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This article contains spoilers for season 3 of Marvel’s What If…?
The third and final season of Marvel’s What If…? is full of new and exciting peeks at worlds that exist outside of the MCU’s “Sacred Timeline.” From old Hollywood glamour to Russian buddy comedy hijinks to old West shootouts, this season certainly has fun playing in the Marvel sandbox. But despite the fact that the majority of these stories are pretty significant deviations from the characters we know in the MCU, this season does do a good job of setting up important parts of upcoming movies Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World, albeit in a different way than we’ll likely see them on the big screen.
Thunderbolts
Episode 4 “What If…The Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier?” is a fun buddy comedy that shows us what could have happened if the Red Guardian had joined the Winter Soldier on his mission to retrieve the super soldier serum from Howard and Maria Stark. This “accident” in the ’90s is what kills them in the Sacred Timeline and later kickstarts the events of Captain America: Civil War.
In this timeline, however, the Red Guardian keeps the Winter Soldier from killing the Starks. This obviously makes neither the Red Room or Hydra very happy, so Alexei and Bucky end up on the run together for a while. That is, until Bucky is ordered to kill Alexei. Not wanting to kill his new friend, Bucky lets Alexei escape, telling both of their bosses that he died. Even though the two have only known each other for a short time, and we know that Bucky is still very much under Hydra’s control at this point in the Sacred Timeline, it’s telling that any version of the Winter Soldier would be willing to risk so much for someone who is basically a stranger.
Obviously this story happens at a very different point in these character’s lives than Thunderbolts* will, but hopefully this episode still gives us a glimpse of the buddy comedy dynamic we might be able to expect from Alexei and Bucky when we see them in this movie. This episode is also a sign that their first mission together will likely have several hiccups, considering how much the two butt heads in the beginning. However, this episode also shows that these two can also be formidable allies when it really matters.
Captain America: Brave New World
On the surface, Captain America: Brave New World doesn’t look like it would have many ties to the more magical and cosmic sides of the MCU, let alone an episode as glittery and glamorous as “What If…Agatha Went to Hollywood?” However, this episode of Marvel’s What If…? and Brave New World do have one thing in common – the return of the Celestial Tiamut from Eternals.
In What If…?, Agatha tries to absorb the Celestial’s power and take it as her own. And she succeeds, becoming an incredibly powerful cosmic being in the process. While we aren’t quite sure the extent of which the stone corpse of Tiamut will feature in Brave New World, this episode of What If…? does show us how much power lies in even a dormant Celestial.
It’s not likely that anyone will be trying to absorb the Celestial’s power like Agatha did, at least in Brave New World, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t going to be a race to claim the new territory and wealth of cosmic resources this stone giant has to offer. In one of the trailers, it looks like Cap (Anthony Mackie) is flying around part of Tiamut’s emerging corpse, but we’ve yet to see just how much the Celestial body is going to factor into the plot and conspiracy at the center of Brave New World.
Hopefully this kind of power doesn’t end up in the wrong hands in Brave New World. We’ve seen what could happen when a mortal takes on this kind of power. Even though Agatha may be selfish, she’s certainly not evil. If someone like The Leader got their hands on even a fraction of this power, however, there’s no telling what chaos they could bring upon the Earth.
All eight episodes of Marvel’s What If…? season 3 are available to stream on Disney+ now.
The post How Marvel’s What If…? Season 3 Teases Thunderbolts and Captain America 4 appeared first on Den of Geek.
