WHAT IF...? Season 2 Premiere "What If...Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" Has A Surprise MCU Return - SPOILERS

WHAT IF...? Season 2 Premiere "What If...Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" Has A Surprise MCU Return - SPOILERS

The first episode of What If...? season 2 has just arrived on Disney+, and the murder mystery included the surprise return of an MCU character - and actor - we haven't seen since 2019. Read on for details!

News
By JoshWilding - Dec 22, 2023 05:12 AM EST
Filed Under: What If

What If...? returned to Disney+ today with its second season and an episode titled "What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" 

We learn that, in this reality, Ronan the Accuser betrayed and killed Thanos, leaving Nebula floating through space and facing certain death. Instead, she was rescued by the Nova Corps and enlisted as a corpsman. 

When Ronan arrived on Xandar, there were no Guardians of the Galaxy to oppose him and Nova Prime was forced to activate an impenetrable shield around the planet which would remain there for 50 years. Unfortunately, it's bathed Xandar in darkness and turned it into a Blade Runner-esque city which the Nova Corps protect. 

The story begins with Yondu being murdered, prompting Nebula to investigate. She finds some schematics on him and heads to a casino run by Howard the Duck. There, we see Groot, Miek, and Korg all working, along with an angry Drax who loses his cool with a slot machine. 

Howard helps Nebula deduce that these are schematics for the shield surrounding Xandar and Thanos' daughter is forced to break Yon-Rogg - a returning Jude Law - out of prison to help her infiltrate the facility. 

He betrays her and is revealed to be in cahoots with Nova Prime. She set up Yondu's murder and used Nebula because she knew only a cyborg could get what they needed; the cowardly Nova Prime plans to open the shield for Ronan as he's promised she'll stay in charge of the planet.

Badly wounded, Nebula returns to Howard for help and assembles a team - which also includes Korg, Miek, and Groot - to save the day. A fight ensues and we learn Nebula knew of Nova Prime's plan all along as she gave herself away when she told the hero to figure out what happened to Yondu by any means necessary. 

Using the Ravager's Yaka Arrow, Nebula and her friends defeat the villains and Nova Prime falls to her death after trying to gun down the corpsman. Ronan's ship is destroyed - with him on board - when Nebula closes the shield on it and, as the sun rises on Xandar, she vows to continue protecting the planet. 

In terms of returning cast members, we had Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Jude Law as Yon-Rogg, Michael Rooker as Yondu, Seth Green as Howard the Duck, Taika Waitti as Korg, and Peter Serafinowicz as Garthan Saal. The only recasts are Julianne Grossman as Nova Prime and Fred Tatasciore as Groot (they replace Glenn Close and Vin Diesel, respectively). This marks the first time Law has played Yon-Rogg since 2019's Captain Marvel.

What did you think about the What If...? season 2 premiere?

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Corruptor
Corruptor - 12/22/2023, 6:51 AM
Yeah, Ronan doesn't kill Thanos in ANY reality. So, garbage before it even begins.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 7:07 AM
@Corruptor - Without the magic glove anyone could theoreticaly kill Thanos be that chopping his head off or droppin a meganuke on his ass so get your point but...
tluciotti74
tluciotti74 - 12/22/2023, 8:55 AM
@Corruptor - well first, it is What If so totally takes some liberties but Thanos has been defeated many times in the comics in many different ways so Ronan surely could find a way
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 9:43 AM
@Apophis71 - he took on hulk easily without even bothering to use the stones.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 9:55 AM
@Origame - Nobody said it would be easy even sans gauntlet but why I included dropping a meganuke on him, as in if he can be killed by by Thor chopping his head off then anyone could even if it required tech and tactics not brute physical force to do so.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 10:13 AM
@Apophis71 - ...what meganuke can take him our? He even took out Thor, who can survive the power of a star?

And Thor could only chop his head off after getting a weapon described as "the Thanos killing kind", which required the previously mentioned heat of the star feat to get.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 10:49 AM
@Origame - If he can die, he can die, end of story and in the comics was defeated a lot...

...the specifics of how are moot. Fact is almost any villain can be killed and if you can muster an army and advanced weapons never implausible to kill one of them, even Thanos who is ultimately a far weaker version of Darkseid even with the MCU upgrade and shouldn't be much harder to kill than any of the MCU Eternals even with his super strength etc.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 11:32 AM
@Apophis71 - ...dude, it's people like you that's the reason the mcu is in the crapper now.

Those details of how are important. The entirety of infinity war was built around the fact Thanos was basically impossible to defeat and they had to find a way to do so.

Dr strange ended up looking at over 14 million possible futures in order to find a way to beat him, and the only option they had was to let him win.

Thor had to kill himself to create a star level superweapon which would scale to millions of times stronger than the meganuke you recommended, and even then he only killed Thanos when he was already weakened from the snap.

Ronan quickly turned on Thanos the second he got the power stone, implying he was always against Thanos but lacked the means of defeating him until he got his hands on the most powerful thing in the mcu.

Also, eternals are above God beings. Of course it should be hard to kill them. Especially since Thanos is both an eternal and deviant.
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/22/2023, 1:43 PM
@Origame - Hulk didn’t have the power stone, Ronan did.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 2:25 PM
@Origame - Chill and take a reality check, not everything should be spoon fed esp in an animated what if short. I'm not even defending anything here just stating a fact that Thanos was killed, is able to be killed thus can be killed by someone else in an alternate universe, this shouldn't be so hard for a teacher to grasp.

If the cartoon was bad or failed in any other way and/or should have explained how, that is all fair to go all out on but the specific fact someone else who had in the MCU an infinity stone managed to kill Thanos (who at that time didn't have any) is not implausable either in the comics or within the MCU.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 3:17 PM
@LiteraryJoe - dude, who sent Ronan to get the power stone?
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 3:19 PM
@Apophis71 - again, your standards for accepting the defeat of a basically undefeatable character is why we're in the state we're at in the mcu.
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/22/2023, 3:24 PM
@Origame - In the movie after Thanos sent him to get it he attempted to turn on Thanos, killing The Other, WITH THE POWER STONE.

This universe he also uses it on Thanos, is that a stretch? I’m surprised you aren’t complaining that Xandar didn’t use their defense against Thanos in the movie.

He was a good villain but let’s let his grapes breathe a bit.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 3:31 PM
@LiteraryJoe - do you honestly believe Thanos would send Ronan to get the power stone if he didn't have a plan of countering the power stone?

And xandar most definitely used their defenses.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 3:32 PM
@Origame - Not accepting ANYTHING, not defending ANYTHING, not even saying ANYTHING that Marvel has ever created is good and if you think EVERYTHING MCU has ever done is a load of cr@p that is an entirely valid POV to have.

I ONLY stated that Thanos being killed is not impossible, no more, no less. Stan Lee himself long ago stated anyone can defeat anyone if the writer chooses it to be thus, even if the idea and writing is bad.

Thanos is not a god, big or little g (non of the Eternals or deviants are, they were created as Angels and Demons by gods thus demigods at best not gods) and was dumb enough to give Loki his only infinity stone (at that time) to try and get a second one. After that Ronin aquired one, doesn't matter if it was at the direction of Thanos or not, turning on Thanos and killing him is entirely plausible even if you think it is a dumb concept (which would be a fair opinion, not even given mine if it was a good idea or not let alone if the episode was good or bad).
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 3:37 PM
@LiteraryJoe - THAT was the sort of thing was expecting to be the nitpick, if Xandar had that tech why didn't they use it in the film and/or how did they acquire it in this universe. That and why would the leader who put up the shield presumably to stop Ronin be the one helping him...

...those are the questionably things not the killing of Thanos which seems the most plausable aspect of all this (not actualy watched it yet, just from reading the plot).
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 3:49 PM
@Apophis71 - 1) the point, as I've always said, is the how is important. And considering they just had vision kill Thanos like nothing, that's the level of poor writing we have.

2) don't manipulate what Stan Lee said. He was discussing the nature of these being fictional characters. You still need to sell the defeat to the audiences. And based on what we've seen, it ain't happening.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 3:57 PM
@Origame - Non of that negates the simple point Iinitialy made, never said any of it was good or bad but you went off on tangents as per trying to make a big deal over nothing for no logical reason, seriously how fast you go off on things you seriously should consider therapy as that aint a healthy way to live your life.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 4:07 PM
@Apophis71 - what other conclusion can be given when I present a problem and you counter it that you're defending it?
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 4:09 PM
@Origame - When you assume...
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 4:23 PM
@Apophis71 - by assume, you mean listen to what you tell me in full context...
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 12/22/2023, 4:33 PM
@Origame - ...you make an ass of U and Me.

Ronan turned on Thanos in the movie and stated he was going to kill Thanos with it (occurs 50mins into the film), after he dealt with Xandar. All they did here was switch the order that he goes to kill Thanos first. That is one of the most plausible basis for a starting point of what if going even if the execution and writing is bad.

The fairer questions are about the shield tech and the leader switching sides and trusting Ronan wouldn't turn on her like he did Thanos.

ALL I stated initialy is that with good writing (and any required gizmo and plot to sell it to the reader/viewer) Thanos could be killed by almost anyone if he doesn't have infinity stones or the Gauntlet, never once stated this epsiode actualy had good writing.
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/22/2023, 5:27 PM
@Origame - Lol Thanos doesn’t have a counter for everything, he was just well written in two movies. He lost again and again until infinity war. Both Loki and ronan failed him and it’s entirely likely that at that time he could have lost to someone with a weapon like ronans, that can be a vessel for an infinity stone. Ronan isn’t a chump.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 6:10 PM
@LiteraryJoe - dude, Thanos meticulously planned the entire operation. Even taking into account the exact moves characters like nebula would do and how to dispatch the op vision. He definitely had a plan for if a third party like Ronan went against him with the stone he sent him to get.

In fact, I'll go so far as to say I know what his plan for Ronan would've been. Corvus glaive
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/22/2023, 6:51 PM
@Origame - But did he have the black order before he had Ronan? I thought they were his new ranks after he lost Nebula, Ronan, Korath, Loki, The Other, and Gamora. We’re seeing Thanos lose at a time when he’s exceptionally vulnerable.
Origame
Origame - 12/22/2023, 7:47 PM
@LiteraryJoe - no. The black order are also known as the children of Thanos. He definitely had them for longer.
LiteraryJoe
LiteraryJoe - 12/22/2023, 10:48 PM
@Origame - Did he have them when he took Gamora? His children are all adopted lol.

But either way, whatever happens tonight, good luck out there. It’s gonna be alright lmao
Slotherin
Slotherin - 12/24/2023, 11:51 AM
@Origame - Thanos surrounded himself with people who would gladly betray him. He was beaming with arrogance.
So yeah, I could see him overlooking Ronan's capacity to turn on him and take him out.
The guy was megalomaniacal and carried a destined-to-happen mentality...
Thanos was very capable and willed a lot of things to happen. And he was arrogant.
Origame
Origame - 12/24/2023, 12:34 PM
@Slotherin - did you even see the scene where he did betray him with the power stone? Didn't even flinch.

Arrogance alone isn't enough to say he'd fall. Hence why it took so long for him to even get started.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 12/24/2023, 9:43 PM
@Origame - if you're talking via a hologram, what would you flinch for?
Origame
Origame - 12/25/2023, 8:21 AM
@Slotherin - maybe flinch was the wrong word, but Thanos reacted as if to say "you're not coming after me, I'm coming after you".
Slotherin
Slotherin - 12/25/2023, 9:06 AM
@Origame - again... arrogant.
Origame
Origame - 12/25/2023, 9:21 AM
@Slotherin - arrogance has never been shown to be a fatal flaw of his.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 12/26/2023, 2:52 PM
@Origame - assumed he was done when he snapped half the universe away and got killed by a vengeful Thor who later helps bring back that half of the universe...

Travelled to the future with little preparation against unknown enemies and fought them head-on eventually losing when he's overpowered by them.

Trusts that Nebula will never betray him... She understandably does and it factors into the time heist that helps undo his grand scheme and erases him from existence.
Origame
Origame - 12/26/2023, 4:49 PM
@Slotherin - 1) he didn't just assume he was done. Hence why he got rid of the stones so his plan couldn't be undone. And he didn't value his own life beyond enacting his plan, so Thor killing him meant nothing. And how's it arrogant of him to not assume they could find a way to time travel?

2) correction, he traveled to a time when he knew he won to face against people he already beat. You forget he had the full memories of nebula from present, and even changed his plan accordingly.

3) he didn't trust she would never betray him. And why do you keep thinking him not factoring in time travel is proof of arrogance?
Slotherin
Slotherin - 12/27/2023, 11:00 AM
@Origame -
1) his plan was undone
2) him having Nebula's memories makes it all the more arrogant that he went in to fight them head-on
3) you're stretching my use of time travel, my point with Nebula was that she was key to defeating him because she had personal knowledge from the times he would tell her his plans
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