Spoilers What If...? discussion thread

Ah, that's right, I forgot about the Culver University footage.

Seemed pretty clear to me the divergence point was Hope's death, thus causing Hank to seek revenge.

 

That's the one had me scratching my head, not in a negative way, as well. I'm kinda hoping they'll revisit that.

I really enjoyed this one. Where the previous episode had me laughing a lot and just really feeling it, this was had a sense of threat to it. I mean, Hulk..... wow.....
Maniacal Hank was pretty well done, and the end scene really has me hoping that they'll revisit this possible universe in season 2. I sometimes feel I'm one of the few people that actually enjoyed Brie Larson as Captain Marvel.

 

Well yes and no.... in 'our' universe, Hope never joined SHIELD. So was the point of divergence the moment she joined SHIELD? The event that caused her to join SHIELD?

 

You aren’t, she’s extremely popular outside of certain online environments.

 

Probably helps that like with Hank Pym (normally) MCU Carol is a better person that the comic version these days.

 

All the characters are really. So far MCU Peter Parker hasn’t made a deal with the actual devil, although we’ll see how that turns out since that seems to be the inspiration for the next movie.

 

Let's be honest here. Hank Pym has always been a few sandwiches short of a picnic. It's just that sometimes he has a better lid on it than others.

 

No, the inspiration is the story after that which explained how Dr. Strange erased knowledge of Peter's identity. It may have been a followup to the Mephisto story, but only in the sense that it filled in the blanks of how the rewritten history unfolded. Mephisto wasn't directly responsible for Dr. Strange's spell, any more than the Anti-Monitor is responsible for the events of Batman: Year One. It's just the revised backstory in the universe that resulted from the change that character made.

And of course, the movies are free to pick and choose events from the comics without bringing their entire context and continuity baggage along with them, which is how we got a Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch who have no connection to Magneto or the High Evolutionary. Having Doctor Strange try to undo Peter's unmasking is a logical outgrowth of what's been established in the MCU, so there's no reason to expect any comics elements to be included that don't serve the MCU's own narrative. Especially not a reference to the Mephisto storyline that everyone hated. The good thing about new versions is that you don't have to repeat the same mistakes.

 

Sounds like he's being set up for a hitting the reset button was a bad idea best to just deal with the fall out of Mysterio being a vindictive bastard.

Of course MCU Pym kind of benefited from most of his major issues being tossed out.

 

I thought it was the weakest of the three as it didn't have the heart of last week's and the action wasn't as good as the first episode (Loki/Fury's fight with Pym and Natasha's escape were fun though.) Felt like it could have gone with a more serious tone with the Avengers dying and Earth conquered, but the really weird corpse sniffing scene hurt that. Don't know, just felt a bit flat by the end. Hulk exploding was gross cool at least.

 

A wicked reaction thought I saw on YouTube: THIS was the timeline Miss Minutes was going to offer Loki.

 

Michael Douglas did a great job, I feel his voice acting as been some of the best so far.

So, I wonder who the possible Avengers will be in this reality. We've got Cap America, Cap Marvel, who else? Rhodes, I'm not sure. Some of Starks other suits would still be around, so maybe? T'Challa isn't Black Panther yet, but maybe his father can do some fighting. Wanda doesn't have her powers unlocked yet (but does have them as we learned in Wandavision), same with Quicksilver.

Hope is dead so that rules her out. Might be able to convince Lady Sif to help if she finds out the truth about Loki.

Peter is 7 years old and Powerless. Bucky is still on deep freeze I assume.

 

"What if Nick Fury never started 'Project TAHITI' in case of the fall of an Avenger."

 

Daredevil makes sense. Black Widow and Coulson despite being human. War Machine I think would be a lock. I think Black Panther would happen due to the alien invasion and feeling the need to get involved. 1st Maybe the Guardians of the Galaxy if they came back to earth.

 

We pretty much get the MCU as it is.

 

Uh, Hank killed Nat. Presumably, not sure what else he would have done after pulling her away.

 

I was kind of wondering if there'd be a sly reference to it when he was looking at the coffins, but it looked like SHIELD was already down to it's post-Winter-Soldier status of being just Coulson and Fury, so he probably didn't have the logistical support he'd need. Of course, maybe those big fancy coffins were cryonics, for when he did have enough of a posse to get ahold of his secret supply of alien blood and a... brain-stitching robot?

 

I don't think there's any reason to believe T'Challa isn't Black Panther yet. He was already the Panther when we first met him and his father would've been too old to be the Panther anymore long before that.

As for others, there's also Wong/Mordo/The Ancient One (with Dr. Strange presumably still to come), Shang-Chi, Falcon (he should already have experience with the wings and needs only for Captain America to show up and inspire him), Sharon Carter, even Bucky could be possible despite that fact that he is brainwashed since Hydra can't be any happier about this than Fury (although that would be a huge immediate rift in any hypothetical anti-Loki alliance, since Steve would never stand for it).

--

As for the episode, I highly enjoyed this one. Not as incredible as last week's (Boseman's performance was just fantastic and the story shockingly perfect), but still a massive step up from the first episode's choppy, rushed plot which ultimately didn't even have much of anything different to say or show. If this is the standard quality of this series, I'm highly pleased.

 

I think the first ep is still my favorite. Captain Carter as sort of Captain America was awesome IMO. Also loved seeing Steve Rogers as the first Iron Man.

 

Excellent episode! I haven't read the story it's vaguely based on, so I was caught up in the mystery. I think my hubby has a crush on Lake Bell (she also does Ivy's voice on Harley Quinn).