The penultimate episode of Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ premiered on Disney+ Hotstar last night. Titled, “What If… Ultron Won?” – the episode of the animated anthology series was by far its most important which also broke the web series from its “anthology-genre”. This episode also reintroduced a couple of major characters from the previous episodes – mainly, The Supreme Doctor Strange and Ultron/Vision. But what makes this episode even more brilliant, was its smart use of fourth wall breaking – not just for its ordinary purpose of narration (which is what the Watcher did throughout the series), but by using it to further the plot within the series.
‘Deadpool’, ‘Malcolm in the Middle’, ‘House of Cards’, ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Fight Club’ are some of the best movies and TV series that break the fourth wall. They use this dramatic convention liberally for exposition, inner dialogue and monologues as required by the story. However, none of them have used it like the aforementioned episode of ‘What If…?’ – by using the fourth wall breaking itself as a plot device; which is rarely used in movies and shows. And that makes this MCU show interesting.
In this episode, Ultron/Vision takes over Earth and destroys pretty much every living thing on Earth. However, the android discovers the existence of life on other planets and uses the 6 Infinity Stones to take over the Universe (Thanks Thanos). However, once it completed its mission, Ultron/Vision had no more purpose – that was until he heard The Watcher narrating to us, in the background. Due to his evolution, Ultron/Vision reached a new level of omniscience and he was able to detect the existence of The Watcher because of his fourth-wall breaking. Eventually Ultron/Vision is able to break into the dimension where the Watcher is residing – where he goes on to discover the existence of the multiverse. An impressively clever way to influence the plot.
Check out all eight episodes of ‘What If… ?’ on Disney+ Hotstar.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
