Marvel’s What If…? Season 3, Episode 6, brings us to the beginning of the end. The Watcher has intervened one too many times and has caught the eyes of the Eminence voiced by the great Jason Issacs. With The Watcher no longer at his post, what does that mean for the rest of the Multiverse?
This episode is the penultimate episode to the conclusion of What If…? which has taken us on this long journey throughout the multiverse. It’s slightly a slow episode as it’s mainly setup for the finale, and it makes it harder to actually have any interest when only two of the characters are genuinely interesting to follow while the other two are the greatest industry plants of the Marvel universe.
THE EXILES
This episode brings us the introduction of the coolest character to touch this series yet, and that’s Storm, voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith, who returns from X-Men ‘97 to voice the character. This isn’t just any generic version of Storm, as it wouldn’t be a What If…? show if we weren’t putting a little spin on these characters. This Storm is the Goddess of Thunder, deriving from Asgard, and there are some great singular moments where we get to see Storm call out to the All Mothers and the gods across the multiverse.
Making a return from Episode 5 is Byrdie, Howard the Duck, and Darcy’s child, and in case you couldn’t tell, they also make an appearance in this episode as they call their daughter to see how she’s doing, but they are noticeably much older than when we left them. Personally, this is a character that I can tolerate because Natasha Lyonne brings a lot of personality and energy to the character through her vocal performance.
Joining these two are Kahhori, who makes her return from the previous season, and Captain Carter, who has been at the centre of this multiversal story since the first season. Captain Carter is a character that hasn’t smoothed over with the fans, and personally, her rampant inclusion into the Marvel universe has always felt weird as she never had the fanbase to warrant all these comics being created surrounding her, but on the other hand, here’s what I think when it comes to her role in What If…?
WHAT IF… CAPTAIN CARTER WAS NOT TOO BAD
What If…? opened up with an episode introducing Captain Carter, an episode that was an interesting way of flipping the story of Steve Rogers becoming America’s hero. What people never expected was for a show about endless possibilities to focus on this character and create an overarching storyline surrounding her and The Watcher. I myself wasn’t too fond of the character, but this finale helps open the viewers eyes slightly to this character; that’s the definition of a hero.
To some, it might feel like she has what can only be described as plot armour, but it works in a moment where we witness the greatest sacrifice that even tops what Tony Stark achieved in Avengers: Endgame. This will for sure annoy people, but it can’t be ignored that it was Captain Carter’s destiny from the start to save the multiverse, and it’s beautifully handled in a story that manages to wrap all this chaos up in a neatly tied bow.
WHAT IF…? GIVES AVENGERS ENDGAME A RUN FOR ITS MONEY
With The Exiles on the search for Uatu, it leads them to asking a variant of Infinity Ultron for help, which showcases how powerful The Eminence are once they take him out with ease. It’s a fight that will possibly end with the destruction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, but as this is only a television show, we know that won’t be the case. It’s still quite cool to think that it’s even a possibility that a show almost has that power.
The fight between The Exiles, Uatu, and The Eminence is unlike anything I’ve witnessed within the MCU. It takes its action to all new heights with The Exiles being gifted the powers of The Watchers so they’re able to uphold their own. This is an almost 10-minute straight battle that is planet-shattering, and while many will attempt to deny it as there is a bias against this show, it has easily earned a place in the MCU’s Top 5 fight sequences, and I’m placing it that high solely because not only did it have stakes, it felt like I was a kid once again, imagining one of the coolest fights ever, and for that alone, it deserves a spot.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This episode provides a satisfying enough conclusion to the overall story with the story it was telling. It gave us a meaningful sacrifice that didn’t feel like it was underplayed, but unfortunately, this episode makes us another question, and that’s, What If… the show continued beyond this point? While this is the end… for now, it’s likely possible that the show will make a return once the Multiversal Saga comes to an end, and hopefully we can see all of these characters make an appearance in Doomsday or Secret Wars.
All of What If…? is now streaming on Disney+. Check out the trailer below:
The Review
'What If...' Season 3 Finale Review
This episode provides a satisfying enough conclusion to the overall story with the story it was telling. It gave us a meaningful sacrifice that didn't feel like it was underplayed, but unfortunately, this episode makes us another question, and that's, What If... the show continued beyond this point? While this is the end... for now, it's likely possible that the show will make a return once the Multiversal Saga comes to an end, and hopefully we can see all of these characters make an appearance in Doomsday or Secret Wars.
