Marvel’s What If…? Season 3, Episode 5, brings us to a world where the story never seems to end well for our heroes. A world that’s on the brink of destruction. The Watcher has seen this story play out again and again, but what will be different this time around?
This episode is bleak compared to the previous four episodes that we’ve gotten, but it shows us what would’ve happened if the Emergence had destroyed the Earth before the Eternals could’ve intervened, and while this is an episode that shines upon Riri Williams, its cast of characters feels odd for the story being told.
WHAT IF… THE ETERNALS ACTUALLY HAD AN EPISODE?
It’s odd that while we’ve been introduced to so many characters through Phases 4 and 5, we still haven’t really touched any of them through these What If…? scenarios. It’s also quite odd that an episode titled “What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood?” is the episode where we get the Eternals mentioned, see their power in use, have Kingo make an appearance while also having a prominent role, and then also have Arishem appear with a huge battle taking place. But in the episode with the Emergence mentioned in the title, the only mention of the Eternals is from The Watcher during his introduction.
This is an episode that has a lot of love from me for many reasons, but this decision to essentially trick the audience into what they’re watching doesn’t seem like the smartest technique for their show and also feels reminiscent of how Sony would advertise their movies. There are going to be so many Eternals fans that will go to watch this episode instead of the Agatha one due to the names alone.
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WHAT IF… IRONHEART NEVER GOT DELAYED?
This episode focuses on Riri Williams as she tries to find a way to survive in a world that has been taken over by Quentin Beck/Mysterio and his Iron Foundation. It’s always a pleasure to see Riri back on our screens, and we were always expecting to see her again, but we never imagined that it would be in What If…? It’s very clear from this episode and tomorrow’s episode that this season was always planned to have been released after Ironheart had come out, but unfortunately, due to some delays, we have it the other way around.
The only downfall of this is that Riri is a character who doesn’t have much development outside of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the decision to have her as the lead for this episode makes it seem like a strange decision, but when you look at it all from an outside perspective and dive into the timeline of these shows releasing, it all makes sense.
Riri Williams is a shining star throughout this episode, and it perfectly depicts why she’s one of the smartest people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was great getting to see her knowledge front and centre, and while she does overpower Vision in this story and uses his body to become a human-synthetic hybrid that proves to hold immense power, her actions show that it’s her brain that is the true weapon.
WELCOME BACK, YING NAN???
It’s always a pleasure to see Mysterio, as the rights to Spider-Man between Sony and Disney are a bit technical, so it’ll always be a delight when a Spider-Man-related character makes an appearance. Arguably, Mysterio’s appearance in this show is better than his appearance in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Beck makes better use of his illusions and, by the end of this episode, is fulfilling the shoes of the mad scientist trope.
Riri and Mysterio are the only two characters that greatly feel welcomed in this episode. The supporting cast feels all over the place and makes it seem like the writers had a bunch of names of characters that have appeared in the MCU in a single hat and began pulling out names to create the so-called Alliance in this episode.
Ying Nan returns from Shang Chi, but unfortunately, Michelle Yeoh doesn’t return to voice her, which makes you question why they went out of their way to include this character in the episode, especially when there are other Shang Chi characters that could’ve been used and who also make an appearance later on this season.
The addition of Sharon Carter also felt random, but it’s hard to complain when I’ve been wanting to see her since she last left us off in the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That mixed with Wong, Valkyrie, and Okoye to form the rest of the alliance with Ying Nan feels like such a miscalculated team-up, but thankfully, it doesn’t get in the way of an episode that might be one of this season’s best.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This episode highlights the best qualities of Riri Williams, and there’s no other way of wording it, but she’s an awesome character who I can’t wait to see more of in Ironheart later in 2025, but for now, this episode will suffice my need for Riri media within the MCU. The episode also greatly teases the finale as we’re introduced to The Eminence, voiced by Jason Isaacs, who finally steps in after The Watcher breaks his vow.
While I don’t agree with the reasoning that caused The Watcher to break his vow, it still made for a sequence that I’ll never forget and will remain in Riri’s highlights of badass moments.
New episodes of What If…? arrive daily on Disney+ up until December 29. Check out the trailer below:
