What If Season 2 Episodes Ranked + Ending

What If…? season two was phenomenal, and I applaud the creative team. These stories were all incredibly unique, and facets I never considered existed. But, like any normal human, there are storylines I enjoyed more than others. If you saw the season finale and the last scene, you for sure know I’m gonna talk about it.

My Episodes Ranked (Favorite to Least Favorite):

What If…Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?
What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?
What If…Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?
What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?
What If…Strange Supreme Intervened?
What If…the Avengers Assembled in 1602?
What If…Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?
What If…Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?
What If…Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?

1.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It was really awesome to see older heroes (and villains) in their prime. This episode featured Wendy lawson from Captain Marvel, Hank Pym and Bill Foster from Ant-Man and the Wasp, King T’Chaka from Black Panther and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Howard Stark from Captain America: The First Avenger, and Ego from Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Two. Captain Carter also appeared in this episode, and is a fan-favorite in the What If…? fandom. For me, I was sold on the creative aspect of this episode. Characters interacted with each other in remarkable ways, that were not previously displayed. It’s wild how one small decision like not handing Peter off to Ego could affect so much. In theory, the Guardians would never have formed, and Bucky wouldn’t have been so cruel for a longer period of time. It was hilarious to see Thor retaining the same age, and with a beard…?? In the first few movies he was clean-shaven, but oh well. I commend the writers for this episode, and their thought process.

2.

I loved this episode. It was really unique, and interesting. To think that the tesseract would disappear to a much later time is really creative, and honestly quite probable. I love the basis of episode, and the shining heroin starring in this episode. Kahhori is such a cool addition to the MCU, and I can’t wait to see more of her. I loved the historical connection in this episode, and I related to this blast from the past. It’s true that conquistadors traveled to America, specifically Ponce de León, in search of the “Fountain of Youth.” They traveled to present-day Florida, and it’s now considered to be more myth than fact, and more so he was looking for land and resources. The fountain was certainly something “believed” to have existed, but this idea has been grossly exaggerated. Think of it like a side quest. You can claim the reward at the end which is the fountain, but the overall game progression is to claim more land. Anyways, I love history, and thought this episode was very entertaining. (I loved the fruit hunting part. Really cool.) In my opinion, Kahhori is quite a powerful sorceress, and has lots of potential in future projects, like Echo.

3.

Nebula working as Sherlock Holmes was very interesting. I love all the aspects we’ve seen of her, and how she really is a softie underneath her “meanie” facade. She definitely had benign intentions in this episode, and I enjoyed all the appearances including Howard Duck who had a lot more screen time compared to previous brief cameos he’s had. He wasn’t the most successful Marvel entity, but they have recently made him an interesting character dynamic. Nebula’s quest was interesting, and brought back lots of familiar faces. It’s curious that Ronan should die this way, which again suggests the Guardians never band together in another universe.

4.

This episode was…interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t have ranked it so high if I thought otherwise. My only thing is, would Shang-Chi have ever been born? I mean there was clearly some tension between Wenwu and Hela, which I’m indifferent about since Ying Li wouldn’t have been in the picture, and neither would Shang-chi or Xialing! Otherwise- I loved the episode!!! I have argued for so long that Odin is a HORRIBLE father, in moth mythology and the MCU. I couldn’t hate him more. This episode really showed us what a COLOSSAL JERK he is, and how different Hela could have turned out. I love the character development for Hela, and her new-found powers. She finally recognizes how to become a good person, and is all the better for it. There was a subtle easter egg in this episode, one that really intrigued me. Hela said her father had a new girlfriend, Frigga, and continued to rant about this girlfriend being awful. If Odin hasn’t completely courted Frigga at this point, who is Hela’s mother??? Norse mythology suggests both Frigga and Freyja were at some point lovers of odin, but the lines of when blur and it’s very unclear. Freyja is the goddess of love in Norse mythology, and has never been introduced in the MCU. It seems highly unlikely however, that she would be Hela’s mother, since she is a lively, light-hearted woman who does not meddle gruesome and macabre affairs. However, mythology again suggests Freyja may have been a goddess of war, (for whatever reason) and if she’s Hela’s mother, at least this little tidbit would align.

5. + Ending

This episode tied a few characters together from previous episodes in the season, similar to the finale of the first season. I really enjoyed it, and loved the revival of the zombies and Strange Supreme. I do have a few questions, however. How on Earth was Captain Carter in this season if she was sliced in half by her own shield? During Doctor Strange 2, she made a live action appearance and “aided” in taking Wanda down. Obviously that didn’t turn out well for her or her other cohorts. This suggests Captain Carter is alive in multiple universes, and the one in Doctor Strange was, different…? It doesn’t quite add up. Neither does Monica Rambeau. She’s a bit of a side topic, but faces the same situation as Captain Carter. She died in Doctor Strange as Photon, her superhero alias, yet somehow was still alive and well in The Marvels. Again, this must mean there are multiple universes with Photon, but since she got her powers from the force field surrounding Westview, that means Wanda’s hex either also existed in different universes, or Monica got her powers by different means. The latter would make more sense, since Wanda even declared in DSMOM that she has children in every other universe. Certain things aren’t tied together, and it just leaves me to ponder. Anyways, Kahhori appeared again, which was epic. She is super powerful, and is for sure ranked in the top ten most powerful characters. Many previous characters appeared from season one, along with variants we have yet to discover their origin. Alright, the ending. It’s Yggdrasil!!! It’s the VERY SAME TREE Loki created and is currently siting inside!!! (How does he eat and sleep in there?? Visiting the bathroom???) As of now, it would only make sense that Uatu and Loki are aware of each other, and each other’s roles. Loki holds the fabric of space and time together, whilst the Watcher just, well…watches. Interesting that the Watcher should take Captain Carter there, rather than just taking her directly to her universe. I love it anyways, and CANNOT WAIT for Loki’s assured upcoming appearances, and his role + interaction with other characters. I’m still waiting for the Loki and Thor reunion!!!

6.

I only caught on to the fact that this episode was set up to be a “Robin Hood” idea after a good ten minutes into the episode. I love Loki’s appearance, but what exactly does it mean? After Steve, Bucky, and Scott robbed Loki, I caught onto the idea. This was confirmed after Happy Hogan appeared as a Sheriff of Nottingham of sorts. Thor was a whiny Prince John, and Peggy was… Maid Marian? If Steve was Robin Hood, this was most likely the case. I really appreciated this episode, similar to Kahhori’s episode, for its historical connection. The renaissance was a blossoming period of culture, science, art, fashion, and so much more. I wonder how on Earth the gang would have banded together so early in time, and how exactly they got there. Would they have been aware of alien presence at that point? Presumably, if they know about quantum tech and Bruce’s gamma rays. At this point, it was pretty clear Captain Carter was the main character throughout this series. This was another great example of characters mixing and meeting each other, who we’ve never seen each other interact with. I appreciate this point of view, and I loved observing people alter their mannerisms in different ways depending on the person. Kudos to the creative team!

7.

I could tell this was more of a fun episode that they included to celebrate the holiday season. It sure was entertaining, though. Happy was never really a character with much spotlight, but of course viewers loved his caring nature, and dedication to Tony. Happy as Hulk was very unexpected and goofy. Happy was able to maintain his wits as Hulk which was previously not something Bruce could do. He always went from fully Hulk to fully cognizant Bruce. Similar to Hulk in Endgame, Happy had the best of both worlds. I loved the appearance of Darcy, since she’s just so goofy. It’s nice to know Marvel holds on to all of their characters, just like how Darcy made it to WandaVision, roughly five to seven years after her Thor roles. Another great example was the revival of Justin Hammer, who I fully expected never to see again. he was a fitting villain for this arc, and advanced the story quite well. This episode was very adequate as a holiday special.

8.

I was honestly disheartened to see Melina as such a heartless creature unwilling to back down from a fight. Although it advanced her backstory and character arc, it definitely broke some hearts out there (including mine). I loved the revival of the red room and it’s infamous reputation. The creepy town reminded me of that one part from A Wrinkle in Time, where that entire town was this huge assimilation with all the children bouncing their balls at the same time. Love the connection, but it scared the living daylights out of me. This episode played on a similar theme throughout the season, where Steve comes back to haunt and mentally torture Peggy. I loved seeing Bucky aged and not Winter Soldier-ified, since it explored the life he would have had if he hadn’t fallen off that train. I didn’t even initially recognize him. I thought Yelena and Alexei would appear, but perhaps they has missions elsewhere.

9.

This episode was very interesting, and advanced my understanding of Sakaar’s timeline. Evidently, Valkyrie had been on that planet for A LONG time. Even more so, the grandmaster apparently runs different challenges and games! Also- where was Miek?! It’s pretty sad the revengers would have never gotten together, I mean they’re just such an iconic team. It’s pretty hilarious that Tony just happens to land in Sakaar, or is Sakaar the universal garbage disposal, where everyone and everything without a destination lands? I mean, both Loki and Thor ended up there after Hela knocked them out of the bifrost’s trajectory to Asgard, and hulk also ended up there after his ship lost communications. This episode opened up the MCU’s map and logic a lot more, and helps crazy fans like myself predict the future.

Thank you for reading this weeks article, and I hope you enjoyed! Compare your What If…? season two ranking to mine, and think about what YOU liked the most. See ya later!