ANTAGONIST ALERT: Let’s Talk About That What If…? Spoiler!
In the newest episode of What If…?, “What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes,” we got to see an alternative version of the assembly of the Avengers… with some considerably more grim results than what played out in the Sacred Timeline!
Photo: Marvel
If you haven’t had a chance to see this week’s episode of What If…?, and you want to avoid spoilers, then we recommend you direct your Watcher’s gaze to some other portion of the timeline!
What If… The Earth Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?
In this episode, we got to see a different (and much darker) version of Nick Fury’s assembly of the Avengers, and every major cinematic moment from the movies plays out differently than it did in the Sacred Timeline.
Photo: Disney+
Tony Stark, Thor, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) all meet horrible fates at the hands of a serial killer… who turned out to be none other than Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)!
Yellowjacket! Photo: IGN
In 2015’s Ant-Man, we saw how the death of his wife, Janet Van Dyne, drove Hank Pym to quit his work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and retire from being a superhero. In the process, we also saw how his past trauma caused him to prevent his own daughter, Hope Van Dyne, from becoming a superhero (at least for awhile).
In this timeline, however, it seems like he was unable to keep Hope away from S.H.I.E.L.D., leading to Hope’s death during one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attempts to keep the world safe in Odessa, Ukraine (and Marvel Blog True Believers, this is the infamous assassination site from Captain America: Winter Soldier).
Photo: Disney+
As a result, Pym goes on to turn into a very different version (to put it lightly) of his character, Yellowjacket, and then, he goes on a murder mission against the most valuable assets the Avengers have.
Photo: Disney+
Unfortunately, this means that there’s no team of Avengers to stand against the Asgardian invasion of Loki (Tom Hiddleston)… and he didn’t even make a deal with Thanos this time! Way to go, Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).
At least, Captain Marvel eventually heard the pager beep and showed up!
What’s the God of Mischief up to now? Photo: Disney+
What If… Pym became Yellowjacket?
In the first Ant-Man movie, we saw one of Pym’s antagonists become Yellowjacket.
Hank Pym as Yellowjacket in the comics. Photo: Marvel
However, in the Marvel Comics, Yellowjacket is an identity adopted by Pym for a period of time…
And now, thanks to this episode of What If…?, we’ve seen Douglas’s Pym adopt the persona of Yellowjacket as well! Very cool stuff, Marvel Blog True Believers.
What did you think of this episode? We want to hear from you! Let us know in the comment section.
