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Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for What If...? Season 3, episode 7
What If...? Season 3, episode 7 is the beginning of the end, as the animated MCU series comes to a close. Culminating with a two-part series finale, this new chapter sees Captain Carter leading a new team of multiversal protectors who come to learn that The Watcher is lost and in danger. This kickstarts a cosmic rescue mission, one that ends on a cliffhanger with a surprising new alliance.
As seen at the end of What If...? Season 3, episode 6, The Watcher seems to have broken his oath and intervened in the lives of those he was meant to only observe for the last time. Taken into custody by his fellow Watchers, shards of the Observational Plane were broken off when The Watcher was taken, allowing his mortal allies to come to his aid in this new episode. As such, here's our breakdown of What If...? Season 3, episode 7, the ending explained, and the biggest MCU Easter eggs and references we found.
What If...? Season 3 Episode 7 Spoilers & Key Story Takeaways
"What If…The Watcher Disappeared?"
- Beginning in the reality first seen in What If...? Season 2 where Nebula became Nova Prime, Captain Carter arrives in Kang the Conqueror's Time Sphere along with her new team of multiversal protectors to save this alternate Xandar from the interdimensional squid monster known as Hydra's Champion (first seen in What If...? Season 1).
- Captain Carter's allies include Kahori, Byrdie the Duck (Howard and Darcy's powerful daughter), and Storm, Goddess of Thunder and her mighty hammer Mjolnir itself.
- After defeating Hydra's Champion, shards from the Observational Plane fall from the sky, alerting the team that The Watcher is in trouble.
- The Eminence takes over The Watcher's narration, confirming that he and his fellow Watchers are sworn to protect their order (not only to observe). As such, The Watcher's allies will pay for their heresy should they try to rescue him.
- Planning to access the Observational Plane located in the 5th dimension, the team of heroes retrofit the shards using multiple pieces of advanced tech to serve as a power source for their ship, as well as using Storm's divine power, but both attempts fail.
- With one shard left, the team decides to find a variant of Infinity Ultron (the only being who's successfully accessed the 5th dimension), one who obliterated his universe using the Infinity Stones, but never heard The Watcher's voice.
- Fearing that she could lose her friends, Peggy faces Infinity Ultron alone, only to be captured by The Eminence.
- Realizing what Peggy did, Kahori, Storm, and Byrdie confront and attack Ultron, who eventually explains what happened to Peggy and agrees to help them access the Observational Plane.
Why Infinity Ultron Agrees To Help The New Guardians of the Multiverse
(And Why The Watchers Took Peggy)
After What If...? Season 3, episode 7 recaps how Infinity Ultron destroyed his universe, Peggy finds a variant who existed for eons in the nothingness he created, having never heard The Watcher's words in this reality. Programmed to believe that "peace was the absence of conflict", Infinity Ultron realized that the empty world he created was not peaceful, as there was no life (which inherently carries conflict). Concluding that he must fight for peace one life at a time, Ultron determines to begin his newfound desire for redemption by helping Kahori, Storm, and Byrdie, absorbing the final shard's power to amplify the ship so it can enter the Observational Plane.
Related
What If Season 3 Cast & Character Guide
What If…? returns for its final season with an enormous cast of characters plucked from every disparate corner of the constantly expanding MCU.
Additionally, Captain Carter was likely taken by The Eminence as punishment for the many times The Watcher has broken his oath throughout this MCU series. They may believe that she must share in the consequences of his interventions, seeing how Peggy has been involved in many of them from the moment she was recruited in What If...? Season 1. After all, The Eminence did refer to Captain Carter at the beginning of the episode as "a multiversal menace".
What If...? Season 3 Episode 7's Biggest Easter Eggs and References
Foosball, A Nod To Kang The Conqueror, And More
There are a handful of cool MCU Easter eggs and references in What If...? Season 3, episode 7. Here are all the biggest ones we found:
Nebula As Nova Prime From What If...? Season 2 - This reality first debuted in the first episode of What If...? Season 2.
What If...? Season 1's Hydra Champion - Hydra's Champion is the squid-like interdimensional beast Captain Carter fought in the portal during WWII before exiting 70 years later in the present day of her home timeline (seen in What If...? Season 1).
Kang's Time Sphere - While it's not revealed where or how she got it, Peggy is shown piloting Kang's Time Sphere, first seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Natasha Lyonne Voices Byrdie The Duck - An incredibly fitting casting, actress Natasha Lyonne voices the powerful Byrdie the Duck, Howard and Darcy's grown-up daughter who debuted as a baby in the season's fourth episode. Lyonne is also set to star in Fantastic Four: First Steps in a mystery role, though it's been rumored that she'll be voicing the FF's robot HERBIE, or perhaps Alicia Masters. Who knows? Perhaps she's playing Byrdie in live-action as well.
X-Men '97 Plays For Storm's Debut With Mjolnir - Revealed as the powerful Goddess of Thunder wielding the cosmic elements, the classic X-Men '97 theme plays in the background during Storm's debut.
A Dark New Watcher Intro - Voiced by the sinister Jason Isaacs, the What If...? intro is retooled for this episode in black and white while featuring darker narration from The Eminence, rather than Jeffery Wright's Watcher as expected (as he's been imprisoned).
Multiple Foosball Marvel Characters - Several characters are represented as Foosball players aboard Byrdie's ship. This 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 most importantly, Infinity Ultron.
Guardians of the Multiverse - Before leaving to face Ultron alone, Peggy looks at a photo featuring not only her new team, but also her original teammates from What If...? Season 1: Party Thor, Gamora, Black Widow, and T'Challa's Star-Lord.
Reset Charges From The TVA - Possessing reset charges from the Time Variance Authority, it seems Captain Carter and her team have interacted with the organization in the past, a relationship that could pay off in the upcoming series finale.
The final episode of What If...? Season 3 releases tomorrow at 3amET/12amPT 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.
Release Date August 11, 2021
Finale Year November 30, 2023
Seasons 3
Writers Ashley Bradley , Matthew Chauncey
Directors Bryan Andrews
Showrunner Ashley Bradley
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English (US) ·