WHAT IF...? "The Watcher Disappeared?" Spoiler Recap: A Nod To Kang, A Surprise Return, And Storm Debuts

WHAT IF...? "The Watcher Disappeared?" Spoiler Recap: A Nod To Kang, A Surprise Return, And Storm Debuts

The penultimate episode of What If...? season 3 is now streaming on Disney+ and we're breaking down all the biggest moments and reveals, including a surprise return and a big nod to Kang the Conqueror...

By JoshWilding - Dec 28, 2024 03:12 AM EST
Filed Under: What If

What If...? season 3's penultimate episode opens by revisiting the reality inhabited by the Nebula from season 2 (who is now Xandar's "Nova Prime"). The interdimensional tentacle monster from previous seasons is attacking the planet but Captain Carter, Kahhori, Byrdie - the daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy - and a Mjolnir-wielding Storm intervene.

Peggy kills the monster we first saw her face in season 1 and, moments later, the shards from the Observational Plane, shattered when the Eminence captured The Watcher, land nearby. 

New opening credits reveal that the Eminence, Incarnate, and Executioner watch the Watchers and, with The Watcher captured, it's made clear that they now have no other choice but to intervene and undo his past actions (starting with Captain Carter and her team, a group referred to here as the "Exiles").

Aboard Byrdie's ship, a foosball table features players with the likeness of characters such as Wolverine, Galactus, Rogue, Kang, and Beta Ray Bill. 

Also of note is the fact Peggy has been traversing the Multiverse with the use of a Time Chair strongly resembling the one used by Kang in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. We never learn how she got it but wonder if that changed after Jonathan Majors' villain was ousted from the Multiverse Saga. Regardless, our heroes attempt to modify it so they can travel to the Fifth Dimension and help The Watcher. 

Neither that nor Storm's attempt to break the boundary between realities works and, with one shard left, they hatch a plan. Kahhori suggests they find an Infinity Ultron Variant and use him to reach their friend. If the plan fails, they can use reset charges stolen from the TVA to wipe out his timeline. 

Captain Carter and Storm have a heart-to-heart before the former tracks an Ultron down on her own (in his reality, all life was wiped out following an epic battle with Captain Marvel). Eons have passed since then and Peggy pleads with him to help. 

Kahhori, Storm, and Byrdie arrive to find Captain Carter's broken shield and assume Ultron is responsible. Instead, he's realised there is no peace without life and concludes that he made a mistake. While it's too late for redemption, he's willing to atone for his actions and absorbs the shard before agreeing to take them to Peggy - who was kidnapped by the Eminence - and The Watcher. 

To be continued...

The Watcher must stand trial for his many interventions.

The cast for episode 7 includes Jeffrey Wright, Hayley Atwell, Jason Isaacs, Devery Jacobs, Alison Sealy-Smith, and Natasha Lyonne. The episode is directed by Stephan Franck, with a story by Bryan Andrews, Matthew Chauncey, and Ryan Little, and a teleplay by Matthew Chauncey and Ryan Little.

WHAT IF...? Season 3 Review: A Disappointing End To One Of The Multiverse Saga's Best Ideas
Related:

WHAT IF...? Season 3 Review: "A Disappointing End To One Of The Multiverse Saga's Best Ideas"

WHAT IF...? Director Explains Why Season 3 Doesn't Feature More Mutants And His Wolverine Regrets
Recommended For You:

WHAT IF...? Director Explains Why Season 3 Doesn't Feature More Mutants And His Wolverine Regrets

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

1 2
Huskers
Huskers - 12/28/2024, 3:37 AM
What If…this show was never made? What a waste of a great concept that was so well executed in the comic series!
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 12/28/2024, 9:35 AM
@Huskers - Yeah but, gives 'em a great excuse to set-up all girl super-teams of variants. GRL POWER! ✊🏼
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 3:52 AM
This has been a great show. I have enjoyed it a lot.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/28/2024, 3:57 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - you're probably in the minority. I agree it is cool as hell to see stuff like Storm wield Mjolnir, even though I don't get why it's included.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 4:48 AM
@bkmeijer1 - it’s a multiverse. They wanted to include some fan favorites. They had to wrap up the show and were limited in options of what stories they could tell. They were taken off this series after kang dynasty was cancelled and are now helping with marvel zombies and xmen
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 12/28/2024, 6:24 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - "helping with marvel zombies and xmen".......jesus.
User Comment Image
At least 97 had one good season.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/28/2024, 7:36 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - I get they want to include fan favorites, but it just feels very fan-servicey. Guess it balances out completely new characters like Byrdie and Kahhori.

That said, I think they weren't limited. They went with What If We Told New Stories instead of What If We Told Old Stories With A Twist. There over 30 movies they could've picked up from, yet we got the hybrid child from Howard the Duck and Darcy!?
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 12/28/2024, 8:54 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - I liked season 1 and 2 but the beginning of season 3 is the worst of all the WHAT IF episodes. In what world is were power ranger avengers, dancing Agatha and rush hour soldier and guardian fan favorites? So much potential with these amazing characters and they decided to make episodes for pre schoolers.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 10:08 AM
@harryba11zack - animation and stories. People who made what if did also help with X-men and created the concept of zombies (show) in the first place.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 10:13 AM
@slickrickdesigns - at least they are taking risks. Not basing it off the movies or previous shows. Actual crazy stuff like the comics.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 12/28/2024, 10:20 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - the People who made what if also made what if
User Comment Image
bobevanz
bobevanz - 12/28/2024, 11:07 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - I'd prefer different scenarios from the movies are actual What If stories that begs the question. This is lazy and phoned in. Fan favorites my ass, nobody asked for Howard The Duck to knock Darcy up, or Hulk fighting the mech Avengers lol
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 12:08 PM
@bobevanz - would you ever see these ideas in the movies? No. But I liked the mech one and the Howard duck one.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 12:08 PM
@harryba11zack - people Who made X-men
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 12/28/2024, 1:20 PM
@Mrnorth1921 - I’d rather see the crazy stuff from the comics What If…. “Taking risks” with Agatha dancing and some goofball kid stuff is playing it safe. Not risky. If they wanted to be risky they could’ve included Captain America Wolfman, or what if the Punisher was black, or what if the X-men died on the first mission. Those would be risky and worth watching.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 12/28/2024, 5:50 PM
@slickrickdesigns - they are trying to get away from the OG avengers before the soft reboot occurring after Secret Wars. They will no doubt recast Cap and Tony. And they aren’t allowed to use characters that haven’t appeared in the mcu officially, yet. They had a lot of limitations sadly. They wanted to do an enter the dragon thing Shang Chi and Iron Fist, but couldn’t because Marvel is unsure if they wanted to recast them.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/28/2024, 3:54 AM
Cool to see that Nebula variant return. Think that's still one of the show's better episodes. Wonder if we'll get some more S2 characters return, like Hela or Peter Quill.

Anyway, I guess they dropped "Guardians of the Multiverse" in favor of "Exiles" officially now. Hope Ghost Rider, the D&W team, Photon, Binary and Beast join them in Secret Wars.
MadThanos
MadThanos - 12/28/2024, 5:50 AM
@bkmeijer1 - the Hela episode was the best in the series.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/28/2024, 7:45 AM
@MadThanos - It's definitely up there, but I don't really know which I think is best. In order of release my favourites are:

1. Yellowjacket vs the Avengers
2. Strange Supreme
3. Infinity Ultron
4. Nova Nebula
5. Peter Quill vs 80s Avengers
6. Hela and the Ten Rings
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 12/28/2024, 6:04 PM
@bkmeijer1 - When they called them Exiles I squeeked with joy.
User Comment Image
User Comment Image
MadThanos
MadThanos - 12/28/2024, 6:01 AM
The title of the next episode: "WHAT IF... The Infinity Stones worked in the 5th dimension?"

GodHercules20
GodHercules20 - 12/28/2024, 6:29 AM
Lol Captain Carter again? Seriously

Byrdie? Yeah just make random characters

They never learn



User Comment Image
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/28/2024, 7:46 AM
@GodHercules20 - that's probably where this show misses the mark for me. T'Challa as Star-Lord or Steve Rogers as the Winter Soldier make sense within the ''What If'' premise, but creating new heroes doesn't imo
cubrn
cubrn - 12/28/2024, 8:27 AM
@GodHercules20 - I thought Birdie was cool
BabyLasagna
BabyLasagna - 12/28/2024, 10:19 AM
@GodHercules20 - i don't get why people started to hate so much Captain Carter
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 12/28/2024, 1:30 PM
@bkmeijer1 - Captain Carter makes sense though. She was given the serum instead of Steve and he became the "winter soldier" of her universe. Storm as Thor is also a cool concept. And I think Kahorri was a cool concept too with the Tesseract landing in a different place. I guess the concept is repercussions of The Watcher's interferences.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 12/28/2024, 3:02 PM
@SonOfAGif - Captain Carter fits that What If premise too. I'm a fan of the character, but I'm not a fan of how often she returns for What If Captain Carter Was There Too situations.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 12/28/2024, 3:43 PM
@bkmeijer1 - Captain Carter is The Watcher's little loophole in his duties. That's why he is facing consequences in Season 3 because he has her running around the Multiverse doing what he wishes he could do. So essentially her existence is his fault. And that's part of the story.
MMFRESHSW2
MMFRESHSW2 - 12/28/2024, 6:56 AM
Straight trash
TK420
TK420 - 12/28/2024, 7:00 AM
WHAT IF...? "SOMEBODY GAVE A SHIT?"
Dotanuki
Dotanuki - 12/28/2024, 7:01 AM
I can’t even muster enough interest to finish the synopsis. I hate a waste.
Batmangina
Batmangina - 12/28/2024, 7:14 AM
WHAT IF...? DISNEY [frick]ED MARVEL UP BEYOND RECOGNITION?

Just look at the thumbnail.

What a stupid piece of creatively bankrupt dogshit.

Hey, Disney,

User Comment Image
marvel72
marvel72 - 12/28/2024, 8:08 AM
How much of Storm is in this? She is the only one worth watching.

The final episode is Storm Goddess Of Thunder.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 12/28/2024, 9:57 AM
@marvel72 - Storm's in it quite a bit, but they don't really do any sort of introduction. They're definitely relying on the audience being familiar with Storm from X-Men '97. I reeeeeally wish we could have just had "What If Storm Wielded Mjolnir" instead of whatever this mess was.
marvel72
marvel72 - 12/28/2024, 1:58 PM
@Clintthahamster - I may skip this one,Storm Goddess Of Thunder is the final episode of season 3.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 12/28/2024, 2:51 PM
@marvel72 - Man, I wish that was true, but the last episode drops tomorrow and is called "What If . . . What If?" or some such nonsense. It's going to be a bunch of multiversal heroes trying to save Uatu the Watcher. But Storm will be in it, so there's that.
marvel72
marvel72 - 12/28/2024, 3:55 PM
@Clintthahamster - I heard it's going to be Avengers and X-Men team up,that's what Direct are claiming.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 12/28/2024, 8:50 AM
I’m so glad JW makes articles with spoilers in the titles. I might’ve been surprised if I watched this show at 8am. But thank god we have an article title to tell us what happened so we don’t even have to watch it.
Btw heres actual footage of JW
User Comment Image
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 12/28/2024, 9:59 AM
User Comment Image
Shmokey20
Shmokey20 - 12/28/2024, 10:02 AM
What iF season 3 has been some shit & I really liked seasons 1 & 2. Especially season 2.
1 2

Please log in to post comments.

Don't have an account?
Please Register.

View Recorder