History Recap / WhatIfS1E7WhatIfThorWereAnOnlyChild

** Thor tells the alien partygoers, "You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here," a line from the song, "Closing Time" by Semisonic.

* ForWantOfANail: The episode's main divergence is Odin returning Loki to his Frost Giant family. As a result of this small decision, Thor never learns humility or kindness, so he chooses to become the God of Parties.

* ExactWords: How Loki tries getting out of cleaning up Earth after the nonstop partying before Frigga arrives: he and Thor may be brothers from another mother, but they're still from different mothers.

* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Thor seems to be one of these. All he actually wants is to party and have a good time, but his parties are of such massive scale and get so far out of hand they cause serious damage to the Earth in a very short time, and have apparently completely destroyed at least one planet in the past (though Thor clarifies that the planet in question was already dying anyway and that they were just throwing it a last hurrah).

* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Thor seems to be one of these. All he actually wants is to party and have a good time, but his parties are of such massive scale and get so far out of hand they cause serious damage to the Earth in a very short time, and have apparently completely destroyed at least one planet in the past.

** This is not the first time [[Creator/NataliePortman Jane Foster]] has been concerned about [[Film/StarWars diplomatic relations]] [[Film/MarsAttacks between humans and extra-terrestrials.]]

!! "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?"

[[caption-width-right:350:''"Prepare yourselves... for the party prince!"'']]

->''"More than battles won or lost, it's relationships that truly define a hero, the people who shape them, their stories. Thor and Loki: a brotherhood so strong and pivotal, it would change the fate of a universe. Their childhood taught Thor... many lessons, but in another universe, instead of raising the Jotunheim prince Loki as his own son, Odin returned him to his people. Without his trickster brother to keep things, let's say, "lively", Thor grew into a very different prince."''

!!"What If... Thor Were an Only Child?" contains examples of:

** Thor's appearance in the episode is preceded by Jane's fear of an AlienInvasion, and when the man himself arrives, he's blanketed in smoke and surrounded by numerous figures. His speech towards the people of Vegas begins with menace as he proclaims that their dull lives have come to an end... and commences with the partying, [[ExactWords bringing an end to the dullness in the humans' lives]]. (Well, relative dullness, they were already in [[VivaLasVegas Vegas]]...)

** When the stern, authoritarian Carol Danvers arrives to break up the party and force the aliens home, Thor comments that Midgardians have a word for women like her... that word being "[[BigStupidDoodooHead party-pooper]]."

* BreatherEpisode: The episode is far more lighthearted and goofy than the previous installments, especially the last four episodes, with the general plotline focusing on Thor's party-like antics on Earth rather than tragic revenge plots or some horrifying world-ending threat. At least, until the last ten seconds or so...

* {{Cliffhanger}}: Ultron, with the body of Vision and all six Infinity Stones, along with an army of drones, emerges from a portal. Even ''Uatu'' didn't see him coming. The multiverse might be in danger...

* DiabolusExMachina: At the end of the episode, after everything has been cleaned up, Ultron in the body of Vision and an army of drones shows up out of nowhere with all six Infinity Stones. Usually the twist endings for ''What If...?'' involve a logical consequence of the characters' actions or the point of divergence, but Infinity Ultron shows up without any foreshadowing whatsoever. Even Uatu is surprised by this turn of events.

-->'''Jane:''' I expected him to look more like...\\

-->'''Rumlow:''' ''(groans)'' We never get to fire the nukes...

** After watching the Asgardians streak across the sky in a beam of light, Darcy remarks, "They're heeeeere...", in the same tone as Carol Anne from ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' after she watches a beam of ghost mist shoot from the TV into the wall across the room.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The people of Vegas are surprisingly chill about aliens showing up to have a party. Granted, it is Vegas, but still...

''"...Wait, what?\\
Oh, dear... Perhaps I spoke too soon."''

** Zig-zagged with Thor. On the one hand, he's a rambunctious party-boy who adamantly refuses to listen to any authority that isn't his mother, no matter how much damage and grief he causes on Earth. On the other hand, Thor isn't completely heartless, as he is still legitimately in love with Jane in this universe, and doesn't actually mean any ill will to anyone - unlike his main MCU self who is initially a BloodKnight. He even apologizes to Jane for his actions and admits that her tattling on him to his mother was actually the right thing to do.

*** She also easily absorbs a blast of lightning he directs at her, as Iron Man did in the same scene.

* EnergyAbsorption: When Thor blasts Captain Marvel with a lightning bolt from Mjölnir, she simply absorbs it. Thor then doubles down until he's firing a massive torrent of electricity at her, while she stands smirking with her hands on her hips.

* KarmaHoudini: Grandmaster and Topaz manage to leave the party before Thor thinks to use the threat of Frigga's rage to get everyone else to clean up.

* OnlySaneMan: Agent Coulson seems to be the only character in the episode who isn't irrationally fond of Thor nor irrationally incensed by him, protesting both that they can't just let the destruction he causes go but that it's also probably not worth releasing nuclear-level force to get rid of him.

* WorfHadTheFlu: After being defeated by Thor in battle, Captain Marvel admits that she was holding back because unleashing her full power would result in a lot of collateral damage and civilian casualties, and Thor is not a big enough threat to warrant such sacrifices. For their rematch, she lures him to a remote location in Siberia, though the fight is stopped before it can truly begin.

* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Much like in the Sacred Timeline, Loki was abandoned by Laufey because he was born a runt, yet he shows up as an adult no smaller than the rest of his kind. Though it's entirely possible that Odin misinterpreted the situation with Loki and he was actually the right size for a newborn, and he would have grown to the size of a regular Frost Giant if Odin hadn't used Asgardian magic on him.

** Zig-zagged with Thor. On the one hand, he's a rambunctious party-boy who adamantly refuses to listen to any authority that isn't his mother, no matter how much damage and grief he causes on Earth. On the other hand, Thor isn't completely heartless, as he is still legitimately in love with Jane in this universe, and doesn't actually mean any ill will to anyone. He even apologizes to Jane for his actions and admits that her tattling on him to his mother was actually the right thing to do.

*** Or maybe the point of divergence is that Loki wasn't born a runt and there was no reason for Odin to adopt him.

** It's also notable that the entire ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' roster is here except for Peter Quill (possibly because his Sacred Timeline counterpart said he'd never return to Earth, where his mother died) and Groot, who doesn't seem to have met Rocket in this timeline. On the flip side, none of the other Avengers (aside from Thor himself) appear in this episode.

* IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow:
-->'''Jane:''' This is Earth's first encounter with alien life. How we respond today will set the tone for diplomatic relations between our worlds for generations.\\
'''Darcy:''' "Diplomatic relations"? Is that what the kids are calling it?

* KarmaHoundini: Grandmaster and Topaz manage to leave the party before Thor thinks to use the threat of Frigga's rage to get everyone else to clean up.

** It's also notable that the entire ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' roster is here except for Peter Quill (possibly because his Sacred Timeline counterpart said he'd never return to Earth, where his mother died) and Groot, who doesn't seem to have met Rocket in this timeline.