If there’s been a continuing flaw in What If…?, its undoubtedly been the fact that the vast majority of episodes have had abrupt, unsatisfying conclusions that hint of so much more before it drops the curtain. Be it vague hints that a villainous, victorious Killmonger might answer for his crimes, or a weirdo ending to the highly comedic Thor episode where Ultron Drones suddenly show up after a supposedly happy ending – well, it turns out that there’s been a reason for that as those cheeky little scamps at Marvel Studios edge toward the big finish of their first animated MCU show.
While the show has been thus far content to be a collection of random, separate stories much like The Twilight Zone, with the rather self explanatory What If… Ultron Won?, things take a rather interesting turn as that old MCU adage of “Everything’s connected” becomes truer than ever.
After witnessing the world collapsing on no less than two occasions already (one thanks to Doctor Strange with the other being chalked up to super zombies), now it’s the turn of Ultron to reduce the planet to a burnt out husk. The turning point in this universe is obviously Age Of Ultron where, instead of having his brand new body stolen and turned into the Vision, he succeeded in transferring his consciousness and managed to kill all of the Avengers (yes, even Tony Stark, again) while Black Widow and Hawkeye were still whizzing around in the Quinjet.
Thanks to the peeping skills of the Watcher, we cast our eyes upon the scene a little while later, with Ultron standing triumphant in the aftermath of the nuclear holocaust he set off to annihilate the human race. However, the peace he seeks is short lived when Thanos shows up looking for Ultron’s Mind Stone to complete his Infinity Stone collection, but the tables are turned stunningly quickly after the robot fatally bitch slaps the mad titan with a blast from his cosmic jewel and gathers the remaining stones for himself. While this does add a certain je ne sais quoi to Ultron’s armour, it also, unfortunately, makes him cosmically aware and so he leaves earth to bring his particular brand of “peace” to the rest of the universe.
However, while the killer robot is whizzing around the galaxy blowing up whole planets, this gives earth’s last survivors, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton, a chance to finally take out the A.I. aggressor once and for all by travelling to the headquarters of the KGB in order to come up with a plan. They’d better hurry, because once Ultron finishes off molding the known universe in his own image, he has one more item left on the agenda – the Watcher himself, and through him he can wage war on the entire multiverse.
During a couple of times, I’ve mentioned that What If…? has been striving to be like The Twilight Zone with the Watcher acting like Rod Serling as his numerous tales relentlessly rug pull everything we know into oblivion – however, with What If… Ultron Won? it’s almost like the gremlin from the Terror At 20000 Feet episode suddenly leaps out of the story and starts attacking old Rod himself. It’s a fairly audacious move to switch mid-episode from an anthology story to overacting story that involves two godlike figures brawling throughout multiple realities and it’s arguably as epic as Phase 4 has gotten as it does everything it can to help the Multiversal Saga to earn its title. Not only do we witness the MCU finally make Ultron the threat he always should have been as Ross Marquand does his best to mimic the sardonic base of James Spader, but his look, which is the bastardization of his old body, wrapped around the form of the Vision, is a genuinely kickass design – although, I’d maybe argue that the squashing of a stoned-up Thanos arguably is a little too easy. Similarly, Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher, now suddenly a central player, steps up with style and the moment he realises that Ultron, with all the cosmic awareness that the Infinity Stones have given him, senses that he’s there us a legitimate, heart in the mouth moment that radiates real danger.
However, while this multiversal rug pull comes as an honest surprise, it comes at something of a cost and that cost is an intriguing story about BFF assassins Hawkeye and Black Widow on one final mission at the end of the world. It’s gritty stuff as they both struggle to John Connor their way through existence after the Age Of Ultron has already happened. It smoothly weaves in details from the last two Captain America movies (hello again Zola algorithm), prematurely gives Clint Barton his Endgame mohawk alongside a sweet, Winter Soldier arm (I guess a mohawk is Barton’s standard reaction to a dead family and even gives Natasha the Red Guardian’s shield. However, despite the fact that their mission to obtain a rival A.I. is fairly gripping (the scene where an invisible Watcher freaks out as Hawkeye gives up a mere fingertip from salvation is edge of the seat stuff), it’s somewhat overshadowed by the intercutting between two God-like beings throwing hands as they tumble through realities. Also, we’ve already seen Marvel heroes staggering through an apocalyptic wasteland in the zombie episode and while killer robots are a fair sight more sprightly than rotting corpses, their idenikit look is nowhere near as fun to look at.
Still Bryan Andrew’s still manages to flex his visual muscles with some truly cool shit such as a swarm of Ultron Drones swarming up towards a plummeting Hawkeye as he notches one last arrow, or the crowds of gawking onlookers to the Watcher and Ultron’s battle shifting as they smash through into yet another reality – think Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, but far more cleaner.
However, the real twist here lies at the very end when a battered Watcher finally realises he has to break his oath and goes to Sinister Strange for help. Not only has the episode already gone pseudo-meta and dragged the host of an anthology show into the story he’s been viewing, but it now shifts again to turn that anthology show into a connected team adventure. To be fair, the transition could be smoother and the show’s kind of torpedoed it’s original premise for the promise of yet another extravaganza and while it does explain away the abrupt, almost incomplete endings every episode has had up until now, everything now depends on how strong the show finishes – something an anthology show doesn’t usually have to stand or fall on.
Daring, exciting, but occasionally too chaotic for it’s own good, What If…? now teeters on the edge of it’s own blade as everything hinges on an appropriately big finish.
Watch this space…
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