Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for What If...? Season 3There are several Easter eggs and references in Marvel's What If...? Season 3. Continuing to explore the "prism of endless possibility" that is the multiverse, several variants and fun nods to the main MCU can be found throughout this final season of the animated series. That said, some are more notable than others.
In the final season of the series, eight new stories are revealed, narrated, and observed by Uatu the Watcher (Jeffery Wright). Likewise, Uatu finally has to answer to his fellow Watchers for all the times he's broken his oath to never interfere, as seen in What If...? Season 3's ending. Keeping that in mind, here are some of our favorite Easter eggs and MCU references in What If...? Season 3.
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Blade as Moon Knight
Coming Soon in 2025's Marvel Zombies
In What If...? Season 3, episode 8, multiple variants are shown in a large montage to close out the entire series. This includes Mahershala Ali's Blade as a brand-new Moon Knight, who's already been confirmed to appear in 2025's animated Marvel Zombies series. Spinning-off from What If...? Season 1's Marvel Zombies episode, it's going to be very exciting to not only see the narrative expanded with the upcoming miniseries, but to also see Ali's Blade on-screen for the first time (even if it is in animation and a variant).
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Kwai Jun-Fan
The Comics' Iron Fist of 1872
In What If...? Season 3, episode 6, viewers are shown an alternate Wild West reality where Shang-Chi is known as The Ten Rings and is partnered with Kate Bishop's Hawkeye, an expert sharpshooter on the hunt for a brutal crime lord who's been kidnapping Chinese immigrants. During their pursuit, the duo encounter a young boy name Kwai Jun-Fan who's father was taken. In the original comics, Kwait Jun-Fan is the Iron Fist of 1878, which is fitting considering the episode takes place in 1872. Bishop even mentions the young boy's impressive "iron fists" by the episode's end.
8
Kang's Time Sphere
What Does This Mean For Kang?
At the beginning of What If...? Season 3, episode 7, Captain Carter arrives in Kang the Conqueror's Time Sphere. As such, one has to wonder what this might mean for Kang himself and the Council of Kangs that was formed at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Given Marvel Studios' significant pivot away from Kang the Conqueror in favor of Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, piloting the Time Sphere could be an implication that Captain Carter and her allies took care of Kang and his variants off-screen.
7
Natasha Lyonne As Byrdie
Preceding Her Secret FF Role
What If...? Season 3 episodes 7 & 8 both feature Natasha Lyonne voicing Byrdie the Duck, the grown-up daughter of Darcy Lewis and Howard the Duck (whose hatching was shown in What If...? Season 3, episode 4). Byrdie is an MCU role that certainly must have been made with Lyonne in mind, though it may only be her first. After all, Lyonne is attached to a secret role in Fantastic Four: First Steps. While it's possible she could be playing a live-action Byrdie, it's more likely that she'll be playing a different role, like the robot HERBIE or Alicia Masters.
6
The Debut Of The Hood And His Powers Before Ironheart
(Sort Of, Kind Of)
The crime lord in What If...? Season 3, episode 6 is revealed to be The Hood aka Parker Robbins. A classic comics criminal, The Hood is set to debut in live-action with 2025's Ironheart played by Anthony Ramos, though the series itself was originally meant to be released in 2023, well before What If...? Season 3. While it's revealed by the episode's end that Robbins' Hood was killed off-screen and replaced by Shang-Chi's sister Xu Xialing, the phasing/teleporting powers of the hood and its corruptive nature will likely be the same in live-action (regardless of the wearer/host).
5
MCU First Looks Via Foosball
Invisible Woman, Doctor Doom, Galactus, And More
Byrdie has her own Foosball table aboard her ship, as seen in What If...? Season 3, episode 7. However, all the players are various Marvel heroes and villains, even those who've yet to debut in the main MCU. The full line-up of characters includes Thanos, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Red Skull, Kang, Hela, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Zemo, Mystique, Magneto, Rogue, Wolverine, She-Hulk, Captain America, Galactus, Loki, Doctor Doom, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Beta Ray Bill, and Infinity Ultron who ends up becoming a key ally to Captain Carter and her allies in their mission to save Uatu from his fellow Watchers.
4
Daredevil and Karen Page
Attending The Grandmaster's Banquet
In What If...? Season 3, episode 4, The Grandmaster is only the first Marvel villain who wants Darcy and Howard's eggs for themselves. However, The Grandmaster was seemingly the only one who wanted to eat the egg, rather than simply claim it for its prophesied power. Nevertheless, two of the guests at his banquet are none other than Matt Murdock's Daredevil and Karen Page, both of whom can be seen very briefly before all chaos breaks loose once the main course is revealed. Likewise, it's doubtful that duo knew what was on the menu before they attended the dinner.
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Scott Summers and Jean Grey
Enjoying Las Vegas At Night
Much like Matt Murdock and Karen Page during the Grandmaster's dinner, another major Marvel couple makes a cameo in What If...? Season 3 episode 3. When the Red Guardian and Winter Soldier are on the run from Bill Foster's Goliath in Las Vegas, the duo are shown jumping through the streets and over the heads of none other than Scott Summers' Cyclops and Jean Grey of the X-Men. As such, it's simply another fun animated appearance from a powerful mutant couple who will soon make their live-action MCU debuts in the years to come.
2
Uatu The Watcher Once Helped Madisynn (Seriously)
From She-Hulk: Attorney At Law
As revealed in What If...? Season 3, episode 8, Uatu's full transgressions are laid out by his fellow Watchers. This includes known times he broke his oath like with Strange Supreme, Kwai Jun-Fan, and most notably, Captain Carter. However, it's also revealed that he also interfered in the past to help the likes of Reed Richards and Nick Fury.
That said, the most hilarious crime is the reveal that The Watcher once broke his oath to only observe the multiverse for the sake of She-Hulk's Madisynn ("with two n's and one y"). This is the same girl who got drunk and ended up in a fiery hellscape with demon goats due to the malpractice of the untrained sorcerer, Donny Blaze. Having been a stand-out character in She-Hulk (who became a friend of Wong's), it's fun to see her get such a cosmic shutout here in What If...?'s series finale.
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Astra Islands
From Original Hulk Comics
In What If...? Season 3, episode 1, it's revealed that this reality's Bruce Banner became a hermit after he tried to remove the Hulk with more gamma radiation and instead created the monstrous Apex Hulk. Living on the Astra Islands, this is a subtle reference to the original comics, as it's the same location where Banner built his Absorbatron, a device capable of absorbing the force of an entire nuclear blast. This is rather fitting, seeing as how Banner was also working on old nuclear weapons in this premiere episode of What If...Season 3, though in this case turning himself into a major gamma bomb to become a kaiju-sized Hulk to take on the Apex.
All episodes of What If...? Season 3 are streaming now on Disney+.
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What If… ? is an animated anthology series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor, and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist. The show sees Uatu the Watcher, an omnipotent being that observes the events of multiple universes from afar as they unfold, unable to interfere. However, things shift when an entity peers beyond the veil, jeopardizing the multiverse.
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