Viewer Log: What if...? ep 6

 Killmonger begins his plot. 

Last time on What if…?, Zombies! During what would have been the events of the Infinity War, earth is overrun by zombies that were created when an infected Janet van Dyne was brought out of the quantum realm. The team consisting of Spider-Man, Happy Hogan, General Okoye, Sharon Carter, Kurt, Bruce Banner, Winter Soldier and Wasp are trying to survive and get to a base that might have a cure. Happy, Sharon, and Wasp are all killed in the crossing. The base they arrive is being run by Vision, who it turns out is trying to make a cure via the Mind Stone. He was able to cure Ant Man, but Scott Lang is just a head in a jar now. This was all to try to cure Wanda, who he’s kept in a cage and feed bits of an imprisoned Black Panther to keep going. Wanda breaks free. Vision kills himself in penance and gives them the Mind Stone. Winter Soldier, Kurt and General Okoye are killed in the fighting. Banner stays behind and is finally able to Hulk out and get them a chance to escape. Spider-Man, Scott’s head, and T’Challa fly to Wakanda to use the stone to cure the world. The closing minute of the episode reveals that a Zombie Thanos is on earth and coming for them with 5 of the Six Infinity Stones. Oh no. Enough recap, let’s get to it.

 

Episode 6: What if Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark

 

A match made in hell.

We open with Uatu, who we see quite clearly for once, stating that every journey has a beginning, but change one step along the way and you could end up at a very different destination. We’re shown Tony Stark riding in the convoy in Afghanistan as it is being attacked by the Ten Rings. He gets and tries to text for help when the bomb that’s supposed to go off and hit him with shrapnel lands. He’s saved from this fate by Eric “Killmonger” Stevens, who picks up the bomb and throws it away. Damn. Killmonger helps him up and out of the war zone. Uatu appears again and says heroes “are not born but forged in darkness. Shaped in Battle. Defined by Sacrifice.” Shown over him becoming Iron Man, standing with the Avengers, and ultimately sacrificing himself to defeat Thanos. Without his time as a prisoner of war, Tony never started on that path to be a hero. The man was saved but a hero lost, as he puts it. This Tony lost the insight he would have gained and instead focused on making bigger weapons instead of better. He hires Killmonger as Stark Industries new chief of security and snubbing Happy. That one reporter that Tony slept with asks about how Killmonger could have made it in time to save Tony, as his unit was stationed several miles away. Killmonger reveals he was working deep undercover with the Ten Rings when he discovered the plan to assassinate Tony and reveals that Stane paid for it. Stane is arrested, after being punched out by Happy, and Killmonger is further ingratiated with Tony.

 

The fact Killmonger being a fan of anime, when
his VO Michael B. Jordan has been in an anime, is great.

At the after party, Tony gives Killmonger the COO job, thinking that having a killer as his number two is just what he needs. I miss smarter Tony. Pepper has a meeting with Rhodey and asks about their “knight in shining camouflage.” Again, it’s weird to see the current actor, Don Cheadle, in place of the actor that was in the role in this story, Terrance Howard. Rhodey has the info on Stevens, graduated Annapolis at 19 and MIT 20, and a Navy Seal. He’s a wetworks man and is good at it. Rhodey is curious what Pepper is looking for. She reveals that vetting people to figure out what they want from Tony is her job, and that she’s concerned that she’s finding nothing about what Stevens wants, since everyone wants something.

 

That night, Tony shows Killmonger his workshop. They bond over having dead fathers, and over a desire to make the world safer. Killmonger reveals that he had been working on project for robotic soldiers, to make human ones obsolete, when he was at MIT but couldn’t get the interface right. Tony, still high on life and wanting to help Killmonger, agrees to help him finish Project Liberator. … Oh, I do not like where this is going. He’s impressed by the giant anime mech and t hey start getting to work.

 

They start putting together the drones, and Tony reveals that he’s going to upload JARVIS into the machines to work as their AI to remove pilot error and lag. First Liberator falls over, and it’s head flies off. They need to build a more powerful energy source for it, Tony briefly contemplates shrinking an arc reactor but discards the idea as impossible. Killmonger suggests using Vibranium, which Tony thinks is a good idea but impossible because his dad used the last of it to make Cap’s shield. Killmonger then reveals he has a ring off the stuff. He examines the ring and asks where Killmonger got it. He shrugs and says anyone can find it with the right hook up. Tony decides to hire Ulysses Klaue to get the Vibranium. Pepper is against it, and Killmonger also advices caution, as if they go without a diplomatic cover the shareholders of Stark Industries will flip out if they’re caught dealing with a Black-Market Arms dealer. Tony thinks to send Rhodey as their go between guy and Killmonger agrees.

 

Rhodey meets with Klaue at his derelict ship base, Killmonger in his ear giving him info. Klaue show him the merchandise, a Dora Milaje spear made from Vibranium, he wants 10 million for it. Rhodey tells him he’s willing to pay a whole lot more, so Klaue shows him the vault with the good stuff, just metric tons of Vibranium. But the sale is cut short when someone breaks into the ship. Black Panther burst in, quickly disabling, or killing all the guard except Rhodey. T’Challa tells him Rhodey that he's not here to fight the colonel, just to get the Vibranium back to where it belongs. Killmonger tells him that’s not happening and disables them with a sonic burst for the sonic taser. He steals T’Challa’s clawed glove and slices the vault open. Rhodey gets up and asks why he’s doing this. Killmonger gives his speech about fighting the oppressors, Rhodey says you must work in the system to change it, and Killmonger counters by saying he’s going to burn it all down. He then kills Rhodey with the claw. He then plants the sonic taser in Rhodey’s hand. Turns out that he’d called Claue earlier and he sent the word up to the Wakandan War Dogs to lure T’Challa there. Killmonger tells him to load up the product.

I've seen worse break ups.

 

As both sides mourn their dead. Killmonger goes to Tony to try to get him back to work on the Liberators, using Rhodey’s death as a motivator, but Tony reveals he’s not buying what Killmonger is selling anymore. He reveals that he’d had a bug with JARVIS in it monitoring the deal and that he saw what happened. Killmonger tell him the cops won’t arrive to stop him. Tony locks them in, saying he wants Justice. He locks them in and reveals that he melted down Killmongers ring and used the Vibranium to get the first drone working. It throws Killmonger around, being able to anticipate his moves since he programed it. Killmonger gets a hold of the spear, destroying the drone and then running Tony through with the spear. Tony had thought it was them against the world, as they were both two gear heads trying to do right by their dads. Killmonger tells him that the difference between them is that Tony can’t see the difference between them and kills him.

 

Killmonger frames Wakanda for the murder. He wiped Jarvis to keep them from seeing what happened. General Ross rushes the Liberator drones into production, giving Killmonger an army of robotic minions. He lands and meets with Klaue, the two “going on a road trip.” They reach the Wakandan barrier. Killmonger kills and brings him in as an offering to the Wakandans and reveals himself to be N’Jobu’s son. He plays his Uncle T’Chaka and tells them that the drones are on the way. He advises to let the drones in through the barrier, using it to short out the Jarvis matrix controlling them. The Wakandan army, lead by Queen Ramoda personally, go to meet the robots.

 

The grief of a mother is intense.

The Drones arrive and T’Chaka has them open the shields. The Robots cross and they reengage the shields. The drones power down. They all begin to relax, but then Killmonger reactivates the drones with a backup relay. The fight begins, with the Wakandan military fighting valiantly but being overwhelmed by robots. Killmonger leads a charge on the war rhinos shoouting Wakanda Forever. They eliminate the drones and celebrate their victory.

 

Later, Killmonger watches the sunrise on the mountain with his uncle. He offers his service to his uncle and is named Black Panther. He takes the heart-shaped herb and goes son the spiritual walkabout. He sees T’Challa at the panther tree. T’Challa chastises his cousin, telling him that power unearned is volatile and will see him punished, on his plane or theirs.

Killmonger's days are numbered.

 

Later, General Ross is prepping to wage war with Wakanda. In her offices, Pepper meets with T’Challa’s sister Shuri. Shuri was the biggest critic of her cousin and has found evidence that Killmonger set the whole thing up. They decide to work together and make everyone see. Uatu ends by saying heroes are never gone, they live forever as do the ones they inspire to carry on the fight.

 

I liked this episode a lot. It was a bit like Spider-Man: Far From Home, in that while I knew Killmonger was evil it was fun waiting to see how the double cross would play out. His plan was incredibly elegant. Use Tony Stark to build a force capable of threatening Wakanda, force a fight between Wakanda and the US, kill T’Challa to leave an opening in Wakanda’s command structure, help Wakanda fight them off, and become the Black Panther. It was very similar to his plan in the Black Panther, but more effective since he had Stark Tech to back him up. It was weird seeing Tony be first act Tony for the whole story. It was interesting to see him as both more of a wild partier but also as a much more naïve man. Like, I doubt Iron Man 3 or even Iron Man 2 Tony would have fallen for Killmonger’s plan so easily, but he’s just a billionaire with a lot of money and baggage in this continuity so he’s easy to manipulate. I did love that he was at least smart enough to figure out the plan before the final act, even if he wasn’t able to stop it. I’m kind of hopeful they do a part 2 in season 2 and show Pepper and Shuri working to stop Killmonger. T’Challa trying to give his cousin some wisdom and turn from the path was a nice touch too. It’s fitting for the character as a peacemaker. Rests in peace, Chadwick. So yeah, that episode was a lot of fun and I hope to see more in that timeline. Next time, episode 7 and the “party Thor.” … Not sure how excited I am for this… 

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