Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s What If…? episode 8.
Marvel’s What If…? episode 8 pits an Infinity Stone-powered Ultron against the Watcher himself, posing some interesting questions about them, the MCU multiverse, and more. What If…? season 1 is only nine episodes long, and episode 8 teases a big finale with some fun crossovers between the previously shown MCU realities. But in order for the multiverse to survive, Ultron will need to be defeated – a task that looks to be incredibly challenging.
At the start of What If…? episode 8, the Watcher reveals a world in which Ultron successfully got in Vision’s body, leading to his defeat of the Avengers and subsequent conquest of the entire planet. Ultron is then confronted by a version of Thanos wielding the five other Infinity Stones, who he dispatches with shocking speed and brutality. With the combined power of all six Infinity Stones, Ultron erases most life in the universe, then goes a step further – discovering the presence of the Watcher himself and expanding his rampage to other realities of the multiverse. By the end of What If…? episode 8, the Watcher breaks his oath not to interfere in the affairs of others and strikes a deal with the evil Doctor Strange from What If…? episode 4.
The sheer power of Ultron with the Infinity Stones is on a whole other level from any characters previously seen in the MCU, including Thanos himself. His duel with the Watcher and the subsequent threat to existence itself also conjures some interesting theories about the true nature and balance of power of the MCU. Here are the biggest unanswered questions from Marvel’s What If…? episode 8.
After conquering Earth, Ultron makes short work of Thanos in What If…? episode 8. The Mad Titan holds five of the Infinity Stones during the confrontation, compared to Ultron’s one, but he still has no response to the AI’s attack, being quickly split in two by a blast from the Mind Stone. Given how powerful and cunning Thanos has been shown to be in the MCU – even surviving blows from Thor’s magical Asgardian weapons – his sudden death is more than a little shocking. It would seem to suggest that Ultron is simply the more powerful villain, but is that really the case, or did he simply catch Thanos unawares?
One of the best explanations of how Ultron is able to defeat Thanos so quickly is that the Mind Stone is stronger than the other Infinity Stones. The events of movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange – which feature other Stones prominently – challenge that theory significantly, but it’s hard to argue with a laser blast that cuts Thanos himself in half before he even has a chance to speak. One explanation is that the Mind Stone isn’t actually stronger, bur rather that Ultron just has better control over it as its part of his core essence. Either way, it seems that the Mind Stone is a lot more formidable than previously thought.
In What If…? episode 8, the Watcher himself says that he can see every thing that has ever happened, and everything that will ever happen. So then, how is it that Ultron’s rise to power is so shocking to him? There’s nothing about Ultron that would indicate he exists beyond the ordinary plane of existence in the MCU, and if the multiverse is truly infinite, there must be many realities in which he acquired the Infinity Stones – all of which the Watcher would have seen. The What If…? season 1 finale may offer some clarification, but right now, it’s hard not to see the Watcher’s surprise as anything other than a plot hole.
After Ultron conquers Earth and moves onto other worlds in What If…? episode 8, his drones still have to contend with two survivors – Black Widow and Hawkeye. But how did these two, of all the Avengers, make it out alive? The fact that they’re working alone implies no other MCU heroes made it past Ultron’s nuclear strike. But how could they have survived with no superpowers when the likes of Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor clearly didn’t? It’s possible they were able to take shelter in some kind of secret S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker, but why wouldn’t they then also have tried to save their friends? None of it quite adds up.
Though Hawkeye survives Ultron’s initial rampage across the Earth in What If…? episode 8, it’s not without a few scars. That is to say, Hawkeye has a robotic arm in the episode, suggesting that he was seriously wounded in the battle against Ultron. What If…? doesn’t offer any clarification on why exactly Hawkeye has a robotic arm, but it's likely that his injury happened during his reality’s version of the Battle of Sokovia.
Perhaps the biggest question left hanging by Marvel’s What If…? episode 8 is how Ultron is able to traverse the multiverse. He possesses all six stones, which grant him unimaginable power, but no more than Thanos had at the end of Infinity War. By contrast, Thanos never showed any signs of heightened dimensional awareness or the ability to transcend universes. It’s possible that Ultron acquires the power after wielding the Infinity Stones for an extended amount of time – something Thanos never did – but What If…? episode 8 doesn’t confirm that theory.
The Watcher makes multiple references to his oath of noninterference in What If…? episode 8 – something that’s clearly very important to him. In the end he breaks the oath and fights Ultron personally, and the show doesn’t elaborate on what consequences that might have for the character. It would help if the MCU revealed who exactly the Watcher swore his oath to, but it doesn’t. The Watcher of the comics, named Uatu, is just one of an entire alien species, all of whom live by a code of noninterference. That could be true in the MCU as well, but for now, the Watcher’s backstory remains a mystery.
In their duel, Ultron overpowers the Watcher pretty easily, largely because of the six Infinity Stones at his disposal. But why doesn’t the Watcher use some Infinity Stones of his own? Each reality of the MCU multiverse has a set of its own, and it should be easy for the Watcher to acquire some in the interest of stopping Ultron’s reign of terror. It makes sense why he didn’t have them on hand at the start of the fight, as he was unprepared for Ultron to find him, but now that the Watcher has a moment to catch his breath, it might be in his best interest to seek out his own set of Infinity Stones for the rematch.
With or without Infinity Stones, the Watcher will have his work cut out for him trying to defeat Ultron. He’s already made a powerful ally in What If…?’s evil Doctor Strange, and Black Widow is still working on her AI takeover plan with HYDRA’s Arnim Zola, but with so much power and such a huge army at his disposal, it will likely take more than that to bring Infinity Stone Ultron down. The promos for the end of What If…? season 1 have teased an even bigger team-up between the multiverse’s greatest heroes, and if that actually happens, it should be an exciting finale to the shows first chapter.
Marvel’s What If…? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.
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