Okay, so while I’ve seen
Spider-Man: No Way Home, I want to see it one more time before I do a write up.
The problem with this is that this is the busiest time of year for me, so I
haven’t had time to see it again. But the after credits scene from NWH it made
it clear to me that I need to sit down and watch What if…? I really don’t know
why, but I’ve been procrastinating watching this for the last few weeks. I’ll
will be doing Hawkeye too, but not until January. So, let’s get to it, shall
we?
Episode 1: What If… Captain Carter
Were The First Avenger?
The episode opens with the Watcher
talking about the multiverse. That reality is a prism of endless possibility. Basic
premise, he’s going to show us how things would be different if just a single,
small thing was changed.
Well, this should be interesting.
We jump to a short summary of
Captain America: The First Avenger. Nazis and HYDRA are taking over Europe, to
combat them, a skinny kid from Brooklyn named Steven Rogers was turned into
Captain America. He turned the tide before being lost in the arctic. We then
start the actual story. We’re shown the moment that fractured the timeline,
when Peggy Carter was asked to leave the room, she instead elected to stay in
the lab. From her new position in the viewing auditorium, Peggy saw the bomb
that the HYDRA spy planted and even the spy going for the detonator. She rushes
for him but can’t make it in time. The Spy kills the general and wounds Steve.
Peggy kills him when he tries to steal the formula. Howard Stark tells them
that they need to finish the project now or lose it. Steve is too injured to go
through it, Stark needs to DO the procedure, so Peggy is just like “F this,”
and gets into the pod herself. General Flynn seems to be against Carter going
through the procedure… because, but Howard is his son’s father, and just does
it. Peggy is Super Soldiered, growing a good foot and being beefed up
considerably. Steve is impressed with the change, as is Howard, but General
Flynn is a negative Nancy.
They take samples of Peggy’s blood to
hopefully recreate the project while the sexist even for the time Flynn brow
beats Peggy for… completing the procedure. Moron. Peggy vents her frustration
on a bunching bag and obliterates it, and then flings a weight into a wall. One
of several dozen from the look of it. Steve reminds her it could be worse; she
could be a USO mascot. … Ha. Steve mentions that his friend Bucky was deployed
but he doesn’t know where too and his general frustration at not being able to
serve. Peggy apologizes for the fact she kind of took Steve’s place, but he’s
pretty chipper about it, saying she’ll be the one to end the war. He also tells
her to not sweat his injured leg, as he wasn’t much of a dancer anyway. She
says maybe he just hasn’t found the right partner and they have a moment.
We cut to the Red Skull and his
forces invading the church and finding the Tesseract. Stark and Carter brief
Flynn on the situation, that HYDRA now has an object that’s Gamma signature
suggests it could power London for a century or blow it up in about a minute. Red
Skull gets the Tesseract and kills the monk guarding it. The cube is 2/3rds of
the way to Germany, Stark and Carter want to send her in to get it, but Flynn
is still a sexist prick. Bro, she can whip weights like a frisbee… do you
somehow think her XX chromosomes will make the throw less painful to be hit? Flynn
doesn’t get how powerful the cube is and leaves.
While having a drink, Howard joins
Peggy, says Flynn is a moron. He wants to go after the Tesseract and brought an
upgraded USO uniform (with a big ol Union Jack on the chest) and a British
Themed Shield as bribes to convince Peggy to be even more insubordinate to
Flynn. Peggy probably would have done it on a dare, but the bribe helps.
She makes this look good.
We cut to HYDRA convoy heading
through Paris. Dr. Zola is in back with the cube as Peggy Carter attacks them. Using
her new shield and superhuman strength she flips the first truck, flattens the
second and starts beating up the motorcycle troopers. She then takes out the
squad of foot soldiers that try to stop her when a big brute comes out. He
calls her fragile… and gets a knee, probably a testicle, and his skull
fractured as she beats him into the ground. Zola is captured and the Allies now
have the tesseract. She basically forces Flynn to promote her to Captain and
then she gives the cube to Stark to play with.
Howard Stark, much like his son in
the future/alternate timeline, when left to tinker with near infinite power
makes an armored suit. He gives it to Steve. Peggy and Steve formulate a plan
to save Bucky and the 107 after they’ve been captured. He tells her he owes her
one, and she says she owes him a dance.
Regardless of universe, they belong together.
Later, Peggy steals a HYDRA motorcycle
and attacks the holding facility. She easily overpowers the guards and frees
the men that will be the Howling Commandos, introducing herself as Captain
Carter for the first time. They start getting hit by tanks and Carter calls in for
air support. It comes in the form of the Iron Giant… I mean Iron Monger… I mean
Steven Rogers, the HYDRA Stomper. His armored suit easily lays waste to the tanks
with Carters help. Once the dust settles, Steve pops out of his new suit and
cheers on Captain Carter.
We then get a montage to period
appropriate music of Captain Carter, HYDRA Stomper and the Howling Commandos beating
the crap out of HYDRA and the Nazis. Flynn takes credit for a good chunk of the
good they do, but they’re winning the war, so who is complaining? There’s a
particularly well animated fight where Steve flies Carter into the air and she
flips, kicks, and smashes her way through several planes before Steve picks her
up. Vey well done.
The Nazis are demanding that Red
Skull report to Berlin so Hitler can yell at him, but Schmitt don’t give a Scheisse.
He apparently is going with his plan B after losing the Tesseract to summon
“The True Champion of HYDRA” from space. Crap. He kills the General talking to
me and pulls off his latex face. He announces that the Third Reich will fall,
and HYDRA will rise from the ashes.
Peggy and Steven have a drink
together and talk about their respective changes in status. For her, the
physical changes aren’t as extreme as they were for Steve in the main MCU
timeline, for her, the biggest changes were in social standing and position.
She doesn’t have to scream to get attention, sort of thing. Steve laments the
fact he’s still the skinny kid from Brooklyn, just in a big metal suit, but
Peggy assures him he’s more than that. They call each other their hero and
almost kiss but are interrupted by Howard and Bucky.
Later, The Howling Commandos
prepare to attack the Train that Red Skull is on. Steve flies in and slows the Train
with the HYDRA Stomper enough for the Commandos to get on board. Steve goes in
the front, trying to get a visual on Red Skull, peeling his way into the train.
Inside, it’s filled with explosives. They go off in Steve’s face, destroying
the train and burying him in the icy river below. The Commandos survive,
though, and get away.
Later, Peggy is clearly in morning
while Flynn screams about losing his flying tank. Carter goes to see Zola. He
claims he will tell her nothing… but she does something to make him talk.
Apparently, it was too graphic for general audiences. She informs command that HYDRA’s
new plan is to unleash an interdimensional force that will either take over the
world or annihilate it. Flynn makes a crass comment about it making sense that
HYDRA targeted Steve, as he thinks only the HYDRA Stomper could have gotten
close. Peggy basically tells him to shut up and sit down. The point is to stop
HYDRA at all costs.
Carter assaults the castle on her
own, beating Hydra goons left and right before opening a gate for her team. They
plow through them, but then split into two teams, Bucky and the Commandos going
low, and Carter and Howard go high. Inside, HYDRA use the recovered Tesseract as
it was meant to be used and open a portal to another dimension. The Howling
Commandos burst into the underground lab and find the HYDRA Stomper. Carter and
Howard find the lab and smash in as HYDRA draws a possible Cthulhu monster into
this dimension. Which promptly crushes Red Skull for his troubles. Fun. The
Commandos also find Steve, who is alive but injured. He makes them let him suit
up. They hope the generator will give him enough power to move, it does, but
Steve does fall on his face first. Upon hearing Peggy is up top, he rockets
upward to help her.
And yet they're destined to be pulled apart.
The monster is pulling everything
they can grab into the wormhole. Carter gets Howard to the controls and tells
him to figure out how to send it back. Carter grabs a sword and tries to do
battle with the thing, but she’s a human going up against a Cthulhu tentacle
monster. It’s a one-sided fight. He flips a few switches and is able to reverse
the polarity and pulls it back in. It starts to pull Carted back in with it,
but then Steve rockets up and gets her free. They’re joined by the Howling Commandos,
and they open fire on the thing. The creature screams and starts bringing the
castle down. Steve gets the Commandos clear. Howard can’t close the gate
because the monster is keeping it open, so Carter resolves to push it back to
Hell. She rushes it and forces it back. Steve flies in and laser blasts it but
uses up the last of his energy. Carter, having no other option forces the
creature all the way through. Her final conversation with Steve, like in the OG
timeline, about how they’re going dancing on Saturday. The portal closes,
leaving the Tesseract behind.
Sometime later, Tesseract is used
again, Peggy leaping free with a bunch of severed tentacles. She meets Nick
Fury and Hawkeye. He tells her the bad news that she’s been gone for 70 years. Fury
tells her it’ll be alright, to which Peggy responds, of course, we won the war.
Though she’s clearly dejected about it.
The Watcher ends the episode saying
that Peggy’s single choice created a whole new timeline and gave the multiverse
a new hero. And explains his whole deal, that he, the Watcher, watches but doesn’t
interfere with the universes he views and the credits roll.
Overall, this was a fine episode to
start the series. The concept of Peggy Carter being the Super Soldier instead
of Steven Rogers is different, but not so insane that it would alienate people
who are just now hearing about the concept of a Multiverse. I’ve got to give
the show massive props for two decisions. First, I’m so glad they didn’t go
with the multiverse trope that, when a hero doesn’t get their powers, they end
up a villain. I have no idea why, but a lot of multiverse stories seem to love
that plot, but I got tired of it years ago. So, seeing Steve still be a hero,
just not the one he really wanted to be, was nice. And I like how they took
time to make it clear that yes, Steve and Peggy’s attraction wasn’t based
solely on his superhuman physique. They obviously had a spark before Project
Rebirth in the movie, but he changed so quickly after that one might assume the
muscles helped speed the process. But no, even if he stayed a string bean, his
soul shined bright enough to woo her. Hayley Atwell is great voicing Carter in
this version. I also liked Josh Keaton as Steven Rogers. He’s a veteran voice
actor, though, so that is to be expected. Sebastian Stan, on the other hand, is
mindbogglingly bad. Like, it almost sounds like he’s reading the script for the
first time right in the recording booth and no one is given him direction on
how to emote. It’s weird. I think that this What If, at least, could have gone
on a little longer. I rather enjoyed seeing Peggy Carter beating the crap out
of Nazis and HYDRA goons, I could have seen more and not complained. The
Watcher is a bit nebulous in this episode, just serving as the introductory and
closing narrator. Uatu is a staple of the Marvel comics, so it’ll be
interesting to see how this version plays out.
So yeah, this was a fun start if a bit bumpy start. I’m looking forward
to what the other What Ifs…? have in store. See you next time.
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