It’s easy for Marvel fans to overlook What If. It’s a fun show, but because it only explores hypotheticals that unfold in alternate universes, it has no impact on the MCU’s future. That, at least, is the common assumption. But What If’s Captain Carter actually went on to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and now that old cast members like Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. are returning to the franchise, it’s likely that variants like Carter will take on a bigger role.
Beyond sneaking in upcoming characters, What If contains clues about where the greater MCU story is headed. In its third and final season, the series will revisit one of the most underrated Marvel stories... and hint at its bigger role in Marvel’s future.
Marvel recently released the episode titles for What If Season 3 ahead of its December 22 premiere. There are some fun hypotheticals here, like “What If... The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?” or “What If... Howard the Duck Got Hitched?,” as well as some returning ideas, like “What If... 1872?,” the spiritual successor to Season 2’s “What If... The Avengers Assembled in 1602?” There’s even a finale with the ominous title “What If... What If?”
But one particular title has big implications for the rest of the MCU: “What If... The Emergence Destroyed the Earth?” For those who consider 2021 a distant memory, the Emergence was the birth of a Celestial inside the Earth itself, which the Eternals stopped at the last minute. Unlike the Blip, this didn’t have a huge effect on the average Earthling’s day-to-day life, but it did almost annihilate the planet.
The Emergence did, however, affect geopolitics. The newborn Celestial broke the ocean's surface before the Eternals could turn it into stone, resulting in a new landmass dubbed Tiamut Island. In the next Marvel movie, Captain America: Brave New World, control of the island and its resources become a major point of contention for President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. This episode highlights that what is now a central MCU development wouldn’t be possible without the Eternals.
With dozens of Marvel movies showing heroes saving the world from one threat or another, it can be easy for fans to take the near misses for granted. With this episode, fans will get a newfound appreciation for the much-maligned Eternals — and some key background about the new world wonder at the center of Sam Wilson’s next mission.
