What If…? episode 8 takes us to a world where Ultron is a god. From that episode comes these five burning questions.
The eighth episode of Marvel Studios’ What If…? was fantastic. It starts off with Uatu The Watcher telling the story of how Ultron defeated the Avengers and destroyed the world. Then, Thanos shows up and is easily defeated. After that, Ultron takes the Infinity Stones from Thanos’ dead body and sees a universe before him. He then takes his show on the road. Asgard, Sakaar, Xandar, and every other planet was destroyed. Ultron finally knew peace. That was until he heard Uatu.
This shouldn’t have been possible. Uatu wasn’t in that reality. Nonetheless, Ultron knew he was there. How did that work? Is it the combination of the Infinity Stones and Ultron’s artificial intelligence? That’s only one of the many questions that came from this episode of the Disney Plus series. Here are the five most important.
5. How are the stones working?
The Infinity Stones don’t work outside of their reality. That’s a rule we were informed of in episode 1 of Loki and Contest of Champions No. 9. For some reason, that rule didn’t apply to Ultron. He used them in multiple realities as he was beating on Uatu.
What was so different about these stones? Or was it the method in which he transported them. This is something that could affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It could be how Doctor Strange in the MCU gets the Eye of Agamotto back. Or, maybe Kang uses them in the future? Being part of the TVA means he can go to different universes, right?
4. Does this affect the TVA
In the beginning of this episode of What If…? we saw a quick look at what appeared to be a TVA computer. It was showing the timeline branching out and becoming something new. Even if that wasn’t an image of a Time Variance Authority computer, we have to wonder: How does Ultron’s reign of destruction affect them?
The TVA’s entire job is to monitor and fix broken timelines. Even they couldn’t prevent this. There was nothing they could do to stop Ultron. Let’s be honest, that was way above their pay grade. All they could do was watch as Ultron created a new timeline and broke into the other ones during his fight with Uatu – something that probably created even more unwanted timelines. Maybe this was the chaotic moments that Mobius and Hunter B-15 saw in the season finale of Loki.
The events of this episode should come up in season 2 of Loki. There was too much multiverse destruction.
3. What If…? Zola betrays them?
Hawkeye and Black Widow found the last Arnim Zola in the world. The idea was for him to infect Ultron. This writer’s immediate thoughts were that he’d betray the heroes the first chance he got.
Zola is an evil Hydra member. What else would he do? As the phrase goes, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Zola was probably planning to inhabit Ultron’s body. After getting a taste of what the Infinity Stones do, he would’ve had plans of his own. No way he would have just backed down, right? We’ll see…
2. What If…? Natasha and Clint won?
Let’s say that Black Widow’s plan worked and she and Clint managed to destroy Ultron. Then what? What was the plan after that? Repopulate the world? They may have been the only two beings left in the universe. They couldn’t become Adam and Eve and repopulate the whole Earth, could they?
The idea of defeating an evil like Ultron is altruistic, but likely pointless. They weren’t aware that Ultron took his sentries and successfully destroyed multiple planets. Nor were they aware of his fight with Uatu.
1. Where did Uatu go?
Uatu and Ultron’s fight was the best on-screen battle of the year. Not just in What If…? but in any comic book movie or program today. It was so intense that every time Ultron punched Uatu, the impact ended up taking them both into other realities. Those realities may have been destroyed with each blow. In the end, Uatu left to avoid being killed. Or did he have an ulterior motive?
We know that he met with Doctor Strange Supreme, but where did the two meet and what is next for this unlikely partnership? There is a running theory that a certain amount of What If…? characters like Captain Carter, Demon Doctor Strange, and Party Thor will find themselves in the same place very soon. It’s likely that Uatu is putting his own team together to fight Ultron. There was even a What If…? Hyundai commercial with them (and T’Challa Star Lord) fighting multiple Ultron sentries. We can assume that’s where Uatu’s mission will eventually take us, leading to an all-out war between the heroes and Ultron with the fate of the multiverse at stake.
What If…? releases new episodes on Disney+ each Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. PT and 3:01 a.m. ET.
What do you think? Where will episode 9 of Marvel’s What If…? take us? Let us know in the comments below.