History WesternAnimation / WhatIf2021

* AbsenteeActor: Despite there being several episodes in Season 1 where various members of the Guardians of the Galaxy show up, Groot is the only Guardian who didn't make a single onscreen appearance.

Similar to the comic book it's based on, and set immediately after the events of the first season of ''[[Series/Loki2021 Loki]]'', ''What If…?'' explores the [[TheMultiverse various alternate realities created from the death of He Who Remains and the resultant fracturing of the Sacred Timeline]], showing how the films of the [[MythArc Infinity Saga]] would have been impacted by certain major events happening differently, while omniscient narrator [[TheWatcher the Watcher]] (voiced by Creator/JeffreyWright) occasionally weighs in on what he's observing.

[[/folder]]

Some alternate outcomes in the series include [[Characters/CaptainAmericaSupportingCharacters Peggy Carter]] becoming a super-soldier instead of [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]], [[ComicBook/BlackPanther T'Challa]] becoming [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Star-Lord]] instead of Peter Quill, and [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]] leading a group of survivors in a ZombieApocalypse [[ComicBook/MarvelZombies set within the MCU]]. In addition to Wright as the Watcher, the series features voice acting from many of the same actors of the films, including the likes of Creator/HayleyAtwell as Peggy Carter, Creator/SamuelLJackson as Nick Fury, Creator/BenedictCumberbatch as ComicBook/DoctorStrange, Creator/MichaelBJordan as Killmonger, Creator/ChrisHemsworth as [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], and the late Creator/ChadwickBoseman in his final MCU contribution as T'Challa.

** A universe where Peggy Carter became a super soldier in Steve's stead. Officially designated as Earth-89111.

** A universe where Peggy Carter became a super soldier in Steve's stead.
** A universe in which T'Challa becomes Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill.
** A universe where the Avengers are killed off one by one before they can assemble.
** A universe in which Doctor Strange performs a FaceHeelTurn in a desperate attempt [[spoiler:to revive Christine Palmer.]]
** A universe where a ZombieApocalypse breaks out on Earth, infecting several heroes who tried to combat it.
** A universe in which Erik Killmonger foils the plot to assassinate Tony Stark in Afghanistan.
** A universe where Odin never adopted Loki and Thor was raised as an only child.
** A universe where Ultron successfully uploaded himself into Vision's body before killing most of the Avengers, stealing the Infinity Stones, [[spoiler:and discovering the Watcher and the multiverse.]]

* NeverWasThisUniverse: While several stories allegedly have a single point of divergence, others have things that play out differently as background events unaffected by the big change that aren't addressed in order to keep the story moving forward. For instance, Mantis is at Party Thor's big bash in Australia despite the fact that she should be working for Ego at that time. [[spoiler:Alternate versions of Thanos in the Zombie and Infinity Ultron universes have five of the Infinity Stones despite there being conditions that would've made some impossible for him to attain (since Doctor Strange gave him the Time Stone, which didn't happen in the former, and Gamora's death gave him the Soul Stone, which didn't happen in the latter).]] Arnim Zola's AI copy and, briefly, Ego are also present in the Infinity Ultron universe, even though in the main timeline, both had been dead for about a year before the events of ''Age of Ultron'' ([[RetCon though the former is explained as there being multiple copies of his intelligence squirreled away]]). The only way for this to make sense is to say that there are other elements that are inherently different about certain universes. This is confirmed in the season finale, where it's an explicit plot point that [[spoiler:every universe's Infinity Stones have slightly different properties, even between two universes that apparently diverged only very recently]].

** "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?" ends with [[spoiler: an army of Ultrons appearing out of nowhere - their leader is an alternate version of Ultron who successfully uploaded himself into Vision's body then went onto acquire the other Infinity Stones]]. UThe Watcher was even remarking on the main conclusion of the episode wrapping up well for everyone when this happens and says that he might have spoken too soon. [[spoiler: The series follows through in the very next episode, "What If... Ultron Won?", and shows where this version of Ultron came from]]. [[spoiler: It also defies the non-Sequel Hook of "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" when Strange Supreme appears at the end and the Watcher asks him for help in defeating Ultron]].

* DeathByAdaptation: Some characters that are alive in the main timeline end up dying or are already dead in other realities. Averted in episode 7.

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Compared to DeathByAdaptation, certain characters who died in the Sacred Timeline are killed in ways different from their canon fates.
** Kruger was gunned down by Peggy rather than committing suicide by hidden cyanide pill.
** In ''Endgame'', Tony Stark died due to the power of the Infinity Stones being too much for him. He has died in various ways in this series, including impalement, zombification followed by beheading, and (presumably) being poisoned or having his heart stop.
** Natasha, who died too in ''Endgame'', also falls victim to zombification, and being brutally beaten and dragged to an offscreen death.
** Cull Obsidian and Ebony Maw also fall victim to zombification, while a few episodes prior, they each were blown apart from the inside and shot in the back respectively.

* TheyKilledKennyAgain: [[spoiler:Tony Stark]] has been killed in every episode in which he appears, with the single exception of [[spoiler:his brief appearance in the season finale]], and his death strongly implied in at least one other episode.

-->-- '''Uatu the Watcher''', in the show's OpeningNarration

Similar to the comic book it's based on, and set immediately after the events of the first season of ''[[Series/Loki2021 Loki]]'', ''What If…?'' explores the [[TheMultiverse various alternate realities created from the death of He Who Remains and the resultant fracturing of the Sacred Timeline]], showing how the films of the [[MythArc Infinity Saga]] would have been impacted by certain major events happening differently, while omniscient narrator [[TheWatcher Uatu the Watcher]] (voiced by Creator/JeffreyWright) occasionally weighs in on what he's observing.

Some alternate outcomes in the series include [[Characters/CaptainAmericaSupportingCharacters Peggy Carter]] becoming a super-soldier instead of [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]], [[ComicBook/BlackPanther T'Challa]] becoming [[Characters/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyModern Star-Lord]] instead of Peter Quill, and [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]] leading a group of survivors in a ZombieApocalypse [[ComicBook/MarvelZombies set within the MCU]]. In addition to Wright as Uatu the Watcher, the series features voice acting from many of the same actors of the films, including the likes of Creator/HayleyAtwell as Peggy Carter, Creator/SamuelLJackson as Nick Fury, Creator/BenedictCumberbatch as ComicBook/DoctorStrange, Creator/MichaelBJordan as Killmonger, Creator/ChrisHemsworth as [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], and the late Creator/ChadwickBoseman in his final MCU contribution as T'Challa.

* AlienNonInterferenceClause: Uatu claims at the end of the first episode that he only observes the alternate realities occurring, but he does not, cannot and will not make himself present in any one of them, as per the usual for his character. [[spoiler: Averted slightly towards the end of Episode 4, where he outright chews Doctor Strange Supreme out on this, knowing that the destruction of the MCU in that timeline was on Strange's hands. Averted fully at the end of Episode 8, as Infinity Ultron is a multiversal threat that Uatu can't defeat on his own.]]

* AlternateUniverse: The entire point of the series is Uatu the Watcher exploring the various alternate timelines of the MCU. Examples include:

** A universe where Ultron successfully uploaded himself into Vision's body before killing most of the Avengers, stealing the Infinity Stones, [[spoiler:and discovering Uatu and the multiverse.]]

** In "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?", [[spoiler:Strange Supreme is incredibly powerful after centuries of absorbing the power of creatures from other dimensions (to the point he can actually perceive Uatu as he watches events unfold and defeat his good variant created by the Ancient One), but all he accomplishes in his quest to bring back his girlfriend Christine is the complete destruction of his universe. Essentially, he's what Strange would have become if he allowed his arrogance and fear of failure rule his actions]].
** In "What If... Ultron Won?", a scene of Steve Rogers apparently being sworn in as President of the United States plays on a jumbo screen in one of the alternate timelines seen in [[spoiler:Ultron's battle with Uatu]].

** [[spoiler: Many of these, though, get averted with the ending of the first season, and the aftermath is shown of several adventures. Captain Carter finds that aboard the ''Lemurian Star'' is the Hydra Stomper, and it's implied Steve is inside. T'Challa becoming Star Lord shows that he's working to stop Ego, and it's implied that he's taking Peter under his wing. The "Lost its mightiest Heroes" story has Uatu drop Ultron Survivor Black Widow into the timeline, leading to Loki's defeat. And Killmonger from the "Rescued Tony Stark" gets imprisoned forever in an eternal tug of war against Zola, leaving his timeline without him forever. While there is still blood and loss and death in each of the timelines, the first season finale makes it clear that things are, in general, looking up.]]

** "What If... Ultron Won?" is a darker version of this, with [[DeathByCameo nearly every cameo being done as Infinity Ultron kills them all]]: all of the Avengers except for Black Widow and Hawkeye, (they're central characters to the episode instead) the Guardians of the Galaxy on Sovereign during ''Guardians of the Galaxy 2'', the Grand Master and his gladiators on Sakaar, Ego, and [[spoiler: Captain Marvel gets an extended one as she tries and fails to kill Ultron on Xandar]]. Tons of others make seconds-long appearances during [[spoiler: Uatu's]] fight with Infinity Ultron, including some Wakandans and Skrulls.

* CerebusSyndrome: Starting with the third episode, it starts to deal with some surprisingly dark stories. Specifically, we get one timeline that has all the Avengers suddenly killed with Nick Fury and Phil Coulson trying to find their murderer, another where [[spoiler:a grief-stricken Doctor Strange accidentally destroys the entire universe out of desperation to revive his lover]], and one where Peter Parker is forced to deal with a ZombieApocalypse that transforms several Avengers into {{Flesh Eating Zombie}}s ''and'' [[spoiler:a universe where Ultron wins, wipes out nearly all life on Earth, gathers every single Infinity Stone and then decimates all life in the universe...before deciding to destroy all life all across the multiverse upon discovering Uatu.]]

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Ironically, Uatu is this for TheWatcher, [[TropeNamer the very trope he named]].
** Having to observe multiple alternate realities may seem fun at first, but as several universes lean towards the DarkerAndEdgier territory, being unable to do anything but watch them all becomes emotionally draining for Uatu at times. He expresses a desire to punish Strange Supreme for his world-ending actions in the fourth episode, but is unable to act upon it because of his AlienNonInterferenceClause, shows visible sadness when watching the events of the sixth episode, and is practically begging for Clint to not give up in Episode 8 despite his will to live being all but gone. Overall, ''What If...?'' demonstrates just how difficult it would be for a person with human-like qualities to have to sit back and do nothing while horrible things happen in the world they're looking at.
** Both Infinity Ultron and the Natasha Romanoff from his reality have noted how Uatu's role as a strict observer of their universes appears to be downright voyeuristic to them. The former points out how creepy it is that Uatu doesn't actually do anything other than talk to himself when watching them, and the latter accuses him of seeing her and the other alternate characters [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall as little more than entertainment for his behalf]].

** In a case of MoodWhiplash, "What If... Thor Was An Only Child?" ends with [[spoiler: a Variant of Ultron who successfully uploaded himself into the body that would have become Vision and also acquired ''the complete Infinity Stones'' appearing out of nowhere]], [[TemptingFate right as Uatu was summarizing this episode as basically ending on a happily-ever-after note]].

** Episode 5 ends with [[spoiler:the characters taking the Mind Stone to Wakanda, the last surviving human refuge, hoping it can produce a cure. The last shot shows that Wakanda has been conquered by a zombified Thanos, whose Gauntlet only needs one more Infinity Stone. Uatu's narration heavily implies that the surviving heroes might not be able to stop him from destroying the universe.]]
** Episode 8 [[DownerBeginning begins]] with Ultron's conquest of his entire universe, killing every hero but Black Widow and Hawkeye. [[spoiler:By the end of the episode, he discovers the multiverse and plans on expanding his genocide on a cosmic scale. The multiverse's only hope is Uatu breaking his vow and Arnim Zola's ability to take over the Ultron hive mind.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: By the end of the first season, [[spoiler:the Guardians of the Multiverse defeat Infinity Ultron, saving all realities and avenging Black Widow's world. Back in Captain Carter's universe, her Black Widow reveals to her that they found the HYDRA Stomper suit, with "somebody" (heavily implied to be her universe's Steve Rogers) inside. T'Challa finds his universe's Peter Quill and becomes friends, averting their universe's Expansion caused by Ego siphoning Peter's life. Strange Supreme redeems himself and remains in his universe to watch over the pocket dimension containing Killmonger and Zola to prevent them from wreaking havoc on the multiverse. Additionally, with Killmonger in stasis, it gives his universe's Shuri and Pepper a chance to undo the wrongs he committed. In the course of the battle, Strange Supreme presumably emptied the ZombieApocalypse universe of most of its undead inhabitants, allowing for the uninfected survivors to thrive.[[note]]Though considering the zombified Thanos wasn't among the displaced, it's likely he's still kicking around with that universe's Infinity Gauntlet[[/note]] Thor returns to his world and to Jane Foster, and finally, Uatu sends the Black Widow of the post-apocalypse universe to the universe where the Avengers were assassinated, where she defeats Loki and joins Fury and SHIELD.]]

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Done InUniverse (In-Multiverse?) by the penultimate episode of the first season. [[spoiler:Ultron becomes aware of Uatu as he recaps what's ''supposed'' to be the end of his story, only for the killer machine to realize that there are universes beyond his own after hearing his voice.]]
* FramingDevice: Uatu the Watcher explains about universes where a divergence caused things to unfold in another way, and that he won't interfere with them, being just a narrator. One of such universes is the one with the story of the specific episode.
* HijackingCthulhu: In the eighth and ninth episodes of Season 1, in a universe where Ultron was able to possess the body that would have become The Vision, and later on acquire the complete set of the Infinity Stones in order to engage in universal genocide, that universe's Black Widow and Hawkeye planned to use a copy of the A.I. consciousness of HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola to invade and destroy Ultron himself from within. Their plan only failed because, by the time they found Zola, [[spoiler: Ultron had already discovered the existence of the Multiverse and was fighting Uatu outside of that universe.]] The plan was later revived during the battle between Infinity Ultron and the Guardians of the Multiverse [[spoiler:and here, it succeeded. Zola was uploaded to Ultron's synthroid body via a USB arrow to the eye and proceeded to "delete" him entirely, though this opened the way for Zola to possess the vacant body and attempt to take control of the Infinity Stones. Fortunately, a foreseen betrayal by one of the Guardians, a Variant of Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, allowed for Uatu and Strange Supreme to imprison the both of them in a pocket dimension and eliminate the threat entirely.]]

* InkSuitActor: A given, seeing that the animated characters who appear in this series are made to resemble their live-action counterparts/actors. However, Episode 6 depicts Uatu in normal lighting for the first time and he's shown to have African features--darker skin, broad nose, and full lips--to match his voice actor Creator/JeffreyWright (though he otherwise looks like a classic Watcher).

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Uatu can sometimes be seen looming in the sky during the events of certain episodes, indicating something big is about to happen. These appearances also have a dual meaning: with each passing episode, Uatu appears more and more clearly, signifying his gradual investment in the narratives he's watching and subtly foreshadowing [[spoiler:him getting dragged into the action himself in Episode 8, culminating in him breaking his oath of non-interference]].

* TheMultiverse: The primary focus of the show is Uatu the Watcher observing various different realities.

** The ending of "What If… T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?", after establishing that basically everything is better for everyone everywhere after T'challa reforms the Ravagers into a force for good, has [[spoiler:Ego show up to retrieve Peter, who never left Earth in this universe and is working at a Dairy Queen, to enact his grand scheme which was the central conflict of ''Guardians of the Galaxy 2'']]. Uatu insinuates that this could mean the end of the world, but decides that's a story for another time. A common theme in the original comics was that a change that's seemingly for the better actually has much worse consequences further down the line compared to the main continuity. [[spoiler: Unlike the comics' convention, though, Ego doesn't get away with it as T'Challa saves Quill from him and he's subsequently defeated (or at least, stalled) by the Ravagers]].

*** The fight between Ultron and [[spoiler:Uatu]] makes extensive use of KirbyDots, which were a signature style of famous Marvel artist Jack Kirby.

*** The very end of "What If... Ultron Won?" has Uatu seeking the assistance of [[spoiler: Strange Supreme]] and presumably more heroes from alternate universes in order to stand up against Infinity Ultron. Uatu of the comics did this as well in the issue What If the Watcher Saved the Universe as part of the Timequake event.

*** Uatu recruiting heroes from other multiverses to stop a greater threat is lifted straight from the comics. The only difference here is that he [[AdaptedOut does't rely on the help of the Time Variance Authority to do this.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The reason Infinity Ultron becomes a multiversal threat is because [[spoiler:killing his entire home universe made him reach a level of consciousness that allowed him to hear Uatu narrating, alerting him to Uatu's existence and, in turn, to the existence of the multiverse]].
* NotSoEpisodic: The series begins as an anthology series hosted by Uatu as he ponders various alternate realities in the MCU. This formula is first challenged when [[spoiler:Uatu meets Strange Supreme, but refuses to help save his universe]]. Another crack begins to form when [[spoiler:an alternate-reality Ultron suddenly appears at the end of another episode]] and [[DidNotSeeThatComing Uatu's reaction]] makes it clear this was ''not'' supposed to happen. Then, it becomes a full-on MythArc when [[spoiler:Infinity Ultron learns of the existence of Uatu and the multiverse and begins going on rampages to destroy everything, forcing Uatu to go back to Strange Supreme and ask for his help.]]
* OpeningNarration: Each of the sequences for an episode has The Watcher doing this.

** [[spoiler:Infinity Ultron]] is this to the ''entire Multiverse'' as he not only comes from a reality where he killed the Avengers and took possession of the Infinity Gauntlet but he fully intends to conquer other universes starting with [[spoiler: Party Thor's timeline]]. Even ''Uatu himself'' didn't see him coming.

* PrecisionFStrike: While not particularly strong, Uatu's exclamation [[spoiler: as he and the entire multiverse is discovered by Ultron]] is uncharacteristic of his normally calm and composed demeanor.

** "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?" ends with [[spoiler: an army of Ultrons appearing out of nowhere - their leader is an alternate version of Ultron who successfully uploaded himself into Vision's body then went onto acquire the other Infinity Stones]]. Uatu was even remarking on the main conclusion of the episode wrapping up well for everyone when this happens and says that he might have spoken too soon. [[spoiler: The series follows through in the very next episode, "What If... Ultron Won?", and shows where this version of Ultron came from]]. [[spoiler: It also defies the non-Sequel Hook of "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" when Strange Supreme appears at the end and Uatu asks him for help in defeating Ultron]].
** In the end, (of the first season, at least) [[spoiler: ''all'' of these are followed up on in "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?": Uatu retrieves the central characters of the preceding episodes to form the Guardians of the Multiverse, all of them in the middle of their "sequels" (T'Challa saves Quill from Ego, Killmonger is pulled away from having to fight Pepper and Shuri, and Thor is fending off the Ultron drones in Las Vegas) with the addition of having "sequels" for Captain Carter, who is early in the parallel events to ''Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', and the zombie universe as Strange Supreme pulls them through one of his portals to distract Infinity Ultron. After defeating him, Uatu sends the Natasha of Infinity Ultron's universe to that of "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" where she immediately joins Fury, Captain America, and Captain Marvel in fighting Loki's army]]. This episode also has one of its own: [[spoiler: Captain Carter is sent back to her universe and finds the [=HYDRA=] Stomper suit among the cargo that Batroc had stolen, and it's implied that Rogers is in it]].

* SerialEscalation: Uatu’s appearances become more and more detailed and noticeable as the series goes on. He appears as a CelestialBody at the end of the first episode, and by the third, his silhouette is looming in the daytime sky. His silhouette becomes more three-dimensional by episode 4, and by episode 5 we get a clear view of his face. In episode 6, we're shown a shot of him fully in color.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Some of the timelines explored by Uatu involve certain characters avoiding their canon fates and living much longer. See individual recap pages for known examples.
* StealthSequel: Although the show seems mostly unconnected to the events of the main MCU timeline at first glance, the first season of ''Loki'' indicates the alternate realities seen in this show are in fact the result of Sylvie killing He Who Remains in the Season 1 finale, thus creating the multiple branching timelines within the Multiverse (and by extension this very show) as a result. The fact that Uatu refers to "new realities" in the opening monologue can also be taken as an indication to that effect (though it might also just mean new-to-the-audience). Executive producer Brad Winderbaum noted that the show debuting after the conclusion of ''Loki'' [[https://deadline.com/2021/08/chadwick-boseman-what-if-jeffrey-wright-creators-disney-series-1234807268/ was not a coincidence]]. Some [[https://twitter.com/whatifofficial Twitter trailers]] even use the TVA computers showing the timeline branching and subsequently editing the records.

!Spoilers for all previous Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse works will be left unmarked.

*** The ending insinuates that [[spoiler: the zombie plague will be able to spread to other worlds, even to the ''entire universe'', because Thanos has been infected as well and still has access to the Space Stone. In the comics, the zombies eventually ate every last living thing in their universe after the Silver Surfer and Galactus came to Earth only to be eaten by zombified superheroes, in turn allowing those zombies to acquire the Power Cosmic]].

While there were many animated series based on Creator/MarvelComics before, ''What If...?'' is the first animated title produced by Creator/MarvelStudios, and is among the first series to be developed by them for Disney+. The first season debuted on August 11, 2021 and concluded on October 6, and a second season has already been ordered. A spin-off titled ''Marvel Zombies'' will continue the story of the episode ''What If...Zombies!?'', itself an adaption of the [[ComicBook/MarvelZombies comic of the same name]].

While there were many animated series based on Creator/MarvelComics before, ''What If...?'' is the first animated title produced by Creator/MarvelStudios, and is among the first series to be developed by them for Disney+. The first season debuted on August 11, 2021 and concluded on October 6, and a second season has already been ordered.

** "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?" [[spoiler: the Arnim Zola copy from Infinity Ultron's universe successfully destroys his consciousness and takes over the Vision body, with his ''Matrix''-like video face appearing on Vision's chest. This was the basic look that Zola had in the comics where he had his own robotic body and was an active supervillain, redone as a digitized mind with his face on an analog computer screen in ''Captain America: The Winter Soldier'']].

* NeverWasThisUniverse: While several stories allegedly have a single point of divergence, others have things that play out differently as background events unaffected by the big change that aren't addressed in order to keep the story moving forward. For instance, Mantis is at Party Thor's big bash in Australia despite the fact that she should be working for Ego at that time. [[spoiler:Alternate versions of Thanos in the Zombie and Infinity Ultron universes have five of the Infinity Stones despite there being conditions that would've made some impossible for him to attain (since Doctor Strange gave him the Time Stone, which didn't happen in the former, and Gamora's death gave him the Soul Stone, which didn't happen in the latter).]] Arnim Zola's AI copy and, briefly, Ego are also present in the Infinity Ultron universe, even though in the main timeline, both had been dead for about a year before the events of ''Age of Ultron'' (though the former is explained as there being multiple copies of his intelligence squirreled away). The only way for this to make sense is to say that there are other elements that are inherently different about certain universes. This is confirmed in the season finale, where it's an explicit plot point that [[spoiler:every universe's Infinity Stones have slightly different properties, even between two universes that apparently diverged only very recently]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: the reason Infinity Ultron becomes a multiversal threat is because [[spoiler: killing his entire home universe made him reach a level of consciousness that allowed him to hear Uatu narrating, alerting him to Uatu's existence and, in turn, to the existence of the multiverse]].

* OutsideContextProblem: "What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" has two examples of this, one being the central mystery of the episode: [[spoiler: Hank Pym kills off the Avengers one by one as a basically untouchable, practically invisible assassin that they have no chance of actually defeating given that he's able to shrink to sizes that can't be targeted and which allow him to attack unprotected vital organs. Pym]] gets on the end of this himself when he starts fighting who he thinks is Nick Fury but is actually [[spoiler: Loki in disguise, who's momentarily allied with S.H.I.E.L.D. to avenge Thor and pulls out all the stops to trounce Pym with his magic-like abilities, making Pym just as helpless as the Avengers were]].

** Killmonger becomes one to Obadiah Stane in "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?" by interfering with the attempted hit that Stane put on Stark and then exposing Stane's plan on live TV. [[spoiler: He ends up becoming one to basically everyone else, too, successfully killing T'challa, Rhodey, ''and'' Stark and getting himself into power in Wakanda to enact his master plan from ''Black Panther'' with almost no credible threats left to stop him]].

* StealthSequel: Although the show seems mostly unconnected to the events of the main MCU timeline at first glance, the first season of ''Loki'' indicates the alternate realities seen in this show are in fact the result of Sylvie killing He Who Remains in the Season 1 finale, thus creating the multiple branching timelines within the Multiverse (and by extension this very show) as a result. The fact that Uatu refers to "new realities" in the opening monologue can also be taken as an indication to that effect (though it might also just mean new-to-the-audience). Executive producer Brad Winderbaum noted that the show debuting after the conclusion of ''Loki'' [[https://deadline.com/2021/08/chadwick-boseman-what-if-jeffrey-wright-creators-disney-series-1234807268/ was not a coincidence]].
** Some [[https://twitter.com/whatifofficial Twitter trailers]] are from the TVA computers showing the timeline branching and editing the records.

* ZombieApocalypse: [[spoiler: This is the premise of the fifth episode, the entire earth is overrun by zombies and the surviving Avengers attempt to survive and cure it.]]

* NeverWasThisUniverse: While several stories allegedly have a single point of divergence, others have things that play out differently as background events unaffected by the big change that aren't addressed in order to keep the story moving forward. For instance, Mantis is at Party Thor's big bash in Australia despite the fact that she should be working for Ego at that time. [[spoiler:Alternate versions of Thanos in the Zombie and Infinity Ultron universes have five of the Infinity Stones despite there being conditions that would've made some impossible for him to attain (since Doctor Strange gave him the Time Stone, which didn't happen in the former, and Gamora's death gave him the Soul Stone, which didn't happen in the latter).]] Arnim Zola's AI copy and, briefly, Ego are also present in the Infinity Ultron universe, even though in the main timeline, both had been dead for about a year before the events of ''Age of Ultron''. The only way for this to make sense is to say that there are other elements that are inherently different about certain universes. This is confirmed in the season finale, where it's an explicit plot point that [[spoiler:every universe's Infinity Stones have slightly different properties, even between two universes that apparently diverged only very recently]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than most of Marvel's animated series aimed at kids--even [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries Spider-Carnage's dimension]] didn't get as bleak as some of these alternate universes.

** In "What If... Ultron Won?", a scene of Steve Rogers apparently being sworn in as President of the United States plays on a jumbo screen in one of the alternate timelines seen in Ultron's battle with Uatu.

** Episode 8 [[DownerBeginning begins]] with Ultron's conquest of his entire universe, killing every hero but Black Widow and Hawkeye. By the end of the episode, he discovers the multiverse and plans on expanding his genocide on a cosmic scale. The multiverse's only hope is Uatu breaking his vow and Arnim Zola's ability to take over the Ultron hive mind.

** Steve Rogers not getting a chance to take the Super Soldier Serum, instead donning an early version of the Iron Man Armor and becoming HYDRA Stomper.

** Spider-Man as the leader of a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, surviving a ZombieApocalypse that has transformed much of the people on Earth into undead monsters.

* TheyKilledKennyAgain: [[spoiler:Tony Stark]] has been killed in every episode in which they appear, with the single exception of [[spoiler:his brief appearance in the season finale]], and their death strongly implied in at least one other episode.

** Episode 4 ends with [[spoiler:an evil Doctor Strange accidentally destroying the universe after several attempts to save Christine. He begs the Watcher to help, but the Watcher refuses and gives him TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.]]

* FinaglesLaw: True to the comics, a few of the universes end up going through worst-case scenarios: ([[spoiler:Doctor Strange destroying his reality in the process of resurrecting his true love Christine, the zombies infecting Thanos while he possessed five of the Infinity Stones, Ultron getting Vision's body as well as the complete Infinity Stones before going on an interplanetary rampage]]), no matter also giving slight hope ([[spoiler:Loki takes over the world, but there's still at least Captains America and Marvel (and later a universally displaced Black Widow)to fight him; Killmonger won and turned the US and Wakanda against each other, but Shuri learns what he did and recruits Pepper to help bring him down]]).