History Recap / WhatIfS1E3WhatIfTheWorldLostItsMightiestHeroes

** Loki wants to destroy Earth in response to Thor’s death unless Fury can find and hand over his killer in one day, though he ultimately reneges on his end of the deal and conquers Earth anyway.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Hope's death turns out to be the impetus for Hank's turn to evil.

** Jossed with Yellowjacket. Darren Cross, the Sacred Timeline Yellowjacket, was killed by Scott Lang going subatomic to sabotage his suit. Here, Fury removes the shrinking controls from Hank's Yellowjacket suit after Loki defeats him. Hank is then left to the mercy of the Asgardians.

* PresentDayPast: Fury and Natasha are shown using modern-day touch screen cell phones in this episode, despite the events of ''Film/{{Thor}}'', ''Film/IronMan2'', and ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' occurring around 2010 when they weren't a staple yet.

** While Natasha is going through Fury's files on the Avenger Initiative, profiles of [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp Janet van Dyne]] and [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier Alexander Pierce]] are seen.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Three big ones.
** Yellowjacket's murder of the Avengers relies mostly on surprise attacks, facilitated by his absence from the superhero scene for decades; he kills Iron Man by hiding in a syringe when Stark has his helmet down, Thor is killed while depowered and distracted by reclaiming Mjolnir, and he kills Hulk by getting inside of him while he was still Bruce Banner and vulnerable to gunfire. The only two he confronts directly are [[BadassNormal Black Widow]] and Nick Fury, both of whom are no match for him by themselves. Loki, a PhysicalGod (really a Frost Giant, but close enough) with knowledge of Pym and his capabilities in advance and illusory powers that Pym has no counter for, doesn't have any of these disadvantages and [[CurbStompBattle easily defeats Pym]] while disguised as Fury before casually [[TakeOverTheWorld conquering Earth the next day]].
** Exiled as he was, Thor is ''still'' Asgardian royalty, and his death would have serious political consequences. When Hank masterminds Thor's death, Loki is suddenly more than justified coming to Earth and threatening war if the assassin was not turned over to him.
** The episode doesn't sugarcoat that the Avengers were the only chance that Earth had to face a god-level threat like Loki. With most of them dead, [[TheBadGuyWins Loki almost immediately wins the second he gets to Earth]], [[ILied straight-up lying to Fury]] that he'd simply settle for Thor's killer and leave once he’s brought to him.

* WhamLine: "Fury it's [[Film/AntMan Hope!]] It's all about [[Film/AntManandtheWasp Hope!]]"

!!"What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" contains examples of:

!!Provides examples of:

* RewatchBonus: While it could be chalked up to Fury's own brand of mind games, his {{Troll}}ish demeanor during the fight with Hank Pym makes a lot more sense knowing he's actually Loki. Particularly this line:
-->'''"Fury":''' I don't give a damn about any of them!

** An odd example with Yellowjacket. Darren Cross, the Sacred Timeline Yellowjacket, was killed as a result of Scott Lang going subatomic to sabotage his suit. Here, Fury removes the shrinking controls from Hank's Yellowjacket suit after Loki defeats him. Hank is then left to the mercy of the Asgardians.

* AbortedArc: The plots of ''Film/IronMan2'', ''Film/{{Thor}}'', and ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' all get derailed when their protagonists are murdered around the second act of each.

!! "What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" contains examples of:

** Tony dies after Natasha jabs him in the neck with a syringe. The contents were supposed to knock him out, but Hank used the syringe to enter Tony's body and finish him off. Nick Fury believes in her innocence, but is only having her arrested because it is S.H.I.E.L.D. procedure.

** The part where things really start changing in the episode is when Natasha injects Stark with the hangover cure. Because Hank is inside the syringe, he immediately kills Tony and escapes without anyone noticing, causing the timeline to drastically shift away from the events of ''Film/IronMan2''.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Not within this episode, but in another timeline [[Recap/WhatIfS1E5WhatIfZombies as shown in Episode 5]], [[spoiler:this not the last time Hank Pym will be directly involved in something that will irreparably compromise the Avengers]].

** Also, Stark died the morning ''after'' Rhodey took the Mark II in the Sacred Timeline, so Fury has access to a member of the second string Avengers (a.k.a. War Machine).

* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: Not quite a flashback, but the principle is the same, as we see the events of the attack on Culver University, which took place during ''The Incredible Hulk'', with Creator/MarkRuffalo as both Banner and the Hulk rather than Creator/EdwardNorton and Creator/LouFerrigno, respectively.