Recap / What If...? S2E5 "What If... Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?"

"What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper?"

Alternate take on: The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Black Widow

"I don't do sequels. Normally. What's the point of revisiting the story when there are infinite stories to be told? But then, not every universe is home to a Captain Peggy Carter, the super-soldier, the hero of World War II, a woman quite literally ahead of her time. But there is only one Peggy Carter that I would call my friend. She and the Guardians of the Multiverse saved all of existence. I returned the heroes to their own worlds, the exact moments they left. Peggy, though, she thought her story was over... but it was only just beginning."

— Uatu

Continuing where the Season 1 finale left off, Captain Peggy Carter and Natasha Romanoff find a container housing the HYDRA Stomper. However, the mech suit and its occupant attack both ladies, and amidst the flying bullets and explosions, Peggy sees an all-too-familiar face behind the metallic mask. Now, as the HYDRA Stomper begins attacking the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Peggy must try to reach out to the man she promised a dance date, even if she and Natasha must face a jaw-dropping revelation about who brought the metallic monster back online.

"What If... Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper?" contains examples of:

• Action Prologue: The cold open shows a Captain Carter-led team of Avengers fighting the Chitauri at the Battle of New York.
• Adapted Out:
  • Despite following the events of The Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson, Maria Hill, Alexander Pierce and Jasper Sitwell do not appear.
  • Yelena Belova and the Red Guardian are nowhere to be seen in this episode, despite the prominence of the Red Room in its story.
• Adaptational Diversity: According to head writer A.C. Bradley, Captain Carter's vital role in winning World War II kickstarted the feminist movement after the war, putting women in powerful positions much earlier. Hence, this world's Avengers have an equal amount of men and women— with Captain Carter and the Wasp replacing Captain America and the Hulk — and the S.H.I.E.L.D. S.T.R.I.K.E. team actually includes women.invoked
• Adaptational Heroism: Brock Rumlow and the entire S.T.R.I.K.E. team are loyal and heroic S.H.I.E.L.D. agents here. The alternate reality of Bucky and Rogers going after HYDRA cells well into the 1950s may have prevented the group from corrupting S.H.I.E.L.D. like in the Sacred Timeline.
• Adaptational Villainy: Unlike in the Sacred Timeline, Melina Vostokoff became the new overseer of the Red Room after Natasha succeeded in actually killing Dreykov during her defection to S.H.I.E.L.D., which allowed Melina's Mad Scientist tendencies to grow out of control in Dreykov's absence.
• Adaptational Wimp: It is implied that Carter and Black Widow easily defeated Loki. In the Sacred Timeline, Loki easily overpowered Captain America and could withstand repulsor blasts from Iron Man. It ultimately took the Hulk to stop him, even if it was a massively one-sided battle.
• Allohistorical Allusion:
  • This episode follows many of the same beats at The Winter Soldier storyline in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War:
    • The story begins with Peggy picking up Natasha, who is jogging around the Lincoln Memorial. This is a reversal of Nat picking up Steve.
    • The characters first discover a wider plot during a mission on the Lemurian Star.
    • After the Lemurian Star mission, Carter and Nick Fury argue about Fury's decision not to share confidential information with Carter.
    • Both Peggy and Bucky attempt a "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight by refusing to fight Steve and instead appealing to his conscience.
    • Peggy goes rogue in order to save Steve, with Natasha helping her despite reservations. This mirrors the dynamic between Steve, Bucky, and Sam, respectively, in Captain America: Civil War.
    • Peggy catches up on Star Wars movies. Not clear if Steve ever did, but it was on his to-do list.
    • They travel to the base where Steve was first programmed, which proves to be a trap where the Hidden Villain reveals herself.
  • Peggy refers to Tony and Bruce as "mad scientists," which Tony also says about both of them in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
  • A musical is made about Peggy Carter, just as there is about Steve Rogers in the Sacred Timeline. Though here, it’s a movie, rather than a play.
  • The HYDRA Stomper takes out a Quinjet by crashing into its wing, in much the same way as Iron Man took out an F22 Raptor in his first film, though here it was intentional.
• All There in the Manual: The credits identify the alternate Scarlet Witch as also being her reality's Merlin.
• Ambiguous Situation: Wasp's real name isn't stated and she never speaks, so it's not clear if it's Janet van Dyne (the costume resembles hers) or Hope (the modern Wasp in the Sacred Timeline). A.C. Bradley later revealed on Twitter that the Wasp is, in fact, Hope van Dyne.
• Ambiguously Bi: Melina tells Peggy that she doesn't know if she wants to kiss her, kill her, or dissect her, and she reacts pleasantly when Peggy sarcastically suggests all three.
• And I Must Scream: Steve is self-aware while the HYDRA Stomper is active, but it also overrides his free will, leaving him trapped in his own body.
• Artistic License – Military: An irate Peggy demands to know why she wasn't "debriefed" about Steve being the HYDRA Stomper, and Fury replies that she wasn't "debriefed" about bigfoot, either. A debriefing entails a spy or soldier being questioned following a mission. The apt word, to relay information to someone, is to "brief".
• Attack the Injury: Melina tells one of her Black Widows to attack Natasha's knee which suffered a childhood bicycle injury.
• Beard of Evil: Steve grows a beard during his time under the Red Room's control.
• Call-Back: Once again, the Watcher replies to a surprising turn of events with a shocked "what the hell is this?".
• The Cameo: Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Wasp, and Loki all make brief appearances during the Action Prologue.
• Car Fu: The HYDRA Stomper throws several cars at Carter during their fight in Sokovia. Carter deflects one of the cars in the same way she did in her Season 1 episode.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Carter and Natasha enjoy a friendly conversation while fighting the Chitauri invasion.
• Catch a Falling Star: Natasha catches a falling Carter and HYDRA Stomper in her quinjet.
• Cliffhanger: Peggy gets portalled to another universe at the end of the episode, much to the Watcher's surprise.
• Combat Stilettos: Melina wears thick heels and is still a deadly combatant while wearing them. We're even treated to a brief shot of them while she's explaining her motives.
• Cool Old Guy: As Bucky never got captured and brainwashed by HYDRA in this timeline, he lived a long and prosperous life. He got married, had children, took down HYDRA with Steve, and apparently even shared beers with aliens. In the present day, he's the Secretary of State and is using his position to help out Sokovian civilians who are caught in the crossfire of a civil war.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • HYDRA seems to have been wiped out in this timeline, as nothing suggests that Rumlow is anything but a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
  • Melina dies in this tineline as the HYDRA Stomper dragged her along when blowing up the Red Room.
• Death by a Thousand Cuts: Peggy treats the Widow's Bite shock dart as a mild annoyance, but dozens of mannequins firing hundreds of them at her eventually wears her down through sheer volume of fire.
• Didn't See That Coming: Even the omniscient Watcher is caught off guard when Peggy is whisked away to another universe.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Rather than being blown up in an explosion caused by Yelena Belova, Dreykov dies when Natasha stabbed a corkscrew into his carotid artery in this timeline.
• Disposable Pilot: There's a split-second focus on an anonymous Quinjet pilot who gets a brief Oh, Crap! moment as Steve in the HYDRA Stomper takes out her craft's right wing, and the jet careens into the roof of the Triskelion and explodes just as Bucky and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team arrive for an intended evacuation.
• Evil Power Vacuum: The Red Room takes the place of HYDRA in this timeline as the secret evil Soviet-esque organization, as Bucky and Steve successfully wiped out HYDRA after World War II.
• Fighting Your Friend: With Steve under the Red Room's control, Peggy has to fight the love of her life several times throughout the episode.
• Free-Fall Fight: Peggy tackles the HYDRA Stomper down the building's main staircase, the two fighting the whole way down.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: This Earth's founding Avengers have three men (Hawkeye, Thor, and Iron Man) and three women (Captain Carter, Black Widow, and Wasp).
• The Ghost: The Hulk isn't present in this version of the Battle of New York, though Natasha and Peggy both mention Bruce Banner, implying that he still wound up joining the Avengers.
• Happy Ending Override: The Stinger in the first season finale built up Peggy and Steve's reunion as a happy one, but this episode reveals that Steve had been brainwashed in the Red Room and is now a dangerous killer. Once we pick up where the stinger left off, Steve immediately attacks Peggy and Nat.
• Hidden Depths: Hawkeye is a fan of John Mellencamp and introduced Peggy to "dad rock".
• Hope Spot: For a moment, it seems as though Bucky has gotten through to Steve, but then Steve re-lifts his blasters to kill Bucky. Thankfully, Peggy reappears and stops Steve.
• I Can See My House from Here: Natasha comments that she can probably see her old bedroom when the Red Room comes into view. Cue Melina appearing to state that she turned said bedroom into a gymnasium.
• I Die Free: Once Peggy truly breaks through to Steve, he launches himself into the Red Room sky base, perhaps because he knows this is the only way he will be fully free of Melina's control.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Both Peggy and Bucky attempt this with Steve. As Steve did with Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, both Peggy and Bucky try to win Steve over by refusing to fight him and hoping to appeal to his conscience. It finally works at the end, but then Steve launches himself into the Red Room base.
• Immediate Sequel: After the Action Prologue, this episode picks up right where Captain Carter's story leaves off in the Season 1 finale.
• In Spite of a Nail: The events of The Avengers still happen in this universe, albeit with Peggy Carter and Hope van Dyne replacing Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner respectively.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: The Watcher picks exactly the wrong time to start talking about how sees and knows all; Peggy is abducted, much to Uatu's surprise, before he's even done talking.
• Instant Sedation: Averted, it takes a lot of Widow Bites to slow Captain Carter down.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The HYDRA Stomper, after failing to kill Peggy and Natasha directly, hovers above the ship and unleashes a barrage of missiles to cover every inch of the deck, forcing the pair to dive into the water for safety.
• The Movie Buff: It's implied that Peggy has gotten a lot more into modern cinema than Steve did in the Sacred Timeline; she makes an unprompted Star Wars reference, and compares the Stepford Suburbia that the Red Room set up in Sokovia to horror movies in a tone that suggests she's seen quite a few of them.
• Musical Nod: "It's Been a Long Long Time" plays when Peggy and Steve talk in the gazebo on the Sokovia base. The song plays during their Big Damn Reunion at the end of Avengers: Endgame. (And, much like The Winter Soldier, is cut off part-way through by someone attacking.)
• Mythology Gag: Much like the comics, this universe has Wasp as a founding member of the Avengers, unlike the Sacred Timeline.
• Never Found the Body: Steve flies the HYDRA Stomper into the Red Room, destroying it in an almighty fireball which then crashes into the ground. However, Peggy seems remarkably convinced that Steve survived and is out there.
• The Not-Love Interest: Peggy's close friendship with Natasha gets a lot of focus in this episode, with the two even making some joking references to acting like a couple (Peggy calls Nat "lovely" while picking her up, and Natasha doesn't want to argue with Peggy in front of her mom), but Peggy's heart clearly belongs to Steve, and her and Natasha's relationship is never shown to be more than friendly.
• Not Quite Flight: Carter maneuvers quite adeptly in the air after knocking out the HYDRA Stomper and then directing them both into the quinjet.
• Not So Omniscient After All: The supposedly all-seeing, all-knowing Watcher is blindsided by Peggy's abduction at the end of the episode.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The cold open cuts away without showing Peggy and Natasha's fight with Loki or most anything else from the Battle of New York. The Avengers clearly won, but how things played out (especially with Captain America and the Hulk absent) is left to the audience's imagination.
• Phlebotinum Dependence: Steve doesn't age in the HYDRA Stomper, but it's also the only thing keeping him alive, and each activation increases the risk of it killing him.
• Point of Divergence: Captain Carter's universe has had many a divergence, but one divergence that has a huge impact on this episode is Natasha successfully killing Dreykov during her defection to S.H.I.E.L.D., allowing Melina to take control of the Red Room, and with it, the HYDRA Stomper.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Like Steve in The Winter Soldier, Peggy has been playing catch-up on pop culture since her arrival in the present, though she hasn't gotten around to watching RoboCop (1987) by the time Natasha makes a reference to it.
• Precision F-Strike: The normally stoic Watcher drops an uncharacteristically coarse "What the hell is this?!" when Peggy is sucked into another universe.
• Ramming Always Works: The HYDRA Stomper takes out a Quinjet pursuing it by simply slowing down and smashing through one of its wings before it can evade.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Under the Red Room's control, the HYDRA Stomper's eyes and chest flash red, as it's not the Tesseract powering it this time.
• Sequel Episode: The Watcher mentions he doesn't like to do sequels, since there's little point in revisiting the same universe when there are an infinite of them out there to explore. He made an exception to revisit Peggy Carter's due to her having another story to witness.
• Sequel Hook: The episode ends with Peggy nicking one of Tony's cars, intent on finding Steve with Natasha's help... only for Peggy to suddenly get portaled into another universe by a variant of the Scarlet Witch. Even Uatu is caught off-guard.
  Uatu: I am The Watcher. I see all, I observe all, I know... what the hell is this?
• Sequel Snark: Uatu confesses that he doesn't normally do sequels, seeing it as pointless to retread a story when there are so many other stories you could tell, but not every universe has a Captain Carter and he wanted to follow up on her.
• Shout-Out:
  • When the HYDRA Stomper re-awakes, Natasha refers to him as Robocop.
  • Peggy, of all people, makes a Star Wars reference, saying that if they handed the HYDRA Stomper over to S.H.I.E.L.D., he'd likely wind up frozen in carbonite.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: It's heavily implied that Peggy and Tony Stark have the same kind of contentious relationship that the Sacred Timeline's Tony and Steve had. When Natasha suggests asking Tony for help, Peggy flatly turns her down, and later, she's fine with taking off in Tony's car to look for Steve.
• Sophisticated as Hell: The Watcher at the end of the episode.
  Watcher: I am the Watcher. I see all. I observe all. I kn- (Portal opens up) What the hell is this?
• Spared by the Adaptation: Among the parallels to Winter Soldier, Secretary Barnes meets with the members of the World Security Council, including Councilman Singh, who Alexander Pierce assassinated in the Sacred Timeline version of events. Here, the Council members only appear via hologram telepresence, so they don't encounter the same fate.
• Stepford Suburbia: The Red Room creates a phony '50s-type US suburb in Sokovia as a cover for its secret base. It's filled with creepy smiling androids mimicking a happy suburban life. Those androids turn out to be equipped with Arm Cannons that fire Widow shock darts.
  Peggy: Russians thought Americans were like this?
  Natasha: We didn't get cable out here, so...
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Where Winter Soldier didn't give an explanation for not getting the other Avengers in, here Nat does suggest bringing in Tony and Bruce to try and help get Steve out of the armor, but Peggy immediately refuses, not trusting either of them to not go "mad scientist" on Steve.
• Taking You with Me: The HYDRA Stomper does this to Melisa as he drags her along to destroy the Red Room, killing them both.
• Team Member in the Adaptation:
  • The Wasp apparently became a founding member of the Avengers in this timeline, as she's shown fighting Loki's forces in New York at one point.
  • Inverted with the Hulk. While Bruce Banner is mentioned by Peggy, and he still apparently works with Tony Stark on scientific endeavors, he's not present at the Battle of New York in any capacity.
  • Due to never becoming The Winter Soldier in this universe, Bucky became a member of the World Security Council as a result of being the U.S. Secretary of State.
• Tempting Fate: Uatu doesn't even get to finish narrating about how he is all-seeing and all-knowing before being blindsided by Peggy's extra-dimensional abduction and having to admit he has no idea where she went.
• That Man Is Dead: Natasha tells Peggy, "The Steve Rogers you loved died in 1953. That thing, it's not human." Peggy, correctly, refuses to buy that idea.
• Trapped in Another World: Peggy suddenly gets transported into another universe by that universe's Wanda Maximoff at the end of the episode. The clothing worn by Wanda and Nick Fury foreshadows the 1602 universe of episode eight.
• Truer to the Text: In the comics, Melina Vostokoff was a younger rival to Natasha, being envious after years of growing up in her shadow. She was given an Adaptational Heroism and Age Lift in Black Widow to make her a surrogate mother to Natasha. Here, Melina is still older than Nat, but she becomes a Archnemesis Mom and an unapologetic Mad Scientist.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Both Peggy and Bucky demonstrate the depths of their loyalty to Steve, with the former fighting tooth and nail to free him from the Red Room's control, and the latter putting himself in two simultaneous lines of fire to try and talk Steve down, not hesitating for a second to risk his life for a friend who is currently trying to kill him.
  • Despite her expressed cynicism about their chances of saving Steve, Natasha follows Peggy's lead with no hesitation, and doesn't even want to say "I told you so" when they end up in the middle of a trap.
• Very Punchable Man: Nat and Peggy both declare their reality's version of Loki an extremely punchable person. Then they proceed to do just that.
• Villain Respect: Melina expresses genuine admiration for Captain Carter as the ultimate woman super soldier and thus a model for all Widows. Melina states that she makes the movie about Carter mandatory viewing.
  Captain Carter: There was a movie?
  Natasha: It was a musical.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Peggy gets pissed at Fury and Natasha for keeping her in the dark about the rumors of Steve's survival.

---

Uatu: Not exactly a happy ending, but then again, this isn't the end of her story. I am the Watcher. I see all, I observe all, I know— (magic warbling of a portal) What the hell is this?
(Peggy falls into the portal)
Natasha: Peg! Peggy? Peg! Where are you?!
Uatu: That's... a good question.