‘What If…?’ Recap: ‘What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Well, interestingly enough, we get the Guardians of the Multiverse. I really should have seen this one coming, and yet I somehow was still surprised. The plan is simple, Ultron must be stopped. This series really didn’t hold back on just how powerful Ultron really was. The only issue I had with the previous episode, was that Thanos showed up immediately after the world was destroyed. As if Ultron couldn’t have done what he did without the Infinity Stones. Now, in theory, he couldn’t have accessed the Multiverse without the other stones, but he still could have breached the barrier and destroyed so many other worlds with some effort. Being equipped with the Infinity Stones did make Ultron a much bigger threat, faster, and let’s be honest, watching Ultron and the Watcher fight was the best part of the whole series. Okay, maybe Zombie Scarlet Witch is the best part. Either way, the season finale of the series managed to bring everything full circle and end in the most poetic way possible. 

The Watcher assembled his team, starting with Evil Doctor Strange, from ‘What If Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?’ If you are going to have a version of Strange on your team, he does seem like the best bet. Of course, he has to have Captain Carter, she’s literally the best! Killmonger was… a choice. I really questioned that logic, but you know, this isn’t my team, so… T’Challa’s Star Lord made a whole lot of sense, considering he managed to turn Thanos good and all.

Of course, we had to have Party/Only Child Thor in the mix, because reasons? The last of the team is Gamora, and I’m sad we didn’t get to see her universe where she killed Thanos and made a device to break the Infinity Stones. All in all, it’s a decent team from various universes and there’s little to no way they could possibly mess this up. When the Watcher brings them all to a pocket universe and explains what’s happening, they all agree without much thought. Well, Thor tries to leave, but he can’t, so he might as well stay. They go to Vormir and start to form their plan properly, without the Watcher with them. There isn’t enough life on the planet for Ultron to really be interested in it. Killmonger gives off the “definitely going to double cross everyone the first chance he gets” vibes, which Gamora easily picks up. Thor happily draws some serious attention to them, and Ultron shows up pretty quick to kill everyone, like killer robots tend to do. The good news is this Strange is extremely proficient at Magic. Not only does he have protection spells on everyone, he can open inter-dimensional portals. Which he opens as soon as T’Challa takes the Soul Stone from Ultron.

Where do they end up? Where it all began with Ultron winning. The sole survivor of the planet is Natasha, and she intercepts the falling Soul Stone as our Heroes make a crash landing into this Universe with Ultron hot on their trail. Natasha doesn’t just take the Stone and run, she stays, and she fights. It’s what she does best, saving the day and all. Peggy instantly bonds with Natasha and Strange extends his protection spell to her without so much as a word. The fight is a ton of near misses from all parties until Gamora gets the Soul Stone and puts it in her Infinity Stone Crusher of Doom. The thing is, her machine was designed to work on the Infinity Stones in her universe, not this one. That means, Ultron eventually gets the Stone back and unleashes the full force of all 6 stones onto the Guardians of the Multiverse. It’s a close call but Natasha and Captain Carter break away from the attack. Natasha finds Clint’s discarded arrow with Zola’s program, and knows they’ll only have one true shot at defeating Ultron once and for all. Carter leaps onto Ultron’s back and yanks him back with just enough force for Natasha to fire Clint’s arrow into Ultron’s eye. Good thing Zola is a better virus than Ultron is.

With everyone alive, so far, and Ultron fighting Zola for control of the Vision Body, Killmonger makes his move thanks to an Ultron robot head found at the beginning of all this. Oh no! That betrayal! That we all totally didn’t see coming. Whatever will everyone do? They don’t have to do anything, because Zola wins and defeats Ultron and when Killmonger tries to take over, the Stones are torn between which entity to go to. Strange locks them both away in a pocket universe. Everyone returns to the Watcher who takes them all home, one by one. Strange will spend the rest of eternity watching over the little pocket universe. The Watcher knew this was always going to be the outcome. Natasha is the last to leave this tiny corner of the multiverse, only the Watcher takes her to a different universe. The one that was invaded by Loki and his army, and where they lost their Widow. As for Captain Carter? She got her happy ending. In the end, in her universe, they find the giant metal suit Steve used to pilot, and inside? Steve of course! And they all lived happily ever after! Or as close as they can get. The Watcher goes back to just watching, and we get to wonder if we get a season 2!

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