Viewer Log: What if...? ep 8

 When Ultron wins, all of life loses. 

Last time on What if…?, we saw what an “only child” Thor planetary party was like. I seriously picture his five not-Loki brothers just sitting in Luxemburg, glaring at him. Thor throws a planet wide party while his father is in the Odinsleep and his mother is out visiting her sisters. Thor’s parties get pretty wild, though, making acting director of SHIELD Maria Hill nervous. Jane Foster and Darcy end up kind of in the middle, as they enjoyed the party, but also don’t want Thor to destroy Earth. Captain Marvel gets called in, but Thor is one of those beings powerful enough to match her. Eventually, Jane gets the big idea to call Thor’s mom. Frigga comes to Earth, Thor just barely being able to clean up Earth before she does so. Frigga clearly knows he threw a party, but lets him get away with it just this once. Thor asks Jane out on a date, but their budding romance is seemingly put on hold when a Dominion of Ultron’s cross the dimensional barrier into his reality, lead by a Vision in Ultron Armor. Oh my. Enough recap, let’s get to it.  

 

Episode 8: What if Ultron Won?

 

Well, we're doomed.

We open with Uatu telling us that this isn’t the first story about the world on the brink of annihilation, but this one in particular breaks his heart. We drop from the sky on high to Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, racing through a ruin on a motorcycle as Ultron Drones race after her. Hawkeye does his best to slow them down with arrow shots, but he kills dozens when there are hundreds. She can race around them, though, and keep going. A squad goes to take care of Clint, but he’s got a camo cloak that renders him invisible, giving him the drop on the robots. Whatever has happened to earth, it seems to have cost Clint his right arm, but he’s got a shiny replacement. They take the drones out, within seconds before their signal blocker would have ended at the individual drones could have alerted the central Ultron intelligence. It’s revealed they’re in Moscow and are looking for something to take Ultron down once and for all.

 

Uatu gives us the basic summary of Age of Ultron, Tony in his arrogance and desire to protect the world, used the Mind Stone to create a super advanced AI. That AI, Ultron, went rogue in the time it took him to get onto the internet, shock of shocks, and set about preparing to destroy the world. He needed a perfected body, though, as he was only a consciousness. The difference that started this domino effect is that Ultron was able to upload his mind into his perfected body, stopping the Vision from existing and making him… well… unstoppable. With the Mind Stone’s power he’s able to overwhelm and kill the superhuman avengers, and ends up launching the worlds nukes. Hawkeye and Black Widow survived as they were in a Quinjet at the time.

 

Power! Unlimited POWER!!

Ultron basked in his victory, just before Thanos opened a portal. Thanos was intent on getting the Mind Stone, but Ultron dispatches him quite easily with it. He then takes the other Infinity Stones and forges an even more powerful body with them. Seems like cheating that the inorganic being can use their power repeatedly without damage but what are ya going to do? In his enhanced state, he saw that there were other worlds, worlds that “need” him. He forms an endless army and vessels to take them to every corner of the universe. Asgard falls first, then the Sovereign, Sakaar, and Ego fall quickly. He attacks Xandar but is briefly slowed by Captain Marvel. She forces them into the planet’s core and tries to melt him or crush him, but he overpowers here and obliterates them planet. Apparently, Xandar was the last planet on his list, and he takes a moment to process that he had completed his mission.

 

Uatu tries to quickly give the story a sad ending, that Ultron destroyed all life so now he is doomed to exist in the universes alone… but Ultron hears him. Uatu tries to pull back, blanking the crystal that he uses to glimpse infinity. He points out that he has literally seen everything, everything that is, was or will be, and that still freaked him out. He realizes that if Ultron escapes into the Multiverse, the destruction is unfathomable. That universe, and all universes, still has hope.

 

We join Clint and Natasha as they start leafing through KGB hard copy archives trying to find whatever it is they’re looking for. They search thousands, with Natasha ends up finding her father’s Red Guardian Shield. Clint isn’t amused by the shield, though and goes back to searching. Uatu, watching, sees that they’re literally a box over from what they need. He wants to help, to intervene, but he hesitates. He hears Ultron’s voice, claiming “I will find you,” and so frantically cheers Clint on. Clint pulls out the box, but he loses the will to keep searching. Natasha tries to keep his spirits up, with Uatu begging them to get back to searching. Natasha does go back, and finds the answer, Arnim Zola.

 

Uatu celebrates them finding the answer, just as Ultron breaks through the dimensional wall to get to him. Damn. He blasts Uatu aside, and the two begin to battle.

 

Natasha and Clint enter the Siberian lab that housed one of several Arnim Zola AI’s that he created before his death in the 70s. They boot him up, they brush passed the introductions and get to the nuts and bolts. They want to use Zola’s AI brain to infiltrate Ultron’s code and destroy him. While it’s possible, Zola asks the obvious “Why should I help you?” question. Clint threatens to destroy him with water, as he’s the last Zola AI, that means he’ll die for real. Zola blinks first and agrees. Natasha calls up Avengers Tower and get’s Ultron’s attention. Clint downloads Zola into a hard drive arrow. They explain that they’re going to upload him into Ultron’s Sentry net. While the main Ultron is off world, this should allow him to leap from drone to drone and destroy them all. The set the lab on fire just before the Drone’s arrive.

 

What a way to go. 

Clint hits one in the eye with the Hard Drive arrow, beginning the upload. Clint and Natasha destroy several dozen drones to separate their infected one and pull it to safety with them. Natasha does her pops and Steve proud with her Shield work in the fighting. Zola uploads enough of himself to get the drone moving, so Natasha shoots out his shins to keep him compliant. Zola connects to the Ultron Hive Mind… but can’t stop them. Apparently, the Hive is out of range. How odd. The trio beat a hasty retreat, traveling up an old missile silo to get out. Clint is able to stop the drones for a few seconds with a shield wall, but they get enough of themselves through to shoot at them to knock Clint down. Natasha catches him, but he makes her drop him as he “doesn’t want to fight anymore” he drops, firing a nuclear arrow it seems, destroying the drones and himself. Natasha and Zola escape, barely. Zola tries to puzzle out what is happening. Turns out, while each drone is capable of faster-than-light communication across the universe, it seems Ultron Prime is outside the observable universe.

 

We must Kung Fu fight!

Meanwhile, Ultron and Uatu are battling. The Watcher has immense power all his own, he’s able to hold back Ultron’s attacks and knock him back to his home universe for a second. He claims this shouldn’t be possible, but Ultron counters by saying anything is possible in the multiverse. He backhands Uatu into a universe, following. Ultron judges Uatu for just watching all of reality, all the suffering, but Uatu makes it clear he holds to his oaths. Ultron tells him that he lacks the will to stop him and starts blasting again. Uatu knocks him back, and summons battle armor. He says the most badass line one could say to a machine “You cannot compute the power of my will.” The two fight again, Ultron knocking Uatu across multiple realities in their struggle. He crashes through one, Ultron seeming to devour the galaxy they’re in, to be knocked into a version of Earth where Captain America is being swore in as US President. Ultron gloats, blasting and then attacking Uatu again, punching him through several more realities before they end up on a frozen world. He grabs Uatu’s head and begins to crush it. Uatu knocks his hand back and teleports away. Ultron tells him to run, to watch, because from where he is, no one can stop him. Uatu portals into Strange Supreme’s prison. Strange Supreme makes him say that he needs Strange’s help as the episode ends. Damn.

 

Wow, this is a great penultimate episode. I’ve always been a little disappointed with how Ultron was used in the MCU. He just kind of seemed to be in and out in a few minutes. Hardly an Age, really. So seeing Ultron win and win so spectacularly that all life in the MCU is eradicated was spectacular. I think it was a shame that Marvel couldn’t get James Spader back to play Ultron again, but Ross Marquand does a spectacular job copying his verbal ticks and cadence to make it seem like maybe Spader just had a cold or something. Fun fact, Marquand has played a few characters in the MCU, most notably he played Red Skull in Infinity War and Endgame. The design for Ultron’s upgraded form was great too, I love that he has most of the Infinity Stone across his chest like a Sigil, with the Mind Stone as the crown jewel, literally. Seeing Natasha and Clint survive in the post’s apocalypse was great too. Seeing them both run down, with Natasha fighting to keep going and Clint at the end of his rope was just great. I especially loved the scene where Clint is dropping to destroy the Dominion of Ultron’s was spectacular. Oh, and that battle with Uatu. Seeing Uatu unleash his power was great. The show has kind of made it seem like all he does is watch, but Uatu is really one of the more powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Not Galactus or Celestial powerful, but powerful enough that he breaks the laws of physics and reality with the same effort that I go to the grocery store. So, the fact that this enhanced Ultron is powerful enough to throw him off is incredibly scary. I’m really excited to talk about this finale. I’ll see you tomorrow. 

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