Review: What If…Peggy Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper

In a continuation from last season, we follow the adventures of Captain Peggy Carter who is an established part of the Avengers in a tangential timeline. We get a brief glimpse of the teamwork between the multiversal-displaced Black Widow and this era’s Captain Carter, who are not from their original timelines as they lead the charge in a not-so-different battle of New York where they defeat Loki instead of a rampaging Hulk. 

They are given a task to infiltrate and recover stolen good, to which the duo of Widow and Carter find the Hydra Stomper suit inside an armored crate. Of course, the suit activates and the obligatory initial fight begins. However, things take a turn when the mask opens and Steve Rogers is inside, looking a little… Grim. 

Our twist of the day is imagine if Steve Rogers was brainwashed by the Red Room instead of this era’s Secretary of State, Bucky Barnes. This came to be as after Carter vanished from the defeat of the Red Skull, Barnes and Rogers continued the fight, but during a mission gone awry, Rogers was presumed dead and Barnes retired from service. We learn from Nick Fury this was not the case, but they knew all along Rogers was still alive. 

A guest appearance by Brock Rumlow as head of special forces tries to protect Barnes as the Stomper attacks, but Carter tries to talk sense into Rogers. Romanov and Carter manage to disable the mech and head to a remote area away from S.H.I.E.L.D. We learn Rogers is kept young by the technology used by Hydra, but every time the suit activates, he ages. Should they remove him from the suit, he will surely die. Now that’s a dilemma! It seems Rogers is able to snap out of his Red Room programming long enough to bring them near a Red Room training site, but ultimately the reveal of Melina Vostokoff, the villain played by Rachel Weisz in the Black Widow movie, reprising her role, and leading the fight against Carter and Widow. The reveal was never to go after Barnes, but to lure out Peggy Carter for study and research. 

Ultimately, Rogers had never shed the programming, and has one final fight with Captain Carter. As Carter is unable to defend herself, she resorts to a heartfelt plea for Rogers to break free of his mentally manipulated programming. The ultimate sacrifice is made as Rogers makes a choice, which destroys the mobile Red Room base. 

Lots of parallels are mde between our universe with Bucky as Winter Solider to Rogers as the Hydra Stomper. We continue to believe he is out there alive, despite facing certain death. 

However, the episode is not over yet as The Watcher narrates the conclusion, only to be interrupted as a mysterious magic swoops in, transporting Captain Carter to a medieval era, being greeted by another version of Nick Fury and The Scarlet Witch. The Watcher’s reaction was priceless. 

My guess is the “Avengers of 1602” will feature this season’s big team-up. 
Another fun episode in a series of enjoyable and imagination dives into the What If…? 

Can’t wait to see how these strings are all pulled together. 

What if Captain Carter Fought the HYDRA Stomper is now streaming on Disney+