What If…?’s third episode premiered on August 25 and unlike the episodes before it, the theme was a little dark this time around. An eagle-eyed fan found a crazy connection between this episode and Captain America: Winter Soldier. According to him, Winter Soldier killed the Wasp and not SHIELD.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
OVERVIEW OF EVENTS OF WHAT IF…? LATEST EPISODE
Marvel has outdone itself by exploring the multiple universes in the latest Disney+ What If…? It showcases the various alternates Marvel universes where one small decision changed the whole outcome. The first two episodes established the show with a light tone and quirky callbacks to the events in the OG timeline but things took a dark turn in the latest episode. The third episode saw all the candidates for the Avengers Initiative dying under mysterious circumstances before they were even recruited as the Avengers. The episode is titled “What If The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” and happens around the events of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor, all in a single week.
Surprisingly, the man behind this killing spree was the former Ant-Man, Dr Hank Pym (voiced by Michael Douglas). He was avenging his daughter’s death, who was actually working as a SHIELD Agent as the Wasp. Pym, driven by anger and grief, put on the Yellowjacket and killed the Avengers one by one. However, Natasha, who was the last standing Avenger, found out about this and informed Fury. Fury, with the help of Loki, took down the evil Hank Pym. But not before Fury revealed an exciting piece of information. The fan on Twitter believes this might be a Winter Soldier easter egg and this revelation has the whole community excited.
Winter Soldier Killed The Wasp In What If…?
A Twitter user @RedDragon733 found a pretty interesting easter egg in the What If…? episode. When Pym accuses Fury and SHIELD of killing her daughter, Fury revealed that Hope Van Dyne (The Wasp) actually died on a mission “outside Odessa, Ukraine.”
@RedDragon733 pointed out that this particular place has been teased in the MCU before in 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier. Apparently, in the main timeline of the MCU, it was Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow/ Natasha Romanoff who was sen to this particular mission.
In this scene, Natasha was telling Steve about who she thinks killed Fury. This was also the first time that we heard about the Winter Soldier in the MCU. She was describing how “somebody shot out [her] tires near Odessa.” And then how the assassin “shot him [Iranian nuclear engineer] straight through [her]” She then joked about how she can’t wear a bikini anymore.
Scroll down for the full conversation.
Natasha Romanoff: “I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn’t believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He’s credited with over two dozens assassinations in the last 50 years.”
Steve Rogers: “So he’s a ghost story.”
Natasha Romanoff: “Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me. Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis.”
WINTER SOLDIER ACTUALLY KILLED THE WASP!!!
What If…?’s narrator, The Watcher, explains how a slight change in a single decision can change the course of history. Hope’s decision to join SHIELD instead of Pym Technologies changed her destiny. In this universe, SHIELD ordered her to escort the nuclear engineer out of Iraq and not Natasha Romanoff. But unlike, Natasha, Hope Van Dyne did not survive the bullet. So it was actually Winter Soldier who killed the Wasp.
Ever since Janet Van Dyne sacrificed herself, Hank was just holding on to his sanity for Hope but her death pushed him over the edge. Also, if Hope never joined Pym Tech, the vents of 2016’s Ant-Man changed and Yellowjacket ended up with Hank Pym. Hank Pym used this suit to kill off every candidate for SHIELD’s Avengers Initiative, including Thor, whose brother took over the Earth at the end of the episode.
It also implies that no one knows about the HYDRA-within-SHIELD situation. Or else, Pym would not have killed the Avengers but would have gone for Winter Soldier himself. Some fans asked that how did Hank Pym get access to the Avengers’ file as it was confidential. But now it makes sense as a HYDRA agent might have tipped him off. It is a perfect example of how a single decision has the power to recreate history.
Did you notice this easter egg? Did you notice any more? Do let us know in the comments.
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