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Marvel What If Episode 3 is all about exploring alternate outcomes of a single story in different universes and timelines. What If is specially created to check how will fans react to all the alternate outcomes of the story.
Maybe in future, we will see some of the alternate realities of What If in a live-action MCU movie. Marvel is working really hard to please true MCU fans by delivering them what they want the most.
Marvel Studios constantly surprises their fans with their exceptional writing and constant want to make their fans happy. Marvel Studio is one of the biggest studios of the Super Hero genre, and now they are marking their territory on OTT platforms.
Summary of the Episode : What If Episode 3 Review
Ratings: 8.5/10
| Created By: | A.C. Bradley |
| Directed By: | Bryan Andrews |
| Executive Producers: | A.C. Bradley Bryan Andrews Victoria Alonso Louis D’Esposito Kevin Feige Brad Winderbaum |
| Starring: | Tony Stark aka Iron-Man Thor Hulk aka Dr Bruce Banner Black Widow aka Natasha Romanoff Hawk-Eye aka Clint Barton Nick Fury Hank Pym Captain Marvel |
| Production House: | Marvel Studios |
| Distributed By: | Disney Platform Distribution |
As always, What If episode 3 also starts with the Watcher narrating the story. The Episode starts with Nick Fury and Natasha Romanoff sitting in a car and Nick Fury telling Natasha about Avengers Initiative.
Then Natasha tells Fury that he is risking the Avengers Initiative by recruiting Tony Stark. Tony Stark is sitting over a giant doughnut. Then we got to know that this Episode is based on Iron Man 2 when Nick Fury was setting up his Avengers Initiative.
Then things go similar to Iron Man 2 when Nick Fury meets Tony Stark, and Natasha injects him with Lithium Dioxide, which worked as a temporary cure to Tony Stark’s health, but in What If episode 3, Tony Stark dies with that injection.
Shield then put Natasha responsible for Tony’s death, and they arrest her, but Natasha is an excellent spy, and she managed to escape from there. Simultaneously Agent Coulson finds Thor’s Hammer and informs Nick Fury about it.
Then just like Thor’s first MCU movie SHIELD captured all that area in their custody to observe the hammer. Then Thor invades to take back his Mjolnir. Similarly, Thor movie Hawk-Eye asks Fury to take down Thor.
But in What If episode 3, Clint shoots Thor with his arrow, which results in Thor’s death, and Clint was arrested for killing Thor. Then under mysterious circumstances, Agent Clint Barton also dies under Shield’s observation inside a cell.
This shocks everyone, and now Nick Fury doubts that Tony’s death and Clint’s death are related. Natasha goes to meet Dr Ross to find out if someone sabotaged the needle from which Natasha injected Tony Stark.
Dr Ross was not able to tell what actually went wrong and how Tony Stark died because there was not any sign of any kind of tampering on the needle. Nick Fury calls Natasha to inform her about Clint’s death, and he tells Natasha that he thinks someone is targetting all the candidates of the Avengers Initiative.
Now Nick wants Natasha to find Dr Bruce Banner because he is the next one on the list. Natasha finds Dr Bruce Banner, and when they were escaping, General Ross came there to kill Hulk, similarly to Incredible Hulk.
Then someone shot Dr Banner, and he transforms into Hulk, but in What If episode 3, after some time, Hulk seems to grow more and more and then he blasts, resulting in the death of Hulk and Dr Banner. Which shocks everybody because everybody believes that Hulk can not die.
At the same time, Loki invades Earth with his Asgardian army to avenge the death of Thor. Nick somehow manages to buy some time so that he can find the real killer of Thor, and Loki can punish him.
Natasha was looking into the Avengers Initiative files to check for any clue about the killer, then she observes that someone accessed those files a day ago, and that person died 2 years ago. Natasha then figures out who is behind all of this.
But then Natasha also dies, but before dying, Natasha leaves a message to Fury saying that “It’s Hope, it’s all about Hope.” Fury didn’t understand it at first, then Agent Coulson tells Fury that he is now the only one left on the list.
Fury then remembers that he is not the only one left in the Avengers Initiative and Fury tried to send an SOS signal to Captain Marvel. Then Fury understood the message Natasha sends him, and he goes to meet Loki.
Fury then visits a morgue where SHIELD buried Hope Van Dayne, Daughter of Hank Pym, and in What If episode 3, Hope was a SHIELD agent who died on a mission 2 years ago. Then Hank Pym appears there to kill Nick Fury.
Then Hank tells Fury how he killed every person who was supposed to be in Avengers Initiative. Then Nick Fury defeats Hank Pym with the help of Loki. Loki then decides to stay on Earth and rule the people of Earth.
Nick then do the last rites of every Avenger dead, and he calls Captain Marvel to help him fight Loki, and here the What If episode 3 ends.
Where was Captain America the Whole Time? : What If Episode 3 Review
As we all know that Captain America is one of the most important characters of the Avengers, but he was missing from the What If episode 3 the whole time. At the end of the episode, Captain America’s shield was shown freeze in Ice.
There is a very strong chance that Nick didn’t found Steve yet, but in the end, he finally finds Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, and now Captain Marvel and Captain America both will fight side by side to fight Loki.
Captain America was frozen in Ice, and that is why his name was not in the Avengers Initiative, and that is why Hank Pym didn’t kill Captain America.
Loki Finally Rules Midgard : What If Episode 3 Review
In the first Avengers movie, we saw Loki wanted to rule Earth, aka Midgard, but he failed at that time. Then we see in Loki’s Disney+ series that similarly other Loki variants also were unable to rule Midgard.
But in What If episode 3, Loki finally managed to rule Midgard, and that too without fighting any Avenger because all the Avengers died without even becoming an Avenger. Nick Fury still will put a fight to save Earth from Loki.
This time Captain Marvel will fight Loki, which didn’t happen in MCU’s live-action movies. We still have to see what more shocking elements Marvel have in their pocket, which they will use in the following What If episodes.
The Disappointing Elements of the Episode : What If Episode 3 Review
The most crucial thing which disappoints the most in the What If episode 3 is that none of the primary Avengers died a respectable and deserving death. What If episode 3 make it looks so simple to kill an avenger.
It feels like the makers are giving away the easiest ways to kill an Avenger. Tony Stark, who defended New York City many times, first from The more extensive version of his Iron Suit and then from Whiplash, but dies from a small needle.
And Thor, who is probably the strongest Avenger and a God, but he dies merely from an Arrow. None of the ways was justified that an Avenger can die so easily. It feels very hard to buy any of the reasons and methods that killed all the Avengers.
And the revelation of Hank Pym as the main antagonist of the story also feels odd. And it is very difficult to buy this story. What If Episode 3 has many shocking elements, and the episode also maintain suspense till the end of the episode, but the climax was very underwhelming.
The Good Things About the Episode : What If Episode 3 Review
The best quality of the What If episode 3 is that it maintains proper suspense until the very end of the episode, which keeps the fans engaged till the end of the episode. The other thing which is very good about the What If episode 3 is that it manages to shock fans.
The shocking element of the episode is very strong, and it genuinely makes the audience question what will happen next. The episode is not at all predictable, and everyone will keep guessing what will happen next.
The episode could have been better, but there is a significant improvement in the What If episodes compared to the first episode of the series. There is still room for more improvement in the series.
Marvel Studios is really working to figure out ways to shock their fans and to please them at the same time.
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FAQ About What If Episode 3:
Will Avengers return in What If?
No, the Avengers will not return in What If, instead there will be another new group of superheroes called “Guardians of the Multiverse.”
How many episodes are there in What If?
There will be 9 episodes in Marvel’s What If series, though the original plan was to release 10 episodes then the makers of the series decided to release only 9 episodes.
Will Iron Man return in What If?
No, in the timeline of What If Iron Man is dead and it is very unlikely that he will return in this series, though there are chances that an Iron Man from another universe can appear.
Will Steve Rogers return as Captain America in What If?
There is uncertainty for this because we have already seen that in this timeline Agent Carter is the supersoldier now.
