TFATWS head writer Malcolm Spellman tells Den of Geek that he is quite aware of the shitstorm that Sharon’s journey has stirred up with fans.
“Some fans were upset with where Sharon ended up,” acknowledges Spellman. “Emily is an awesome actor and Sharon Carter is an awesome character. To me, there’s more to do with her now. The decision was not arbitrary. We sat up and tracked everything that likely happened to her after Civil War. She’d been shut out by all the intelligence agencies, so that when she tried to make overtures to come back, they tried to grab her and arrest her. So they forced her into being a criminal. She was discarded, she was betrayed by the institutions that made her. Similar to John Walker, but way more aggressively.”
Spellman adds, “[So] she had to become what she became. It just happened very, very organically. I do think we were mindful of her legacy, coming from a place where her family is Marvel royalty. But at the same time, you have got to let the MCU exist as its own universe. Sharon did go on that journey and we need to pay it off. I would argue there’s a lot to do with her now.”
That’s a fair argument in some ways — Sharon was pretty much a useful accessory to Cap and the other rogue Avengers in Civil War, but her onscreen time in her two MCU movies didn’t provide her with much of a chance to develop. The idea of her loyalty and patriotism becoming collateral damage in the wake of that, the Blip, and all that has occurred since is a sound one — even if the motivation behind specific actions she took in TFATWS remains fuzzy and seemingly underwritten in the eyes of many.
One thing seems clear: we have yet to see the last of Sharon. At some point her true agenda — and the people she’s working with as the Power Broker — will come to light, whether it’s in Captain America 4 or, as some fans are already theorizing, in the Secret Invasion series, where many think she’ll be revealed as a Skrull. Will she end up being a fake Sharon Carter after all? If so, where is the real one? And if not, if this is truly who she is now, will she get a chance to redeem herself and the Carter name? Like another well-loved woman in the MCU, she’s got some red in her ledger now. A lot of it.