'Agent Carter' is back! Star Hayley Atwell talks 2nd season

NEW YORK (WABC) -- While Marvel fans are waiting for "Agents of SHIELD" to return from its winter break, another popular character is returning to TV.

Marvel's "Agent Carter" is back, with the show making a big move to Los Angeles.

Hayley Atwell's character is part of the Marvel universe, but Peggy Carter is no superhero. Even so, she is just as tenacious and determined. And speaking on the set, Atwell promises a second season that is "bolder, brighter, smarter and funnier."

Her great love was Captain America, but this season Agent Carter has moved on.

"She finds herself in a love triangle between Detective Sousa, who we know from season 1," Atwell said. "There was chemistry there, and a new person who comes into her life, a very dashing scientist."

Reggie Austin plays the scientist.

"I grew up collecting Marvel comic books and just watching the cartoons when I was a kid, and obviously with the Marvel cinematic universe coming out and watching," he said. "So the fact I get to play a part of that universe is still to this day crazy to me."

Atwell has played Agent Carter in two feature films, and this begins her second season in prime time with less need to prove herself.

"She just wants the opportunity to get the work done," she said. "And she has to fight very hard what she considers completely pathetic obstacles."

The British actress says she was surprised to receive homemade gifts from Agent Carter fans, some with quotations from her determined character sent by women who were inspired.

"Saying things like, 'I can' on bracelets and jewelry and cross stitching and patterns and journal covers and little dolls," she said. "And they have really been drawn to her as a role model, as someone who finds herself in a much more empowered place."

In the show, Carter works for a brilliant inventor named Howard Stark, who Marvel fans will recognize as the father of Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man.