Sharon Carter

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Agent Sharon Carter

Sharon Carter
Steve Epting, artist

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Tales of Suspense (1st series), #75 (1966)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby Dick Ayers

Characteristics
Alter ego	Sharon Carter
Affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D.
Notable aliases	Agent 13
Abilities	Skilled athlete and martial artist, Trained in espionage, weaponry, and computers

Sharon Carter, alias Agent 13, is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She is a field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. under Nick Fury and occasionally the girlfriend of Captain America. Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Dick Ayers. She first appeared in Tales of Suspense (1st series) #75 (March 1966).

1 Character biography
2 Abilities
3 Ultimate Marvel version
4 Other media
5 See also
6 Footnotes
7 References

[edit] Character biography

Sharon was the daughter of two wealthy Virginians, Harrison and Amanda Carter. She grew up with the stories of her sister, 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 sister'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 serval 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 on 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^[1], 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 villanous 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 continued to exist between them when she rejoined S.H.I.E.L.D. and the two worked together to battle such foes as Count Nefaria, Nightmare, and others.

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 Aleksandr Lukin. She and Captain America later resumed their relationship while on a field mission investigating the activities of the Winter Soldier.

Sharon is a supporter of the Superhero Registration Act. However, she is averse to actually aiding in the capture of her lover, Captain America, who is the leader of the "Secret Avengers" opposed to the Act. It has also been revealed that she is in some way an unknowing pawn of the Red Skull and his associate Doctor Faustus.

[edit] Abilities

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

[edit] Ultimate Marvel version

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.

Ultimate Charon Carter

[edit] Other media

A SHIELD agent resembling Sharon Carter appeared in several episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series as "Agent 1" or "Agent X." She was voiced by Rachel Davies

Sharon Carter appeared in the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, voiced by Jane Hajduk.

In the poorly-received 1991 Captain America film, the hero's love interest Sharon Cooperman (Kim Gillingham) is clearly based on 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 old sister Margaret (this change is to accommodate the considerable time difference). However, the Cooperman character otherwise has little resemblance to Carter; in particular, she is a civilian, rather than a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.