Marvel’s costly disappointment left behind a mystery MCU was scared to touch, but it’s time to put down the Sherlock hats

As part of the D23 event in Brazil, Marvel Studios released a new logo for season 3 of What If…? As it turns out, hiding between the letters hints at how the MCU will tie its most significant loose thread.

To understand the importance of the new What If…? tease, we first have to go back to 2021, when Marvel Studios released Eternals, an ambitious departure from the typical MCU formula directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao. Despite its grand scope and visual ambition, Eternals received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film earned a disappointing 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the first MCU film to receive a “rotten” rating. On CinemaScore, it received a B rating from audiences – the lowest grade ever for an MCU film.

Eternals’ box office performance reflected these mixed reactions. While it eventually reached a global total of $400 million, this was considered underwhelming for a film with a production budget exceeding $200 million — it didn’t even have the same-day release on Disney Plus to justify its failure. It is no shock that Marvel Studios never managed to greenlight a sequel, as Disney is only happy to leave the MCU alone as long as it makes enough money for the House of Mouse.

Nevertheless, while the absence of Eternals 2 makes sense from a financial point of view, the movie left quite a few unresolved cliffhangers. Captain America: Brave New World will finally address the presence of Tiamut’s corpse in the middle of the ocean. Plus, Blade will supposedly tie up the Black Knight reveal at the end of the movie if Mahershala Ali is still up for some vampire killing in the distant future. The last thing to wrap from Eternals is the whole subplot involving Arishem the Judge, the red Celestial who kidnapped some Eternals and led others to rescue them in the sequel.

It’s not like Marvel didn’t get a chance to resolve this particular mystery. Thor 4, Guardians of the Galaxy 4, Loki season 2, and many others were expected to end this dilemma. Well, better late than never as What If…? season 3 will somehow bring Arishem back, though the plot details are still unknown.

Arishem’s appearance in What If…? season 3 might help solve Eternals’ post-credits scene

The Eternals-focused What If…? episode has been teased for months. However, until the new season 3 poster emerged in D23, we had nothing official about Arishem ever popping up in the series. Now, Arishem joins an exciting season 3 cast that also includes a Mjolnir-wielding Storm from the X-Men, White Vision, and a version of Agatha wearing a white dress.

Of course, What If…? deals with alternate universes in which some events happened differently from the Sacred Timeline. In the Eternals’ case, their episode will explore what would happen if Tiamut had been fully born, destroying Earth. So, Arishem could only pop up to celebrate the birth of a new Celestial. However, the two previous seasons of What If…? had overarching narratives across multiple episodes, all dealing with Multiversal threats. Since season 3 marks the end of the animated series, there’s a chance Uatu, the Watcher (voiced by Jeffrey Wright), might finally visit the Sacred Timeline. What If…? season 3 can even lay some groundwork for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the big Multiversal crossovers that feature multiple timelines clashing against each other.

Look, I get it. Eternals didn’t make enough money to justify a sequel. Still, the movie’s story has a massive impact on the MCU as a whole, and Marvel Studios needs to address its post-credits scene at some point. If season 3 of What If…? serves to resolve Eternals’ final loose thread, so be it.