What If... it's the end?
Last time on What If…?, we got
to catch up with Captain Carter. Since we last saw her, Peggy formed a new
Guardians of the Multiverse that traveled to different dimensions to help
protect them from extra dimensional threats. Her team, consisting of a Mjolnir wielding
Storm, an adult Byrdie the Duck, and Kahhori, fight off that squid monster Carter
fought in her universe, killing it and saving Nova Prime Nebula’s version of
Xandar. Before they can celebrate, shards from the Watcher’s Fifth dimension
land near them. Realizing something like this means Uatu must be in danger,
Peggy and co try to find a way to use the fragments to travel to the Watcher’s
plane to help him. After two failures, one technological and one magical, the
team settles on getting an Infinite Ultron to get them to the plane, as Infinite
Ultron was the only being able to travel to that higher plane. Carter, fearing
for her team as she’s the only one to see literal dead universes that Infinite
Ultron left in his wake, headed out alone. The others follow and find her
broken Shield near Infinite Ultron. The ladies try to start a fight but even
Storm, a literal Goddess with Mjolnir, isn’t powerful enough to actually hurt
him. He uses the Time Stone to freeze them in place before explaining he had
the ‘I’m the last thing in existence, the F*** did I exterminate life?” epiphany
and says that he didn’t attack Carter. Instead another Watcher, most likely the
Executioner, attacked Carter and took her back to his home dimension. He agrees
to help the others find Carter, takes the Shard of the Fifth Dimension, powers
up, and leads them to it. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.
Ep 26: What If… What If?
We open with a flashback to Uatu the
Watcher on his first day as a Watcher. In the Fifth Dimension he just looks out
on the Multiverse and basks in infinity before the Eminence joins him. Uatu
asks how anyone can take it all in. The Eminence says that not everyone can,
but as Watchers, they’re the exception. He compliments Uatu on his dedication
to their order, to watch but not interfere, and that he thinks Uatu will do
great. Uatu asks what if the Eminence is wrong. The Eminence answers that “what
if is an irrelevant question.” He explains that the belief of the Watchers is
that to preserve the natural order is to not interfere with it, just watch. He
asks Uatu if he’s ready to do it, and Uatu says he will. He takes the Oath of the
Watchers, to Watch over everyone he must become no one, and gains his robe of
office. The Eminence shows him the crystal hallways of the Observational Plane.
Uatu says that it’s beautiful, but the Eminence corrects him and says it just
is. They can offer no judgements, only observations. Which, ya know, just
sounds like the worst job ever. Not going to lie. Uatu asks what the point is
of just watching, but the Eminence says that is something he’ll figure out on
his own. Uatu says he will never fail the Eminence.
We then cut to the Eminence
announcing that Uatu failed him. Nice cut. He claims that Uatu left them as a
Watcher but has returned to them as a Heretic. Uatu is on trial for the crimes
he committed, specifically interfering with the natural order and exposing their
secrets to mortals. Uatu insists he only shared their secrets with Heroes. The Eminence
asks if he truly considered Strange Supreme a hero, the man that destroyed his
own dimension and then, with help from Uatu, recreated it. Uatu claims that he
sacrificed his own soul to undo his mistake, and that his new universe is
creating new branches of reality. He calls it a miracle, they call it an abomination.
He equates it to gardening, that he’s merely cultivating, weeding, and using pesticide
on his garden to help things grow. They claim that’s a convenient excuse, and
charge him with interfering to save the life of Riri Williams, Jun-Fan, Nick
Fury, and Madisynn, to name a few. Uatu kind of just shrugs at that. Sidenote,
I do think it’s hilarious that Madisynn with two Ns and a Y that’s not where
you think is this ultimate basic white girl that keeps getting bailed out by
beings infinitely more powerful than her. They then reveal that Captain Peggy Carter
is the most dangerous of Uatu’s projects and that they have her in custody.
They ask him why he’s risking everything for these beings who, in the grand
scheme of things, don’t matter. Uatu says that they matter to him, to which the
Eminence says that is his failing, nothing can matter to a Watcher. He repeats
the line that a Watcher is No One. Carter tells him to not believe that, as no person
is no one. The Eminence sentences them to death. Uatu says that that’s not
their way, but the Eminence says it’s the only way to correct what Uatu broke.
And the fact he now has to break an oath of non-violence to do it is what hurts
the most. Way to make this execution all about you, bro. Infinite Ultron bursts
in and blasts them. Uatu is shocked to see Infinite Ultron and that he’s with Carter,
who cheerily tells him he now knows what a surprise feels like. Infinite Ultron
frees them and says he’ll cover them in time to get to the ship. Carter says that
they can’t leave Infinite Ultron, but he tells them to go, as this is what he's
programmed for. The Guardians meet up and fly out, Byrdie using the upgrades
Ultron did to the ship to help them slip through the seams of reality. Uatu
says that this is pointless as the other Watchers have seen everything, every
moment of their lives and every variation of those moments. Carter has the bright
idea to take them into Strange Supreme’s reality. In his sacrifice, he infused himself
with every atom of that reality and they hope he’s still aware enough to help
them and can repress the other Watchers powers. The Eminence kills Infinite
Ultron. The Three Watchers appear before the group and announces “No more
Running,” and blast them out of the seams.
The ship crash lands on an alien
world a few universes short of Strange’s reality. Everyone lands safely, but
then the Watchers appear before them. Byrdie, Storm, and Kahhori blast the
Watchers and try to force them into Strange’s reality, but it doesn’t work. The
other Watchers insist that the only way they can Watch reality is to not be
tied to it, Uatu insists that that doesn’t have to be the way. The Eminence
blasts them and smashes them against a mountain. Uatu tells the group that they
need to take the Oath of the Watcher, which they do, accepting the Oath before
being blasted. This gives them the power to survive the blast and to face off
against the Watchers. The other Watchers suit up for battle, the Eminence repeating
that he was meant to be no one. Uatu announces that he’s not no one, that he is
Uatu and they battle. I’m just now realizing that they haven’t said his name
before but I use it all the time. Whoops.
The Guardians and Watchers face off.
The Watchers are powerful, but Carter and Co have experience using unfathomable
power and hold them off. Uatu tells the Eminence that he doesn’t want to fight,
but the Eminence says that there’s power in choice and he has made his. Their
clash cracks the planet they’re on. Storm, using the combined power of herself,
Mjolnir and the Watcher’s summons up a huge cosmic cyclone to catch up the other
two Watchers before Uatu tosses the Eminence in with them. They ask that the
Watchers yield but they announce they never will. Uatu tells the others to
stop. He tells the Eminence that this isn’t what he taught him. The Eminence
says that he didn’t teach Uatu everything. The Three Watchers combine their
power and blast them. The Eminence announces that this attack won’t just
destroy them, but will erase every version of them throughout the multiverse.
We see alternate versions blow off Carter and the rest and Carter starts to
disintegrate. She screams no and forces her body back together. She announces
she’s not losing any friends today and rushes the Watchers, hitting them with
her full power. She stops their attack and reverses it, blasting them away.
Uatu gets up and realizes Carter is
gone. The Eminence says she’s gone, and for nothing. He tries to blast Uatu,
but it doesn’t work. It’s revealed in Peggy’s last attack she transferred them
to Stephen Strange’s universe. He asks how could he not see this coming. Uatu
tells him that in spending all time watching over things, it becomes hard to
fathom what they haven’t seen before. The Eminence assumes Uatu transferred them
here to kill them, but Uatu says he only wants to teach them. He thinks that maybe
in this universe without his powers, the Eminence and the other Watchers can
learn to see as well as watch.
In the fifth dimension, the Guardians
hold a funeral for Peggy with her shield. Storm says that she only wished Peggy
could be there with them. Uatu says that maybe she is and that for the first time
in all of his existence that he feels like someone is watching over him. The Shield
is fixed and tossed into the cosmos. Storm asks if he really believes there’s another
road after this one. Uatu says that some questions only answer… is more
questions. Uatu gives his speech about how time is more than a linear path and
we’re shown some alternate universe characters. These include: Mutant six armed
Spider-Man, Ghost Rider as a samurai, A cyborg Punisher lady, Gamora as a
bride, Moon Knight Nick Fury, Weapon X Thanos, Ms. Marvel Wasp, Sorcerer
Supreme Hulk, Howard the Duck Warlock, and more. He asks the viewer to open their
eyes, dare to face the unknown and ponder the question What if?
As finales go, this was fine. They had
to survive until Peggy makes her big sacrifice and saves the day. Not anything
too groundbreaking. The fight scene was cool, though, with a lot of reality
warping, powers on display and planet smashing. Uatu ultimately sparing the other
Watchers in the hopes that they can learn and grow was a nice message to end
on.
Overall, I think I was warmer to What
If…? than many of my fellow superhero fans and content creators were. Was
it amazing? No. Did I love every episode? No. Do I regret watching it? Also No.
I think that the shows two biggest weaknesses were mostly sticking to 30-ish minute
run times and sticking too closely to the main MCU. The runtime issue is pretty
self-explanatory, it’s hard to tell good, complete stories in 30 minutes. A few
What If’s…? could have worked as full series in my opinion, but trying
to set up a new world and catch everyone up on the changes while telling a
compelling story is hard. And sticking too closely to the MCU is just what it
sounds. Most of the episodes were just too… basic to be that memorable. My
favorites were ones like Marvel Zombies, 1602, and 1872, worlds where things
are so radically different that the plot didn’t feel the need to keep anyone too
close to the rules of the MCU. The beauty of What If…? storylines is to
really flex the creative muscles and see what you can come up with. So just
doing the little tweaks like Howard the Duck and Darcy getting married is just
so… bland. And, personally, I think I’d have preferred this show staying more
of an anthology series, without the big fate of multiverse finales. It’s just…
hard to top saving all realities over, and over, and over again. The best one
in my opinion was the Infinite Ultron story, and so Strange Supreme’s Universe
Forge and the Watchers attack is just lesser by comparison. And, I’ll just say
it, it’s funny in an ironic sense to me that the show that is all about
infinite possibilities tapped out at less than 30 episodes. Oh, a middling Disney
TV show run, how infinite. I’m being a jerk, sorry. I did have fun watching most
of these. I’m a big fan of animation, so I hope the fact that this series wasn’t
a runaway success doesn’t hurt the chances of shows like X-Men 97 and Spider-Man:
Freshman Year from getting to stretch their legs a little. It’d be great to
see something do well enough that Disney risks a season 4. But I guess
we’ll have to wait and see. Have a good night, everyone.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/120789754/
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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