Recap / What If…? S1E9 "What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?"

"What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?"

Alternate take on: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Infinity War

"You have been chosen… for a mission that is both highly dangerous and absolutely necessary for the continuation of life as you know it. At first, I scoured eternity for one true hero. Then I saw the bigger picture. This mission requires a team. The perfect combination of skills and experience that alone will triumph."

With Ultron threatening to wipe out all life in the multiverse, Uatu is forced to break his oath of non-interference in order to assemble a team of heroes from across the multiverse, the Guardians of the Multiverse, to take down the omnicidal android.

"What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?" contains examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: Arnim Zola becomes this after being uploaded into Ultron's prime body, as not only is he able to kill Ultron from the inside, but he also takes complete control over the body, and could've possibly gone even further had Strange Supreme not sealed him and Erik Killmonger in a pocket dimension.
• All According to Plan: A heroic example. All the Guardians’ setbacks, including the failure of the Infinity Crusher and Killmonger’s betrayal, were all part of Uatu’s plan to defeat Ultron and restore the Multiverse.
• Alliance of Alternates: The Guardians of the Multiverse are an alliance of alternate versions of the MCU heroes we know, as well as one villain.
• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • The episode begins with Captain Carter working with S.H.I.E.L.D. to take back the Lemurian Star from pirates led by Batroc, just as Captain America did in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Carter’s uniform is also more muted than her original red, white, and blue uniform, as was Rogers’s in Winter Soldier.
  • Uatu’s recruitment of Gamora shows that, no matter the universe, Tony Stark is obsessed with putting a shield of armor around it. His personal armor is also reminiscent of the Hulkbuster suit.
  • The Guardians’ Combination Attack against Ultron is similar to how the Avengers attacked him during the Battle of Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
  • The Guardians do the iconic Avengers’s 360-degree Ass Kicking Pose from The Avengers (2012). Only Thor and Natasha (from different universes) were part of both.
• And I Must Scream: Strange Supreme traps Killmonger and Zola in a pocket dimension orb as they fight over the Infinity Stones, which completely freezes time inside. They're forever trapped in that moment, with Strange Supreme watching over them in his lonely dimension prison that used to be his universe.
• And the Adventure Continues: At the end of the episode, with the Multiverse safe again, Uatu continues watching the universes and everyone in them, while declaring that the Multiverse is his home and he will protect it. This also applies to several other heroes once they returned to their own universes as well:
  • Star Lord T'Challa takes Peter Quill — now freed from his father Ego's grasp — under his wing and they go on further adventures together.
  • Party Thor reunites happily with Jane and possibly goes on to bring joy to the universe now that Ultron's drones have been dealt with.
  • A variant of Gamora — who has already defeated Thanos — goes on further adventures with her universe's variant of Tony Stark.
  • Post-Apocalyptic Black Widow is sent to the universe where the Avengers bar Captain America and Captain Marvel were killed by Hank Pym, joining them in defeating Loki and reforming the team to protect the Earth once more.
  • Finally, Captain Carter goes back to her universe during the Lemurian Star mission, where Natasha shows her that she found the HYDRA Stomper inside one of the containers— with someone heavily implied to be Steve inside, setting that universe's version of The Winter Soldier in motion.
• And This Is for...: Black Widow delivers one of these before firing the virus-infected arrow at Infinity Ultron.
  Black Widow: This one's for you, Clint.
• Arc Welding: Protagonists from the apparently self-contained Episodes 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10 team up to oppose Infinity Ultron, zombies from Episode 5 are briefly used to distract him, and Survivor Natasha relocates to the reality of Episode 3 after the story's end.
• An Arm and a Leg: When Ultron originally tries to reclaim his Soul Stone after landing back in his own universe, Thor throws Mjolnir with enough force to relieve Ultron of his right hand. He instantly reforms a new one with the Stones.
• Armor Is Useless: Subverted on both sides:
  • The magical protection spell Strange Supreme puts on the Guardians is the main reason they're able to stand up to Infinite Ultron at all.
  • Ultron's own armor's protective value isn't clear as a whole, but his helmet protects his eyes, one of the only parts of his body weak enough for the virus arrow to penetrate. Thus Captain Carter has to pull his faceplate back and expose his eyes so it can be shot into his eye.
• Armor of Invincibility: Strange Supreme puts a protection spell on all the Guardians, which allows them to withstand Ultron’s attacks.
• Avengers Assemble: Uatu decides to gather several heroic variants (and some not-so heroic ones) from different universes who were previously introduced in the series and names them the "Guardians of the Multiverse", forming a Multiverse Avengers team of sorts. He comes to them in person, mostly when they are busy dealing with threats in their own realities.
• Back for the Finale: The Guardians of the Multiverse include characters from every episode of the season except the one with the zombies (they get brought in as a distraction by Strange Supreme during the fight with Ultron) and the one where all the heroes died (that universe appears at the end of the episode as a new home for the Natasha whose entire universe was killed by Ultron).
• Badass Boast: When told that Ultron holds the six Infinity Stones that control the essential aspects of all existence, T'Challa tells the rest to leave it to him, as he has stolen more from worse. He lives up to it.
• Batman Gambit: Uatu's plan depends as much on the participants' characters as it does on their skills.
  • Party Thor is very good at attracting unwanted attention, which draws Ultron to the Team without him suspecting a trap.
  • Survivor Natasha keeps Clint's USB arrow and remembers his plan.
  • Captain Carter is able to earn Survivor Natasha's trust because of her friendship with her own Natasha, and during the battle, she'll be able to team up with her effectively.
  • Gamora's Infinity Crusher won't work, but it'll look enough like it does to distract Ultron.
  • Ultron will focus only on the people who pose a direct physical threat, ignoring Dr. Strange Supreme as long as he plays support (but focusing on him once he realizes what Strange could do to him), and disregarding the Badass Normal (or almost normal, in Captain Carter's case) heroes, allowing T'Challa an opening to steal the Soul Stone, Captain Carter to yank off his helmet, and Natasha to shoot him with the Zola arrow.
  • Zola will be able to defeat Ultron Battle in the Center of the Mind-style, but he will become a problem afterwards, as he now possesses Infinity Ultron's body and powers.
  • Killmonger will also make a power play, and will be unwilling to cooperate with Zola, which will weaken both of them enough for Strange Supreme to seal them away- solving the issue of Multiversal Conqueror Zolatron.
• Battle Cry: Thor shouts "Viva Las Vegas!" as he attacks Ultron. Ultron remarks that he's never heard that as a battle cry before.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: This happens between Zola and Ultron once Black Widow manages to upload him into Ultron's body. Zola wins handily.
• Battle Theme Music: The Avengers theme plays when Natasha is transported into the battle on the Helicarrier between the remaining Avengers and Loki’s Asgardian forces.
• Behind the Black: Black Widow manages to snatch the Soul Stone from Gamora, completely taking everyone by surprise despite being on a motorcycle and presumably having to come from a fair distance away. The audience can't see her due to the camera angle but In-Universe there's no reason the Guardians wouldn't have noticed her.
• Belated Happy Ending: As thank you for helping to save the Multiverse, Uatu transports the apocalypse variant of Natasha to the universe where most of the Avengers were killed by Hank Pym, including her counterpart, where she handily puts a stop to Loki's invasion of Earth and joins the new version of the Avengers with Captain America and Captain Marvel.
• Beneath Notice: Strange Supreme takes the Guardians to a universe where there isn’t enough intelligent life to attract Ultron's attention. That is, until Thor makes himself known.
• Book Ends: The first season began and ended with Captain Carter’s story.
• Boxed Crook: Averted for Strange Supreme. After defeating Ultron, Strange returns to his dead universe, though now he is charged with guarding Killmonger and Zola.
• Brought Down to Badass: The first part of the fight with Infinity Ultron happens in a separate universe where, as per Word of God, he can't use the full potential of the Infinity Stones' combined power (and thus can primarily only use them to affect his body or power himself and his weapons), while the second half takes place in his universe but after Star Lord T'Challa has managed to snatch the Soul Stone, weakening him and preventing him from summoning reinforcements. However, he still proves a massive threat even under these circumstances.
• Buffy Speak: The variant of Peter Quill rescued from Ego by Star-Lord T'Challa calls the Watcher a "giant baby-man cape dude".
• Call-Back: There are a few of them.
  • Nidavellir, where Thor, Rocket, and Groot forged Stormbreaker to defeat Thanos in the Sacred Timeline, makes an appearance in Gamora's universe. Eitri is there, hands intact.
  • The episode opens with the same events on the Lemurian Star from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The only thing different is that Captain Carter is present instead of Captain America, with most of the conversations being relatively the same.
    • Carter remembers Arnim Zola from his time working for HYDRA in WWII.
  • When Strange Supreme briefly loses control of his powers to reveal his tentacles, Captain Carter is the first person to notice and ask him about it, which might be a callback to when she saw and fought interdimensional monstrous tentacles in her episode.
  • The zombies from Episode 5 make a reappearance, with notable mention going to Zombie Wanda taking on Ultron, albeit for all of a few seconds before he vaporizes the planet that they were standing on.
  • The cliffhanger from Episode 2 receives a continuation. Ego is using Peter to spread himself across all worlds, until T'Challa grabs Peter and slaps a bomb on Ego's chest.
  • Black Widow from the universe desolated by Ultron is brought to the universe where all the Avengers (except Captain America) were murdered by Hank Pym. Since the events of that episode, Captain America and Captain Marvel are currently fighting off Loki (who took over Earth at the end of Episode 3) and the Asgardians under his command.
  • We're shown a brief follow-up to the ending of Episode 6, with Pepper, Shuri, and the Dora Milaje storming Wakanda's throne room to apprehend Killmonger for his crimes, though only after Uatu already transported him away to form the team to take down Ultron.
  • Once again, the two best direct counters to a combatant wielding the Infinity Stones is either sorcery or people who get their power from the Stones themselves. Throughout Infinity War and Endgame, Strange, Wanda, and Carol were the closest to matching Thanos, excluding Thor with Stormbreaker, and here, the two beings who do the best in direct combat with Ultron are Strange Supreme and Zombie Wanda, though the latter only gets a couple seconds in before Ultron deals with her the same way that he did Carol in the last episode.
    • Also like in Infinity War, a character who uses sorcery defeats a villain who uses the Infinity Stones by effectively playing chess using people when he can't defeat him personally, despite being the or one of the best bets against him. Extra points for Strange Supreme, a variant of the character who played chess with people in Infinity War and Endgame, being the one to realize this and then act accordingly.
  • A major theme in the show Loki (2021) is that Lokis are destined to lose. The ending of Episode 3 seemed to defy this, with Loki leading the Asgardians in conquering Earth. But this episode shows that the re-formed Avengers defeat him.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • When Uatu recruits Thor, Thor is carrying the head of an Ultron Sentry, which he places on the bar counter. Killmonger takes the head with him to study and is seen tinkering with it later on. When Ultron is disabled by Zola, Killmonger uses the head to take Ultron's armor and the Infinity Stones for himself.
  • The protective charm that was put on Good Strange back in his episode is used by Strange Supreme to ward the Guardians of the Multiverse against Ultron's powers. Strange Supreme, being far more powerful, casts a much stronger version of the spell that creates ornate armor instead of just a protective shield.
  • Uatu mentions that Killmonger was Tony Stark's protege. This becomes important in the climax because Killmonger's knowledge of Stark's technology allows him to reprogram Ultron's drone (based on Stark's designs) to try seize control of Ultron's powers.
  • Natasha kept Clint's USB drive arrow from the previous episode, and uses it to transfer Zola into Ultron's body.
• The Chessmaster: Uatu foresaw everything that would go down in the final battle against Ultron, including the Infinity Crusher's failure, Arnim Zola's digital consciousness destroying Ultron, and Killmonger's betrayal. As such, he knew exactly who he had to recruit and what they needed to do in order to win.
• The Chooser of the One: Uatu takes it upon himself to personally gather up the members of the Guardians of the Multiverse.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Unsurprisingly, both Killmonger and Zola try to take the Infinity Stones for themselves after Ultron is deactivated. In fact, their mutual backstab attempt was part of Uatu's plan all along.
• Computer Virus: Natasha finally completes her plan to use the Zola AI as a virus to defeat Ultron.
• Costume Evolution: In the present day of her reality, Captain Carter's new suit mirrors that of Steve's S.T.R.I.K.E. suit from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with a more muted blue and no red (and with the Union Jack replacing his trademark star).
• Crippling Overspecialization: It wouldn't have been unwanted attention if Thor brought the Guardians to Ultron's notice on schedule.
• Crossover Alternate Universe: Heroes from previous episodes of the season join forces to stop Ultron.
• Cutscene Drop: Uatu instantaneously transports Natasha from the Inn Between the Worlds into the battle between Captains America and Marvel against Loki’s Asgardian army. Natasha immediately joins in the fight.
• Decapitation Strike: Invoked by Ultron when he realizes that Strange Supreme is the only thing giving the Guardians of the Multiverse a fighting chance, so he resolves to kill him first. Thankfully, he doesn't get a chance to test the theory before being hijacked and destroyed by the digital Zola.
• Didn't Think This Through: Gamora's Infinity Stone Crusher was designed to work on the stones of her universe. Ultron's copies thus are immune to it because they originate from his own. Subverted, however, as Uatu knew that it wouldn't work and this was just a step to an additional plan.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment:
  • Captain Carter immediately trusts the Natasha Romanoff of a different universe because of her close relationship with the Natasha of her universe. Carter then successfully uses information she knows from her Natasha as a Trust Password to gain this Natasha’s trust.
  • Nick Fury also immediately trusts Natasha when she arrives in his universe. It helps that she just saved him from Loki.
• Drink-Based Characterization: While giving a toast to their newfound team, the Guardians of the Multiverse get their own personalized alcoholic beverages. Thor gets a mead, T’Challa gets red wine, Gamora and Killmonger both get purple shot glasses, Captain Carter gets a tropical drink in a hurricane glass, and Strange Supreme gets a cocktail in an old-fashioned champagne glass.
• Earn Your Happy Ending:
  • In gratitude for helping to save the Multiverse, Uatu brings the variant of Black Widow to the third episode's universe where most of the original Avengers died, allowing her to replace her dead counterpart and live in a world where at least some of the friends that she knew are still alive.
  • Peggy namedrops the trope when they're being sent back to their own realities, asking to be sent back to her past, to reunite with Steve, by questioning, "Haven't I earned my happy ending?" The Watcher, perhaps knowing what'll happen in The Stinger, vaguely reassures her that her reality still needs her.
• Eat the Bomb: When Ultron loses his temper and tries to take out the heroes with a galaxy-sized explosion, Strange Supreme condenses and then eats the blast, completely unharmed by the energies involved. Ultron understandably goes Oh, Crap!.
  Ultron: Wait, what?!
• Eating the Eye Candy: Played With. Strange Supreme tells Captain Carter that in his universe, Steve Rogers received the serum. Carter, intrigued, states that that would be quite the sight. Her tone makes it clear that, while she's still very much in love with the skinny, weak Steve from her universe, she'd really enjoy getting to see him post-serum.
• "Eureka!" Moment: When he witnesses Killmonger and Zola fighting over the stones, Strange Supreme realizes why Uatu recruited all of them specifically and uses magic to trap the pair in a pocket dimension for eternity.
• Evil vs. Evil: Erik Killmonger versus Ultron, Zombie Wanda versus Ultron, Arnim Zola versus Ultron, and Arnim Zola versus Erik Killmonger.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Captain Carter is sporting a modern hairstyle, showing that she has acclimated to life in the 21st century, compared to Captain America from the Sacred Timeline who kept with his conservative, old-fashioned haircuts in the present-day.
• Eye Scream: Black Widow shoots the Zola arrow directly into Ultron's eye, with an assist from Peggy getting his helmet off.
• Exact Words: Strange mentions earlier that the key to stop Ultron is to "separate the Infinity Stones from his body". When Ultron (possessed by Zola) and Killmonger fight over them, Strange remembers these words and freezes their struggle into a pocket dimension. Victory over either villain was never the objective. They just need to keep the stones away.
• Fake Ultimate Mook: At the end of the episode, Asgardians are shown being easily defeated by Captain America as if they were no different from other types of Mooks. And even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s soldiers are shown fighting as equals.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: The Guardians of the Multiverse all return to their own universes – or in Natasha’s case, a different one – once Ultron is defeated and Killmonger and Zola become sealed in a duel.
• The Final Temptation: After Killmonger takes the stones and armor from the defeated Ultron, he tries to get the other heroes to join him by offering them the chance to use the stones to fix their respective universes. They all flat out reject him (and honestly, considering what a lying Manipulative Bastard Killmonger is, it's doubtful that he would have kept his promise even if they agreed).
  Killmonger: The Watcher owes us this. With these stones, we can fix our worlds. Our lives. T'Challa, Thor, are you going to turn down the one thing guaranteed to save your homes? Peggy, you can be with your fella again. Strange, you more than anyone know that this is it. This is our only chance…
• Flat "What": This is Ultron's reaction to Strange eating a galaxy-sized explosion. He's so baffled that he doesn't even notice T'Challa about to tackle him.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Killmonger is mostly quiet after being recruited and starts tinkering around with an Ultron Sentry head (at one point Gamora even questions whether or not he can be trusted). After Ultron is taken over by Zola, Killmonger reveals his true colors by using the Sentry's head to steal Ultron's armor and the Infinity Stones for himself.
  • Killmonger is notably the only member of the Guardians where we see what happens after The Watcher whisks him away, with the Dora Milaje barging into the now-empty throne room. This turns out to be intentional, as The Watcher tells the heroes that they will be returned to their universes at the exact points in time from which they were taken. Killmonger being absent after being taken indicates that he doesn't return to his universe.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Strange models his pocket dimension after the bar where Steve and Peggy had drinks, as she's the least familiar with cosmic weirdness next to Killmonger (who Strange would be unlikely to spare the same courtesy).
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Ultron throws T'Challa off of him, you can see that the Soul Stone is missing from his armor showing that T'Challa's theft was successful before he shows the stone to Captain Carter seconds later.
• Ghost Planet: By the time the Guardians of the Multiverse arrive in that universe Post-Apocalypse Black Widow and the AI version of Arnim Zola are the only beings left. It's little wonder that Natasha refuses to return to a universe where she'd be completely alone.
• Glamour Failure: Strange has a couple instances of this. His arm reverts into tentacles when he's casting the pre-battle protection spells around the camp, and later he shifts into his monster form as he's channeling his full power against Ultron.
• Godzilla Threshold: Infinity Ultron is such a threat that Uatu breaks his oath of non-interference and directly intervenes by gathering champions from across the multiverse to defeat him.
• Gratuitous English: When fighting Captain Carter, Georges Batroc speaks primarily in English while squaring off with her, which is a sharp comparison to his Sacred Timeline self who usually communicates in French.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Uatu informs the newly formed Guardians of the Multiverse that no one in their individual universes will ever know how they saved the Multiverse from Infinity Ultron, then returns each of them to the exact moment they left, save for Killmonger and Natasha.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Peggy proves critical to the team to earn the trust of the post-apocalypse Black Widow after the Guardians land back in Ultron's native universe, and the resultant synergy between the two proves extremely effective against Ultron during the rest of the fight, with the pair even landing the final blow once Ultron gives them an opening.
• Hero of Another Story: The episode exploring the alternate Gamora and Iron Man on Sakaar was pushed back to season two due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, so they appear without any real explanation after their story appears to have already finished. Subverted in regards to everyone else, as Uatu returns them back to what they were doing before they were recruited except for Killmonger, who remains trapped in a pocket dimension.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: After wiping out virtually all life on his home Earth, Ultron didn't bother to obliterate the planet itself like he did to all the other worlds. So Natasha and the Zola-A.I. survived to be able to take out Ultron.
• Horrifying the Horror: Ultron pulls this on a zombified Wanda when her magic proves ineffective against him, causing the otherwise relentless zombie to stop her attack and stare at him in utter shock shortly before he blows up the planet that she's standing on.
• I Warned You: Played for laughs when Thor, after accidentally summoning Ultron, points out that he did boast of attracting unwanted attention.
• Ice-Cream Koan: What Strange Supreme's toast to the Guardians of the Multiverse ends up devolving into, complete with Buffy Speak.
  Strange Supreme: A wise sorcerer once told me that to face death is part of the plan. To face death is to conquer one's… greatest fear of the… unknown. Of… nothingness space of… the end of… all ends! The… senseless nothing and the vast opening of infinity to your—
  T'Challa: Let me. You’ve done enough, Doctor.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Black Widow shoots Ultron in the eye with an arrow. While riding a motorcycle. In midair. As Ultron is enveloped in blinding light! Clint would be proud.
• Inn Between the Worlds: The Guardians meet inside an extradimensional pub based on one described in Captain Carter's biography.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • In Peggy's universe, the ship raid at the beginning of Captain America: The Winter Soldier takes place in mostly the same way, though the target is different in this iteration.
  • Loki in the universe where Hank Pym killed most of the Avengers has somehow come into possession of the Scepter holding the Mind Stone, just as in 2012 in the Sacred Timeline, despite the incident that led to him meeting Thanos — falling into the void when Thor stopped him from destroying the Frost Giants — never happening here.
  • A team battling a wielder of Infinity Stones on a desolated world includes Doctor Strange and Star Lord.
• Instant-Win Condition: Strange Supreme's vast mystical power makes him a Physical God and the sole reason that the Guardians of the Multiverse even have a shot at beating Ultron. When Ultron realizes this, he focuses all his efforts on taking out Strange, as the rest would then stand no chance against him. Ironically, it’s Ultron’s focus on exploiting this that leaves him vulnerable to Captain Carter and Black Widow shooting him with the Zola-arrow.
• Internal Reveal: Peggy learns from Natasha that S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated by HYDRA, which is likely also true of her universe to some extent. Incidentally, this occurs shortly before what appears to be her universe's version of Winter Soldier begins.
• Irony: Ultron’s first act is to attempt to kill a benevolent A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S., by overwriting him. Ultron is killed by an actual malevolent A.I., Zola by being overwritten by him.
• Is This a Joke?: Thor initially dismisses the whole thing as one of Loki's pranks and tries to leave.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Uatu's plan depends on misdirecting both Ultron and the Guardians. He makes them believe that the plan is to destroy Ultron's Infinity Stones using the Stone Crusher. When this fails, Ultron decides to destroy the Guardians before they can come up with a new plan. He focuses all his power and attention on destroying Strange Supreme and fails to realize that the real threat is Black Widow and Uatu's real plan is to take him down with the Zola A.I.. At the same time, Killmonger goes along with the Stone Crusher plan but when it fails, he jumps on the opportunity to claim the stones for himself. This is the second part of Uatu's real plan since he needed a way to neutralize Zola's control over Ultron's body, and Killmonger's backstabbing nature walked him right into that role.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • Killmonger, after spending his episode getting everything he wanted through murders and lies, is about to be overthrown by Shuri and Pepper while Wakanda is left in ruins. Subverted when Uatu takes Killmonger away to defend the Multiverse just moments before Shuri's team reaches him. Later double-subverted when it's revealed that Uatu knew that Killmonger would try to seize the Infinity Stones for himself and foresaw that Strange Supreme would ensure that both Killmonger and Zola would be trapped in a pocket dimension frozen in a duel, thereby ending Killmonger's reign of terror in his universe.
  • King Loki, after practically conquering the Earth in Episode 3 with little resistance, gets defeated by a universe-displaced Black Widow when she uses his scepter containing the Mind Stone against him. Additionally, his reign over Earth is crumbling thanks to Captain America and Captain Marvel acting as the new Avengers.
• Karmic Death: Ultron's first action after being brought to life was destroying J.A.R.V.I.S. by infecting and overwhelming his programming. His death is the result of Arnim Zola doing the exact same thing to him.
• Keep Away: Once Ultron has the Soul Stone separated from him, the Guardians go on an all-out assault to prevent him from acquiring it again and regaining his full power.
• Keystone Army: Once Zola destroys Ultron's consciousness, the drones that Ultron had scattered across the multiverse cease to function.
• Laser-Guided Karma: As T'Challa in the Astral Plane tried to warn him at the end of Episode 6, Erik's Chronic Backstabbing Disorder finally did catch up with him. When we first see him, Wakanda is in ruins and he's seconds away from being deposed for his manipulations. Uatu foresaw his betrayal of the Guardians, and later, Strange Supreme successfully traps Killmonger and Zola in a pocket dimension where they are locked in their power struggle to gain control of the Infinity Stones for eternity. Uatu's plan to send the Guardians back to their original universes the exact moment they left makes it clear that there was no scenario where Killmonger would've actually won. (Plus, after Killmonger's extraction, the episode showed events there continuing without him, instead of cutting away immediately like the others).
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The variant Natasha's attempted Breaking Speech to Uatu, which could just as easily be directed at the audience.
  Natasha: We're just stories to you. We're not real. You watch us fight, win, lose. Tell me, did you make popcorn while Ultron murdered my friends and burned my world to the ground?
• Leeroy Jenkins: Once Ultron appears in the Guardians’ uninhabited universe, Thor ignores whatever plan the Guardians had developed and immediately attacks Ultron with a bolt of lightning.
  Thor: VIVA LAS VEGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…
• Logical Weakness:
  • One that the showrunners actually drew attention to: Infinity Ultron can only use the Infinity Stones to their full power in his own universe, as they only work in their native universe, and thus he can only use them to affect himself and things from his universe. This gives the Guardians much more of a chance against him fighting him in a different one.
  • Much like Thanos needed all six Infinity Stones to affect things on a universal scale, Infinity Ultron needs all six to use his full power, which includes summoning his army from other universes. As such, Star-Lord T'Challa swipes the Soul Stone very early in the confrontation and makes him much more manageable even once they're in his universe, though still extremely dangerous.
  • Infinity Ultron might not need to flex like with the gauntlet, but he still needs to focus on what he wants to do. As a result, the group rapid-fire comboing him to the point where he doesn't have a chance to think or focus on what he wants to do to keeps him pinned.
  • As Vibranium is opaque, Infinity Ultron's eyes are made of some form of crystal. As a result, they're one of the only places he's vulnerable to attack.
  • Also, for all of his power, in the end Ultron is still an AI. And AI's can get infected with Viruses.
• Musical Nod:
  • Tyler Bates' Guardians of the Galaxy theme can be heard when T'Challa rescues Peter from Ego.
  • Ludwig Göransson's Killmonger's theme plays during Killmonger's moments of villainy. Goransson's music for sad moments related to Wakandan royalty in Black Panther also plays when T'Challa tries to convince Killmonger to give up the Stones.
  • Michael Giacchino's theme for Doctor Strange plays during some scenes with Strange Supreme, specifically when he seals away Zola and Killmonger.
  • The Avengers' theme plays when Uatu transfers Natasha to the Dead Avengers universe.
  • Also, Alan Silvestri's Captain America theme plays when Captain Carter is shown the Hydra Stomper in the end credits scene.
• Mythology Gag:
  • After Zola's mind kills Ultron and takes over his body, it bears resemblance to his iconic android body from the comics, complete with a stomach face screen and a head with one functioning eye.
  • The protective spells that Strange Supreme casts on the Guardians take the form of glowing armor resembling each hero's attire from the comics.
  • The concept of a group of heroes being recruited to face a vast cosmic threat in a place beyond time and space, and then, once their task is complete, deposited back into their respective adventures without any time passing is very similar to Secret Wars (1984), a.k.a. the original comic book crossover event.
  • The Secret Wars (2015) event also gets a reference when an army of Zombies from an earlier episode are deployed to fight the Ultron. This is a reference to the Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies.
  • Carter and Natasha finish their Combination Attack on Ultron with hits that look almost exactly like Captain America's Charging Star.
  • Sole-survivor Natasha is not the first Marvel hero who would permanently relocate to an alternate Earth because there's nothing for her back on her own Earth to return to.
• Near-Villain Victory: Ultron had just overwhelmed the magical protective armor around the Guardians and was seconds away from vaporizing them, if not for Captain Carter yanking his helmet so Natasha can hit him with the viral arrow.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Thor accidentally summons Ultron ahead of schedule by getting too rowdy with his lightning. He points out that he did warn them about attracting unwanted attention.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Zola inadvertently saves the Multiverse when he, in Ultron's body, tries to steal the Infinity Stones from Killmonger before the treacherous Wakandan prince could flee with them. This causes Killmonger to engage in a tug-of-war over the stones, allowing Strange Supreme to imprison both of them in a pocket dimension, ending the multiversal threat for good. It also works the other way around, as without Killmonger making his move, Zola would simply take the Infinity Stones and replace Ultron as the multiversal threat.
• No-Sell:
  • Infinity Ultron is completely unharmed by Thor's lightning, blocking it with a single hand, and seems more fazed over Thor's odd Battle Cry of "Viva Las Vegas".
  • A zombified Scarlet Witch manages to get a stronger reaction out of Ultron with her attack, but he likewise ends up shrugging it off with no damage, earning an Oh, Crap! out of her shortly before blowing up the planet that she's on.
  • At one point Ultron uses the Time Stone to slow everyone down so that he can retrieve his Soul Stone… but Strange Supreme has his own Time Stone protecting him, and he uses it to cancel out Ultron's time stop.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Zombie Wanda has this reaction when she realizes that Ultron can No-Sell her powers, just before Ultron obliterates her.
  • Ultron has two brief ones, first when he sees Strange Supreme No-Sell his own galaxy-destroying blast, and then later when he realizes that Star-Lord T'Challa managed to swipe the Soul Stone from his armor.
• The Oner: We get a long shot mainly focused on Ultron fighting the Guardians near the climax, highlighting the team's synergy. This is followed by another extended shot focused on the Soul Stone while the heroes continue playing Keep Away until Ultron decides to make use of his Time Stone.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The situation becomes so dire that Uatu breaks his oath and intervenes by assembling a team of heroes (and one not-so-heroic) to fight the threat.
• Outside-Context Problem: Strange Supreme is this to Ultron, as Ultron doesn't seem to have much experience dealing with sorcerers, much less one of Strange Supreme's caliber, and thus simply can't figure out why the Guardians of the Multiverse won't die during their prolonged fight. Beyond that, Strange Supreme also still carries his Time Stone, which he uses to counter Ultron's use of his own Time Stone. Once Ultron figures out to what extent Strange is running support for the Guardians, he resolves to focus on killing Strange using the full force of the six Infinity Stones, until Black Widow gets an opening to introduce another Outside-Context Problem for Ultron in the form of Zola as an analog AI that infiltrates his body and destroys his own consciousness.
• Overly Long Gag: Thor's "Viva Las Vegas!" battlecry. He holds the final "a" for an extended period of time while we cut back and forth between Thor, Ultron, and the other Guardians, until Ultron finally gets bored and shuts the lightning down.
• Pass the Popcorn: Discussed by Black Widow when she calls out the Watcher, asking him if he made some popcorn while he watched Ultron destroy her world and kill all her friends.
• Patricide: Uatu reveals that the Gamora he chose killed her father Thanos in her universe.
• Pet the Dog: After saving the Multiverse, the Watcher sends Black Widow to the universe where the original Avengers were murdered by Hank Pym, allowing her to start again rather than dooming her to a lonely existence on a ruined Earth in an empty universe.
• Pillar of Light: Killmonger creates a sky beam when he uses the Infinity Stones to attack the Guardians.
• Race Lift: The Batroc of the Sacred Timeline appears to be an ethnically French Algerian, while the Batroc of Captain Carter's timeline appears to be ethnically Algerian.
• Recruiting the Criminal: When Uatu recruits Killmonger, he refers to him as Tony Stark’s killer. It’s not surprising, then, when Killmonger turns out to be the Sixth Ranger Traitor.
• Regime Change: Killmonger is in the midst of being overthrown by a combination of U.S. and Wakandan forces when Uatu arrives to recruit him.
• Rewatch Bonus: We're shown the immediate aftermath of Killmonger’s disappearance due to the Watcher recruiting him. In all other instances, it's an immediate cut from the moment they're taken. Since those who returned home arrived at the exact moment they left, and thus those timelines would be able to continue, it serves as Foreshadowing that Killmonger won’t be returning to his universe.
• The Scream: Thor's exact reaction to being grabbed by the hand of a humongous Watcher.
• Sealed Evil in a Duel: Killmonger and Zola's ultimate fate by the end is being trapped in a pocket dimension orb, forever locked in a tug-of-war over the Infinity Stones. Strange Supreme, still in his own collapsed universe, promises to watch them for eternity should the prison ever start to unravel.
• Sequel Hook:
  • Once Captain Carter is returned to her own universe, that reality's Black Widow guides her to a container aboard the Lemurian Star, which holds the HYDRA Stomper armour, along with someone inside (implied to be Steve Rogers).
  • Inverted into a prequel hook with the variant of Gamora who defeated Thanos and allied with Iron Man, since the episode that set up their appearance was delayed until the second season due to production difficulties resulting from Covid-19.
  • Strange Supreme remains alive and available in his remnant universe while watching over Zola and Killmonger as Sealed Evil in a Duel. He also mentions that they could get loose, while pledging to prevent it.
  • Further stories are also possible with Star-Lord T'Challa and Peter Quill, Party Thor, or even the post-apocalyptic Black Widow in her new "home" universe. Prince Killmonger's permanent disappearance into a frozen pocket universe means that his reality's variant of Shuri would probably be the new monarch of Wakanda.
• Series Continuity Error: Once again pops up, some of which may not entirely be justified by the multiversal difference.
  • When the portal to the zombie universe opens, the first zombies that come through the portal include the Falcon, who was bisected head-to-toe, and Captain America, who was cut in half at the waist. Given that this involves The Multiverse, it's possible that they were pulled from a similar but not identical universe, or Strange simply plucked them out from a time before those injuries happened.^note Though one of the zombies appears to be Sharon, which means he would pretty much have to pull the zombies from their universe as Bucky runs to the back of the train in Episode 5.
  • At the end of the previous episode, Zola had been uploaded to an Ultron Sentry. Here, he's still in Clint's USB arrow, with no explanation as to why he abandoned a body that already had a connection to the Ultron Hive Mind. It's possible that Natasha didn't feel like lugging around his damaged body and put him back, but it doesn't make much sense because Zola would have instantly defeated Ultron the moment he arrived had the situation carried on from the previous episode.^note It's worth pointing out that the last time we saw Natasha, she was in Siberia, and when we see her in this episode, she's in Shibuya. This implies that quite some time has passed, lending credence to the idea that she got sick of lugging around Zola's body.
  • Peggy reveals to Ultron-verse Natasha that she knows her father(s) (i.e. her biological father Ivan, and her adoptive father figure Alexei). While it's not out of the realm of possibility that she could learn this information in her universe, the Ultron-verse Natasha followed the main MCU up to the near-present, so she wouldn't know the identity of her real father (Natasha only learned this mere minutes before her death in Avengers: Endgame, as a consequence of her and Clint searching for the Soul Stone).
  • King Loki managed to gain possession of the Chitauri Sceptre as he did in the Sacred Timeline. However, his Sacred Timeline counterpart received it from Thanos after falling from the Bifrost, which never happened here, which raises questions as to how and why King Loki managed to acquire it.
• Set Bonus: The Set Bonus for the Infinity Stones is a plot point: Star Lord T'Challa swipes the Soul Stone near the start of the battle. This leaves him weakened considerably and gives them a fighting chance.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: An in-universe case, with Killmonger simply vanishing during Pepper and Shuri’s rebellion, and no one ever knowing what happened to him.
• Shout-Out:
  • The way the giant hand of Uatu grabs Thor is similar to how King Kong grabs Ann in King Kong (1933). Thor even screams in terror.
  • Ultron starts off the Final Battle by disintegrating a mountain and bringing it down on the Guardians of the Multiverse, remarking "All too easy." as he turns away.
• Sixth Ranger: Post-Apocalypse Natasha was not recruited by Uatu, but she joins the Guardians of the Multiverse partway through their battle with Ultron after they stumble across her destroyed world. Uatu, having foreseen the entire outcome of the battle, probably knew that she would join them anyway.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Killmonger stands out from the Guardians of the Multiverse as being the only genuine villain (as Strange Supreme is The Atoner in this episode) in a group of superheroes. Naturally, he betrays the group after defeating Ultron, intending to steal the Infinity Stones and use them for his own purposes. However, Uatu had counted on his betrayal and uses it to trap both Killmonger and the resurrected Zola inhabiting Ultron's body in a tug of war over the Infinity Stones and then have Strange seal them away for eternity in a pocket dimension.
• Sizeshifter: Ultron tries to grow himself to Kaiju proportions to fight the heroes. Strange responds by summoning Kraken tentacles to envelop and compress him back to human size.
• So Much for Stealth: Thor’s powerful lightning bolt reveals that the Guardians are hiding out on an uninhabited universe. To be fair, Thor did warn them that he was good at attracting unwanted attention.
• Soft Glass: Natasha plows through multiple windows on her way up to fire the arrow at Ultron and one more on her way back down.
• The Stinger: Captain Carter and Black Widow discover the HYDRA Stomper, and according to Natasha, someone's inside that's heavily implied to be her universe's Steve Rogers.
• Superhero Speciation: A more nuanced example of speciation - the Guardians are all picked by the Watcher for their specific role in the battle against Infinity Ultron:
  • Strange Supreme is the only one near Infinite Ultron's power, and so he can protect the rest of the team, and also trap Zolatron and Killmonger when the latter pair fight over the Infinity Stones.
  • Peggy's relationship with the Black Widow of her universe grants her the ability to earn post-apocalypse Natasha's trust after the Guardians land on Ultron's world. The two go on to deliver the killing blow to Ultron by the end of the fight.
  • T'Challa, being an intergalactic Robin Hood, proves critical to swipe the Soul Stone right off of Ultron's armor without him realizing.
  • Thor serves to attract Ultron himself to the battle, along with being a general heavy hitter.
  • Gamora provides the Infinity Crusher, which proves to be a critical component of the fight despite its failure, since the end result of using the Crusher is a distraction, then ultimately defeated Ultron.
  • Killmonger's attempt to steal Ultron's Infinity Stones serves to separate the Stones from Ultron's body when he subsequently gets caught in a tug-of-war with Zola, allowing for the Stones and all three entities involved with the tug-of-war to be sealed away.
• Support Party Member: Even though Strange is the heaviest hitter in the group, he mostly limits his actions to support magic and only directly attacks Ultron when it proves necessary. This seems to be done out of pragmatism, so Ultron doesn't figure out just how much Strange is contributing until it's too late. When Strange tips his hand by magically restraining Ultron for the Infinity Crusher, Ultron instantly realizes that taking out Strange will massively tip the odds and focuses on killing him.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Thor asks for an explanation to be repeated in case someone didn't get it. Not that he needs it, of course.
  Thor: Slow down a little bit. There's a few people in the room that don't understand… not me, I get it.
• Take That, Audience!: Natasha's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the Watcher about him seeing the multiverse as a mashup of stories with fictional characters fighting, winning and losing to no end is clearly a dig towards the audience and fandom of every stories and franchise (not only Marvel) in general. His response is a rebuttal to this idea, however, stating that their stories are more important to him than mere entertainment. Later, he states that The Multiverse is his home and he'll protect it to the end.
• This Cannot Be!: Given that in his universe Natasha is dead, Loki is genuinely astounded when the post-apocalyptic Widow intervenes in his efforts to use the scepter on Nick Fury.
  Loki: I was told you were dead!
  Natasha: Same.
• Token Evil Teammate: The Watcher recruits Killmonger for his team to stop Ultron. Everyone else on the team is a hero (including Doctor Strange Supreme, who's The Atoner). He actually planned for the villain's Chronic Backstabbing Disorder to inadvertently help end the threat of Infinity Ultron.
• Trust Password: Peggy uses various things that she knows about her Natasha to get the Post-Apocalypse variant of Natasha to trust her.
• The Unreveal: In The Stinger, while Black Widow says that someone's inside the HYDRA Stomper and it's implied to be Steve Rogers, the audience never actually sees who it is.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee:
  • The Guardians discuss the plan to use Gamora's machine, the Infinity Crusher, to destroy Ultron's Infinity Stones. But nobody thought to realize that it was useless against Stones from other universes.
  • Uatu had knowledge of the entire multiverse at his disposal to form a plan, none of which he told his Guardians. He only intended for them to provide an opening, allowing Black Widow and Strange Supreme to end the threat. Both times.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them: Black Widow, shortly after being dropped off in the new universe by Uatu, disarms and uses the Scepter holding the Mind Stone to subdue Loki.
• Villainous Breakdown: Infinity Ultron gradually gets more and more infuriated as the episode progresses and he finds himself unable to kill the Guardians of the Multiverse despite his sheer power.
  Infinity Ultron: I can destroy galaxies with a thought. Why won't you DIE?!
• We Can Rule Together: Erik offers to share the stones with the other Guardians of the Multiverse so they can all get what they want. They decline. Given his nature, this is absolutely the right call.
• Wham Line: In the stinger, Captain Carter and Black Widow find the HYDRA Stomper, but that's not all…
  Natasha: Someone's inside…
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Strange calls in the zombie horde from Episode 5, along with zombified Wanda, to distract Ultron briefly. Hulk, last seen fighting both, is nowhere to be seen. For that matter, the larger zombie threat, including Zombie Thanos and the Infinity Stones being brought together, goes unaddressed.^note It's entirely possible that he simply picked a different spot on the timeline of their universe, but even that seems shaky at best.
  • In the previous episode, Zola had been uploaded into an Ultron Sentry with access to the Hive Mind. In this episode, he's back in Clint's USB arrow with no explanation. Though it is possible that during Natasha's trip to the devastated Shibuya, she might've reuploaded him into the arrow so they could try again, or she just didn't want to carry around a legless Sentry that already failed to work as intended.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When only Natasha is left with Uatu after the other Guardians of the Multiverse have returned to their proper universes, she snaps at him, saying that everything is just a story to him and nobody he watches is actually real to him. He watches them as they win, lose, and die without a care, and refuses to help them fix the damage already done. Uatu doesn't hold it against her, though, and while he can't fix her own universe, he instead brings her to a different universe that lost its own Natasha to give her a fresh start.
• Why Won't You Die?: Ultron snaps this at the Guardians of the Multiverse after repeated failures to kill them.
• The Worf Barrage:
  • Thor unleashes a massive lightning bolt on Ultron as his opening salvo, who is completely unharmed and more confused by Thor's battle cry of "VIVA LAS VEGAS!".
  • Zombie Wanda's magical power only succeeds in briefly staggering Ultron before he nukes the entire planet and her along with it.
  • Strange Supreme is the reason why the Guardians of the Multiverse are able to fight on an even playing field against the nigh-omnipotent Infinity Ultron. He casts a protection spell on his teammates that cushions blows that would obliterate normal humans. When Infinity Ultron tries destroying the galaxy that they're in, he eats the attack. When Infinity Ultron tries using the Time Stone to steal back the Soul Stone, Strange Supreme just cancels it out with his own Time Stone.
• Worf Had the Flu: Infinity Ultron, as per Word of God, can't use the Infinity Stones to directly affect anything but himself and his weapons when outside his universe. While they're in another one, Star Lord T'Challa steals the Soul Stone and thus greatly diminishes his power once they're back in his original universe (as shown when Thor's attacks were initially shrugged off but after he loses the Soul Stone he takes one of Ultron's arms off). As such, Ultron spends most of his fight without access to the full power that let him effortlessly destroy his universe, and once he does get it back, he has to be outthought, not outmuscled in order to be defeated.
• Wrecked Weapon: The Red Guardian shield Natasha picks up (and uses together with Captain Carter) is disintegrated when Infinity Ultron unleashes a strong enough wave, forcing Peggy to fall back to shield Natasha.
• You All Meet in an Inn: The Pocket Dimension where Uatu gathers the Guardians of the Multiverse is shaped like a pub by Strange Supreme, which he did to help Captain Carter, even including a picture of the skinny Steve Rogers that she knew as a bit of nostalgia.

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"That's it, isn't it? All creatures searching for a place to belong… To call home. As for me, I am the Watcher. The Multiverse, every single world, every story is my home, and I will protect it to the end…"