Written by Nynoshka Vazquez Suazo
Captain Carter’s story continues as we see her take part in numerous teams, timelines, and situations. “What If…the Avengers Assembled in 1602?” adds another layer of depth and passion to her character and the series as a whole.
Throughout the first season of What If…? We saw glimpses of what our universe recognizes as the Avengers. In this new season, we have seen more of the Avengers and numerous variations of their assembling. Episode 8 plays with the concept of the Avengers in an earlier era, the 1600s.
At the end of “What If…Peggy Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper?” Captain Carter is taken by a magical crack in her universe. Fallen into a Shakespearean-esque plotline, Scarlet Witch and her assembled Avengers pull Captain Carter from her timeline to help them save their universe in the year 1602.
There are more twists within this episode than one can wrap their brain around — with no connection to other episodes besides Captain Carter. In this timeline Hela, Goddess of Death, is Queen. In a sudden rip of the sky she is taken, leading Thor to be King. Angry at Carter for failing to accomplish the mission she was brought to complete, and blaming her for his sister’s death, he wishes her dead, leading her on a journey against time to save his universe
Along the way, she allies with the Three Musketeers: Steve Rogers, Scott Lang, and Bucky Barnes. Personally, Falcon replacing Scott would’ve made the dream trifecta. The relationship between Steve, Bucky, and Sam Wilson was strong and developed throughout the films and through the mini-series The Falcon and The Winter Solider,” Seeing them continue that relationship would make it nostalgic. Especially since their relationship with Scott was close to non-existent.
In this universe, Tony Stark is not Iron Man but a drunken genius. Happy Hogan is an assassin with Ant-Man’s counterpart, the Wasps, as his army. Loki is still a prince, but no longer mischievous nor interested in anything but reciting Hamlet. Bold choices were made as some of the key characters in the original Avengers play smaller parts, creating a different and interesting new team-up of heroes.
Moments to note are the interaction between Captain Carter and Bruce Banner/Hulk. These two have never interacted outside of this multiverse and it was interesting to see them work beside each other. It would’ve been great to see this duo grow and develop as Carter and Natasha have over the past season. Another is the fight between Hulk and Happy. To recall Happy stumbled upon Hulk blood in the third episode of Sseason 2, “What If…Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?” We see these two versions of Hulk duke it out, I hope to see more of that in the future. My vote is on Bruce, if it ain’t broken don’t fix it.
At the end of the episode, we discover that Steve Rogers is the future being causing the rips in the timeline. It is explained that during his fight with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, a punch to Thanos’sglove caused him to hit the Time Stone, sending him to 1602. This is one of the only timeline connections made to a film within the second season.
Furthermore, after her victory, Captain Carter is met with an old friend. Expecting to be sent home by the Watcher, Carter is surprised to be met with the other Dr. Strange, the evil one to be exact. We last saw him at the end of Episode 6 as he finds Kahhori, whom he has been searching for. The ending words “To Be Continued” leave the viewer anxious with so many questions. Will Peggy return home to Natasha? Will there be a new assembly including Peggy and Kahhori? I for one can’t wait to find out.
What If… The Avengers Assembled in 1602 is now streaming on Disney+
