The following contains spoilers forMarvel’s What If…?Episode 8 “What If… Ultron Won?”
Marvel’sWhat If…?has taken the audience down a lot of dark paths as different worlds have fallen to bad decision making, and it does it again in Episode 8. This time around, the roads diverge early in the careers of the Avengers. They fail to stop Ultron in his ultimate goal of bringing “peace” to Earth.
Some fans might think that means the bulk of the references and Easter eggs would be to Ultron’s entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that’s not entirely true. With Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Uatu the Watcher getting most of the screen time, the references to comics, Black Widow’s solo movie, andAvengers: Endgameare actually more prominent.
RELATED:What If…? Episode 8 Review
Nods To Avengers: Age Of Ultron
The splitting-off point in this universeis clearlyAvengers: Age Of Ultronas Ultron wins his battle against the heroes to use what would have been Vision’s organic body as his own. Before the audience knows that, there is a visual cue to let them know where in the MCU timeline this universe branches. That’s Natasha on her motorcycle.
The image of Natasha riding a motorcycle to evade enemies is in the same style as the clips used in the trailers for the MCU movie.Age Of Ultronis the one chapter of the MCU that sees her use a motorcycle the most, as she uses it during a lot of the major action sequences in the movie, even to retrieve Captain America’s shield during a fight.
Of course, the episode is also more explicit in its nods as Tony Stark reveals, “I see a suit of armor around the world,” which is the line that sparked the creation of Ultron in the first place.
Ultron Cuts Thanos In Half
After Episode 7, fans theorized thatUltron might have collected the Infinity Stones from another universe himself, even that he might have had to sacrifice his creators to get the Soul Stone. That’s not the case here. Instead, Ultron simply cuts Thanos in half when confronted by the Titan - who just needs the Mind Stone to complete his gauntlet.
It’s a clever nod to Thanos’ goal: to cut the universe down in size by half to restore balance.
Natasha Finds A Shield
Black Widow and Hawkeye appear to not just be the last heroes on Earth, but the last in the known universe. Ultron pays a visit to every known planet in the MCU and decimates them, seemingly destroying Captain Marvel at Xandar as well. When Natasha is desperate for a way to stop Ultron, they visit Russia, or what’s left of it, and go through old files.
One of the file boxes Natasha opens has a shield with a red star on it.That shield belongs to the Red Guardian, her former teammate and surrogate father while in the Widow program.
Clinton Francis Barton
Arnim Zola’s program is much like the one the audience saw inCaptain America: The Winter Soldier, which Natasha references for Clint’s benefit when they visit the same Winter Soldier holding facility seen inCaptain America: Civil War.The interactions between the two and Zola, however, is more like that between the two and Red Skull inAvengers: Endgame.
Zola doesn’t detail information about their families, but instead recites their full names. Clint Barton’s real name hasn’t been used in the MCU before now: Clinton Francis Barton. It’s the same name from the comics, initially revealed in theHawkeye: Freefallseries.
The audience also gets to see a lot more versatility out of Hawkeye in this episodeas he employs a number of trick arrows not yet seen in the MCU. They all have comic book precedent with arrows that store computer code, cause explosions, and create force fields. It’s likely the audience will see even more in the upcomingHawkeyeseries.
Hawkeye Sacrifices Himself
The naming of the two last Avengers reminding the audience of theirEndgametrip to Vormir is likely no accident. Their final interactions with one another in the episode are also a nod to their final interactions inEndgame.
As they attempt to escape with the A.I. of Zola in one of Ultron’s sentries, they’re overwhelmed. Natasha and Clint trade off on climbing the escape route and covering one another before Clint slips and Natasha tries to hold him up. It’s the reverse of their final positions on Vormir, and certainly not as long as an argument, asit’s Hawkeye who sacrifices himself so Black Widowcan go on instead of the reverse. It’s a more heartbreaking Easter egg than usual.
President Steven Grant Rogers
As the Watcher and Ultron battle, they flash through several different worlds. Some look familiar, like the architecture of Wakanda and the Dora Milaje standing by, or the Skrulls looking on in surprise, or like Times Square featuring flashing billboards as Ultron speaks to Uatu.
What flashes on one of the boards is a news broadcast of Steven Grant Rogers being sworn in as President of the United States. Some might argue that Captain America would never want that job, but it’s a nod to a comic book storyline. In Marvel’sUltimateuniverse, Captain America does become President.
Doctor Strange Supreme
The final moments of the episodetake fans back to Episode 4 of the series. Uatu only manages to escape Ultron by hiding out in the prison created to house the version of Doctor Strange that destroyed his own universe. He still has pieces of all of the magical entities absorbed on him, and Uatu asking for his help is clearly leading to a multiversal team-up the audience has been waiting for.
New episodes ofMarvel’s What If…?are available on Disney Plus on Wednesdays.
