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- 34 details you missed in Marvel's alternate-timelines show 'What If...?'
34 details you missed in Marvel's alternate-timelines show 'What If...?'
Jacob Sarkisian
- "What If...?" explores the multiverse of the MCU.
- The animated show features many hidden details that even die-hard MCU fans might miss.
- Captain America gets sworn in as president and Taika Waititi's pineapple shirt makes an appearance.
Red Skull finds the Tesseract in Tønsberg, Norway, in episode 1, which is where New Asgard is located in 'Avengers: Endgame'
Tønsberg appears twice in the MCU — once when the Red Skull finds the Tesseract at the beginning of "Captain America: The First Avenger," and then again in "Avengers: Endgame" when the Norwegian town serves as the location of New Asgard.
While the tentacle monster isn't officially named, it could be Shuma-Gorath, a multiverse monster who often clashes with Doctor Strange
Tentacle monsters are something of a recurring theme in "What If...?" The monster appears first in episode one, when it emerges from the space portal created by the Tesseract. Captain Carter has to fight off this beast.
Later, in episode four, Doctor Strange Supreme absorbs another tentacle monster. Although it is not confirmed that this is indeed the same creature, it could very well be. In fact, they could both be Shuma-Gorath — a Marvel Comics villain who often clashes with Doctor Strange.
In episode 2, T'Challa's ship is named Mandela after Nelson Mandela, whereas in 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' Peter Quill's ship is named Milano after Alyssa Milano
Peter Quill's ship is named Alyssa Milano after his childhood crush in "Guardians of the Galaxy," but in "What If...?" T'Challa's Star-Lord has a more noble name for his ship: Mandela, named after one of his idols, Nelson Mandela.
T'Challa mentions that Thanos 'gardens,' a reference to the opening of 'Avengers: Endgame'
T'Challa becoming Star-Lord instead of Quill had a big impact on that particular universe, with T'Challa even managing to talk Thanos out of chasing the Infinity Stones and enacting his genocidal plan.
Instead, Thanos is content with gardening, according to T'Challa. This seems to be a reference to Thanos in the main timeline, where we see him gardening in "Endgame" after he has wiped out half of all life and destroyed the Infinity Stones.
Nebula only has one cyborg eye and looks intact, meaning Thanos stopped his experiments on her very early on
T'Challa's impact on Thanos also made him a kinder father, and he stopped experimenting on his daughter Nebula very early on.
While in the MCU, Nebula is mostly made up of robot parts as punishment for losing sparring sessions to Gamora, Nebula is pretty much intact in this episode. She only has one cyborg eye.
T'Challa walks by a Dark Elf in a cage in the Collector's collection
The Collector's collection is full of Easter eggs, and one is a Dark Elf trapped in a glass cage. We last saw Dark Elves in "Thor: The Dark World," where they were led by Malekith the Accursed.
T'Challa passes the Grandmaster's pleasure cruiser and one of the Nova Corps ships in the Collector's collection
There are also some vehicle Easter eggs, too. A Nova Corps ship, as seen in "Guardians of the Galaxy," can be spotted in the Collector's garage, while the Grandmaster's pleasure barge, as seen in "Thor: Ragnarok," can be seen too.
The Collector says he got the rock fist from a 'terribly chatty Kronan,' who is actually Korg
This episode features another reference to "Thor: Ragnarok." When fighting T'Challa, the Collector wields a giant fist made of rock.
After hitting T'Challa, the Collector says: "Packs quite a wallop, does it not? I hacked it off the carcass of a terribly chatty Kronan."
This Kronan is none other than Korg.
Amongst the Collector's weapons are Captain America's shield, Loki's daggers, and Mjölnir
Korg's fist is hardly the only weapon the Collector uses. In his stash of weaponry, you can see he has collected Captain America's shield, Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, and Loki's daggers.
It's unclear if the Collector is worthy enough to actually wield Mjölnir, however. Doubtful.
In episode 3, Loki wields the Casket of Ancient Winters, as he did in 'Thor'
Loki makes several appearances in "What If...?" beginning with this episode, where he arrives on Earth with an Asgardian army seeking vengeance after the death of his brother Thor.
Here, he wields the Casket of Ancient Winters, which we last saw in "Thor" when Loki and the Frost Giants wielded it, including to freeze Heimdall.
The Frost Giants also use the Casket of Ancient Winters in episode 7 to create ice sculptures on Mount Rushmore
In a later episode, the more friendly version of the Frost Giants use it to create ice sculptures of horns, eyebrows, and mustaches on the faces of Mount Rushmore.
In episode 3, Hank's outfit is a nod to Yellowjacket, the villain in 'Ant-Man'
The finale of episode three reveals that Hank Pym is the bad guy behind the deaths of the Avengers, and to reflect the fact that he has turned to villainy, he is wearing the same Yellowjacket outfit that the bad guy, Darren Cross, wore in "Ant-Man."
In a nice nod, Hank was also the first person to wear the Yellowjacket outfit in the comics.
In episode 4, the news anchor who reports Christine's death is Christine Everhart, who featured in 'Iron Man'
Leslie Bibb played the journalist Christine Everhart in "Iron Man" and "Iron Man 2," and she returns to voice the same character here in "What If...?"
In this episode, she is a news anchor who reports the death of Doctor Strange's love, Christine Palmer.
She appears again in episode 6 in a Tony Stark-Killmonger news conference, in a manner more closely aligned to her live-action appearances.
Cagliostro was mentioned in 'Doctor Strange'
Cagliostro plays an important part in episode 4, as Doctor Strange seeks to study time and become powerful enough to undo a fixed point in time.
The name Cagliostro probably sounds familiar to MCU fans. That's because he was mentioned in "Doctor Strange." Strange reads his book in Wong's library in Kamar-Taj.
"That's the book of Cagliostro. A study of time," Wong tells Strange.
In the comics, O'Bengh actually is Cagliostro and he evens studies the Darkhold, which we saw Wanda study in 'WandaVision'
O'Bengh is the mysterious guide who helps Doctor Strange on his quest for knowledge and power. But in the comics, O'Bengh is actually Cagliostro himself, and the name "O'Bengh" is just a pseudonym.
In episode 5, in Peter's vlog, it lists Sharon's skills as 'eulogies,' a nod to her eulogy scene in 'Captain America: Civil War'
Peter Parker goes back to his vlog-loving ways in episode five, where he makes a video series about how to survive the zombie apocalypse.
In it, he details some of the other survivors, including Happy Hogan and Kurt from "Ant-Man." Each person has a list of skills beneath their name. In Sharon Carter's segment, one of her skills is listed as "eulogies."
In "Captain America: Civil War," Sharon gave a eulogy at her aunt Peggy's funeral, a speech that proved to have a big effect on Captain America himself when it came to deciding whether to sign the Sokovia Accords or not.
Happy seems to be using an Iron Man repulsor glove that looks very similar to what Tony used in 'Captain America: Civil War'
This episode features another reference to "Civil War" here. Happy's weapon is the gauntlet repulsor that looks very similar to the one Tony Stark uses in "Civil War."
In that movie, Tony pulls a trigger on his watch, which turns into the gauntlet repulsor so that he can help in the fight against the escaping Bucky Barnes.
Peter mentions Uncle Ben, the first time Uncle Ben has been mentioned in the MCU
Everyone knows the story of Uncle Ben. We got two cinematic renditions of if it in Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's respective Spider-Man movies.
However, we never got Spider-Man's origin story in the MCU. By the time we meet him in "Civil War," he has already got his powers and has started crime-fighting. So this is the first time ever, in the MCU, that the name of Uncle Ben has even been mentioned.
We may have to wait until "Spider-Man: No Way Home" to find out more.
The survivors make it to Camp Lehigh, which is where Steve Rogers trained in 'Captain America: The First Avenger'
We first see Camp Lehigh in "The First Avenger," where Steve Rogers (pre-super soldier serum) trains with Colonel Chester Phillips' squad. We later revisit the army base in "Endgame," when Steve and Tony travel back in time to the 1970s in an attempt to retrieve the Space Stone and obtain more Pym Particles.
The camp serves as the base for Vision in this episode, and the group of survivors travel there in search of hope.
The Ten Rings logo that appears in episode 6 is the one seen in 'Iron Man,' not the re-designed one seen in 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'
The Ten Rings logo was given a redesign for "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" after some controversy.
However, the first design of the logo, which was seen in "Iron Man," is used here as it matches the time of when this episode takes place — which is the time of "Iron Man."
In episode 7, you can see the Infinity Gauntlet when Party Thor walks through Odin's treasure room
When Thor and his friends devise a way to get to Earth so they can begin their intergalactic party, they go through Odin's treasure room. In the background is the Infinity Gauntlet, which actually looks complete with all of the Infinity Stones set in the gauntlet.
Korg, Miek, Rocket, and Skurge all briefly appears in episode 7
The various party scenes feature a whole host of MCU characters. Amongst them is Korg, Miek, and Skurge the Executioner from "Thor: Ragnarok," and Rocket Raccoon from "Guardians of the Galaxy." Rocket is referred to as a rabbit — a reference to Thor calling him the same thing in "Avengers: Infinity War."
Thor's never-ending beer is a reference to his drink with Doctor Strange in 'Thor: Ragnarok'
Thor shares a drink with Skurge, and tells him: "Here, have a drink. It never runs out!"
This seems to be a reference to "Thor: Ragnarok," wherein Thor visits Doctor Strange in the Sanctum Sanctorum. Strange gives Thor a stein of beer, which Thor downs as quickly as he received it. Using a charm of some sort, the beer automatically replenishes itself in the glass.
A pineapple shirt seems to be a reference to a very similar shirt that Taika Waititi wore at San Diego Comic-Con, which Korg also wore in 'Avengers: Endgame'
Amongst the party-goers is a man wearing a pineapple-patterned shirt. This seems to be a reference to Taika Waititi's pineapple shirt that he wore at Comic-Con in 2017.
This shirt was then referenced itself in "Endgame" when Korg, who is voiced by Waititi, wears the exact same shirt in New Asgard.
Could this pineappled party-goer actually be Waititi himself?
Thor takes a selfie with two members of the Sovereign, who appeared in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'
The Sovereign, ruled by Ayesha, play a big part in "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2," where they become enemies of the guardians after Rocket steals their Anulax Batteries. Here, they seem much more friendly, and join in the intergalactic party.
In episode 8, Korg can be seen fighting Ultron robots on Sakaar
Ultron visits a host of worlds in his conquest of the universe. One of the planets he destroys is Sakaar, where we see a horrified Grandmaster looking on at the destruction while Korg tries and fails to fight off the forces of Ultron.
When Ultron and his army destroy The Sovereign, the Guardians of the Galaxy can be seen, aligning with their mission in 'Vol. 2'
Another world that Ultron destroys is the home of the Sovereign.
When he attacks, the Guardians of the Galaxy are there, which means this took place at the same time as the beginning of "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2," wherein the Guardians were helping the Sovereign to defeat Abilisk in exchange for Gamora's captive sister, Nebula.
Instead, in this reality, they all got killed by Ultron.
Captain Marvel calls Ultron 'Skynet,' a reference to 'The Terminator'
Captain Marvel looks set to be a match for Ultron when she flies in to protect Xandar. Here, she mockingly calls him "Skynet," the fictional AI that runs all the Terminators. She also says that she's "seen the killer robot movie" in another reference to James Cameron's 1984 movie "The Terminator."
Like everyone else, Captain Marvel is killed by Ultron, too.
Clint and Natasha find Arnim Zola in the same Siberian facility where Iron Man and Captain America fought in 'Civil War'
In search of a way to stop Ultron, Natasha and Clint head to a Siberian facility where they think the computer version of Dr. Arnim Zola (as seen in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier") might be found.
This is the same facility where Zemo lures Iron Man, Captain America, and Bucky Barnes to in "Civil War." Zemo kills the surviving super soldiers still kept in their tanks, while he tricks Iron Man into starting a brutal fight with Cap and Bucky.
Natasha finds Alexei's Red Guardian shield from 'Black Widow'
When Natasha and Clint are searching through endless files looking for any hints of Zola, Nat comes across a shield.
This is the same shield that belongs to the Red Guardian, who made his MCU debut in this year's "Black Widow," where he was played by "Stranger Things" actor David Harbour.
Clint Barton's death in episode 8 is a direct parallel of Natasha's death in 'Avengers Endgame'
There are many parallels in "What If...?" but this me be the saddest of them all. In "Endgame," Clint hangs on to a falling Nat, who tells Clint "it's okay" before she sacrifices herself to give Clint the Soul Stone.
Here, the roles are reversed. Nat hangs on to Clint before Clint tells her he doesn't want to fight anymore and then sacrifices himself to save Nat from the horde of Ultron robots.
Steve Rogers seems to be being sworn in as president in one of the alternate universes
When Ultron and the Watcher fight, they get smashed in and out of several different alternate universes. In one of them, there is a giant TV screen behind Ultron that sees Steve Rodgers being sworn in as president of the USA.
Who knows, maybe we'll get to see this in the future of the MCU as the multiverse is now officially open for business thanks to "Loki."
The pineapple shirt guy from episode 7 appears in one of the alternate universes
When the Watcher lands in one of the alternate universes, passers by start taking pictures of the strange being.
One of these passers by is the pineapple shirt guy who appeared in episode 7 in Thor's party. Is this an alternate version of the pineapple shirt guy, or has the Watcher crashed into the reality where Thor held his intergalactic party and this is just the same version of the pineapple shirt guy we've already seen? Questions, questions.
There's a brief moment when Ultron looks startlingly like Marvel Comics villain Galactus the devourer of worlds, a famous Fantastic Four foe
In Marvel Comics, Galactus is one of the most powerful and ancient villains. He is known as Galactus the devourer of worlds because he literally eats worlds — he lives off of the energy he gets by consuming entire planets.
We have only seen one cinematic version of Galactus so far, in the much maligned 2007 movie "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (although we barely saw him in that).
However, a reboot of "Fantastic Four" has officially been announced by Kevin Feige, so they will definitely be part of the MCU in the coming future.
Could this be a tease of what's to come? It may just be a coincidence but the resemblance between Galactus and this image of Ultron, with glowing red eyes and a helmet, eating an entire galaxy is uncanny.
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