What If…? EP Explains How Infinity Stone Plot Hole Makes Sense

Last week’s eighth episode of Marvel’s What If…? was the most exciting yet as it saw an unstoppable Ultron take over not just Earth and his universe, but also mount a bid to conquer the entire multiverse. We’ll see how that turns out for him in tomorrow’s finale, but first, fans have been trying to get their heads around an apparent plot hole in the penultimate installment.

Armed with the Infinity Stones, Ultron starts a reality-hopping battle with the Watcher, with the pair of cosmically powered opponents fighting across universes. But here’s the thing. In Loki, we were told that the stones only work in the universe they are from. In the TVA, for example, the gems were useless trinkets and only any good as paperweights.

This appeared to be a glaring error in MCU continuity, but What If…? showrunner A.C. Bradley has now addressed the issue on social media, offering an explanation for how it actually makes sense for Ultron to be using the stones outside of his own world.

“Happy Monday! Just a reminder that Ultron is using the Infinity Stones to power himself (same universe being). Also he’s legit punching across multiverses turning them into one messy universe soup,” Bradley wrote on Twitter, along with the hashtag “#WeDidOurHW”, which makes clear she and her team checked in with Marvel over how the Infinity Stones worked.

Some fans were a little unclear what Bradley meant, though, but this response from a fan does a good job of explaining it. So apparently the Infinity Stones do work outside out of their own universe but only for someone from the same universe as them.

To be honest, that doesn’t quite explain why Loki couldn’t use his own Space Stone in Loki, but maybe the TVA is just special and is a kind of Infinity Stone-neutral zone.

Catch Ultron’s assault on the multiverse when What If…? debuts its season 1 finale on Disney Plus from this Wednesday, October 6th.