After seeing Wanda’s storyline carelessly butchered, witnessing the disappointing Kang (who was supposed to be scarier than Thanos) make his debut, and Thor becoming the stuff of parodies, 2023 seemed like a lost cause for the MCU. But then What If…? season 2 episode 5 happened.
Spoiler ahead for “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?” which has finally brought to life Neil Gaiman’s decade-old dream.
Comic book lovers already know what I am chattering about. If you don’t, well, bear with me for a hot second here because your girl here wasn’t expecting the episode to end the way it did! I mean, I had a little guessing game going on and knew it was probably connected to the one in season 1 where Captain Peggy Carter steps through a portal. And now, she is in the future, but not as lost as the OG Steve was in New York.
After Peggy disappeared, Bucky and Steve kickstarted a guerilla warfare of sorts to end HYDRA, which ended with Steve seemingly losing his life. But flash forward to the present where it is discovered that the Red Room has been keeping Steve alive, but under their control via the Hydra Stomper suit that doesn’t allow him to control his actions, which involves assassinating the targets the Red Room assigns him.
But just like the OG Barnes recovered a smidge of his self-control and memories upon meeting Captain America, alternate Steve is also moved by Peggy’s willingness to have him back in his life and her refusal to fight him. In this reality too, Steve sacrifices himself and destroys the Red Room by exploding it with him.
Still, Peggy is sure that he is out somewhere and while he can’t be removed from the suit that is keeping him alive, he can be saved. But her plans are stalled when Wanda, no the Scarlet Witch transports her to the year 1602 (and possibly a different reality as well) where we meet Nick Fury (or should we say, Sir Nicholas Fury?) and of course, the Hex queen as they tease how Peggy will be aiding in “saving [their] queen” and their world.
Now, the elephant in the multiversal room is…
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Why the year 1602, why did I name-drop Neil Gaiman, and who is this “queen?”
Well, Marvel is finally ready to work the Gaiman magic after DC’s Sandman became a sensation thanks to Netflix. This jump to the Elizabethan era is an adaptation of the author’s widely lauded 2003 Marvel comic book miniseries, Marvel 1602, which Gaiman had wanted to see on screen for almost a decade and even pitched the idea to the studio. And evidently, someone finally listened.
So what happens in the eight-part miniseries? Well, in this, the events take place on Earth-311, which is teeming with superheroes and mutants — Doctor Strange, Wanda, Magneto, Thor, Peter Parker, Matt Murdock, Jean Grey, etc — who are born 400 years before they were normally expected to exist. Why? Because Steve Rogers was sent back in time by the villainous Purple Man and the rift through which he came remained open. This combination is thus causing strange forces to plague the reality and threaten its existence.
But this is not the only problem — Doctor Doom (as Count Otto Von Doom) has the Fantastic Four in captivity and has his own nefarious plans in motion, which include targeting the queen, Elizabeth I. Now, I will not deprive you of figuring out how Gaiman’s masterpiece ends, but, while it seems a bit quirky, What If…? visiting Earth-311 and the year 1602 might be MCU way of ushering in the Fantastic Four.
Though the comic book ends differently, What If…? is already adapting it with a twist as this time, Captain America is the solution that will solve this new reality’s big problem.
Given that the second last episode of What If…? season 2 is titled “What if… The Avengers Assembled in 1602?” it seems like Marvel does indeed have a connected plan, which in turn raises hopes that we may, finally, see some of its truly mind-boggling what-ifs affecting and hopefully occupying a prominent presence in the main, live-action MCU.
But till that happens, we will take a leaf out of the Watcher’s book and observe what transpires, though we desperately want to interfere.
