If you’re a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, then chances are that you’ve already long since watched the first episode of Marvel’s What If…?, the franchise’s first canonical foray into animation. Unsurprisingly, the internet has been buzzing about the premiere all day, which brought Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter back to our screens, albeit with a twist.
The premise of the first installment was relatively simple given the show’s limitless multiversal possibilities, and effectively delivered a fairly straightforward rehash of Captain America: The First Avenger with Peggy replacing Steve Rogers, hitting many of the same plot beats as she sought to defeat the Red Skull and turn the tide of World War II with a little help from Bucky Barnes, the Howlin’ Commandos and Howard Stark.
However, one major deviation saw Captain Carter and her crew face off a massive tentacled beast from another dimension that the Nazis were trying to bring into our world. As you can see from the reactions below, a lot of folks think that the Eldritch horror in question is Shuma Gorath, who could be set for a return somewhere down the line.
Even by the standards of the comic book industry, Shuma Gorath has some pretty wild and crazy origins. One of four undying extra-dimensional beings tasked with overseeing a metaphysical invasion of the Marvel universe, they can be rendered inert by the conceptual form of death, and the creature is typically positioned as an enemy of Doctor Strange.
With Multiverse of Madness just a few months away and Captain Carter vanishing, you can understand why there’s expectations that Marvel’s What If…? could plant some seeds that end up sprouting in live-action.