Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ Episode 3 Break Down: The Big Week on The Worst Timeline
Marvel’s What If…? episode 3 was… dark, y’all.
This episode is a retelling of the story of Nick Fury’s “big week”, an MCU comic book showing the events of the week when Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and the finding of a frozen Captain America all take place. But this is truly the darkest timeline, because the Avengers never form… because someone is murdering all of them.
Natasha is arrested by the SHIELD agents, who we recognize from The Winter Soldier as Hydra agents, led by Crossbones. As they walk her to the truck for transport, Nick Fury indicates to her that he believes that she’s innocent, but that his hands are tied by Alexander Pierce, head of SHIELD (and also Hydra sleeper agent.) Once she’s in the truck, we get one hell of a fight scene. Reminiscent of Steve’s elevator battle with the same team of villains, the animation and choreography of Natasha’s fight scene was definitely the highlight of the episode.
Meanwhile, Thor shows up in New Mexico to grab Mjolnir, but instead of holding his shot, Hawkeye slips and kills the God of Thunder. Only Hawkeye swears he didn’t slip, but before Nick Fury can ask for his side of the story, Clint has died, sealed in a containment room and completely alone.
Nick Fury, courtesy of Marvel Studios
Natasha has gone to consult Betty Ross about the syringe she used on Tony Stark, and the two deduce that nanotech might be involved. At that moment, Fury calls Natasha and tells her that Clint has died, and Bruce Banner steps out from his hiding place in Betty’s lab.
To make matters worse, Loki has inherited the throne of Asgard. With Odin still asleep and his brother murdered at the hands of the humans, we can imagine that it wasn’t difficult for a young Loki to rally the army of Asgard to his service, including Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. Loki isn’t fooling around, and he’s wielding the Casket of Winters and ready to cause some damage, but every multiverse Loki needs to be humbled a little, and Fury’s cell phone ringing during his grand speech was a nice touch.
Black Widow, courtesy of Marvel Studios
Natasha is on the other end of the line just as general Ross is rolling up with military buddies. They fire, and Natasha tries to calm Bruce down after he’s shot. But shooting Bruce Banner, as we know, just makes the Hulk mad, and he begins to smash accordingly. Until he explodes. It’s… uncomfortable.
Anyway, Nick Fury strikes a deal with Loki: we’ll find Thor’s assassin and deliver them to you by tomorrow. That night, Natasha is cruising SHIELD’s database, and we see a number of characters, including Janet van Dyne. Widow wonders aloud how a woman who died years ago could have accessed the files the day before.
Just then, she turns around to face someone unseen, and they attack her! She yells to Fury over the phone that it’s “all about Hope!”, and then is thrown by her opponent. Now even though we see a casket with her insignia on it, I think it’s unclear if Natasha dies at this time. I didn’t see a body, did you?
At this point, we’re putting the pieces together, and so is Fury. He confronts Hank Pym, who’s sporting the Yellow Jacket costume and a really nasty attitude, and finds out that he has been killing the potential Avengers because Hope was killed while working for SHEILD. Fury alludes to her death taking place in Ukraine, where Natasha first encountered the Winter Soldier. And we’re left to infer that Bucky killed Hope van Dyne.
As Fury and Pym start to fight, we find out that Loki has been casting illusions, and that he and Fury have teamed up to capture Thor’s killer. As much as I love a good team-up, this is how we get that “All Hail Loki” scene in the What If…? trailers. The new king of Asgard takes over the world, giving his famous subjugation speech from The Avengers.
When it looks like all hope is lost, Fury remembers that he isn’t the last Avenger. As he wipes the frost off of Captain America’s shield, he greats his old pal Carol Danvers, who had better be here to save this wreck of a timeline.
How are you feeling about the glum circumstances of this last episode? Maybe everybody should take a break and go google some Pet Avengers artwork or something…
