WHAT IF...? Assembles '80s Avengers In "What If...Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" - SPOILERS

WHAT IF...? Assembles '80s Avengers In "What If...Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" - SPOILERS

The second episode of What If...? season 2 assembles a different roster of Avengers as they come together to stop an out-of-control Peter Quill who returns to Earth under the control of his father, Ego.

By JoshWilding - Dec 23, 2023 03:12 AM EST
Filed Under: What If

Today's episode of What If...? poses the question "What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"

Well, there's a lot more to this episode than that, though the story begins with young Peter Quill returning to Earth in 1988 shortly after Yondu delivered him to his father Ego. In this reality, the Ravager never had a change of heart and made good on his promise, leaving the young Peter to be shaped by his Celestial dad. 

Upon his arrival, Peter starts laying waste to those who try to stop him with his newfound powers. Scared of what this powerful alien might be capable of, the world - which is still in the midst of the Cold War - agrees to unite and form a team. 

At S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Pegasus, we catch up with Peggy Carter and Howard Stark as they assemble a team which is comprised of Hank Pym/Ant-Man, Bill Foster/Goliath, T'Chaka, Wendy Lawson (who is using the Tesseract to power her ship but doesn't have superpowers beyond those provided by a Kree uniform), and The Winter Soldier. 

The Russians sent him to help, and while both Peggy and Howard recognise the former Howling Commando, they know their friend is gone. 

This team of "Avengers" confronts Peter at Coney Island, but it's Thor who makes a surprise appearance to stop the boy. It turns out he's already laid waste to Asgard as part of Ego's expansion and the team eventually imprisons him...until a young Hope Van Dyne crosses paths with her fellow teenager. 

She helps him escape and gives him her Walkman - which Ego destroyed when he first met his son - after learning that he just wants to go home and that his father had influenced his destructive actions from afar. 

Ego eventually arrives on Earth to plant his seed but is confronted by The Avengers. He makes short work of Goliath, T'Chaka, and Thor; Hank and Wendy, meanwhile, approach Peter at his mother's grave...while The Winter Soldier watches on and prepares to kill him with a well-placed shot at the behest of his handlers. Luckily, Howard hacks the feed and reminds Bucky of the man he once was. 

Joining Hank, Peter helps stop Ego after learning the villain killed his mother and, upon absorbing the seed, declares himself Star-Lord and takes his father down. Of course, there's still work to be done and the team, including Peter, assembles to take Ego down once and for all. 

Oh, and Bucky, now free of HYDRA's control, is shown watching over New York, a sign perhaps he too intends to become a force for good. 

It was an action-packed effort today and, in terms of returning actors, we had Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher, Michael Douglas as Ant-Man, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, John Slattery as Howard Stark, Kurt Russell as Ego, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Laurence Fishburne as Goliath, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, John Kani's son, Atandwa Kani as T'Chaka, and Madeleine McGraw as Hope Van Dyne, reprising her Ant-Man and The Wasp role.

The major recasts were Keri Tombazian as Wendy Lawson and Mace Montgomery Miskel as Star-Lord. 

What did you think about this episode of What If...?

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Kurban
Kurban - 12/23/2023, 3:33 AM
I don’t care if they put her in a superhero team in a what if series, I’m still not forgiving them for botching Mar-Vell in the first place.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/23/2023, 3:46 AM
Now this episode feels more like a What If. The title should've been What If Yondu Delivered Peter to Ego, as it really changes one event from a movie with big consequences. And the 80s Avengers are cool too
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 12/23/2023, 5:12 AM
@bkmeijer1 - Totally agree. This felt a lot more enjoyable than the first ep. Almost gave up on the season after seeing the emptiness of the first one.
WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 12/23/2023, 4:22 AM
Decent representation of thor
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 12/23/2023, 8:16 AM
@HeWhoBeatsDames - Yes! He wasn’t too goofy and had a serious tone. It’s in line with Infinity War Thor.
ptick
ptick - 12/23/2023, 6:26 AM
I actually wish this was a full length movie. The beats were all there - they just had to gloss over a lot (especially the team building) to make it a half hour. Kinda want more of the 80s Avengers!
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/23/2023, 7:02 AM
@ptick - same here. And it doesn't even need to be an alternate universe. I don't see why they couldn't have existed within the MCU. Captain Marvel was retconned into the timeline as well
StSteven
StSteven - 12/24/2023, 3:35 PM
@bkmeijer1 @ptick - Yeah, this is definitely one of my favorite episodes out of both seasons so far. It just felt very epic and large scale (not that every episode needs to be like that mind you). Kinda reminded me of "Avengers vs. Brightburn" set in the 80's. Plus the cast was just amazing. Russell, Douglas, and Fishburn together is cool enough but then add in all the others and *chef's kiss*. And I agree that this felt like a proper "What If..." in the sense that one decision could have huge repercussions. Like, we can all probably think of at least one time in our lives where if we had just decided to do something we weren't going to do or not do something we did do, it would have probably had made a huge impact on where we are in life now. I know I can think of a couple of life-changers personally. Just, ya know, nothing that would have put the universe in peril. Probably. Earth? Maybe. The US? Definitely (don't ask). 😜
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/24/2023, 6:39 PM
@StSteven - I'm betting it has something to do with that psycho chick
StSteven
StSteven - 12/24/2023, 10:40 PM
@bkmeijer1 - Actually that's not the one I was thinking of. I mean, sure, I regret that event from happening, but that would have made for a pretty lame "What If?..." episode of my life. Kinda like "What if StSteven had never hooked up with that crazy girl that night?" and the episode would have been "Then he either would hadn't gotten laid that night (and saved himself a whole lot of trouble)" or "He was on the rebound and so could have hooked up with an equally crazy chick but in a different way". Not too exciting. But either way, my month and a half long ride on the crazy train with her didn't really alter my future life as much as some other events.

Instead I was thinking about the Hungarian juggler chick. That had SERIOUS, life-altering repercussions. Did I ever tell you about her?
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/25/2023, 3:16 AM
@StSteven - oh I see where this is going.

But back to your original comment. I'm thinking pretty much everything we do is a What If (but I suppose maybe that was already clear from my Loki article)
tb86
tb86 - 12/23/2023, 7:50 AM
I like that Hank and Hope seem to be patching up things as opposed to their relationship in the Sacred Timeline.
Origame
Origame - 12/23/2023, 7:54 AM
Ok, this is more like what I'd expect from what if.
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/23/2023, 9:05 AM
@Origame - Oh thank God. I was ready to go at it again lol
Origame
Origame - 12/23/2023, 9:40 AM
@LiteraryJoe - sorry dude. I'm not the perpetual hater people make me out to be. If they're genuinely doing something right, I will praise it.
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/23/2023, 11:46 AM
@Origame - Lol I know man, I’m just jesting with you
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 12/23/2023, 10:43 AM
The 80s Avengers are awesome
Order66
Order66 - 12/23/2023, 1:37 PM
I liked the first episode a lot. It felt like Sin City and Bladerunner mixed into one.
Himura
Himura - 12/23/2023, 4:29 PM
I wonder if there's gonna be any appearances by the '97 Xmen considering the same creative teams are working on both.

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