Let’s Talk about What If…? Episode 3-6

One of the most memorable episodes of Marvel’s What If…? season two occurred in 1602.

The story was loosely based on a comic idea by Neil Gaiman, who we don’t talk about these days for…reasons.

Soon afterward, the beginning of an Echo episode placed a similarly empowered woman on the western frontier.

In the latest story, Marvel combines the two for our amusement.

Let’s talk about What If…? episode 3-6, the one with the most predictable reveal in MCU history.

Avengers in the Old West

In episode 3-3, Marvel celebrated Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid with a buddy movie and several clever tributes.

Now, What If…1872 takes a different approach on the same baseline.

This time, the heroes are Shang-Chi and his loyal partner, Hawkeye. Just to be clear, this one’s Kate Bishop.

I presume she traveled back in time because she couldn’t look fiancé Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills in the eye after his latest playoff loss.

Too soon, Bills fans? Well, the rest of us were counting on you to stop Kansas City, and you blew it. So, you deserve it.

Anyway, the story starts with outlaw John Walker and his gang ringing the bell. They must do so ten times to summon a phantom.

The phantom in question is Shang-Chi, and these nogoodniks clearly have it out for him, something they’ll regret.

I say that because Shang-Chi appears, and Kate Bishop joins him.

In some high-quality smack talk, Hawkeye reveals that she can’t remember the last time she missed a shot.

So, Shang-Chi throws his hat high in the air. As it slowly floats up and down, the duo proceeds to shoot or disarm everyone.

Shang-Chi doesn’t kill Walker but rather questions the man to learn the location and identity of The Hood, a dreaded villain.

Walker provides the intel. Then, Shang-Chi and Hawkeye ride their horses toward the danger, like heroes do.

Hot Pursuit

Early in the episode, The Watcher explains that universes grow stranger as they grow further away from the middle.

A picture of Alligator Loki trying to eat Frog Thor punctuates the point. We’re in the wild space of Marvel, and it’s gonna be weird.

The Watcher’s instructions state: “Think less ‘What If?’ and more ‘What the Hell’?” I love that.

The story takes a plot from Wu on Deadwood where Shang-Chi’s sister, Xu Xialing emigrated to America in the 1860s.

There, she quickly learned that The Hood gained power by preying on the weak, these new, yet-to-be-settled immigrants.

Rather than cede to his authority, Xialing fought back. Meanwhile, Shang-Chi teamed up with Kate Bishop to find his sister.

Walker provided the lead to a ghost train. To reach it, they needed help. It came in the form of Jun-Yan, a young boy.

The kid had previously encountered The Hood, and it went about as well as you’d expect.

Apparently, The Hood invaded Jun-Yan’s settlement at night and stole everyone away on a “ghost train.”

At this point, the boy shows the duo where the mysterious vehicle appeared.

Weirdly, they take every word he says at face value, which…isn’t what I would do.

However, their trust is rewarded when the ghost train appears. They ride their horses to board the vehicle.

Jun-Yan joins them after he proves he’s quite the formidable martial artist. You can easily guess that he’s an Iron Fist.

Once the three of them reach the train, they notice it’s heading toward a canyon and presumably hurtling toward disaster.

To their shock, the vehicle’s “wheels” reveal that it’s technologically advanced enough that it can easily fly across the chasm.

The Puppet Master

The trio enters the first train compartment and realizes it’s empty.

Confused, they head deeper into the train wherein they discover a mystery.

Dozens of train workers are sitting in their states. They’re not communicative, though, almost as if they’re in a zombie state.

Something has cast a spell on these people and taken away their free will. They’re little more than puppets now.

The sad part occurs when Jun-Yan finds his father, who is catatonic.

Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop enter the final room to meet The Hood, but he’s not there.

Instead, a bunch of bandits point rifles at the duo as a villain monologues.

This particular individual is the ever-delightful Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch, whom you should remember from the Ant-Man films.

Burch is somehow much more nefarious in this universe, as he’s happily working with The Hood to brainwash strangers.

These two view their slave ring as “supply and demand,” with him providing the supply, and they “do what I demand.”

Despite being outnumbered, Shang-Chi invents a plan on the fly. He has the kid punch two of the faceless villains in the groin.

At this point, Jun-Yan runs to safety. Before a bigger fight breaks out, Burch informs them that The Hood wants to meet them.

The odds of The Hood NOT being Shang-Chi’s sister approach zero.

As far as mysteries go, this one doesn’t even register on the Agatha Christie Scale.

Still, I should mention that Burch keeps finding new ways of being awful.

Once he persuades Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop to join him in another cart, Burch tells the hoods to find and kill the kid.

Sibling Drama

The ghost train arrives at its destination, a spooky place where The Hood wants to meet Shang-Chi alone.

Hawkeye stays behind (at gunpoint), which is bad news for her. It turns out that Burch has a magical watch.

This device plays a song that hypnotizes her. While she’s feeling drowsy and paralyzed, Burch informs her of the truth.

This jerk killed her parents and now fantasizes about shooting her with her mother’s gun. Sonny Burch is a jerk.

Still, since it’s Walton Goggins, I simply cannot hate him. He was too good on Justified.

Outside, The Hood appears in full cloak to hide their face. It’s Xialing. Duh.

There weren’t any other characters mentioned in the story. Try harder, Marvel!

Anyway, the two of them fight, first with Xialing anonymous and capable of turning invisible, which is cheating.

Later, she reveals her face and asks Shang-Chi to join her. He quickly deduced what has happened.

Xialing found The Hood and killed him, which was justified in these circumstances.

Sadly, The Hood, the actual physical garment, corrupted her.

Shang-Chi refuses to fight her, while Kate Bishop is defenseless.

Outside, Jun-Yan is in peril as thugs chase across the roof of the train. At this point, The Watcher once again interferes.

The thugs trip and fall to their death, leaving the child out of danger.

The Iron Fist and The Watchers

Then, the still-safe Jun-Yan rings a bell and awakens everyone from the hypnosis, including Hawkeye.

At this point, she realizes that Shang-Chi refuses to fight back against his sister. Xialing is about to kill him.

Kate Bishop shoots Xialing to save Shang-Chi, and Hawkeye never misses. So, Xialing dies.

Before she does, The Hood flies away, thereby restoring the actual (but still dying) Xialing. The two say their goodbyes.

Then, Shang-Chi, who doesn’t hold a grudge against Kate Bishop, asks her to continue their adventures. She readily agrees.

Meanwhile, the child has become a legend in his village as the Iron Fist.

The episode seems like it’ll end happily, but we only have two more before the series ends.

So, we spend the final moments watching the other three Watchers challenge our Watcher.

They say: “You swore an oath, but so did we. And we can no longer allow your interferences to go unanswered.”

The one called The Eminence, who is voiced by Jason Isaacs, uses a mystical attack on The Watcher.

This slams The Watcher backward, but it appears to have a more dramatic ramification.

Shards of the so-called Observational Plane shatter and seed themselves into various universes.

Now, we got a ballgame, one that Marvel may not resolve in What If’s remaining two episodes.

Yes, this brief set may have set the stage for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. We’ll find out soon.

As an aside, while I found this episode charming and stylish, it was a bit too predictable.

Also, I’ve never been a fan of westerns. So, this was my least favorite episode of season three to date.

 

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