What If...? Season...2?

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

After a very long pandemic-induced wait and worries about cancellation,the back 9 episodes of What If...? drop for Christmas.

...and yes, Tony is wearing a Santa outfit. Because there's a Christmas episode.

 

I like this series because it gives writers absolutely free rein to play with everything in the Marvel toybox, invent some new toys, and even break some of it. As well as the promised Haudenosaunee NA-dubbed episode - which I've been looking forward to as a Thor-meets-Prey kinda deal, we get T'Challa's dad, Hank Pym and the OG Wasp teaming up, what looks like Sakaar-based Wacky Races, and a few more surprising things I can't identify. 

 

But there are far better nerds than me here who may be able to...

 

[Techwright]

2 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

After a very long pandemic-induced wait and worries about cancellation,the back 9 episodes of What If...? drop for Christmas.

...and yes, Tony is wearing a Santa outfit. Because there's a Christmas episode.

 

I like this series because it gives writers absolutely free rein to play with everything in the Marvel toybox, invent some new toys, and even break some of it. As well as the promised Haudenosaunee NA-dubbed episode - which I've been looking forward to as a Thor-meets-Prey kinda deal, we get T'Challa's dad, Hank Pym and the OG Wasp teaming up, what looks like Sakaar-based Wacky Races, and a few more surprising things I can't identify. 

 

But there are far better nerds than me here who may be able to...

 

They had me at "What...

 

While I assume everyone will watch the trailer if they're hanging out here, I'll still take a moment to point out I'm deep diving, so there will be a lot of spoiler-ish talk (or at least guesses).

 

The Pym-Captain Marvel-Winter Soldier-Black Panther team-up appears to be going after a Peter Quill whose Ego powers unlocked at his mother's death.  (Just a guess, I've no info on this season).  The Winter Soldier is an interesting twist.  I'm wondering if he's still fully Hydra and Alexander Pierce played some particularly good cards to fool Pym into thinking WS was a very special S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.  Also, there's one additional teammate with them @ 0:24.  Male, in what looks to be a Pym suit, but white with blue.  This is Goliath, that is, Bill Foster.  We've only seen his human face in Ant-Man and the Wasp.  At 0:41 we see the new team again, and an older Peggy appears to be in charge of them.  A grey haired, mustached gentleman in a suit is also with them.  Not sure which one of about 4 characters that come to mind he is, but I'm really hoping it is Mobius. (It's probably General Ross).

 

Looks like Hela is back, appearing in the dark-storm second sequence.  I'm not certain, but this may be tied to...

1. The sequence with another version of Wanda working red magic in front of what appear to be Thor, Warriors Three member Fandral, and someone on a horse wielding the Loki staff weapon.  It's not really clear to me who that is, though Loki would be the obvious choice.

 

2. The sequences involving Shang-Chi's dragon, and eventually his father and either his mother or aunt.  At one point they appear to square off again Odin while seemingly tossing Asgardians like ragdolls, before Odin returns the favor.   I note the color tone of the background appears to be orange.

 

I feel like the "Wacky Racers" episode (I wonder how many know that reference) is going to be this season's playful episode parallel to Thor's party world episode.

 

There's a brief sequence with Infinity War Steve Rogers using his two Wakandan buckler shields to try to undo the Infinity Stones in Thanos' guantlet, specifically the yellow Mind Stone, so presumably this is the moment after Vision is destroyed.

 

Next a brief, confusing sequence that seems to show Ant-Man in partial Medieval garb fighting Fandral (?) in Asgard, followed by a bearded Hulk and a bearded Steve Rogers joining in on the swordplay and mayhem, so maybe this is a continuation of that Thanos moment, and Roger's attack on the guantlet altered reality or time?  I note that the background is red.  Now that I've gotten to this point, I feel the Wanda sequence may be tied to this, due to the colors and the Asgardian stuff

 

Then everyone seems to want to get into the chaos as we see Gamora in a combat scene with Grandmaster's right-hand being Topaz behind her. Rocket comes into the fray but seems more like a spare-parts being as he sports even more extensive cybernetics, and what appears to be Lila's otter tail.  Within the same sequence appear to be Shang-Chi warriors and Dark Elves, then a somewhat sinister looking Doctor Strange portals in.  I presume all these bits are part of the same story as the background in each is done in dark aqua colors.  Not sure if aqua is intended, or if it is blue or green.

 

I'm noting these background colors because with the sequence of Steve Rogers attacking the guantlet, I'm wondering if whatever happens triggers each of the stones and certain stories play out under the influence of the stones: orange for soul, red for reality, aqua for...well, not sure...maybe a mix of the green time and blue space stones?  The trailer ends with what appears to be a Captain Carter wearing partial medieval garb and trying to aid someone in a portal, someone with a Loki staff.  The background is green, so, time stone?

 

So I'm getting the feel that possibly half the season, at least, might be an attempt to rectify the damage caused by Steve Roger's attack on Thanos' guantlet, possibly forcing everyone to work their way through the stones' various fields of influence.  That said, if I remember correctly, first seasons trailers only showed details from the first half of the season, allowing complete surprise in the second half.  Perhaps this season is the same.

 

[InvaderStych]

39 minutes ago, Techwright said:

The Pym-Captain Marvel-Winter Soldier-Black Panther team-up appears to be going after a Peter Quill whose Ego powers unlocked at his mother's death. 

 

Interesting. Had not considered that possibility. I was too busy trying to think of which Mutant they might be facing off against as characters from the various X series are slowly being folded into the DisneyVerse. The T-shirt is probably the tell, but I don't recognize the Dolores River reference.  The look isn't quite right for anyone I could think of though. 🤷‍♂️

 

I suppose I should start catching up on these things at some point. 🤣

[Techwright]

17 minutes ago, InvaderStych said:

 

Interesting. Had not considered that possibility. I was too busy trying to think of which Mutant they might be facing off against as characters from the various X series are slowly being folded into the DisneyVerse. The T-shirt is probably the tell, but I don't recognize the Dolores River reference.  The look isn't quite right for anyone I could think of though. 🤷‍♂️

 

I suppose I should start catching up on these things at some point. 🤣

Yeah, I struggled with trying to determine who it was, but finally realized with a young Pym involved, it was the right time for Peter Quill the child.  Add in that he used telekinesis to bring a raccoon prize doll to him, and it makes sense..  Also, and I didn't know this when I wrote the original comment, farther on in the trailer is a very brief glimpse of a young Ego himself, so not only is Peter activating early, but Dad's searched him out himself.  It's likely a nod to that scene in the first season when an admittedly older Peter is mopping at the Dairy Queen and is approached by Ego.

Edited November 16 by Techwright

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

On 11/16/2023 at 2:11 AM, Techwright said:

The Pym-Captain Marvel-Winter Soldier-Black Panther team-up appears to be going after a Peter Quill whose Ego powers unlocked at his mother's death.  (Just a guess, I've no info on this season).

I thought it was a bit more of a crossover... (Spoiler below...)

Spoiler

...looked more like a spare Zac Efron clone from Disney Genetic Imagineering gone rogue, or after its incept date expired.

Depends if its skin falls off at the end. We'll see.

 

...btw, we live in the very silliest bit of history. 

 

Sorry not sorry. On with the 'splainage...

 

Now on to some wild speculation and/or actual spoilery leaks, upon which we may hang more wildly inaccurate posturing.

The episode titles for S2 (or S1pt2, or whatever) are said to be:

Spoiler

Episode 201: What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?

...hmm. Interesting.

 

Episode 202: What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

If true, nice guess there TW.

 

Episode 203: What If... Kahhori Reshaped the World?

This is the Native American one we discussed in an earlier thread that I now can't find for the life of me. If someone finds it, I'll edit and link it here.

 

Episode 204: What If... Hela found the Ten Rings?
Yeah... erm... that doesn't sound like that's gonna go well.

 

Episode 205: What If... lron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?

The Wacky Races episode, but there's a lot of tie-ins to Hulk & co's time on Sakaar.

 

Episode 206: What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?

A flat-out comedy (?) Christmas episode? Looks kinda fun, too, with what looks like Tasha in a fairy/ballerina costume, backed up by Captain Americelf. 

 

Episode 207: not yet titled

 

Episode 208: What If... Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?

For those of you who skipped Part 1, Peggy switched places with Cap in history, though rather than being frozen, through duelling a nasty Nazi tentacled wossname from the Dungeon Dimensions wot mere men should not wot of... so it's a good job she wasn't a man. But Steve switches places-sorta-with Bucky, fighting alongside her in a mech called the Hydra Stomper. 

 

Episode 209: What If... The Avengers Assembled in 1602?

If true - and from the visuals, looks good - me happy. Very happy. SO HAPPY.

This is the mighty Neil Gaiman his very hairy self's award-winning Marvel 1602 series - but possibly with added Peggy as an agent or champion of Uatu the Watcher.

 

Episode 210: What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?

Strange Supreme is again from S1, where he tries to save Christine from dying in a car accident, but fails. And if you don't succeed, try, try, try again, absorb power from a host of evil entities, try again, absorb more power, try again, break the universe, get stuck with Uatu babysitting two supervillains battling for eternity. By "intervening", I guess he means meddling in events that Uatu - and his newly acquired sidekick Strange - are only supposed to observe... but what?

 

[Techwright]

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

 

Now on to some wild speculation and/or actual spoilery leaks, upon which we may hang more wildly inaccurate posturing.

The episode titles for S2 (or S1pt2, or whatever) are said to be:

  Hide contents

Episode 201: What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?

...hmm. Interesting.   I'm curious as to what moment that would take place as the Nova Corp was wiped out (except for one black helmet. Mmm hmm...) by Thanos when acquiring the power stone.  So, does that mean Nebula changes sides very early?

 

Episode 202: What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

If true, nice guess there TW.  Yep.  Looks like Ego gets involved, too.  Unless he can reverse age, I don't think this is the continuation of that final scene in the What if T'Chala became Star Lord episode.

 

Episode 203: What If... Kahhori Reshaped the World?

This is the Native American one we discussed in an earlier thread that I now can't find for the life of me. If someone finds it, I'll edit and link it here.  Trying to remember: is this a completely new character, never been a part of any Marvel product before?

 

Episode 204: What If... Hela found the Ten Rings?
Yeah... erm... that doesn't sound like that's gonna go well.   Not well at all.  I'm curious here on how Hela comes within the range of the Ten Rings.  I recall that the tag in the movie said the Rings had an extra-terrestrial origin, but they've been on Earth for a long time.  Guess we're going back to a very young Hela?

 

Episode 205: What If... lron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?

The Wacky Races episode, but there's a lot of tie-ins to Hulk & co's time on Sakaar.  Again, interested in when would this be placed? MCU Iron Man was in space twice: at the Battle of New York, and the Infinity War.  Curious to see how that would play out with the Snap, er, Blip imminent.

 

Episode 206: What If... Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?

A flat-out comedy (?) Christmas episode? Looks kinda fun, too, with what looks like Tasha in a fairy/ballerina costume, backed up by Captain Americelf.  Wondering here how many holiday movie classics will be referenced.

 

Episode 207: not yet titled   What If...We Chose Not To Title This Episode And Leave Everyone Guessing?

 

Episode 208: What If... Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?

For those of you who skipped Part 1, Peggy switched places with Cap in history, though rather than being frozen, through duelling a nasty Nazi tentacled wossname from the Dungeon Dimensions wot mere men should not wot of... so it's a good job she wasn't a man. But Steve switches places-sorta-with Bucky, fighting alongside her in a mech called the Hydra Stomper.   In the main MCU we discover that Zola experimented on Bucky, giving him a nearly identical super soldier serum.  Wondering here if the parallel would be done to Steve.  Also, in the comics, Zola is a master at mind transfer into machinery, and is usually pictured with his face on a TV screen within the torso of a robot/power suit.  (Which Captain America and the Winter Soldier as well as What If...? season 1 adapted into a giant computer room for a copy of Zola's mind.)  Wondering if Zola's been tampering with the Hydra Stomper power suit itself?

 

Episode 209: What If... The Avengers Assembled in 1602?

If true - and from the visuals, looks good - me happy. Very happy. SO HAPPY.

This is the mighty Neil Gaiman his very hairy self's award-winning Marvel 1602 series - but possibly with added Peggy as an agent or champion of Uatu the Watcher.  Ah, now that makes sense.

 

Episode 210: What If... Strange Supreme Intervened?

Strange Supreme is again from S1, where he tries to save Christine from dying in a car accident, but fails. And if you don't succeed, try, try, try again, absorb power from a host of evil entities, try again, absorb more power, try again, break the universe, get stuck with Uatu babysitting two supervillains battling for eternity. By "intervening", I guess he means meddling in events that Uatu - and his newly acquired sidekick Strange - are only supposed to observe... but what?  I hope at some point they address why the Watchers only watch.  I realize Uatu said in season 1 that the stories were vitally important to him, but beyond just being a benign voyeur, what, or possibly who, is behind the Watchers and their organization's very strict rules.  Why watch and not share history and information?  I know of the Watchers from the comics.  I do not know their full story, if it has ever been told.   Also...curious to know why Strange Supreme would leave his very important guard duty.

 

Going Orange in Hidden Contents for this.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

8 hours ago, Techwright said:

Trying to remember: is this a completely new character, never been a part of any Marvel product before?

Not-entirely-spoiler: Kahhori is all new. I remember in the last versh of this thread we had this 'splainer handy...

https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/what-if-kahhori-new-super-hero

 

Whether or not she arrives in live-action is another question, but I guess it depends on how this ep goes down with everybody - and, of course, if they can find an appealing story to tell. (Prey's fantastic Amber Midthunder immediately springs to mind, though she's Sioux, not Mohawk, or Devery Jacobs, who's Canadian Mohawk and is appearing in the upcoming Echo.)

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Addressing a point from the orange spoilery one...

 

Spoiler

On 11/18/2023 at 1:42 AM, Techwright said:

I hope at some point they address why the Watchers only watch

 

Going into the Lore: originally, the race that became the Watchers decided it was their duty to help lesser civilisations evolve. So they visited a world called Prosilica, and revealed the secrets of atomic energy...

...which the Prosilicans promptly used to blow the ⚡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐹⁉️ out of each other, turning themselves and their planet into a heap of radioactive slag.

 

So the Watchers decided just to watch. If other races couldn't handle a simple little toy like nuclear fission without a whoops apocalypse, giving them time / dimensional travel and a whole host of other goodies would be bad.

 

Uatu is unusual in that he will break or at least bend the rules to stop all-consuming cosmic threats. Like an Infinity-powered Ultron in Season 1, or helping Strange repair the timelines and prevent a major universal collapse in 1602. 

 

He's also not above a little trickery. According to his Wiki, one day a villain called Xakku showed up on his doorstep. Xakku wanted to steal Earth's sun to power some kind of Cosmic-Destroy-O-McGuffinator to wipe out the Tri-Space Area, or something. Usual villain deal. But having spotted Uatu's citadel, said villain wanted to know that the all-powerful Watcher really wouldn't interfere in his evil plan.

 

Uatu said he wouldn't, but that he was very interested in such an amazing plan that seemed even beyond his capabilities, and how could he possibly carry it out? Xakku was only too happy to explain. Once he'd finished monologuing, Uatu thanked him warmly, sent him on his way, and oh yes, was that your evil pointy-looking spaceship sinking into a Moon dustbog for the last four hours?

 

Stranded and planless, Xakku begged the Watcher for help: but alas, he could not interfere.

 

Edited November 20 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

3 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Addressing a point from the orange spoilery one...

 

  Hide contents

 

Going into the Lore: originally, the race that became the Watchers decided it was their duty to help lesser civilisations evolve. So they visited a world called Prosilica, and revealed the secrets of atomic energy...

...which the Prosilicans promptly used to blow the ⚡🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐹⁉️ out of each other, turning themselves and their planet into a heap of radioactive slag.

 

So the Watchers decided just to watch. If other races couldn't handle a simple little toy like nuclear fission without a whoops apocalypse, giving them time / dimensional travel and a whole host of other goodies would be bad.

 

Uatu is unusual in that he will break or at least bend the rules to stop all-consuming cosmic threats. Like an Infinity-powered Ultron in Season 1, or helping Strange repair the timelines and prevent a major universal collapse in 1602. 

 

He's also not above a little trickery. According to his Wiki, one day a villain called Xakku showed up on his doorstep. Xakku wanted to steal Earth's sun to power some kind of Cosmic-Destroy-O-McGuffinator to wipe out the Tri-Space Area, or something. Usual villain deal. But having spotted Uatu's citadel, said villain wanted to know that the all-powerful Watcher really wouldn't interfere in his evil plan.

 

Uatu said he wouldn't, but that he was very interested in such an amazing plan that seemed even beyond his capabilities, and how could he possibly carry it out? Xakku was only too happy to explain. Once he'd finished monologuing, Uatu thanked him warmly, sent him on his way, and oh yes, was that your evil pointy-looking spaceship sinking into a Moon dustbog for the last four hours?

 

Stranded and planless, Xakku begged the Watcher for help: but alas, he could not interfere.

 

 

Why is it that the first thing beneficent, advanced alien races do when contacting lesser races is...

Spoiler

give them nuclear technology?  This isn't the first time I've heard this sci-fi concept.  It's almost a trope.  And if it isn't nuclear tech, it is still something dramatically devastating.

Why not start with something genuinely useful like Swiss Army Knives or telephone sanitizing technology?

 

Well, it does explain their origins, so tip o' the hat, thanks for that.  It still leaves a mystery as to why recording information continues.  If there's never an output, information is just a glorious paperweight, maybe less valuable.  If however, the goal is to present a race with their history when they have advanced to some presumably-safe moment: that's valuable.  Likewise compiling a master database for cross-reference as something of an early warning system to alert Watchers to guide races past points of oblivion, that too is useful.