(No Scans) "What If ...?" Discussion Part Six

[cricharddavies]

I believe in giving gifts on my birthday. This year I gave someone a chance. They didn't take it. And here we are.



So this is the Killmonger episode. So far, this is playing Erik as a lot more subtle and manipulative than he came off in the movie.

And yep, he's here. I think that's all I'm going to say about that.

Comments

[mazway_75]

To me, the best part is tackling the Misaimed Fandom with "Killmonger was right in ways" by showing that no, he was just a manipulative prick blaming the rest of the world for what happened and wanting them to pay and called out on just wanting power for himself, not "helping my people."

[onsokumaru]

It had the same flaw as Black Panther: people being incredibly gullible every time Killmonger oppens his mouth. This guy is everything Loki wishes he was.
That said, it was an enoyable story and there are some twists that I didn't expect.

[scorntx]

And the moral of the story is "maybe don't trust a guy who willingly calls himself 'Killmonger'."

Also if you want things to not be awful, kill General Ross before you do anything.
(Pretty sure trying to wipe out an entire country is a war crime. Seems like the sort of thing a general should know.
And that someone should probably stop him from doing...)

Ramonda being part of the Dora Milaje was cool.

[cricharddavies]

Also if you want things to not be awful, kill General Ross before you do anything.

Gosh, it's almost like he's a power-mad psychopath who wouldn't know patriotism if it bit him on the ass.

[scorntx]

I know. Weird, right?

I just had this mad assumption that the US army, for all its flaws, didn't let insane generals unilaterally do whatever they felt like, especially when they're probably five seconds from ranting about bodily fluids.

[cricharddavies]

Well, given that the bastard has enough pull in the regular universe to get named Secretary of State, it's plausible that he has some extensive ass-coverage here, too. And remember that Hydra is still running SHIELD at this point.

[zachbeacon]

I mean, I can think of several real life examples where the worst possible person got appointed to a high government office. That part of the episode seemed plausible enough.

I'm not sure I buy a random soldier getting a COO position at a major corporation though. Doesn't Tony have a board to answer to? Actually, I guess Tony not having anyone to answer too would explain a lot about his actions in the MCU.

You'd think there'd be pushback from SOMEONE about Ross just taking over. The people with Stark Industries stock must be pissed. Granted the people in the MCU with Stark stock probably have whiplash from Tony's decision making.

"Did that weapons manufacturer just announce that he won't be making weapons?"
"And that he's Iron Man?"
"Wait, I thought he wasn't making weapons?"
"Wait, am I paying for all this Avengers stuff?"
"He appointed his assistant to run the company?"
"Did he wage war on another country for a THIRD time?"
"Oh, no ... the killer robot drones he made just went rogue"
"Wait, I thought he wasn't making weapons?"

[whatsmoothbeast]

It wasn't a perfect episode, but seeing Killmonger kill Tony Stark makes it probably my favorite so far.

[iamrman]

Ramonda was badass.

[stubbleupdate]

I was tickled at Iron Man 1 era Rhodes being Don Cheadle

[owlbrigade1]

I, personally, found this one a bit meh and flat. There was nothing bad about it, per se, just not great either. If an anthology series of this nature can have filler episodes, this was its filler episode.

[starwolf_oakley]

In one of the Black Panther trailers, Kilmonger's dialog was altered so it seems he is a visionary villain.
"The world's gonna start over. I'M GONNA BURN IT ALL!"

[shakalooloo]

Bit weird how Killmoger was still allied with Klaw. I had expected the relationship with Stark to replace that one, considering events here are taking place some ten years before Black Panther. Shuri de-aged, but no-one else did...

[zachbeacon]

I liked it well enough. It can be fun to see a competent villain at work. I do think it required most of the heroes to be idiots though.

I’m also not sure why that scene with Pepper and Shuri is there. Teasing a plot I’d rather see and then doing nothing with it was infuriating in both Iron Fist season finales and it isn’t much better here.

As for my ongoing question of “is this a better universe than the MCU” …

Well, it doesn’t look great for the US and Wakanda; I’m not sure anyone in power will actually listen to Pepper with Tony and Rhodey dead. NYC is probably going to get nuked when Loki attacks. On the bright side, killing Tony buys the people of Sokovia a few more years before half of the universe gets dusted forever.

[cricharddavies]

I’m also not sure why that scene with Pepper and Shuri is there.

I suspect we might yet see more of this particular reality later on ...

[zachbeacon]

Hopefully. I initially didn't think too much of the crossover rumors but WAY too many of these end with cliffhangers.

[mastermahan]

I would like to see closure on some of these. This episode didn't end so much as it just stopped.

[scorntx]

"I am The Watcher. I am your guide. ... but, fair warning, I am also a total arsehole, and I will cut the story off just as it's getting interesting, so as to mess with your head."

[zachbeacon]

I was thinking the problem is that Disney is still locked into the half hour TV format even on a streaming service but I really like your idea that Uatu is just bad at telling stories.

[torberg]

"I'm 'The Watcher,' not 'The Teller.'"

[zachbeacon]

“Look, I’m a research guy, not a presentation guy. I’m Jack Kirby’s The Watcher, not Jim Henson’s The Storyteller”

[laughing_tree]

I mean, that's kind of the classic What If... style. (That and "And then everybody dies.") Set up a tantalizing new status quo on the last page.

[zachbeacon]

I haven't read a ton of What If but I always got the sense from the issues I read that "And then everybody dies." was a lot more common than the issues that actually lead to (or inspired) things like Jane Thor, the 90s Clone Sage, MC2, Agents of Atlas, and the Next Avengers.

(It is pretty wild how many What If plots got folded into the 616 though. Savage Avengers is just "What If Conan the Barbarian Walked the Earth Today?" presented as a team-up book.)

Then again, all the potential global catastrophes (Ego, Ultron, Thanos, ect) imply that most of these MCU-derivative Earths are doomed unless something specifically prevents them.