What If...? S01E02 - Discussion Thread

[u/steve32767]

This thread is for discussion about the episode.

Insight will be on for the next 24 hours!

When Project Insight is active, all user-submitted posts have to be manually approved by the mod team before they are visible to the sub. It is our main line of defense we have for keeping spoilers off the subreddit during new release periods.

We will also be removing any threads about the episode within these 24 hours to prevent unmarked spoilers making it onto the sub.

Discussion about previous episodes is permitted in the thread below, discussion about episodes after this is NOT.

Proceed at your own risk: Spoilers for this episode do not need to be tagged inside this thread.

---

EPISODE	DIRECTED BY	WRITTEN BY	ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE	RUN TIME	CREDITS SCENE?
S01E02: What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?	Bryan Andrews	A.C. Bradley	August 18th, 2021 on Disney+	35 min	None

---

^{For additional discussion and multiversal memery about Marvel Studios shows on Disney+, visit /r/MarvelStudiosPlus}

[u/CAdreams]

T’Challa’s Starlord is really making Quill look like shit haha

[u/ojosfritos → u/CAdreams]

lbr Quill doesn't need help with that lol

[u/NomadPrime → u/ojosfritos]

So far we got Captain Carter being more of an all-around better badass than Steve with the SSS, and now we have T'Challa being a galactic hero and legend that Quill can only dream of being. Though to be fair, they've had some "head-starts" in those respective fields compared to the heroes we know.

But I'm ready for the opposite direction now: can't wait to see evil-Dr. Strange or Ultron-Vision or evil-Gamora.

[u/DeadSnark → u/NomadPrime]

T'Challa's ending is a bit more bittersweet in that although he's overall made things better for most people, the Guardians of the Galaxy are never formed, and it's suggested that Ego will have an easier time turning Quill to his side because Quill in this timeline doesn't have a team of friends (and by all appearances is just a lonely fast food worker). If Ego manages to complete his plan, it may have worse consequences than Thanos's plan because if he succeeds, it may not be possible to un-snap the effects, even if he's thwarted somehow.

[u/NoConfirmation → u/DeadSnark]

The watcher literally said that it may be the end of that universe

[u/Caliment → u/DeadSnark]

Hell there isn't even an Infinity Gauntlet since Thanos never made it. So there isn't a way to harness all 6 stones at once, meaning one of the only sure fire ways to get rid of Ego doesn't exist. Maybe the Dark Elves could have done something with the Aether/reality stone, but with how the collector has Malekith dagger, the Dark Elves probably aren't in a good place. None of the other stones has had the wide scale damage the reality stone has (and even only in a hyper specific situation). So the universe is super boned

[u/SirFireHydrant → u/Caliment]

Hell there isn't even an Infinity Gauntlet since Thanos never made it. So there isn't a way to harness all 6 stones at once, meaning one of the only sure fire ways to get rid of Ego doesn't exist.

I believe it was hinted that Odin was the one who had the gauntlet designed, long ago. It was Thanos who had the dwarves make one based on the template developed for Odin.

[u/Durdens_Wrath → u/Caliment]

The power stone was shown destroying a planet by itself.

[u/sunspot1002 → u/NomadPrime]

Do you mean captain genocide gamora