Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ released its season finale AKA the ninth episode, titled – “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?”, earlier today. As the title of this episode suggests, The Watcher voluntarily breaks his oath for the first time in this animated anthology series. And by far, it has been the best episode. We get bigger stakes, a couple of new team-ups, a new villain altogether and of course, dozens of call-backs, references and Easter Eggs. This last episode pretty much “kills” the anthology part of this animated series but we will likely see it returning to an anthology series, again. For now, we have put together 7 big Easter Eggs, references and call-backs from the season finale of What If…? – so check them out:
An Anthology No More
This episode ties the remaining 8 episodes – linking all the previously shown universes together; while also including an extra universe where Gamora killed Thanos and destroyed the Infinity Stones. We do not know, however, if the next season is going to be an anthology series or something similar to this first season. Or if we will get a direct sequel to this season.
The Infinity Crusher
An item so powerful that it can destroy all of the infinity stones, given that it gets enough time to charge up. While we do not know if we will see this item/weapon again – this new multiverse opens up a world of endless opportunities.
Guardians of The Multiverse
A brilliant lineup of heroes featuring The Supreme Dr. Strange, Captain Carter, Party Prince Thor, T’Challa The Star-Lord, Wakandan King Killmonger, Thanos Destroyer Gamora and The Last Living Sentient Being On Her Universe – Black Widow. An upgrade to the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy alike. A brilliant onscreen team-up. Brilliant collaboration of skill and power.
Another Captain Wields Mjolinor
While Steve Rogers manages to properly wield Stormbreaker and Mjolinor, Captain Carter only manages to hitch a ride on the smaller hammer while she took the fight to Ultron/Vision. While she hasn’t properly wielded Mjolinor yet, we think this is just foreshadowing her eventual ability to command the weapon.
The Greatest MCU Villain
Ultron/Vision with the Infinity Stones is by far the strongest Marvel Cinematic Universe villain. Stronger than Dormammu. Stronger than Thanos. And as far as we can see, stronger than Kang the Conqueror (he hasn’t exactly come into the MCU, yet). Hopefully, we will at least get a mention of this being in one of the future Marvel projects.
The MCU Call-Backs!
The amount of callbacks in this episode has been crazy. There are way too many to list, so we will mention all the obvious ones:
Captain America: Winter Soldier – Captain Carter leads Romanoff, Rumlow and the others to recapture Lemurian Star from Georges Batroc. Widow tries to get Carter to start dating.
Avengers – Supreme Strange explains about the Infinity Stones, similar to how an alternate version of him explains to Tony Stark from the canon universe in ‘Infinity War’. We also see Chinese food being eaten while the team thinks of a plan to beat Ultron/Vision which is what the Avengers are in ‘Endgame’ while creating a plan to bring the Infinity Stones to their universe.
Also, Thor gets served beer by Dr. Strange in this episode – in a similar fashion to ‘Thor: Ragnarok‘.
End Credits: Steve Returns?
We get an end credit scene at the end of this episode where Romanoff show Captain Carter what she discovers on the Lemurian Star – the HYDRA Stomper. And there is a person alive, inside the suit – Steve Rogers. Will he be brainwashed like Bucky? Will he be the same age as Peggy?
The first season of ‘What If…?’ is currently streaming 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.
