What If…?: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 7

Who are all those folks at Thor’s Party?

When you’re throwing the biggest house party in all the Nine Realms, you’ll definitely have a very eclectic group of aliens, demigods, magical creatures, and what not who are bound to have gotten an invite. Or gate crash as the case may be.  Although in the case of this episode of What If…?, the number of party goers are limited to those who’ve already made appearances in both the Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Not all of them had speaking parts, mind you, but each of them were on screen for more than a few seconds. Those in attendance included:

• Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three of Volstagg, Fandral (voiced by Max Mittleman), and Hogun (voiced by David Chen), as they always accompany Thor on his misadventures.
• Taika Waititi, the director of Thor: Ragnarok (2017)and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder. Or at least someone who shares his love of pineapple printed Hawaiian shirts, like the one he wore in his Comic-Con appearances.
• Kraglin Obfonteri, one of the Ravagers from Guardians of the Galaxy, back when he still sported a mohawk. He’s seen drinking one of the never-ending mugs of mead. Another Ravager, a redheaded woman, is also seen in several shots throughout the episode.
• Skruge the Executioner, Hela’s right-hand during Thor: Ragnarok and traditionally one of Thor’s major villains in the comics. He’s on the receiving end of Thor’s sideways “thunder hug” once he arrives via Bifrost.
• The Skrulls from Captain Marvel (2018), who show off their shape-changing abilities by morphing their faces to look like Thor’s.
• Howard the Duck (Seth Green), who ends up marrying Darcy in this episode despite her being a brunette. It’s also not the first time Howard has had a whirlwind romance with a human, either. In both the comics and the very awful Howard the Duck (1986) movie, his girlfriend is one Beverly Switzler, who’s not a brunette.
• The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) and his bodyguard, Topaz, from Thor: Ragnarok, who are sampling some cake, and later sampling records on a DJ turntable. There’s also a woman with decorative face paint from Skaar mingling amongst the crowd, and several ships from the Grandmaster’s garage are seen in the sky. There’s also one of the gladiators from Skaar named “Doug” as one the folks chanting “party pooper” at Captain Marvel, along with another guy dressed as a Celestial.
• Nebula (Karen Gillan), who seems to be spending some time away from her dad, Thanos, to shoot some dice at the craps tables.
• Korg (Taika Waititi), who blows on Nebula’s dice for luck, and gets into all sorts of antics. Like accidentally knocking out Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) when he performs a cannonball into a decorative pool. Or sucking on a pacifier when dancing the robot.
• Valkyrie, first seen drinking mead while watching Volstagg fly around on a jetpack. With her is Drax pre-Guardians of the Galaxy, who gets drunker as the episode goes on.
• Kurt Russell as an Elvis Presley impersonator who marries Darcy and Howard the Duck. This is a bit of an inside joke as Russell played the King of Rock and Roll in the made-for-television movie Elvis (1979), a performance in which he was nominated for an Emmy.
• Rocket Raccoon, who’s sleeping off a drunken stupor in the hotel’s bathroom sink, which is also a nod to his voice-actor, Bradley Cooper, starring in The Hangover. Moreover, you can also hear Thor calling Rocket a rabbit like he did during Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
• Yondu, who’s first seen chatting it up with Thor in the flashback showing how Maria Hill became acting director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and makes various appearances throughout the episode.
• Ayesha, the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017), is seen taking a selfie with Thor along with one of her followers.
• Loki Laufeyson who, in this reality, is a full-blown Frost Giant and the Crown Prince of Jotenheim, hence why he’s also joined by four other Frost Giants.
• Various people dressed in what look like robes worn by acolytes from Kamar Taj, the place where Doctor Strange trained in the mystic arts.
• Tasba, one of Korg’s buddies who was part of the “Skarrian Rebellion” in Thor: Ragnarok, who’s first seen heckling Captain Marvel.
• Surtur (Clancy Brown) from Thor: Ragnarok, who’s first seen hitting on the Statue of Liberty for some reason.
• Mantis before she joined the Guardians of the Galaxy, and apparently spending time away from being on the planet Ego. She’s first seen on the Harbour Bridge when Thor’s party moves to Sydney, Australia.
• One of the Contraxian Love Bots from Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, is also on the Harbour Bridge. In addition, Korg’s best friend, Miek, along with Biff and another rebellious gladiator from Skaar Korg refers to as “Roscoe” are also seen partying with the others on the same bridge.
• There’s even someone who looks like Peter Quill/Star-Lord doing the same dance-off moves he did during the climax of the first Guardians of the Galaxy.

Quite the impressive turnout, I must say.