History YMMV / WhatIf2021

* [[TheWatcher Uatu the Watcher]] is a charming, witty cosmic being in charge of surveying the multiverse. Uatu is a ruthless manipulator who punishes Strange Supreme for his misdeeds by leaving him alone at the end of his universe. Uatu later recruits the Guardians of the Multiverse to stop the omncidal aims of Infinity Ultron. Using the Guardians to lure Ultron back into his own world, Uatu arranges events for Zola to destroy him. Uatu also smartly foresees in advance that Prince Killmonger would try to steal Ultron's Infinity Stones and planned to have Killmonger and Zola clash for them, [[SealedEvilInADuel perpetually trapping them in crystal]]. Uatu also brings the Black Widow of Ultron's timeline and uses her to stop King Loki. Uatu later acts as an advisor for Captain Carter and intentionally leaves out what Strange Supreme has planned for her to allow Strange to revive his world at the cost of his life.
* "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E3WhatIfTheWorldLostItsMightiestHeroes What If... The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes?]]": [[Characters/MCUOtherLokiVariants "King" Loki]] shows himself to be just as cunning and competent a god as in the Sacred Timeline. Arriving on Earth after Thor's death, Loki decimates the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sent against him before parlaying with Nick Fury to discuss finding Thor's killer. Disguising himself as Fury and luring out the murderer, Hank Pym, Loki surprises and brutalizes Pym in a duel, taking him down and leaving him to be arrested. Without ever losing his cheery disposition, Loki then summons his armies of Asgard and [[TakeOverTheWorld conquers all of Earth with ease]], taking advantage of the weakened state Pym left it in, and is ultimately only beaten by the interference of the Watcher much later, after Loki has nearly taken down all of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Earth's last defenders.
* "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E6WhatIfKillmongerRescuedTonyStark What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?]]" & "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E9WhatIfTheWatcherBrokeHisOath What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?]]": [[Characters/MCUErikKillmonger Erik "Prince Killmonger" Stevens]] here [[AdaptationalIntelligence opts to use subtle and pragmatic means]] to achieve his goals. He saves the life of Tony Stark to denounce Obadiah Stane and gives himself access to Stark Industries robotics. Refining drones for his own purposes, Erik murders both Rhodes and Prince T'Challa of Wakanda, [[FalseFlagOperation framing it as an assassination to enhance tension between the nations]]. Killing Tony Stark in a "Wakandan Assassination," he then kills Ulysses Klaue to return to Wakanda and become the Black Panther, preparing for war after achieving all he wanted. Later helping the Guardians of the Multiverse against the mad AI Ultron, Erik tries to seize the Infinity Stones at the end to remake the world how he desires it, even [[WeCanRuleTogether offering the Guardians a chance to join him]] on his crusade.
* "[[Recap/WhatIfS2E1WhatIfNebulaJoinedTheNovaCorps What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?]]": [[Characters/MCUNebula Nebula]], a child of Thanos, keeps her mainline counterpart's efficiency while lacking the tragic machinations of her mental state. Joining the [[Characters/MCUNovaEmpire Nova Corps]], Nebula aims to keep to the side of peace, a job she repeatedly holds to even when Xandar has been turned to a WretchedHive. Investigating a plot of the possible threat of an invasion, Nebula uses both ingenuity and combat efficiency to advance, with her eventually breaking the criminal Yon-Rogg free and releasing the other prisoners to initiate a riot to allow them to escape. Despite being betrayed by Nova Prime and Yon-Rogg and almost killed, it's revealed their betrayal would've been for naught as Nebula had rigged the key that would've allowed Ronan to invade to instead backfire and destroy his ship.
* "[[Recap/WhatIfS2E3WhatIfHappyHoganSavedChristmas What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?]]": The Justin Hammer who faces off against The Freak is [[AdaptationalIntelligence far more intelligent]] and charming than his Sacred Timeline counterpart. Hammer infiltrates and disables the security of Stark Industries and turns the Iron Legion into his own personal army. Hammer intends to steal Tony's Hulk formula and use it to become a superhero to revive his reputation and company. Hammer runs circles around the heroes and foils Maria Hill's attempts to apprehend him by sending in his robots to intercept her. Hammer also lures Happy Hogan/The Freak into a trap, planning to kill him and harvest his body which contains the serum. When foiled, Hammer [[CrazyPrepared reveals that he had kept the Hulkbuster Armor as a precaution]] and uses it to nearly defeat the Freak. Hammer stays a [[BewareTheSillyOnes funny, charming villain]] throughout the episode and even takes his defeat with mere bemusement.

** "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E3WhatIfTheWorldLostItsMightiestHeroes The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes?]]": [[Characters/MCUOtherLokiVariants "King" Loki]] shows himself to be just as cunning and competent a god as in the Sacred Timeline. Arriving on Earth after Thor's death, Loki decimates the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sent against him before parlaying with Nick Fury to discuss finding Thor's killer. Disguising himself as Fury and luring out the murderer, Hank Pym, Loki surprises and brutalizes Pym in a duel, taking him down and leaving him to be arrested. Without ever losing his cheery disposition, Loki then summons his armies of Asgard and [[TakeOverTheWorld conquers all of Earth with ease]], taking advantage of the weakened state Pym left it in, and is ultimately only beaten by the interference of the Watcher much later, after Loki has nearly taken down all of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Earth's last defenders.
** "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E6WhatIfKillmongerRescuedTonyStark Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?]]": [[Characters/MCUErikKillmonger Erik "Prince Killmonger" Stevens]] here [[AdaptationalIntelligence opts to use subtle and pragmatic means]] to achieve his goals. He saves the life of Tony Stark to denounce Obadiah Stane and gives himself access to Stark Industries robotics. Refining drones for his own purposes, Erik murders both Rhodes and Prince T'Challa of Wakanda, [[FalseFlagOperation framing it as a murder to enhance tension between the nations]]. Killing Tony Stark in a "Wakandan Assassination," he then kills Ulysses Klaue to return to Wakanda and become the Black Panther, preparing for war after achieving all he wanted. Later helping the Guardians of the Multiverse against the mad AI Ultron, Erik tries to seize the Infinity Stones at the end to remake the world how he desires it, even [[WeCanRuleTogether offering the Guardians a chance to join him]] on his crusade.

* CompleteMonster:
** "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E1WhatIfCaptainCarterWereTheFirstAvenger What If...Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?]]": The [[Characters/MCUJohannSchmidt Red Skull]] faced by [[Characters/MCUPeggyCarter Captain Carter]] is just as evil as his [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Sacred Timeline]] counterpart. In this timeline, the Skull seeks [[TakeOverTheWorld global domination]] not by means of the Tesseract, but by a dimensional portal through which he intends to summon an EldritchAbomination, risking the annihilation of the entire planet just so he can stand on top and willing to see everything burn should he fail. Along the way, Red Skull indulges in familiar cruelties like gunning down old men and murdering his own allies, thoroughly proving that he has no loyalty to even the Reich.
** "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E8WhatIfUltronWon What If…Ultron Won?]]" & "[[Recap/WhatIfS1E9WhatIfTheWatcherBrokeHisOath What If…The Watcher Broke His Oath?]]": Infinity Ultron is a much viler variant of [[Characters/MCUUltron Ultron]] who successfully managed to upload himself into Vision's body. Deciding "peace" means [[OmnicidalManiac the eradication of all life]], Ultron wipes out all of humanity with a nuclear apocalypse. Ultron then kills [[Characters/MCUThanos Thanos]], loots the Infinity Stones from his body, and uses their [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] power to systematically annihilate all other life in the universe. After finishing that goal, Ultron [[EvilLearnsOfOutsideContext recognizes the existence of the Multiverse itself]] and, armed with the Infinity Stones, attempts to completely purge every single universe of life.

** There being a [[spoiler:Zombie Wanda]] capable of throwing down (even if only briefly) with a multiversal threat in Infinity Ultron gets cruelly flipped as well in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'', [[spoiler:as Sacred Timeline Wanda, the {{Byronic Hero}}ine we followed all throughout ''Series/WandaVision'', {{Face Heel Turn}}s to be the BrainwashedAndCrazy BigBad of the film, a multiversal menace responsible for horrors and CurbStompBattles against the Illuminati that manage to supersede Infinity Ultron's own battle with the Guardians of the Multiverse]].

** Thanos of all people is starting to get saddled with this as well. His variant in Episode 2 [[RedemptionDemotion isn't as strong]] as his Sacred Timeline counterpart, while the variants in Episodes 5 and 8, [[spoiler:despite having five Infinity Stones in their possession, are unceremoniously killed by either the Quantum virus or Ultron.]] His appearances in Season 2 continue this trend, having him be subjected to TheWorfEffect.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: While an animated show set in the MCU might seem family-friendly enough, most of the [[AlternateUniverse alternate universes]] are darker and more gruesome than the MCU's live-action entries. [[Recap/WhatIfS1E5WhatIfZombies The zombies episode]], in particular, features many beloved characters dying horribly, including two bisections.

** Thanos of all people is starting to get saddled with this as well. His variant in Episode 2 [[RedemptionDemotion isn't as strong]] as his Sacred Timeline counterpart, while the variants in Episodes 5 and 8, [[spoiler:despite having five Infinity Stones in their possession, are unceremoniously killed by either the Quantum virus or Ultron.]]

# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E1WhatIfCaptainCarterWereTheFirstAvenger What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E2WhatIfTChallaBecameAStarLord What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E3WhatIfTheWorldLostItsMightiestHeroes What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E4WhatIfDoctorStrangeLostHisHeartInsteadOfHisHands What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E5WhatIfZombies What If... Zombies?!]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E6WhatIfKillmongerRescuedTonyStark What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E7WhatIfThorWereAnOnlyChild What If... Thor Were an Only Child?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E8WhatIfUltronWon What If... Ultron Won?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS1E9WhatIfTheWatcherBrokeHisOath What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?]]"

# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS2E2WhatIfPeterQuillAttackedEarthsMightiestHeroes What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS2E4WhatIfIronManCrashedIntoTheGrandmaster What If... Iron Man Crashed Into the Grandmaster?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS2E5WhatIfCaptainCarterFoughtTheHydraStomper What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS2E6WhatIfKahhoriReshapedTheWorld What If... Kahhori Reshaped the World?]]"
# "[[YMMV/WhatIfS2E7WhatIfHelaFoundTheTenRings What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings?]]"

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** Xu Wenwu, despite being a fearsome conqueror and warlord, falls ''[[AmazonChaser head over heels for Hela, Goddess of Death.]] It starts with him trying to woo her to his cause, then putting her into a robe that doubles as a ''wedding dress'', before culminating in him trying to kiss her. [[LoveAtFirstPunch It fails spectacularly as she smashes his head into a table]] and escapes...not that that deters him in the slightest. He eventually gets his moment with her when they do battle against Odin.

** Strange Supreme, despite being a ''much'' darker take on the character, slips into some social awkwardness of his own as [[spoiler:he attempts to give a RousingSpeech to the Guardians of the Multiverse, [[EpicFail and completely and utterly botches it]]. Thankfully T'Challa bails him out pretty quickly, though not ''quite'' quickly enough to pick up all of the pieces of his dignity…]]

** “I have seen everything that has ever happened, ever will happen, ever could happen. And yet, what the [[PrecisionFStrike hell]] is this?!” [[labelnote:Explanation]][[NotSoStoic Uatu]]’s incredulous reaction to Ultron Infinity and everything that transpired has been seen as the perfect reaction image[[/labelnote]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Kahorri from the Season 2, Episode 6 episode became an ''instant'' fan-favorite for being an OriginalCharacter for the show and the immense world building that came with it. Fans immediately wished to see more of her in a future project.

** Tony Stark appears in five episodes and is killed off in all but one of them.[[note]]He's also presumably erased from existence like everyone else in Strange Supreme's universe. And in the one episode he didn't die, he was quickly DemotedToExtra.[[/note]] His best showing is in the episode where Killmonger saves him from [[Film/IronMan1 the Ten Rings attack]] only for his new "friend" to kill him shortly afterwards anyway. Viewers couldn't help but notice how bad Stark's luck is in the multiverse, with several joking that Tony's death was an absolute point in time. Head writer A.C. Bradley [[https://ew.com/tv/marvel-what-if-ac-bradley-bryan-andrews-episode-8/ acknowledged the pattern]] and referred to him as "the [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Kenny]] of "What If…?"

** Introduced at the end of the seventh episode, before making his full appearance in the eight episode, [[spoiler:Infinity Ultron. An Ultron that won against the Avengers, before ''[[CurbStompBattle one-shotting]]'' Thanos, claiming ''all'' the Infinity Stones and going down his comic book counterpart's route of killing every form of life in the Universe, before setting his sights on the ''entire multiverse'', but not before an epic fight with the Watcher himself. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he also has a design that's closer to his comic book counterpart's jack-o-lantern face]]]].

* FanficFuel: But of course; the series has brought out many ideas and questions that are just ''begging'' to be answered through fanfics. Episode 2 brings up questions like where are Gamora, Rocket and Groot or [[spoiler:the possibilities of Peter Quill becoming evil and allied with Ego. In the latter case, the Watcher even states the outcome of Peter's encounter with Ego is AnotherStoryForAnotherTime.]] In fact, there were actually talks about a spin-off show based on T'Challa Star-Lord before it had to be scrapped due to Chadwick Boseman's passing. What type of adventures can the fanfic writers give to this timeline?

** After two cameos and a FreezeFrameBonus, Howard the Duck gets to be part of the main plot of one episode when he helps T'Challa to find the Embers of Genesis he's looking for in The Collector's archive. He also gets a comic subplot in another episode with a Vegas Elvis-impersonator wedding to Darcy Lewis.

** In "What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?", [[spoiler: the zombified Wanda from "What If… Zombies?!" is summoned to slow down Infinity Ultron if not outright destroy him. She gets a shocked/dismayed expression after Ultron [[NoSells No Sells]] her attack -- is she suddenly afraid because he resisted her full power, or is it because she realized that this Ultron has Vision's body and is surprised to see her boyfriend "back"?]]

** In the Season 1 finale, [[spoiler: Loki is knocked down by a kick from [[BadassNormal Black Widow]], when [[SuperToughness under normal circumstances he shouldn't even have felt it.]]]]

** The large amount of {{Series Continuity Error}}s and {{Continuity Snarl}}s present throughout the what-if scenarios have proven divisive to viewers. Some consider them harmless and able to be explained under the differences in the multiverse, or are fine viewing the stories under BroadStrokes. Detractors however feel it causes weaker writing and feels that if various continuity errors and [[AssPull Ass Pulls]] are needed to get the desired What-If scenario (Thanos managing to get 5/6 Infinity Stones in Episode 8 considered the biggest offender) then it's a poor concept for an episode.

** [[spoiler: After he showed himself to be one of the (if not the) evilest villains in the entire MCU by destroying his own universe and attempting to do the same to the [[OmnicidalManiac entire multiverse]], it's quite satisfying to see Infinity Ultron get smacked around by the Guardians of the Multiverse and be completely assimilated (and technically killed) by [[LesserOfTwoEvils Arnim Zola, of all people.]]]]

** Episode 3 gives us [[spoiler: the evil Hank Pym, who uses the Ant-Man suit to ''kill most of the Avengers'' with impunity.]] It's impossible not to admire the tactical thinking on display, while at the same time they're horrifying to watch in action, pulling off maneuvers that would be easy to cheer on if [[HeroKiller it weren't the heroes on the receiving end.]] [[spoiler: The haggard, unhinged performance of Creator/MichaelDouglas only adds to this.]]
** Episode 4 gives us one of the saddest and most disturbing characters in the whole franchise in the form of Strange Supreme. Already creepy by virtue of being an evil Doctor Strange, Strange Supreme goes further by [[spoiler: murdering and absorbing countless magical beings and becoming a HumanoidAbomination in the process]], wielding a repertoire of dark and disturbing magic that not even Dormammu's followers could grasp, and having a terrifying [[spoiler: true form, with tendrils, countless eyes, and a shifting shadow]]. It definitely helps that he's quite pitiable as well. [[spoiler:In Episode 8, Uatu asks for his help to defeat Infinity Ultron, which further shows how powerful he is if Uatu believes he has a chance.]].

** The third episode gives us [[spoiler: the evil Hank Pym, who's become Yellowjacket. After losing his daughter, Hank decided to settle the score with Fury. What ensues is Pym showing ''exactly'' what the powers of the Ant-Man suit can do; killing every single original Avenger (Minus Captain America) under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose, including [[NighInvulnerable the Incredible Hulk]] in a creative and horrifically effective manner.]]
** The third episode gained a fair bit of praise for the complete lack of incompetence on Loki's part. [[spoiler: He shows up, immediately ''decimates'' a good number of Fury's troops, helps Fury when it's convenient, even delivering a CurbStompBattle to Hank Pym, and wastes no time in effortlessly conquering Earth once it's convenient.]] It was generally considered a welcome return to his ''Avengers''-era characterization.
** While [[TragicVillain his reason for existing is heartbreaking]] and [[spoiler: the end result is [[DownerEnding horrifying]]]], there's no denying that Strange Supreme, a version of Strange who went all out and abandoned obeying laws in favor of getting power, is a cool concept on its own. It doesn't hurt that the episode centered around him was widely praised.
** The zombified Avengers were generally well-received for their terrifying designs, the fact [[ItCanThink they keep their skills from life]], and just the general fandom joy of seeing ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'' brought to the screen. This only increases as the episode goes on, as it gives us [[spoiler: Zombie Scarlet Witch, who has an utterly ''metal'' design and receives some unexpected humanization]] and peaks at the episode's end, which gives us [[spoiler: Zombie ''Thanos'', standing above the horde in Wakanda with five Infinity Stones at the ready.]]
** The sixth episode features [[spoiler: [[TheChessmaster Erik "Killmonger" Stevens]] turning Wakanda and the US against each other, while convincing Tony Stark and most of the Wakandan royal family that he's to be trusted. Playing both sides in this conflict with ease -- while looking dashing in a white dress uniform -- he's easily one of the most manipulative and charming antagonists in this show, and perhaps the MCU as a whole.]]
** Introduced at the end of the seventh episode, before making his full appearance in the eight episode, [[spoiler: Infinity Ultron. An Ultron that won against the Avengers, before ''[[CurbStompBattle one-shotting]]'' Thanos, claiming ''all'' the Infinity Stones and going down his comic book counterpart's route of killing every form of life in the Universe, before setting his sights on the ''entire multiverse'', but not before an epic fight with the Watcher himself. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And he also has a design that's closer to his comic book counterpart's jack-o-lantern face]]]].

* ItsShortSoItSucks: While each of the alternate realities covered in the show were highly praised, most fans agree that the episode lengths for each one are far too short to really expand upon them in full, with most of them lasting little more than thirty minutes at most. It doesn’t help that the movies that the episodes spin off of are often one and a half hours at the least, meaning the compression of time is really felt in each episode. This is mostly averted with Episode 4 however, which most agree balanced its limited time and pacing well. The fact that the episode ends with [[spoiler: the entire universe ending also means that there wasn't much to go from there.]]

** [[spoiler: Doctor Strange Supreme. After losing Christine in that fateful car accident, Strange becomes consumed by the notion of trying to prevent her death to the point where he is willing to absorb the essence of other beings to become powerful enough to save her at the cost of the entire universe and its people. Even after he succeeds, the universe is destroyed anyway and Strange is left alone in his final moments, having lost his beloved once again and ashamed of all the pain and suffering he has caused.]]
** [[spoiler: Survivor Vision. While he did lure survivors to him in order to feed them to a zombified Wanda under the false pretenses of a cure, one cannot help but feel bad for the poor guy given that he lost the love of his life and doesn't have it in him to put her out of her misery. This also draws parallels to ''Series/WandaVision'' as it shows what would happen if it was Wanda who died instead of him, showing that they are not so different in how they'd handle their grief.]]

* LoveToHate: [[spoiler: Infinity Ultron manages to be the [[CompleteMonster most dangerous and evil MCU villain]] thus far by [[OmnicidalManiac destroying his own universe]] and attempting to do the same to the entire ''multiverse'', yet thanks to Creator/RossMarquand's performance and how [[EvilIsCool menacing and threatening]] he truly is, he's seen as one of the best parts of the series by many.]]

** Though he's also been subject to MemeticLoser as shown below, fans have joked about the improbable danger of [[spoiler: Hank Pym]] due to how frightening the outcome of his actions tends to be. [[spoiler: In the third episode, he rips through the Avengers with ''frightening'' competence, and in the fifth, he dooms Earth itself twice over -- first by accidentally getting infected with the zombie virus by Janet van Dyne, and next by ambushing Captain America]]. Jokes abound about how he's the real villain of the MCU, with some even joking that he could kill ''anyone'' if he so pleased, including [[PhysicalGod Uatu]].

** No matter how awful his actions become, it's difficult not to (at least initially) be pulling for Strange Supreme to succeed on some level, since he's so incredibly pitiable and [[spoiler: his goal is to save Christine, who he's shown to love with all his heart]]. Even the Ancient One explicitly dismisses the idea that he's outright evil and calls him "misguided." That said, this is clearly deliberate, and the episode takes great pains to show why, though Strange Supreme deserves our sympathy, [[spoiler: his arrogance and disregard for everything but his goal are a bad thing, since he ''wins''… and promptly destroys his reality in the process.]]
** Considering how awesome Killmonger's [[TheChessmaster planning and execution]] are in Episode 6's universe, it's very easy to be pulling for him despite him still being the villain of the films. [[spoiler: While there's hope for the heroes thanks to Shuri and Pepper, Killmonger ultimately does win, even becoming the Black Panther, though it earns him a thorough rebuking from T'Challa on the Ancestral Planes]].