captain America", (1st series) # 237, Sept. 1979] , but in fact her death had been faked so that Sharon could be free to go on a top secret mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. The mission did not go well, and Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Executive Director, believed her to have been killed in action. Captain America was therefore not informed of the true circumstances of her "death".

However, Sharon was not dead, but had been left behind in enemy territory, a captive of the dictator Tap-Kwai. Escaping, she spent several years working as a mercenary, until she came across a group of Neo-Nazi extremists known as the Kubecult. Learning that they were planning to use the Cosmic Cube to return Adolf Hitler to life, Sharon joined forces with the villainous Red Skull to stop them, but they also needed Captain America.

At this point, Rogers was suffering health problems: the Super-Soldier serum that gave him his abilities was breaking down and had placed him in a coma. As the Red Skull was currently occupying a cloned body of Rogers himself, a transfusion of the Skull's blood — with an uncontaminated Super-Soldier formula — was able to restore and revive Rogers. Rogers was shocked to find Sharon alive, and over the course of the mission to topple the cult discovered that her years out in the cold had given her a more ruthless, grimmer personality.

The two of them did not renew their relationship, but a certain amount of romantic tension continues to exist between them when she rejoins S.H.I.E.L.D. She teases him about his naivete, such as letting a family of squatters stay in his apartment (they had moved in when he was missing, he did not wish to kick them out). The two battle such foes as Count Nefaria. Sharon assists Captain America in battling the cosmic powered Red Skull. The Skull was in control of a cosmic cube, which could do whatever he wished, as long as he concentrated on it. Sharon and Captain America argue many times about killing the Skull, Sharon urging him to use his energy-based shield, a device which Sharon had given him. Sharon would try to kill the Red Skull, and fail. The Red Skull was soon defeated through trickery. The energy shield was lost in the time-stream.

Soon afterwards, Sharon assists Captain America in several cases of patriotic Americans going on violent rampages. The supernatural entity Nightmare had found a way to influence this dimension through the 'American dream'. Sharon and Cap would battle many patriotic people, including a temporarily insane U.S.Agent. Ultimately, Sharon has to face down an affected Captain America.

Recently, Sharon served a brief term as Executive Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., during the absence of Nick Fury. She is currently a field agent once more, reporting directly to new Executive Director Maria Hill as a liaison officer specifically assigned to support and report on Captain America's activities. While investigating the whereabouts of Jack Monroe, she was abducted by the Winter Soldier, and used as bait to lure Captain America to a trap set by General Aleksander Lukin. She and Captain America later resumed their relationship while on a field mission investigating the activities of the Winter Soldier.

Sharon was initially a supporter of the Superhuman Registration Act. However, she was averse to actually aiding in the capture of her lover, Captain America, who is the leader of the "Secret Avengers" opposed to the Act. At the same time, it was also revealed that she is in some way an unknowing pawn of the Red Skull and his associate Doctor Faustus. She later fell into contact with Nick Fury's underground organization, even as she was reassigned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. task force charged with locating Fury. She also switched her allegiance to Captain America, citing the death of Goliath as the primary reason; it is unclear how much of this results from Faustus' influence.

In a follow-up in "Captain America" #25, Steve Rogers is shot in the shoulder by a sniper on his way up the steps to the Federal Court. In the ensuing crowd chaos, he is shot three times in the gut with a pistol, and later appears to die of his injuries. It is later revealed that the plan was orchestrated by the Red Skull; the sniper was Crossbones, and Sharon Carter, under a hypnotic suggestion by Dr. Faustus, was the person who had shot Rogers in the stomach.

It has been revealed that she is still under the influence of Doctor Faustus, who uses her to disable Black Widow and Falcon, before having her join the Red Skull's organization as a minion. It has also been revealed that she is apparently pregnant with Rogers' child. However during several attempts to escape the Red Skull's control over her, she loses her baby in the process during a fight between her and Sin. However, later dialogue suggests that she, not Sin, stabbed her womb, and caused the miscarriage. She says that she did it to keep the Red Skull from getting his hands on anything of hers. Later Doctor Faustus made her forget ever being pregnant, and he also gave her the tools for her rescue. Sharon frees herself, and kills Aleksander Lukin (narrowly missing killing the Red Skull himself), before being found by Black Widow and the Falcon. Iron Man and Falcon decide to tell her about her pregnancy at a later date, after sufficient recovery time. ["Captain America #41-42"]

Powers and abilities

Sharon is a trained athlete and martial artist. She is highly trained in the ways of espionage, weapons and firearms, and computers.

Other versions

Earth X

In the alternate future of "Earth X" Sharon Carter has fallen victim to 'Hydra', which in this case is a squid-based alien life form that absorbs minds and people to expand.

Marvel Mangaverse

Sharon Carter is introduced into the Marvel Mangaverse continuity as the supposed orchestrator of the decimation of almost the entirety of the Marvel Mangaverse's superhuman population. She herself turns out to have been under mind control. She became the director of S.H.I.E.L.D when Nick Fury supposedly died.

Ultimate Sharon Carter

In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Carter is also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., but is much closer to the environment of Ultimate Spider-Man. She often appears as one half of a wise-cracking team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, the other half of whom is the Ultimate Jimmy Woo. She can display humor at times, but mostly keeps her mouth shut in public. As seen in "Ultimate Spider-Man" #46, she is a practicing Christian and has a strong set of morals, most of which point to not wanting S.H.I.E.L.D. to take individuals such as Otto Octavius and 'lock them away for poking', but to destroy them. Carter and Woo survived the Super-Villains escape that occurred in Ultimate Six; Carter is seen next in the Ultimate Clone Saga and Woo in the "Hobgoblin" arc.

In other media

Television

* Sharon Carter appears in an episode of the 1966 Captain America Series. Her name is not mentioned but it is said she works for S.H.I.E.L.D. Cap see's Sharon in the episode and mistakens her for his war time love whose name is never mentioned but it is assumed it is Peggy Carter.

* A red-haired S.H.I.E.L.D. agent resembling Sharon Carter appeared in several episodes of "" as "Agent 1" or "Agent X", Nick Fury's second in command. She was voiced by Rachel Davies.

Films

* In the poorly-received 1991 "Captain America" film, the hero's love interest Sharon Cooperman (Kim Gillingham) resembles some aspects of Sharon Carter. The two share a first name, as well as some familial relationship with Captain America's wartime girlfriend. In the film, this is Sharon Cooperman's mother Bernice, as opposed to Sharon's older sister Margaret (this change is to accommodate the considerable time difference; the comics would later make Sharon Margaret's niece for the same reason). However, the Cooperman character differs from Carter in that she is a civilian, rather than a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

Video games

* Sharon Carter appeared in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" video game, voiced by Jane Hajduk. She first appears with at the scene where Beetle releases Green Goblin from his prison. She later appears with some S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to take Green Goblin back into custody.

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.marveldirectory.com/individuals/c/cartersharon.htm Carter, Sharon] Marvel Directory: Sharon Carter (Agent 13)
* [http://www.medinnus.com/winghead/cast/cap_women.html Captain America's Romantic Life]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2855/carter.html The Women of Marvel Comics: Sharon Carter]