What If…?has concluded its three-season run just in time to bring 2024 to a close. Debuting in 2021 on Disney+,What If…?was the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s deep dive into the vast realities that The Multiverse Saga opened up. Narrated by The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), audiences have seen many of their favorite heroes and villains reimagined. For 26 episodes, fans got a glimpse into realities different from the MCU sacred timeline, including stories that drew from iconic storylines likeMarvel Zombiesand1602.
What If…?
With countless possibilities in a vast multiverse, there were also many opportunities for Easter eggs and references to Marvel Comics' history.What If…?Season 3 was no different, with the series trying to feature plenty of references and callbacks to past episodes and the wider Marvel pantheon. From a Frog Thor to a possible hint at The Fantastic Four, here are the biggest Easter egg and references inWhat If…?Season 3.
15Gamma Monsters Call Back to Marvel’s Early Day
The debut episode ofWhat If…?Season 3, “What If… the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?” on the surface, feels like not just a send-up of giant-mech and kaiju animes but also a Marvel remake ofPacific Rim.The idea of Marvel Comics and giant monsters goes back to Marvel Comics' early days before they were even called Marvel. Between the late 1940s and the beginning of the 1960s, superhero comics had fallen out of favor among comic book readers. Marvel, then called Atlas Comics, was publishing many different types of comics, with a popular subgenre being giant monster comics.
These giant monster comics published in comics likeTales to AstonishandStrange Talesled to the creation of iconic characters like Groot and Fin Fang Foom.When Marvel dipped its toes back into superhero comics with the publication of The Fantastic Fourin November 1961, they bridged the gap by having a giant monster on the cover of the comic. That first Fantastic Four issue didn’t have the characters in superhero costumes, but it did feature giant kaiju-like monsters. Marvel would call back to their history of giant monsters in the 2017 event seriesMonsters Unleashedand now has done so in thisWhat If…?episode with a Hulk-centric spin.
14Meta Jokes About Marvel
The second episode, “What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood?” sees Agatha Harkness attempt to enact a magical ritual to siphon the power of Celestial Tiamut from the Earth’s core using Howard Stark’s production of Cosmic Queen to lure Eternal Kingo to Hollywood and use his power. The episode is a sendup of the Golden Age of Hollywood, meaning in this reality, Howard Stark got into the film business about twenty years before his sacred timeline counterpart did inAgent Carter.
The episode’s Hollywood-centric story allows Marvel to get a few meta jokes at their own expense, similar to what they did inShe-Hulk: Attorney at LawandDeadpool & Wolverine. When Howard Stark calls over his assistant, Edward Jarvis, and informs him that they are doing another round of rewrites and reshoots, it is a reference to the typicalMarvel reshoot process that has become a bigger story in the lead-up toCaptain America: Brave New World.
Jarvis also seemingly outlines a list of criticisms of Marvel Act 3 set pieces, saying,“Another mind-numbing action spectacle? Big fights? Bigger explosions? I think we’ve seen it.“It is nice to see the MCU can laugh at itself.
13Did Obadiah Stane Also Work with HYDRA in the Sacred Timeline?
In the third episode, “What If… the Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier?”, audiences get a possible glimpse of the chemistry fans can expect from Alexei Shostakov/The Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). The episode sees Red Guardian stop the Winter Soldier’s assassination of Howard and Maria Stark from the beginning ofCaptain America: Civil War. The two are then sent on a road trip to track down a Russian informant, “Rook.” The duo arrives in Las Vegas and discovers it is none other than Obadiah Stane,the first MCU villain fromIron Man.
The codename Rook was an early hint that the informant was Obadiah Stane, as the character in the comics had a proclivity for chess and even had agents named Chessmen. A minor hint of Obadiah Stane’s chess obsession was seen in Iron Man with a chess board in his room.
What If…?seemingly implies that while the moment that diverged the timeline from the Sacred Timeline was Red Guardian interfering with the assassination, the beginning circumstances are the same.That means that in the Sacred Timeline, Obadiah Stane was responsible for the death of Howard and Maria Stark inCaptain America: Civil Waryears before he attempted to kill Tony Stark inIron Man.
12Howard the Duck and Darcie’s Daughter Is a Multi-Layered Reference
“What If… Howard the Duck Got Hitched?“was the fourth episode of the series, and one time to air on Christmas Day. That Christmas release date seemed appropriate as the episode centered on the reveal that Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and Howard the Duck (Seth Green) from the Season 1 episode “What If…Thor was an Only Child” got married and have a kid (in the form of an egg) that is destined for cosmic greatness that puts the egg on the radar of many threats including Kaecilius fromDoctor Strange, Malekith fromThor: The Dark World, Zeus fromThor: Love and Thunder, S.H.I.E.L.D. and even Thanos after it.
Despite all the cameos from past Marvel faces, the biggest Easter Egg is the significance behind Howard the Duck himself. The idea of Howard the Duck being romantically involved with a human woman has been ahorrific thought for anyone who saw the 1986Howard the Duckfilm. In that film, Howard’s female companion Beverly says that Howard the Duck might have been brought to Earth for some greater purpose, a cosmic cause.Now, in another branch of the multiverse, Howard the Duck’s kid is destined for greatness.The eventual reveal of Howard and Darcy’s kid, Byrdie, sets the stage for the final two episodes ofWhat If…?
11The Hood Multiverse Variant Debuted Before the Sacred Timeline Version
In “What If… 1872?”, audiences get a glimpse into a timeline out of sync where the MCU heroes are reimagined in the Old West. The episode centers on Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), going by the name “The Ten Rings,” and his partner, Kate Bishop/Hawkeye (Hailee Steinfeld). The two are hunting for a mysterious villain known as The Hood, whose identity is kept a secret until the end of the episode.The reveal of who The Hood is a dramatic moment, but it is odd because audiences are meeting a variant of The Hood before their proper MCU debut.
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The Hood, real name Parker Robbins, debuted in Marvel ComicsThe Hood#1 in July 2002 and was created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artists Kyle Hotz and Eric Powell. The Hood was supposed to make his MCU debut inIronheart, where Anthony Ramos will play him, as the series was initially set to debut in 2024.Yet delays toIronheart, which will now be released in the summer of 2025, now mean that audiences tuning into this episode won’t register The Hood as a particularly noticeable name, but might be a little shocked when he debuts inIronheartand is a drastically different character.
10Shang-Chi 2 Teased
The reveal of who The Hood is in “What If…1872?” might be one that hints at big implications for what is in store for the Sacred Timeline. After believing that The Hood kidnapped his sister Xu Xialing, Shang-Chi is shocked to discover that his sister has been operating as the villain for some time. Xu Xialing fought and killed the original wielder of The Hood and took up the mantle after being possessed by its power. Audiences seeing Shang-Chi and his sister Xu Xialing fight is reminiscent of their fight inShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsbut also might hint at what is in store forShang-Chi 2.
Despite being one of the most popular post-Endgamereleases in the MCU, no official confirmation has been given onShang-Chi 2in three years. The film ended with the reveal that while Shang-Chi would carry on the legacy of his father with the actual weapons, the Ten Rings, Xu Xialing inherited another Ten Rings, the criminal organization.The implication was thatShang-Chi 2would pit brother and sister against one another, with his sister taking on a more villainous role.What If…?might have offered a hint at the conflict that will come in the Sacred Timeline’s future.
9Iron Fist
“What If…1872” features Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop, joined by a young boy named Kwai Jun-Fan. While that name might seem familiar to many, for those with their ears perk up,Kwai Jun-Fan is one of the many people to wield the mantle of the Iron Fistin Marvel Comics. In the 616 Marvel Comics timeline, Kwai Jun-Fan was the Iron Fist during the Old West. The end of the episode alludes to Kwai Jun-Fan’s eventual fate when Kate Bishop comments on his “Iron Fist.”
This Iron Fist is the first official reference of Iron Fist in a Marvel Studios project. Iron Fist did star in his own series that aired on Netflix for two seasons, with Finn Jones playing the more iconic Danny Rand version of the character.Iron Fistgot terrible reviews from critics and audiences alike, with particular criticism being leveled at star Finn Jones’s acting and the series’ decision to fall into the problematic storytelling conventions of the white savior story.
Despite Iron Fist’s connections toDaredevil, which is being made MCU canon with the upcomingDaredevil: Born Again, there are no plans for Danny Rand’s Iron Fist to make his way into the MCU anytime soon. Yet the inclusion of Kwai Jun-Fan shows thatMarvel Studios is interested in Iron Fist as a concept.
8Past Episode Connections
The last two episodes ofWhat If…?form a two-part season finale that ties various episodes from the series together. The episode begins on Xandar, where Nebula is operating as Nova Prime, last seen in the Season 2 debut,“What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?“Then arrives Captain Peggy Carter, the star of the very first episode ofWhat If…?and has since been seen in multiple episodes, including “What If…The Watcher Broker His Oath”,“What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?”,“What If… The Avengers Assembled in 1602?“and"What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?”
Other major episode callbacks include:
7The Exiles Make Their MCU Debut
“What If…The Watcher Disappeared?” begins with a bang as a group of multiversal heroes arrive on Xandar to assist Nova Prime from a tentacle monster attacking the planet. The team consists of Captain Carter, Kohhori, Brydie, and a Mljonir-wielding Storm from the X-Men, voiced byX-Men ‘97’s Alison Sealy-Smith. This team of multiversal heroes is not the Guardians of the Multiverse shown inWhat If…?Season 1, although members like Star-Lord T’Challa and Party Thor are shown in a group photo with the new team.The team Captain Carter is leading is The Exiles.
The Exiles were created in 2001 by Judd Winnick and Mike McKone and were a team of heroes from different universes, or realities, which have been removed from time and space to correct problems in various alternate worlds and divergent timelines in the multiverse. What If…? adapts this concept, although the significant difference is that The Exiles had six heroes on their team in the comics, while there are only four here.
We at MovieWeb theorized thatDeadpool & Wolverinemight have introduced a version of the Exileswith Elektra, Gambit, and Blade. While we were wrong about the specifics of the team, it was clear that they were destined to join the MCU, particularly since Captain Carter became a member of the team in the comics starting in 2018.
6Peggy Carter Rides Kang’s Time Ship and Uses TVA Weapons
When Captain Carter arrives on Xandar, she comes in a particularly notable machine that MCU fans will recognize:the time travel chair used by Kang the Conqueror inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It becomes clear that the time chair is a drone that Peggy Carter and The Exiles use to travel and hop between alternate realities in the Multiverse.
How they acquired this machine is never explained. The best explanation is that they might have acquired it from the Time Variance Authority (TVA), as it was later established that they stole time pruners from TVA before the organization phased them out following the organizational changes in leadership inLokiSeason 2.
While it is never explained how or why Peggy Carter was the same chair as Kang the Conqueror, it likely was part of Marvel Studios’ original plans to have Kang be the big villain of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. With Kang the Conqueror now being scrapped in favor of Doctor Doom, this time vessel is a fun Easter Egg for fans since now aKang the Conqueror-centric episode ofWhat If…?is off the board. It is a nice reference to a piece of the MCU that is seemingly over.
