"What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?"
Alternate take on: None (original story)
Strange Supreme approaches Captain Carter for help containing a threat to the Multiverse, but Peggy soon discovers that all is not as it seems.
"What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?" contains examples of:
- Aesop Amnesia: Strange Supreme's season 1 arc involved him realizing that his obsession with rescuing Christine from her certain death led to the destruction of his universe. But yet, he once again is more than willing to sacrifice others to revive Christine. Then again, it's implied it's due to Demonic Possession and having gone mad in his isolation.
- All Your Powers Combined: Peggy and Kahhori end up facing down Strange Supreme armed with the weapons of his sacrifices, including Hela’s crown and Gungnir (for Peggy's use) plus Mjolnir and the Ten Rings (mostly for Kahhori) and many more.
- Allohistorical Allusion: This episode borrows some thematic elements from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which itself borrowed elements from the first season of What If); namely, in that film a former Avenger who had previously gone off the deep end but had since seemingly reformed requests help from their ally, wherein it turns out that they themselves are the Big Bad, having been so overwhelmed with grief that they will stop at nothing to try and bring back their fallen loved one, only to end up ultimately perishing in that quest.
- Alternate-History Nazi Victory: The universe Supreme Strange sends Captain Carter is a universe where the bomb that destroyed Project Rebirth went off before it could create a super-soldier, killing both Steve and Peggy in the blast. With no Captain America (or an equivalent), HYDRA won the war with the Tesseract's power and took over the world. If Uatu is any indication, the whole world suffered for it.
- Ambiguous Situation: How much of Strange Supreme's Face–Heel Turn is from his regret and isolation, and how much is from the demons empowering him? Strange's motives are clearly based on his own past, but the demons, once exorcised, quickly make their malice known and possess Strange again almost immediately. Notably, Strange isn't actively trying to kill Peggy until his demonic form comes out, and he's passive until they repossess him, implying that, at least, his most violent impulses are coming from the demons.
- And the Adventure Continues: The season ends with the Watcher taking Peggy back to her home universe… via the scenic route.
- Assimilation Backfire: All the demonic entities that Strange Supreme consumed in his search for power are implied to be influencing his actions.
- Badass Boast: Peggy gets a good one when Strange dismisses that she's wearing the Infinity Armor:Strange: You might remember I defeated that armor once before.
Peggy: Once before, I wasn't in it. - Back for the Finale: The archive of heroes and villains collected by Strange Supreme includes characters from nearly every episode of the series so far. This even includes Zombie Wanda and Killmonger (though he doesn't have any lines).
- Back from the Dead: Strange falling into his own Forge was enough to restore his home universe Earth-91233 and everyone — including and especially Christine — in it, but at the cost of his own existence being removed from that timeline.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Peggy and Kahhori do this while surrounded by zombies.
- The Bad Guy Wins: In the world where Kahhori hides from Strange, HYDRA successfully destroyed Project Rebirth with a much bigger bomb and killed both Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers. HYDRA therefore wins World War II and takes over the world.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Kahhori shows off her strength by catching Peggy's shield one-handed.
- Call-Back: Strange Supreme pulls off the same trick of putting Peggy face-to-face with the one she loves to win her opinion over, just like he did to Temporal Paradox Doctor Strange. Her response to the illusion is the same as the other Strange's.Peggy: (sighs) I wish that were true... but you're... you're not him.
- The Collector: Supreme Strange has taken to collecting individuals of immense power — universe killers and powerful heroes alike — to recreate his home universe via feeding them to The Forge.
- Composite Character: One of the heroes that Strange Supreme abducted is Howard the Duck with Scarlet Witch's powers.
- Continuity Nod: The last scene of the episode is Peggy and the Watcher observing the Yggdrasil-shaped web of timelines created by Loki.
- Couch Gag: Continuing the trend with the Marvel Intro this season: This time it's the full traditional version except entirely made up of scenes from What If itself, and with Peggy rather than Steve throwing her shield at the camera.
- Cutting the Knot: Rather than go to the trouble of fighting an Infinity Stone-wielding Killmonger, Kahhori just teleports him out of his armor, leaving it empty for Peggy to use.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: One of Strange's prisoners is a Rocket Raccoon variant with more cybernetic enhancements, having an enlarged arm, a glowing red eye and a shoulder mounted cannon. He laughs maniacally as he hops from shoulder to shoulder shooting anyone at random.
- Demonic Possession: It's implied that the various demons that Strange consumed are the root cause of his Face–Heel Turn; after they're exorcised, Strange is visibly broken, but doesn't become antagonistic again until the demons repossess him, and he visibly starts tearing himself away from them as he plummets to his demise.
- Death by Irony: Turns out, after all the kidnapping and attempted murder, a single death was enough to restore Strange Supreme's world — his own.
- Didn't Think This Through: In order to save Kahhori from Strange, Peggy released all the universe killers that Strange has collected across the multiverse. It never occurred to her that the universe killers might also go after the heroes that Strange has collected as well. She even lampshades how it probably wasn’t the best idea to start a Prison Riot of villains.
- Dying as Yourself: Strange Supreme tears himself partially free from his demonic form as he falls into the Forge, allowing him to die as the regretful man he truly is, rather than the monster he turned himself into.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Marvel Studios opening features artwork of a younger variant of Red Guardian, who will debut in the show's third season.
- Face Death with Dignity: After regaining a measure of humanity, Strange Supreme closes his eyes and awaits the inevitable while the demons he's bound to scream in rage and fear.
- Face–Heel Turn: Strange Supreme has started feeding heroes and villains alike to "The Forge", a device that will create enough power to allow him to restore his universe and save Christine.
- The Final Temptation: Strange Supreme's last resort to stop Peggy without killing her is to give her an illusory chance to relive World War II with Steve by her side. Though clearly tempted by the idea, Peggy rejects it as an illusion and decks Strange in the face.
- Foil: Captain Carter and Strange Supreme. Both are former Guardians of the Multiverse who lost their true loves. But while Strange is consumed by his grief and allows it to completely corrupt him, Carter remains true to her values even if it prevents her from ever being with Steve Rogers.
- Foreshadowing: Among Strange Supreme's captives is a young Peter Quill; that Strange is willing to imprison a child alongside monsters like Infinity Ultron is an early hint that he's not one of the good guys any more.
- Genre Savvy: Peggy realizes that Strange needs her help catching a loose prisoner because she's seen enough movies to know that imprisoning enough of anything eventually leads to one or more escaping.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Being completely alone in a dying universe has clearly taken its toll on Strange Supreme's sanity.
- Godzilla Threshold: Unable to challenge Strange Supreme's mystical might herself, Peggy resorts to freeing his captives, most of whom are potential universe killers. While recapturing them does keep Strange busy, it also causes some problems for Peggy and Kahhori, as they have to fight off zombies and supervillains to make their way to the Forge.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: Captain Carter seems to watch movies in her spare time, such as Gremlins, Aliens, and Jurassic Park.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Strange Supreme once again gives Captain Carter a magical suit of armor, which she later allows her to safely use the Infinity Stones against Strange. Although, as she's not from the same universe as this set of stones, they shouldn't affect her anyway.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: While fighting the demonic Strange Supreme, Peggy tries to appeal to the more rational part of him that she hopes is still in there.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Peggy finally gets her whiskey after asking for it in the last episode.
- Instant Expert: Carter immediately knows how to access the powers of the Infinity Stones. Kahhori even notes how quick a learner Carter is.note
- Kneel Before Zod: Hela, to no one's surprise, immediately demands that Peggy and Kahhori kneel before her. Kahhori is about as receptive to this as she was when Queen Isabella demanded the same thing. Hela is unsurprisingly annoyed by this, but the arrival of Surtur lets the heroes beat a hasty retreat.
- Lemony Narrator: Inverted. Uatu maintains his deadpan narration even when Peggy gets snarky with him.Peggy: Are you here to help for a change? Or just to narrate?
Uatu: [sighs] The bomb at Rebirth packed a bigger bang in this universe. Neither you nor Steve Rogers survived...
Peggy: Right. So, you're here to narrate.
Uatu: It's my job. - Lesser of Two Evils: Stephen claimed to be imprisoning universe-level threats like Infinity Ultron. While he was revealed to be lying about his motives, and how closely he stuck to that specific threat level is equally dubious, it remains that he did have people like Hela captured. To stop him sacrificing heroes and villains alike to the Forge, Kahhori sends them all home, possibly leaving universe killers free to roam their own worlds.
- Logo Joke: Previously, every episode of the season has had a shortened version of the typical Marvel title. For this episode, it gets a special What If...? themed version, consisting of clips from previous episodes and a few new ones thrown in.
- Mirror Match: During the "Prison Riot", two different versions of Thor face off against each other.
- Mythology Gag: Among the Variants that Strange Supreme imprisons are Cowboy Loki from The Mighty Thor #370 and "Thulk" (Thor/Hulk combined) from Banner of War Part Three.
- Noodle Incident: At some point since her first meeting with Strange Supreme, Kahhori saw enough of the multiverse to conclude that zombies are a universal occurrence, worked out and managed to evade Strange Supreme's plans, and learned fluent English.
- Not Me This Time: Inverted. When the ravenous zombies surrounding Peggy and Kahhori suddenly become docile, Kahhori insists to a confused Peggy that it was not her doing (it was Hela's). When the duo later run into a Thanos variant possessing a completed Infinity Gauntlet only to see him "snapped" away, Kahhori similarly denies responsibility seconds before an Infinity Armor-wearing variant of Killmonger — the one behind the erasure — approaches them. However, Kahhori does take credit for teleporting Killmonger out of the Armor for Peggy to use.Kahhori: Okay, THAT was me.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Strange Supreme appeals to Peggy to understand his desire to revive Christine by arguing she'd do the same thing for Steve Rogers. Peggy rejects the idea, claiming that she and Steve would both believe the "cost is too high".
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Played with; Strange Supreme initially presents his goals to Peggy as a desire to intervene where the Watcher won't, preventing threats to the Multiverse from causing trouble, but Kahhori reveals that he's also imprisoning heroes, and plans to feed all of his captives to the Forge to resurrect his own destroyed universe. While this is seemingly a well-meaning goal, Strange Supreme is clearly more focused on bringing back Christine than he is on undoing the damage he caused; his intentions may or may not be good, but his motives are fundamentally selfish. Given that it's implied that he's being motivated by his very literal demons, and being isolated for so long has driven him insane, this isn't entirely surprising.
- Oh, Crap!: Kahhori's reaction to Zombie-Wanda. Her reaction makes clear that they met before, and it wasn't pretty.
- One-Winged Angel: Strange Supreme turns into a giant, demonic creature to stave off Peggy and Kahhori's combined assault.
- Pet the Dog:
- Despite his descent into madness, Strange Supreme remains very fond of Peggy; it takes a lot of interference on her part before he seriously tries to hurt her, and even then, the murderous intent is implied to be more from the demons in his body than from Strange himself.
- The Watcher intervenes when the Forge explodes, saving Peggy and Kahhori and immediately returning the latter to her own universe.
- Punch Catch: When Strange Supreme's attempt to trick Captain Carter with an illusion of World War II Steve Rogers fails, he tries to sucker punch her, only for Carter to catch his fist and deck him instead.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Though everyone in the Sanctum are saved, Strange Supreme still manages to restore his universe to life and averts Christine’s death, albeit by accident. Because he fell into the Forge, Strange is Ret-Gone as a result.
- Ret-Gone: Strange Supreme's death is enough for the Forge to successfully recreate his world, but, whether by consequence or by design, the resulting world is one where Strange himself was never born, and according to the Watcher, he never will be.
- Riddle for the Ages: The episode leaves a lot of questions unanswered due to most of Strange's villainy happening offscreen, such as:
- What happened between the end of Season 1 and this episode for Strange to get like this?
- Did he come up with the plan on his own or did the demons help/influence him?
- Was he always being tempted and just gave in one day, or had the demons succeeded at tempting him since his premiere episode and he was just hiding it?
- How did all the offscreen battles with all the supervillains and superheroes go?
- Did the demons offer a Deal with the Devil, and if so, what were they to get in return?
- If he never existed in his own universe, does that affect the timelines of the other universes? Does this mean Infinity Ultron and King Killmonger are running loose now?
- Rule of Symbolism: Strange turns all the Carter doppelgangers into butterflies (a Call-Back to Avengers: Infinity War), and butterflies appear both in Strange's false creation of Peggy's universe and when Carter and Uatu observe Strange's recreated universe. Butterflies symbolize how a simple change can have monumental effects.
- Rushmore Refacement: Carter is shocked to see Red Skull's face on Mount Rushmore while tracking Kahhori. Uatu tells her that in this world, HYDRA won.
- Shout-Out: Hearing Strange Supreme's supposed problem, Peggy compares the situation to Gremlins, Aliens, and Jurassic Park, saying that amassing anything dangerous is bound to result in something getting loose.
- So Last Season: A double dose; Peggy and Kahhori come across a Thanos with a full Infinity Gauntlet, who is snapped away by Killmonger wearing Infinity Armor, whom Kahhori just teleports out of the armor and sends away before he can react.
- Suddenly Bilingual: Kahhori can speak English in this episode. It's implied that she picked it up during her offscreen multiversal travels trying to dodge Strange.
- Take Up My Sword: As Peggy and Kahhori struggle to keep Supreme Strange's prisoners out of the Forge, they all see what they're doing and throw all of their weapons for them to use against him.
- Taking You with Me: Hela throws her crown to Peggy as she falls into the Forge, specifically so she can beat Strange for her. Several other heroes and villains including Xu Wenwu and Thor give her their items as well.Hela: Give him Hel!
- Villainous Valor: When Killmonger is teleported away from the Infinity Armor and into a massive melee of superpowered beings that include gods and dragons, his response is to don his cowl and leap into the fray.
- Wizard Duel: A good part of the episode is the epic battle of Strange Supreme against Kahhori and Captain Carter empowered with Infinity Stones.
- "You!" Exclamation: Hela and Surtur are immediately displeased to see each other, saying "you" in a contemptuous tone before they start fighting.
Uatu: So, ready, finally, to get back to your universe?
Captain Carter: I am. (sighs) But perhaps we could take the scenic route home. Surely there's something worth seeing along the way.
Uatu: Oh, Captain... just you watch.
Captain Carter: I am. (sighs) But perhaps we could take the scenic route home. Surely there's something worth seeing along the way.
Uatu: Oh, Captain... just you watch.
