Thanks to What If…? having the luxury of breaking virtually every rule the MCU has established since Iron Man landed on the scene back in 2008, the show has very noticably tweaked the survival rate of Marvel’s beloved cast into something akin to a 70s disaster movie. As a result, we’ve seen a zombified Captain America bisected by his own shield, the entire roster of Avengers Agatha Christie-ed by an enraged Hank Pym before they could be assembled and more deaths for Tony Stark that’s strictly necessary – however, it seems that the animated series has no plans to calm down just yet.
What If…Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark take two of the most influential movies in Marvel’s cannon (Iron Man and Black Panther) and mercilessly reconfigures them into a tale that sees Killmonger kick start his plans to change centuries of obsession a little earlier, shifting his one-man destabilizing mission from Wakanda to Stark Industries with far more success. However does this rather bloodthirsty tale come a little too close to Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing for comfort?
We join Tony Stark as he takes his fateful trip to Afghanistan that went on to change the course of the world, however, after that fateful ambush by the Ten Rings, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist is saved from catching a chest full of shrapnel by Killmonger (aka. bitter marine Erik Stevens), who wipes out the terrorists and escorts Tony back to the US.
Saved from his time in a cave in Afghanistan, Tony never gets his epiphany triggering moment and thus never creates Iron Man, so he continues as if nothing happened having never learnt a damn thing. However, this suits Killmonger just fine as his whole saviour act is actually born from a need to infiltrate Stark Industries in order to enact a similar plan to the one he tried in Black Panther and kicks it into full gear by outing Obadiah Stane as the mastermind behind the attempted kidnapping. As he cultivates this new bromance with the eager Stark, he convinces the arrogant weapons designer to create a drone army using vibranium, but along the way he raises tensions between the U.S. and Wakanda by killing both James Rhodes and Prince T’Challa and framing each for the crimes.
While Tony finally pulls his alcoholic head out of his ass to figure out what Killmonger is up to, he too falls before the machinations of the vengeful soldier and ends up as just another marking on Killmonger’s broad chest. With Stark dead and Wakanda implicated, the military takes Killmonger’s drone designs and puts them into mass production, but while they do this, the villain feints and gains access to Wakanda by betraying leering black market smuggler Ulysses Klaue. Announcing himself as Wakanda’s prodigal son and filling King T’Chakka in on America’s planned invasion (which he started), it seems that Killmonger’s lunge for power is all but assured.
As dark as What If…? has frequently gotten, Killmonger Rescues Tony Stark may actually be the darkest yet. While “The World Lost It’s Mighiest Heroes” attacked its alarming body count with a certain, cynical detachment and “Zombies?!” playing its George Romero antics and ghastly twists for laughs, this episode plays the international espionage and callous assassinations with a mostly straight face.
To be fair, it makes sense as Michael B. Jordan’s charismatic villain was hardly one for jokes or wise cracks, but while it’s great to spend more time in his presence, the episode feels a little rushed and thus only feels like half a story.
Still, the union of Erik Steven’s and Tony Stark is initially an interesting pairing as Killmonger expertly plays the billionaire’s man-child leanings and vunerabilites like a harp from Hell in order to manuever his way into his endgame. Following in the footsteps of Helmut Zemo and Emperor Palpatine, Killmonger manufactures animosity between his enemies with disturbing ease and part of the color of a show like What If…? is getting to experience more with one of the MCU’s most interesting bad guys after his death at the end of Black Panther.
However, it’s here that the good stuff ends and the complaints start to creep in. While it’s great that Killmonger’s back (sort of), Michael B. Jordan isn’t actually given any room to do anything he didn’t already do in Black Panther (okay, be might be a little friendlier at the start) and the stylised animation fails to really capture the true essence of the man that managed to almost win you over to his cause during Ryan Coogler’s feature and makes him almost seem one-note in comparison. Similarly, the plot suffers in the same way as it did in the Captain Carter episode, where, instead of spiralling out into it’s own adventure like the winning T’Challa Star Lord episode, it’s just a rerun of Killmonger’s arc relocated in Iron Man 2’s settings where the differences end up being somewhat superficial.
While the story cleverly incorporates moments from Age Of Ultron and The Incredible Hulk (a quick hello to Ulysses Klaue and Thunderbolt Ross) into its story, it’s rather abrupt ending that only offers an inkling of hope leaves us rather unfulfilled. Has Killmonger won or not? Will the union between Pepper Potts and Shuri actually lead to justice ultimately being done? In an attempt to create a cliffhanger, the episode simply feels unfinished and it’s not like the MCU has been afraid let the baddies win before (hello? Infinity War?).
However, while the apparent uncertainty about how to end the episode leaves uncertain how to feel, the causal murder of a bunch of MCU regulars just leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Watching Rhodey get callously dispatched is one thing and witnessing yet another demise for Tony Stark is simply par for the course at this point, yet there’s something just wrong about killing T’Challa, especially considering that thus was the last performance he ever did as the Black Panther. I understand it’s hardly something the producers could control, but maybe if thus episode had gone before the Star Lord one, it would leave such a bad taste in the mouth.
While What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark? should rightly be commended for bringing a more serious time to the usually jocular tone of the franchise (Mick Wingbert does a great RDJ, too), it’s just too relentlessly callous and its timing a little off to enjoy it as much as other episodes.
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