Marvel’s What If…? continued today with its darkest episode yet.
Titled “What If… The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?”, episode 3 explored a bleak timeline where four out of five of the Avengers were assassinated prior to the team coming together, leaving Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to uncover the mysterious murderer responsible.
Another hitch appears when Loki (Tom Hiddleston) leads an Asgardian army to Earth as revenge for the death of his brother. Fury brokers a deal with Loki to give him one night to find the culprit before he conquers the planet. It turns out that a vengeful Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is the killer, blaming S.H.I.E.L.D. for the death of his daughter, Hope. A strangely agile Fury beats Pym in a fight, and it’s revealed to be Loki in disguise, suggesting he and Fury have formed an alliance. But this is the God of Mischief we’re talking about, so naturally, it doesn’t last.
The episode then jump-cuts to the very next day when Loki announces to the world that he is the new unquestioned ruler of all. having taken over the planet with ease without the Avengers to stop him. This is an intriguing development as it harks back to a Loki variant we just met in the Loki TV series, President Loki.
Some fans are wondering if the What If…? Loki and President Loki are the same variants, and we’ve just witnessed his Nexus Event.
With The Void where President Loki dwelled resembling a destroyed New York, the implication was that this variant had succeeded in winning the Battle of New York. That’s a slightly different scenario than what played out in What If…?, where the trickster took over Earth a full two years before The Avengers. The makers of the two shows probably didn’t intend to crossover in this way, then, but it’s fun to imagine a connection between the two Lokis.
Marvel’s What If…? continues next Wednesday on Disney Plus.
