Marvel’s What If…? is about to break out of its anthology format over its next couple of episodes. Last week ended on a major cliffhanger as a version of Ultron, in Vision’s body and armed with the Infinity Stones, arrived on the scene. Previous installments had featured cliffhangers that were left unanswered, but this one seemed too big to ignore. Sure enough, this week’s episode 8 will explore a timeline where Ultron came out on top.
What’s more, episode 8 will then roll into episode 9, the season 1 finale. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, showrunner A.C. Bradley teased how fans can expect these two last episodes to interconnect. Bradley revealed that though episode 8, titled “What If… Ultron Won?”, works as a standalone, “it does flow into 9.” The writer/producer added: “You can watch 8 as a standalone, but 9 is — for once, we actually answer the end tag.”
Bradley went on to joke that episodes 8 and 9 could be called “What if the What If…? Writers Stopped Trying to Piss Off Twitter?” On a more serious note, she explained that a more accurate title for the finale storyline would be “What If the Watcher Met His Heroes?”
As Bradley’s comments remind us, Marvel fans have had some criticisms about the show on social media. For one, the darkness and gloomy endings of most episodes have rubbed many up the wrong way. The EP stressed to EW that the writers had a “bigger plan” and there is a reason for all the grim twists we’ve seen so far.
“I’m excited for people to see that we’re not going in there clueless, that there was a bit of a bigger plan,” Bradley said. “I’m aware that many of the episodes end tragically, and there might be a reason. I’m hoping people have enjoyed the ride so far, and that the finale gives them everything we promised.”
We know by now that the season finale will be a team-up episode, bringing together various heroes we’ve seen in previous episodes – like Captain Carter, Doctor Strange Supreme, Party Thor and more. What’s more, the trailers have teased that Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher will finally directly interact with the characters. But will he go so far as to break his big rule of non-interference and use his cosmic powers to help stop Ultron?
What If…? continues Wednesdays on Disney Plus.