After a steady trend toward darker and more negative consequences each week, what would What…if? episode 6 hold, with a focus on Tony Stark and Killmonger? Let’s first have a quick recap of previous episodes to set up that trend toward negative outcomes.
In episode 1, we had Peggy Carter becoming Captain Carter. Steve Rodgers instead became an early 1940s version of Iron Man, when Howard Stark created an early version of the suit for the heroic young soldier. But, the episode was otherwise fairly similar in tone to the original Captain America MCU movie. So, not really negative or positive.
In episode 2, T’Challa was kidnapped by the Ravagers instead of Peter Quill. T’Challa went on to become a much more successful Star-Lord, who even convinced Thanos to set aside his plans to snap half the universe out of existence. There was plenty of Guardians of the Galaxy-style humor in this one. So, pretty positive in many ways.
Episode 3 took the first real dark turn, as the original Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Hulk, and possibly Black Widow) were all assassinated before Nick Fury was able to bring them all together. The villain was Hank Pym, whose daughter joined SHIELD in this universe and later died in the line of duty. Pym held SHIELD responsible and took his vengeance by killing the Avengers before they could ever be formed. The episode ended as Fury and Captain Marvel appeared ready to find Captain America frozen in the ice. So, clearly a darker story here.
In episode 4, Dr. Strange’s origin story was altered and his girlfriend Christine was killed in the car accident depicted in the original MCU movie, instead of Strange being alone in the car and injuring his hands. In this universe, Strange’s grief causes him to turn to dark sorcery to bring Christine back, which eventually leads to the end of the entire universe. Yikes. Hard to get much darker than that.
In episode 5, we get a mashup of The Walking Dead and the MCU as the events of Avengers: Infinity War are superceded by the earth being overrun with zombies. This includes zombie versions of various Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Wanda, etc.). As most zombie apocolypses go, it doesn’t have a happy ending. So, once again, pretty pessimistic future in this one.
This sets the state for Episoe 6. Let’s unpack the latest storyline.
Tony Stark is rescued before being taken by terrorists
In this alternate universe Tony Stark is saved before the terrorists can abduct him (as seen in Iron Man). Instead, Erik Stevens (aka Killmonger, the villain from Black Panther) rescues Stark and gets him back to safety. So, in this universe Stark never creates the Iron Man suit.
Stark befriends Killmonger and begins working with him to obtain vibranium and build an army of robotic sentinels.
Killmonger is still the same guy
While Tony may have changed, Killmonger hasn’t. He is still determined to get revenge for his father’s murder and take his place as ruler of Wakanda. He manages to kill T’Challla and Rhodey and makes it appear that they killed each other. Stark isn’t fooled, but Killmonger manages to kill him as well, and blames Wakanda.
Killmonger then leads an army of robot sentinels for the US mililtary to take over Wakanda, but seemingly betrays the military to cement his status of the next leader of Wakanda.
The villain wins… at least for now
The episode ends with Killmonger having taken on the mantle of Black Panther, killing the king and exating his revenge. However, T’Challa’s sister Shuri is working with Pepper Pots to expose him, as the end credits roll. So, a pretty open-ended but unpleasant change in this universe as well.
What’s next?
There are a few episodes left and none have yet built on each other. Will this continue for the final episodes? Stay tuned!
