The following article contains spoilers forWhat If…?’sfirst six episodes.
The entireWhat If…?series draws its main concept from a Marvel Comics storyline that allowed writers to come up with new one-off ideas for characters whose traits and paths had been known for at least a few decades by the time it came out.
It’s precisely this, combined with the animated series’ shorter runtime, that allowsWhat If…?to do the same with the Infinity Saga since theMCUbecame a thing. Until now, that usually meantWhat If…?stayed well within its tracks with each nexus event barely diverging from the sacred timeline, however, this week’sIron Man-Black Panthermashup produces a script well-deserving of more than just half an hour of television.
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Contrary to just showing an alternate take on a specific movie, orfatal tidbits from theAvengers’genesis week, thisWhat If…?entry completely undoes the entire MCU before it’s born. It’s the hypothetical start to the Infinity Saga, only withBlack Pantherinstead ofIron Man, and this translates into a carefully constructed 34 minutes that even keep the Watcher on the edge of his seat until the very end.
As first-generation Avengers, both Iron Man and Steve Rogers were the leaders of the Avengers, but by removing Tony Stark’s most humbling experience there was no room for him to grow into Iron Man and deviate him from his worst selfish billionaire side. Still, Stark is still a good man in this world, just not especially virtuous to toss everything aside or to catch Nick Fury’s one good eye.
Instead, the man that rises to the occasion is astill quite evil Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, whose plans to take control of Wakanda and avenge his father now start aiming from the very top. Killmonger is just as exceptional as he was inBlack Panther, he’s incredibly smart cunning, skilled, and his impressive body count is growing steadily roughly 7 years beforeBlack Panthertakes place.
And that, technically, is the first act of “What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?”, because Killmonger’s rise to corporate and military power in Stark Industries is then followed by act two, him betraying Stark and killing T’Challa; and lastly, his grand return home to Wakanda. Of course, it helps thatWhat If…?continues to recreate many scenes from the MCU take by take, yet for Killmonger it reinterprets them as part of the story it could never give to one of its most beloved villains.
What If…?has already introduced new characters like Captain Carter, given new twists known heroes like Star-Lord T’Challa, and evendisgraced Doctor Strange to doom the world, whereas this Killmonger is actually in most ways still the same character he was inBlack Panther. The episode wants the audience to think that Killmonger is cool from the moment it first uses his signature theme song fromBlack Panther.
As a now successful villain, Killmonger finally gets to see the Wakandan sunset he always dreamed of, and the sole sight of that even squeezes a rare expression of disbelief from the Watcher himself. IfWhat If…?’sKillmonger story were a movie it would probably spend most of its additional runtime exploring how he and Stark grew closer, as well as him gaining T’Chaka and Ramonda’s before ultimately seizing access to the heart-shaped purple herb.
If Killmonger’s episode is an MCU animated short film, then it can’t shy away from setting up its own sequel and that’s where Shuri and Pepper Potts step in. Both of these characters can be seen fighting side by side in early promotional images for the series, but so does Killmonger as part of the alt Avengers, meaning there’s still room for the character to grow past his criminal mistakes, something only Doctor Strange might be afforded.
The fact that Killmonger doesn’t travel back to his old Oakland apartment as part of his journey into the astral plane, but instead sees and talks to T’Challa suggests this is a more complex character. After all, Boseman’s T’Challa evolved into the king he was partly because of how his cousin made him see the world.
What If…?does all this while still remembering the racial warfare that drives Killmonger when he mercilessly murders Ulysses Klaue for daring to call him “boy”; or, conversely, it never fully steps away fromIron Man’sway of viewing American military intervention as the trigger-happy Thunderbolt Ross heads into war with the presumably tiny African nation.
Many fans theorized that Ryan Coogler shouldsomehow bring back Killmongerto take Boseman’s place inBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever, nevertheless,What If…?elegantly tosses aside that idea by giving Killmonger his own mini-movie.
What If…?’szombie episodeends with the sight of an undead Thanos, a fitting yet literally brainless expression of one of the MCU’s better villains. In Killmonger’s case, though his soul may be tainted, the world is not instantly doomed due to him being victorious because as T’Challa reminds him, power still has not completely gotten the best out of him just yet, and it takes more than 30 minutes for that to happen.
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