Edwin Jarvis

Edwin Jarvis makes his entrance materializing in a dark alley to see Peggy Carter off to his employer without so much as an introduction. It does not go well. That employer, however, is discovered to be Howard Stark, fugitive from Congress. Jarvis is the unflappable man who keeps his household running. He guards his evenings with the seriousness of a state secret: sherry at seven, Benny Goodman at eight, bed at nine, and a wife named Anna who must never know what her husband gets up to after dark. When Peggy sizes him up as new to espionage, he counters that he once caught the cook pocketing the good spoons, which he clearly considers ample credentials.

Jarvis proves startlingly useful. When a stolen Nitramene device begins to glow orange in Peggy's hands, he talks her through neutralizing it over the phone, rattling off blast radii and the precise chemistry to render it inert without even the slightest tremor in his voice. He reads her war record and tells her plainly that the men in her office are fools for not seeing what she is. When the Roxxon mission begins to go sideways, he doesn't hesitate when Peggy tells him to get the car to her immediately. He wheels the getaway car expertly, narrowly avoiding a tragic end for both he and his new partner. The man who insists he is merely a butler is easily the most capable person Peggy has on her side, and he manages to pull it off while feeding his wife cover stories about extracting Stark's amorous admirers from penthouses.

Edwin Jarvis is Howard Stark's butler, and by his own creed an ideal one, which means he provides service without being asked. He tries to move Peggy Carter into one of Stark's houses, a place of North German Renaissance bones and a French layout, Russian sable on the bed, a chef who takes requests. She refuses. Bunking in the home of the man she is meant to clear of treason is a short walk to the noose. Jarvis notes that this is only where Stark keeps his private entertaining, which reassures no one. On the matter of Leviathan he has already combed Stark's files and come up empty, and he keeps the car idling, pressing to serve as her second pair of eyes.

His help proves harder to refuse than his hospitality. He makes Howard's radiation-soaked car disappear, abandoning it on a rough block with the keys in the ignition, betting it will not be there long. He drives Carter out to Cedar Grove, New Jersey, then quietly sabotages a milk truck's motor so she cannot strand him, a stunt he defends as, once again, service without being asked. When Leet Brannis ambushes the truck, Jarvis answers with a shotgun and, by his own telling, breaks his fall on the man. Afterward he stitches the bullet graze in Carter's shoulder and tells her what she least wants to hear. No one carries the whole world alone, and Steve Rogers leaned on her for courage, strategy, and moral guidance. The unassuming butler, it turns out, sets his sights well beyond the linens.

Edwin Jarvis keeps Howard Stark's household running and, lately, keeps Peggy Carter's secret war afloat. His mornings still belong to his wife Ana, but the day drags him into deeper water fast. When SSR agents Jack Thompson and Daniel Sousa turn up at Stark's door over a bumper found at a crime scene, Jarvis meets them with an unshakable calm and a paper trail. He has already filed a stolen car report with Detective Davis of the 19th precinct. Unfortunately, his composure only buys him so much. The agents haul him downtown, where Thompson arrives armed with the one thing Stark money could not fully bury.

A charge of treason and a dishonorable discharge. Thompson threatens to turn immigration loose on Ana to make him fold. Jarvis holds the line until Carter engineers his release. Down in the storm sewers, she demands the truth before she will trust him with her life, and this time he caves. Before the war he served a general, met Ana in a Budapest tailor shop, and forged that general's name on letters of transit to pull her out of Nazi reach. The forgery cost him his honor. Only Howard Stark's 'influence' spared him the noose. Carter and Jarvis manage to find Stark's stolen "Bad Babies" aboard a docked ship and he warns her which ones bite the hardest. When an assassin nearly finishes them both, Carter ends the fight with one. Jarvis, his voice already known to the SSR, makes the anonymous call (with a fantastic 'American' accent) that hands Sousa the loot.

Edwin Jarvis helps Peggy rescue Howard Stark after Howard's return to New York goes wrong. He participates in the operation to recover Howard from Otto Mink's smugglers and then helps Peggy conceal Stark at the Griffith Hotel. Jarvis continues serving as the bridge between Howard and Peggy, gathering information and assisting with Howard's request to retrieve the Blitzkrieg Button.

Jarvis knows more about Howard's real intentions for the Button than he initially admits. Peggy recognizes his characteristic ear-tugging whenever he lies and realizes that the device contains something other than the devastating weapon Howard described. After Peggy discovers Steve Rogers' blood inside the Button, she understandably becomes angry with Jarvis as well as Howard. Jarvis later admits to Howard that they took Peggy for granted and that their deception was wrong.

Edwin Jarvis continues assisting Peggy despite the tension created by Howard Stark's recent deception. He attempts to convince Peggy that Howard is fundamentally a good man despite his selfishness and unreliability, defending Stark when Peggy expresses her frustration with being manipulated into helping him.

Jarvis also has a very productive meeting with Chief Dooley that may have lead to Dooley's growing theory that Stark may not be the villain he's being painted as.

Jarvis resumes his uneasy partnership with Peggy after their recent conflict. He tells her that Howard visited Finow in 1944, returned deeply distressed, and soon began building his vault. When Peggy asks for a list of Stark’s recent romantic partners, Jarvis accepts that the task will be extensive, because Howard Stark has treated romance like an international scheduling problem.

He helps Peggy trace Stark’s “parting gift” bracelets and accompanies her while she questions former partners. Jarvis absorbs their anger at Howard with uncomfortable professionalism while Peggy examines their wrists for evidence of the Russian training program. He remains beside Peggy throughout the investigation, then prepares a vehicle to help her flee once the SSR closes in.

Jarvis arrives while Peggy is being interrogated and presents the SSR with a confession supposedly signed by Howard Stark. The document claims that Stark will surrender if Peggy is released. She recognizes the document as a forgery though the other SSR Agents did not. Jarvis admits that he created it to get Peggy out of custody. While Peggy recognizes that he has taken a considerable personal risk to protect her and her investigation she still does not appreciate the attempt as Jarvis ends up in cuffs right next to her.

After the pair sees Dr. Ivchenko communicating with someone across the street, Jarvis helps Peggy communicate the truth about what she has discovered. Dooley takes a chance on Peggy and sends his agents to collect whomever Ivchenko was in communication with. Unfortunately, that leaves Dooley alone with Inchenko. When Dooley returns wearing an experimental Stark device, Jarvis recognizes the technology and determines that the device is an unstable experiment and, instead of being a wartime convenience for soldiers, it is an explosive vest that cannot be safely removed.

Jarvis continues assisting Peggy and Howard as the SSR prepares a trap for Fennhoff. He helps prepare Howard for the public appearance and works with the SSR personnel responsible for protecting him. When Dottie and Fennhoff's attack begins, Jarvis attempts to move Howard to safety. Unfortunately, he hand delivers him to Fennhoff via a mind controlled police officer.

Jarvis later takes one of Howard's aircraft into the air after Peggy determines that Howard is flying toward Manhattan with Midnight Oil aboard. Peggy orders him to shoot Howard's plane down if necessary, but Jarvis waits while Peggy attempts to reach Howard through the radio. After Peggy convinces Howard to abandon the attack, Jarvis escorts him back. He later gives Peggy the vial containing Steve Rogers' blood, explaining that Howard believes the sample was lost while Fennhoff controlled him.