Let’s Talk about What If… Episode 3-7

We’re down to the final two episodes of Marvel’s What If…?

The situation has grown tense as The Eminence attacked The Watcher and accidentally shattered part of the Observational Plane.

You don’t need to know much about Marvel to understand that “reality-bending fragments” shouldn’t be floating around space.

Somehow, that’s far from the worst part. The implication is that The Eminence has arrested (or kidnapped?) The Watcher.

Why is that bad? Well, The Watcher is the narrator of this series.

You don’t head to a production of Our Town and kidnap the Stage Manager. There’s no play without them.

So, here we are, ready to find out how this battle ends. First, we must choose our fighters, though.

Let’s talk about What If…? episode 3-7, the one where Peggy Carter finally appears.

Reintroducing Our Heroine

The first two seasons of What If…? functioned as a love letter to Peggy Carter, the coolest chick from World War II.

Peggy crossed solar systems, timelines, and planes of existence while defending reality.

Along the way, she defeated Infinity Ultron, crazed Stephen Strange (multiple times), and saved the multiverse.

Surprisingly, Agent Carter hasn’t appeared in season three, though. Marvel was saving her for this moment.

Well, the moment arrives when Nova Prime aka Nebula from a previous Blade Runner-esque episode, needs help.

She and her team of planetary defenders, Groot and Korg, are fighting some cosmic, state-sized flying squid. And they’re losing.

Fortunately, this is the moment when Agent Carter triumphantly arrives to tell them she’ll save the day. And she’s brought help.

Peggy befriended Kahhori at the end of season two, and they’re still fighting together.

They’re joined by Storm, as in the Storm of X-Men: The Animated Series and voiced by the same actress, Alison Sealy-Smith.

Frankly, this is the moment Sealy-Smith has awaited her entire life, as the script calls for her to be EVEN MORE over-the-top than usual.

No, I didn’t know that was possible, either. Still, this isn’t the appearance that amuses me the most.

Byrdie the Duck also appears. This is the magical egg baby from a few episodes ago.

She’s the daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy. But I don’t focus on that.

Instead, as a Final Fantasy fan, I immediately start cackling because this character is an unmistakable homage to Chocolina.

Meet the Team

Anyway, this multiversal team is very OP, but their fight gets delayed by the opening credits.

For the first time I can recall, these credits advance the story as The Eminence, not The Watcher, recites dialogue.

Let’s just say that his recitation isn’t as positive about the whole thing. He also points out that his job is to watch The Watchers.

Uh-oh. Speaking of uh-oh, that squid is good and truly screwed.

The poor thing is probably just hungry and confused. It’s not from here. And these people are NOT kind to tourists.

Peggy Carter grabs her shield, gets a push, and flies straight through the squid’s eyeballs. It’s super-dead.

We immediately cut to The Watcher, who is in shackles as his boss, The Eminence lectures our narrator about his failings.

The Eminence particularly dislikes Peggy Carter, which makes sense.

She has interfered in a lot of timelines where she doesn’t belong. But The Watcher is confident.

He points out that The Eminence can’t do anything about it, merely watch.

At this point, the antagonist character reveals that HE can interfere, as it’s his job to protect all existence.

This is very bad news for Peggy Carter, but she doesn’t know it.

Instead, our heroine is off being heroic. She knows that The Watcher has been taken and wants to rescue him.

To make that happen, the team will need transportation to the Observational Plane, and there’s not a map for it.

Finding Neverland

The characters have three shards they can theoretically use to reach the Observational Plane.

First, Byrdie tries high-powered science to turn her ship into a multiversal machine capable of ascending to that plane.

Obviously, she fails. Then, Storm tries to harness the power of Mjolnir as a magical solution. That, too, fails.

Desperate, the team considers the novelty of the situation. Only one being has ever reached the Observational Plane uninvited.

Yes, they’re going to need Infinity Ultron to make their plan happen.

The synthezoid rules over an empty universe since he has killed everything.

The implication is that this is a different Ultron, one who conquered his reality but never noticed The Watcher.

Peggy decides that this mission is too dangerous to risk the lives of her friends. So, she goes it alone.

Let’s just say that Ultron is surprised to see her – or anyone – after eons of isolation.

Oddly, he’s not overtly antagonistic but curious. She…shouldn’t be here.

The team awakens to find her missing, realizes where she’s gone, and pursues.

They see Infinity Ultron but not Peggy. Peggy’s Shield lies broken on the ground. Ultron says, “She’s…gone.”

The heroes attack immediately, but he doesn’t fight back. He’s trying to explain.

Ultron pushes them away and reminds them that he can undo the heroes with a snap of his fingers. “But I won’t.”

This statement gets their attention. Ultron relays a terrifying story explaining Peggy’s absence.

The Eminence showed up, attacked Peggy, broke her shield, knocked Ultron for distance, and then took Peggy.

At this point, Ultron explains his evolution. He now knows that his decision to eliminate all life was a mistake.

Infinity Ultron wants to help. Process that as you will.

Cliffhanger

This is much more of an MCU/Avengers story than the rest of the season to date.

We’re clearly building to a finish here, and all the pieces are on the board.

The women have brought the final shard and show it to Ultron. He smashes it, which enrages them.

Ultron knows what must be done, though. He captures the power of the shard to level up, noting that he sees everything now.

While the thought of another multiversal Infinity Ultron is terrifying, he quickly, calmly adds, “Let’s save your friends.”

The next bit of animation has a Doctor Manhattan vibe to it as Ultron powers Byrdie’s ship to “infinity.”

Ultron reveals that despite all his power, he cannot see the future, but he takes that as a positive.

The character, who may be omniscient now, reasons that if he cannot see the future, neither can The Watchers.

At this point, we cut to an exterior shot of Byrdie’s ship as it phases out of reality. Next stop: The Observational Plane!

We’re ready for a showdown in the final episode. Before we get there, I have to say that I loooved this implementation of Ultron.

I’ve been reading Ultron comics for longer than you’ve probably been alive.

This was the first time the character truly made sense to me as more than just a “murderbot kills” trope.

This Ultron has the blood of a universe on his hands…and an accompanying, appropriate level of regret.

Through Peggy Carter and friends, he suddenly identifies a path to at least a marginal redemption.

That’s the kind of impossible idea that What If…? should be.

 

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