"What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?" is the ninth and final episode of season one of the Disney+ series What If...?. It was released on October 6, 2021.
Synopsis
Out of options, the Watcher gathers heroes from across the Multiverse, in order to defeat Ultron.
Plot
In Captain Carter's universe, it's been a few years since she arrived in the 2010s. It is now the time when Captain America: The Winter Soldier should take place. Captain Carter is on a mission with her best friend Natasha Romanoff to infiltrate a pirate ship for its cargo. While Peggy skydives out of the airship, landing on the ship. While fighting Batroc, she sees the Watcher, who tells her that she has been chosen.
In Star-Lord T'Challa's universe, it takes off right at the end of the episode. Outside the Dairy Queen, the Ravengers are fighting Ego's minions in the sky. Ego is attempting to awaken Peter Quill's celestial heritage for his Expansion plan, painfully doing so with an energy beam. As Quill screams, Ego tells him it will be over in 1000 years. Star-Lord crashes through the Dairy Queen and pulls Quill to safety. Quill notices the Watcher, whom T'Challa sees as well; Star-Lord has been chosen.
In another universe, Tony Stark and Gamora are melting down the damaged Infinity Gauntlet at Nidavellier. Tony talks about creating an armor around the world to protect it, warning Gamora that they don't know where the next big bad will show its face. Gamora sees the Watcher reflected in his armor and they both turn into face him. Turns out in this universe, Gamora survived Sakaar and killed Thanos herself. Gamora has been chosen; the Watcher vehemently denied taking Stark, since Ultron was his screw up in every universe that branched from Earth-199999.
In Killmonger's universe, time has passed and Wakanda is damaged and smoking. His vile betrayal of Tony, T'challa, America, and Wakanda has been exposed, with both sides now working to bring him to justice for the murders of Tony, Rhodey, Klaus, and T'challa. Pepper, Shuri, and the Dora Milaje are racing to the throne room to apprehend the murdering lunatic. The Watcher approaches Killmonger, who tells him that he has been recruited.
In Party Thor's universe, things have continued from the ending of What If... Thor Were an Only Child? Thor is fighting the Ultron sentries in Las Vegas, very angry with their arrival ruining his date night with Jane. The Watcher tries getting his attention, but Thor is too busy fighting to notice. Exasperated, the Watcher simply picks him up, telling Thor he has been chosen.
You have been chosen... for a mission that is both highly dangerous and absolutely necessary for the continuation of life as you know it. At first, I scoured eternity for one true hero. Then I saw the bigger picture. This mission requires a team. The perfect combination of skills and experience that alone will triumph.The Watcher
Thor wakes in a bar with the other recruits. Captain Carter recognizes the pub and has a memory of Steve in the 1940s and turns to see Strange Supreme at a stool. He recreated it based on her biography. Per Thor's request, Strange provides him beer. Strange and the Watcher explain they were recruited for a team to help save the Multiverse from Ultron's threat, and they must get the stones off him. Thor points out he is notorious for attracting attention and attempts to leave, only to find that the pub is in a void outside the Multiverse; he quickly agrees to help. Gamora pulls out her Infinity Crusher, designed to destroy the stones. Enjoying some Chinese takeout, the group plans to steal the Soul Stone first, since it is the most dangerous of the stones. Killmonger suspiciously examines an Ultron sentry head, with the others wondering what he plans.
To give them time to prepare, the Watcher sends them to a universe with little intelligent life. Ultron will ignore this universe for now, since universes teeming with life are his main _targets. Strange attempts a toast, but goes into a dark monologue. Thor quickly stops him and the Guardians of the Multiverse drink a toast to themselves. When Captain Carter asks if she's famous in his world, Strange reveals Steve Rogers got the serum in his universe; Peggy is overjoyed. Thor raises his hammer and blasts lightning in joy, accidentally alerting Ultron; the AI's face appears in the sky, surprised. Thor defends that he forewarned that he draws attention. "So much for preparing". Strange's cloak quickly draws his attention to a cracking sky; Ultron pops out.
Strange quickly casts a protection spell on everyone. Thor blasts Ultron, but nothing happens; continuing as Ultron and the Guardians give "Really?" faces. Ultron collapses the mountain beneath them, but they are safe thanks to the spell; the debris would have crushed them. The AI is confused as humans are usually easy to kill. Thor tosses his hammer as Strange uses magic to multiply it, causing Ultron to get a beating. Strange sends Killmonger and Gamora ahead to where they plan to destroy the stone. Star-Lord grabs him from behind and attempts to shoot Ultron in the face, but is tossed away as Captain Carter goes after him. Strange bubbles Ultron with the hammers as Thor zaps it. Peggy checks on T'Challa, who stole the Soul Stone. Strange releases three dragon heads to breathe fire on Ultron, who attempts to summon his drones. However, he notices the soul stone is gone and destroys the dragons. Peggy tells them they have to leave now.
To buy them time to flee, Strange opens a huge portal above Ultron. And what falls out of it? A huge horde of infected from What If... Zombies!?, who bury Ultron under a mountain of bodies. Since Ultron isn't an organic that can be infected, the zombies are just a nuisance to him. Thor loves the idea, but Strange tells him what came with the zombies was the distraction he had in mind, meaning it's worse than a normal zombie. They quickly leave through the portal with Captain Carter and T'challa as Ultron blasts the mountain of zombies to dust. Noticing a red glow, Ultron turns to see what horror Strange brought to distract him: a zombie Scarlet Witch. She attempts to kill him with an energy blast but Ultron absorbed it. The zombified Wanda can only give an "uh oh" look as Ultron charges up and destroys the planet to kill her.
They arrive in Ultron's universe. Captain Carter tosses Gamora the Soul Stone to be put in the Infinity Crusher. Natasha shows up and grabs the stone, being confusedly hostile; she should be the last living being. Captain Carter explains they come from other universes to stop Ultron, introducing Natasha to the group. However, Ultron arrives to take back the Soul Stone; Natasha blew their window of time. Ultron pulls Natasha towards him, causing her to flip through the air. Thor breaks off one of Ultron's arms, while Strange saves Natasha. Killmonger grabs the stone, but loses it. An angry Ultron releases a blast to destroy everything, but Strange simply compresses and eats it. T'Challa tackles a surprised Ultron into a building and blasts him. Escaping, Ultron is bashed by. Peggy and Natasha's shields. This leads into a nonstop beat down by the Guardians, with Ultron unable to retaliate. Ultron attempts to get the Soul Stone, only for Gamora to slash him down the middle like he did Thanos, angering Ultron further.
Using the Time Stone, Ultron freezes everything in a time bubble and tries to get the Soul Stone. However, Strange has his own time stone, allowing him to move and restrain Ultron. An enraged Ultron grows, but Strange releases his tentacles from HYDRA's champion, squeezing Ultron until he shrinks. Entering his chimera form. Strange unleashes his full dark magic to create mystical bindings to pin Ultron to the ground, which the Guardians help keep in place as the Soul Stone powered Infinity Crusher begins taking out the stones. However, right as it absorbs all the stones' energy, the Infinity Crusher explodes, freeing Ultron from the spell's binding and allowing him to vanish. Everyone remains guarded as Ultron (with all the stones again) explains his surprise. The Watcher should have told them every reality is different, and so are the Infinity Stones. Gamora realizes her crusher was meant for her world's stones, not Ultron's.
Ultron reappears, deeming Strange Supreme the only real threat to him, as his dark magic rivals the stones' power. He releases a blast to kill Strange, who is able to block it with his magic. The rest of the Guardians are protected by the spell cast on them, but Peggy and Natasha are sent flying a good distance away. Natasha sees her bike and the USB arrow containing Zola, quickly making Natasha formulate a plan. Peggy runs up from behind and grabs Ultron, pulling off his helmet. Natasha fires the arrow from Clint's bow, piercing Ultron's right eye. Ultron tosses Captain Carter pulls out the arrow; however, he hears Zola's voice. Turning his consciousness within, Ultron and Zola confront each other. Ultron demands to know his purpose. Zola tells him it was to bring HYDRA back to glory, but since Ultron wiped out all life, his purpose is now to eliminate him. Ultron is then deleted, screaming in horror. Outside of the synthoid's body, Ultron collapses to the ground.
The Guardians breathe a sigh of relief. However, Killmonger uses an Ultron sentry head to absorb the armor and the stones, his thirst for power having reached insanity level. He offers to use the stones to fix the Guardians' realities, even offering Peggy a return to the past to be with Steve, and restore Strange's world. However, the Guardians turn him down, asking he relinquish the stones. Zola awakens in Ultron's body, with his face on its stomach. Peggy is surprised Zola is still around. Zola and Killmonger begin a telekinetic tug-of-war for the stones. Strange realizes that they were never meant to win, trapping both in a mirror dimension bubble, frozen and unable to affect the Multiverse. The Watcher takes Strange back to his bubble reality, where the sorcerer realizes the Watcher foresaw the entire thing. It then dawns on Strange that he must make the sacrifice of keeping an eye on Zola and Killmonger forever; he agrees to do so, now understanding the Watcher's role.
The rest of the heroes are returned to the pub, where the Watcher congratulates them on their victory; without Ultron to direct them, any remaining drones in the Multiverse will cease functioning. The Watcher explains that the Guardians will return to their universes at the exact moments they leave through the doors. Thor, Star-Lord and Gamora leave promptly. Seeing the picture of Steve, Peggy asks if she must go back to 2013, wishing to go back to her past; however, the Watcher assures her that Captain Carter is needed in the present. Natasha refuses to leave, as her universe is empty. She demands to know if the Watcher just sat back and enjoyed seeing Ultron destroy her universe. The Watcher explains that he cannot interfere with other universes; Ultron was a unique case that forced his hand in creating the Guardians of the Multiverse for the greater good.
The Watcher explains to a stubborn Natasha that her willingly leaving was a metaphor, taking them to a helicarrier under attack by Asgardian forces. Captain America and Captain Marvel are the only Avengers there, meaning this is the universe of What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes? The Watcher explains to Natasha that her counterpart is dead, leaving a space for her; a life here is her reward. Plus even if this universe's Clint is gone, Natasha will still have her surrogate family with the Bartons as the children's honorary aunt. Loki has Fury pinned, wishing to use his scepter to learn his secrets; however, he is kicked by Natasha and falls down. Clearly shocked to see her, Loki is knocked out by Natasha with his scepter. Fury knows she's not his Natasha but still welcomes her warmly; Natasha is likewise happy she doesn't have to be alone.
Elsewhere, Quill helps T'Challa fight Ego, Gamora rejoins Tony Stark, and Thor goes on his date with Jane. The Watcher explains that the stories of the Multiverse are his home and the he will protect it.
In Captain Carter's universe, she returns only to get hit by Batroc. Natasha knocks him out with her Widow's bite. Peggy hugs her, making Nastasha wonder if she got hit in the head. Peggy admits she did get hit a few times. Natasha tells her to focus as what's in the cargo hold will require her to be ready. Having just saved the Multiverse, Peggy is sure nothing could throw her for a loop. Natasha shows her that the cargo is the HYDRA Stomper and someone is inside of it, implying Steve Rogers may have survived. Peggy smiles in hope.
Closing narration
That's it, isn't it? All creatures searching for a place to belong. To call home. As for me, I am the Watcher. The Multiverse, every single world, every single story is my home, and I will protect it to the end.The Watcher
Cast
Starring
- Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher
- Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
- Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter/Captain Carter
- Lake Bell as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
- Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow
- Georges St-Pierre as Batroc
- Chadwick Boseman as Star-Lord T'Challa
- Brian T. Delaney as Peter Quill
- Mick Wingert as Tony Stark/Iron Man
- Cynthia McWilliams as Gamora
- Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger
- Ozioma Akagha as Shuri
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange/Strange Supreme
- Ross Marquand as Ultron
- Toby Jones as Arnim Zola
- Tom Hiddleston as Loki
- Kurt Russell as Ego
Trivia
- This episode is the first to have a mid-credits scene.
- This is the first episode that does not feature an opening narration from the Watcher.
- This is the final episode to feature Chadwick Boseman voicing T'Challa, as he recorded four episodes before his death in August 2020.
- When talking about dates with Peggy, Natasha suggests someone called Bernard from Accounting, whom Peggy rejects. This may be a homage to the Agent Carter series, where Howard owned a flamingo also called Bernard.
- Gamora's episode was cut from the first season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where Tony Stark wound up on Sakaar instead of Hulk. This episode has since been moved to Season Two.[1]
- The Watcher calls Peggy, Gamora, Thor, Killmonger, T'Challa, and Doctor Strange the Guardians of the Multiverse, a reference to the Guardians of the Galaxy.
- The 360-degree view of all the characters parallels the original 6 Avengers when they assemble for the first time in New York.
- Zola's face appears on Ultron's stomach when he takes control of the body. This is a homage to his robotic body in the comics.
- Natasha sarcastically asks if the Watcher ate popcorn while seeing Ultron destroy her world. This is a reference to the season one finale of The Superhero Squad Show, where he does just that while Galactus is attempting to eat Earth.
- When Ego is using energy on Peter, he says "Relax son, it will be over in a thousand years or so", referencing when he uses the same energy on Quill in Vol. 2 and says, "I wanted to do this together. Now I guess you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as a battery!"
- The protection spell shows one of the protectors as a star, which Peggy uses, most likely a link to Steve Rogers and his armor in the main timeline having a star on the front or on the side.
- When the protection spell goes around each character, Thor and T'Challa both receive crowns, a nod to the fact they are a king and a prince.
- The scene with Captain Carter and Black Widow takes place in 2014, during the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Natasha tries to set Peggy up on a date, like she did with Steve Rogers in the film.
- This is the first episode of the series to have the Watcher's name in the title, the second is the season 3 episode "What If...The Watcher Disappeared?".
Gallery
Screenshots
References
- ↑ "What If…? Season Finale: Lost Gamora Episode Explained". Den of Geek (October 6, 2021).
External links
