Why The TVA Did Not Prune Captain Carter and Her Branch in What If…?
The entire concept of What If…? deals with the idea of parallel universes that are created due to the tiniest decisions that are made in the universe. As the Watcher narrates us through this world he tells us how this is a universe that was created due to a different choice made by someone. One may wonder that this idea of choice does mean a nexus event is created. And this brings in two questions – Where was the TVA to stop this Nexus event from occurring? Why the TVA did not prune Captain Carter?
What are Nexus events?
Nexus Events are events that occur in the sacred timeline when a branched reality is created by a certain character. These characters are called Variants and they chose a path that is away from the path that was made from them. A clear example can be taken from the Disney+ show Loki where Loki used the space stone to escape from captivity. He acquired the Tesseract from that particular moment in Avengers: Endgame when the Avengers travel back in time to get it back. Here, Loki deviated from his path and he was capture by the TVA subsequently.
Loki is riddled with multiple such characters and how they became variants is also given some context. Some of the characters did end up becoming a variant unintentionally. Sylvie was taken by the TVA when she was merely a child. There was no explanation given about her being a variant. When she was asked about why she was taken by the TVA, she responds by saying that her birth could have been the Nexus Event. This does not make sense as before that it was explained that the Variants chose the path and create the Nexus event by themselves.
The Nexus event in What If…?
In What If…? we see that, Peggy Carter takes the choice of staying in the room when the Rogers is about to be given then Super soldier serum. The Watcher explains that this choice is what lead to this being a parallel universe in the timeline of MCU. This choice makes the entire difference and the characters undergo the respective transition due to this move only. Hence, we can see that this is the Nexus event and the Variant is Peggy Carter herself. She took the decision that led to the entire different storyline or the arc of the characters. Even though the choice of taking that path was something she was unaware of but she spoke the words and made the move so this makes her the Variant very clearly.
Where was the TVA?
The question can have numerous explanations. But none of the explanations can disprove the fact that this was something that was supposed to happen. Maybe, the TVA was going through the storyline of Loki when the events of What If…? took place. As Moebius explained that the TVA exists in a “Supreme Timeline” which exists above the timeline that normal people can conceive. It meant that they live in a time of their own and that they can look at the timeline of the regular world.
Another possible explanation could be that the TVA did take action and Peggy Carter was indeed taken into arrest. Fans could remember spotting a certain background character in a shot who resembled Peggy Carter. The creators of Loki have decided to not comment regarding this spotting. This could possibly mean that they are trying to keep it under wraps. Maybe, TVA took their time to get hold of Peggy Carter while the events of the first episode unfolded.
Other Nexus events
This is not the only plothole since the mention of the existence of the TVA. There exist many such Variants in the MCU “sacred timeline”. Gamora, who was sacrificed by Thanos in the Avengers: Infinity War returns in the Avengers: Endgame from a different timeline. As all the rest of the people who traveled through are killed only she remains as the last surviving person from the different timeline.
Similarly, Captain America created a Nexus event when he went back in time and settled with Peggy Carter. The creators explained that maybe there is a chance that the Nexus event didn’t lead to something that could create a massive problem in the “sacred timeline” and hence Rogers was left to himself. Now, What if…?’s first episode has shown yet another Nexus event. And we already know why the TVA did not prune Captain Carter.
What If…? will be back with the second episode on August 18 on Disney+. We’ve also got several other upcoming MCU shows for Disney Plus which include Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Secret Invasion, Ironheart, I am Groot, Armor Wars, Echo, Wakanda, and Okoye.
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