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Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for What If...? Season 3 Episode 7.
It doesn't matter who you are, be it mere mortal, superhero, supervillain, or omnipotent eternal being capable of watching any moment across space and time: the rule of "f*ck around and find out" still applies. The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) finally learns this lesson at the end of What If...? Season 3 Episode 6, as the Eminence (Jason Isaacs), the Incarnate (DC Douglas), and the Executioner (Darin De Paul) come for him after he breaks his oath one too many times, promising consequences for his transgressions. However, as the title of Episode 7 — "What If... the Watcher Disappeared?" — would suggest, things don't begin with said consequences, but rather with a few heroes we haven't seen in a while.
Captain Carter and Kahhori Return in 'What If...?' Season 3 Episode 7
The episode instead begins with Nova Corps fighting a giant tentacle monster, and completely overwhelmed. One of the fighters calls out for Nova Prime, but is killed before she can respond. Nova Prime, or as we know her, Nebula (Karen Gillan), heads to the scene to investigate and finds the tentacle creature hovering over the city. She orders Groot and Korg (Taika Waititi) to evacuate the city, but Korg tells her they can't, since the monster has torn through their Jump Point Network, meaning no ship can get in or out. A single ship appears on the landing platform, proving him wrong instantly, but this also isn't just any ship. It's Captain Peggy Carter's (Hayley Atwell). Welcome back, Captain Carter, I missed you. She radios out to her associates, telling them where to join her, and saying she has eyes on the HYDRA Champion.
Nebula is offended at her choice of words —though Peggy wasn't referring to her — but Peggy explains that unless Nebula trusts them, her world is about to be destroyed by an interdimensional universe eater, aka the tentacle monster. Nebula asks just who it is she's supposed to be trusting, and the rest of Peggy's crew arrives: Byrdie the Duck (Natasha Lyonne), Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), and the Goddess of Thunder, Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith). I love this team so much. I wish they had their own show, or at the very least a dedicated episode just following them on a one-off adventure ahead of the finale. Storm uses her mastery over the elements to get the tentacle creature under control, and Peggy, Byrdie, and Kahhori also jump into the fight, working together to kill the creature. Nebula thanks them, and the team is getting ready to leave when their attention is pulled by crystals raining from the sky. But these aren't typical crystals; they're shards from the observational plane, where the Watcher watches over the multiverse, and Kahhori and Peggy realize this means their old friend is in danger.
How much danger? So much danger that it has even crept into our universe, so to speak, as the series forgoes the Watcher's typical opening monologue in favor of a new one from the Eminence. Whereas the Watcher celebrates the differences across universes that make each story unique, and all the endless possibilities that allow it to be so, the Eminence takes a different approach. To him, every choice made that creates new realities doesn't result in a possibility, it results in a consequence. What a difference a choice of words makes. The Eminence concludes by saying that it is his role to preserve the sanctity of the Multiverse by watching the Watchers to ensure they don't meddle, and remain observers.
The Eminence lists out the Watcher's sins, saying he personally recruited Captain Carter to help him meddle in the Multiverse — or to, you know, prevent it from crumbling. Potayto, potahto. — but he's not just sharing this for our benefit. It turns out he's actually speaking to the Watcher directly, as the Watcher faces the council made up of the Eminence, the Incarnate, and the Executioner. The Eminence is furious that the Watcher's actions will lead Peggy to their doorstep, but the Watcher is amused, pointing out that by the terms of their own oath, they can't even intervene to stop her. But like all zealots, the Eminence is also a massive hypocrite, and says that their oath to protect their order supersedes the oath not to meddle, vowing to stop Peggy and her team if they truly pose a threat, at which point the Watcher will be forced to answer for their sins as well as his own.
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The Team Tries To Go to the Fifth Dimension in 'What If...?' Season 3 Episode 7
Image via Marvel Studios
Meanwhile, on their ship, Byrdie and Kahhori play a rousing game of foosball, complete with a healthy dose of cheating, while Peggy and Storm study the shards they found. Peggy confirms that the shards are pieces of the Fifth Dimension, and she and Storm worry that the last time something like this happened was the time Infinity Ultron blasted through the Observational Plane. Since the only reason the Watcher wouldn't contact them about trouble on the Observational Plane is if he is also in trouble himself, Peggy says that the team has to go to the Fifth Dimension to investigate. Byrdie upgrades the ship, binding it to the shards from the Observational Plane to facilitate it making the trip over. These road trips to higher planes of existence are no joke.
Byrdie sets the tech up in their solo flight pod to test it out, and it's a good thing they do because the whole pod explodes just before achieving enough power to make the interdimensional jump. With one of the three shards gone, Storm proposes appealing to the Gods of Asgards from across the Multiverse. It nearly works, striking the shard with Mjölnir gets her as far as seeing a threshold of light, but it's not enough to get her across. Worse, the resulting explosion destroys the second shard. With options dwindling and the Watcher's life on the line, Kahhori suggests they call for help from the one being who was ever able to go to the Fifth Dimension: Infinity Ultron. Kahhori says that many of the Infinity Ultrons out in the Multiverse collect their Infinity Stones, kill everything in their universe, and then sit there for eternity because they never hear the Watcher. Peggy suggests they grab one, see what he knows about the shard after Byrdie reprograms his AI, and then force him to open a door to the Fifth Dimension. And if anything goes wrong, Storm reminds them they have reset charges they stole from the TVA, which would take out Ultron but it would take them out with it. Is it a risky plan? Yes. Is it the only one they have? Absolutely.
With the plan set to go the next day, Storm finds Peggy brooding by a window, unable to sleep. She shares that the last time she faced Ultron, with the Guardians of the Multiverse, they only just won the fight. Now, Peggy is wondering if it's worth it to save one friend at the risk of losing three more. Having already lost so much, Peggy balks at the idea of losing even more. Storm assures her that they're all warriors, and they do what they do not because it's easy, but because someone has to. That thought stays with Peggy, and why do I get the feeling Storm meant the plural "someone" and Peggy is hearing the singular "someone."
Infinity Ultron Comes to the Rescue in 'What If...?' Season 3 Episode 7
In a universe where the heroes were unsuccessful in stopping Infinity Ultron (Ross Marquand), Peggy finds him alone on a rock, surveying the destruction. Ultron is confused at how she's there at all, given that all life in the universe is extinguished, but Peggy just approaches him to ask for his help. Back on the ship, Byrdie takes a call from her parents, Howard (Seth Green) and Darcy (Kat Dennings), who nag her about not answering the phone until she clocks that one of their pods is missing, and so is the last shard, meaning Peggy left without telling any of them. The three of them follow her to her destination and find nothing but her broken shield. Ultron appears behind them and tells them Peggy is gone, and though I realize he wants to explain what happened, I can't blame any of them for hitting them with all they have. He lets them all get a few hits in, then suspends them with the power of the time stone to get a word in edgewise.
Ultron promises them he didn't kill Peggy, and explains that she was taken from someone not of this world — and flashbacks show us it was the Eminence. The team is shocked to learn that there are more Watchers out there, but realize if one of them came for Peggy, then that means they were on the right track. Ultron adds that the Eminence made a crucial strategic error in not realizing how Ultron has changed. He says that he eliminated all life in the universe in a quest for peace but failed to realize that conflict is a part of life, and a lack of life is not peace, it is merely emptiness. He acknowledges that he can't redeem himself for what he's done, but he agrees to help them and absorbs the last shard to take on its power. That turns out to be the missing piece they need to get their jump engine working and able to carry them into the Fifth Dimension to save Peggy and the Watcher.
The first seven episodes of What If...? Season 3 are streaming now on Disney+.
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Review
What If Season 3 Episode 7 heralds the beginning of the end with a penultimate episode that teases a major showdown.
Pros
- Peggy and Kahhori are back! I missed them, they should really have their own dedicated show.
Cons
- For being the first half of a two-part finale, this should've been a longer episode that gave us more time with the team.
Based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, this animated anthology looks at alternate timelines in the multiverse that would happen if specific moments in the MCU occurred differently.
Release Date August 11, 2021
Finale Year November 30, 2023
Seasons 3
Writers Ashley Bradley , Matthew Chauncey
Streaming Service(s) Disney+
Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe
Directors Bryan Andrews
Showrunner Ashley Bradley
English (US) ·