What If...? season 3 has returned to Disney+ for its third and final season and today's episode, "What If... The Hulk Fought The Mech Avengers?" opens with a fun cartoon revealing that, in this reality, The Hulk unleashed monsters across the Earth and Iron Man responded by creating a team of giant robots to combat them.
With that, the teenage girl watching the show hears a commotion and sees one of the beasts outside!
In reality, the "Gamma War" began after Sam Wilson met Bruce Banner in Washington D.C. instead of Steve Rogers. Sam convinced Bruce to attend his group therapy sessions to deal with the trauma of being The Hulk and the two soon became friends. However, when Bruce "Hulked Out" in front of Sam, he fled and attempted to put an end to the Jade Giant once and for all.
Unfortunately, bombarding himself with more Gamma just created a second, monstrous "Apex" Hulk who split from Banner and became a rampaging beast capable of spawning an army. The original six Avengers assembled in giant Hulkbuster armour but were eventually killed by the creatures.
10 years later, we learn they were finally vanquished and Sam Wilson, now Captain America, leads a team of heroes. That consists of Monica Rambeau, Bucky Barnes, Moon Knight, Red Guardian, Melina Vostokoff, Shang-Chi, and Nakia.
The Apex has somehow returned, something Sam and Monica discover when they head to the Arctic. The latter has tasked Bucky with finding Bruce and, despite initially being reluctant, Cap agrees to seek his help on the Astra Islands where the former Avenger has gone into hiding.
They talk but Bruce refuses to get involved with the fight; instead, he provides Sam with the "Mighty Avenger" protocol which will allow the team's mechs to combine into one gigantic robotic Avenger (he originally created this to stop The Hulk).
The Mech Avenger assembles and lays waste to the Apex's army; unfortunately, he's still too strong for the team but it's then that Bruce returns. Strapping himself inside a Gamma bomb, he becomes a Godzilla-like Mega Hulk and uses his Atomic Gamma breath to kill the Apex after a literal helping hand from Sam.
Now leading that army of monsters, Mega Hulk heads towards New York but is confronted by Captain America. Sam reminds Bruce of their friendship and promises that will never change; hearing what he's said, Mega Hulk leads them back to his island and it appears the star-spangled Avenger later heads there to perhaps speak with his old friend and maybe even try to bring Bruce back.
Check out some officially released stills from the What If...? season 3 premiere below.
Captain America/Sam Wilson must suit up in a colossal mech suit to battle Bruce Banner after an attempt to cure himself of the Hulk goes horribly wrong. Bucky Barnes, Monica Rambeau, Moon Knight, and others must join Sam as his new team of Mech Avengers.
The cast in What If...? episode 1 includes Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Teyonah Parris, Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour. The episode is directed by Stephan Franck, with a story by A.C. Bradley and Bryan Andrews and a teleplay by Ryan Little.