Caution: spoilers ahead for What If...?'s season 1 finale
MCU Easter eggs to pore over? Disney+'s What If...? has given Marvel fans an enthralling, offbeat ride through alternate paths the MCU franchise could've taken. Captain Carter instead of Captain America, Thor growing up without Loki, T'Challa ing the Ravagers in lieu of Peter Quill, Tony Stark being an entitled and egotistical billionaire who dies in the end (that last one might not count, actually) - all fascinatingly fresh takes on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But What If...? wouldn't be a Marvel story if there wasn't a big ol' crossover at the end.
Last week's What If...? episode introduced a reality where Ultron succeeded in inhabiting Vision's body and was consequently able to defeat the Avengers, achieving his aim of protecting the Earth by *checks notes* getting rid of humanity. Things really got wild when Ultron took possession of Thanos' Infinity Stones and began spreading his anti-life rhetoric across multiple universes. Finally, The Watcher was forced to intervene, and episode 9 has an idea... an idea to bring together a group of What If...? season 1 characters to become something more. The lucky winners are Captain Carter, Star-Lord T'Challa, Erik Killmonger, Gamora, Party Thor, Strange Supreme and, late to the party, Black Widow.
The Watcher's team successfully beat Ultron and protect the multiverse, but they do so whilst dropping one final batch of inter-dimensional Easter eggs for fans to enjoy. There are callbacks to previous episodes, of course, but also tributes to MCU movies, Marvel comic nods, and casual name-drops. These are the Easter eggs we found in What If...? episode 9.
The Lemurian Star
What If...? season 1 began by adapting Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Peggy attacking the same boat as Steve Rogers implies that since accidentally jumping into the modern day, Captain Carter's MCU arc has played out more or less identically to Captain America's.
Georges Batroc (& Peggy Giving Crossbones' Briefing)
Captain Carter's briefing introduces the hijackers' top mercenary, Georges Batroc. Played by Georges St-Pierre, Batroc appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Disney+'s Falcon & The Winter Soldier TV series. The same actor returns to lend his voice in What If...?'s season 1 finale.
Not necessarily an MCU Easter egg (but an intriguing detail nonetheless), Peggy is giving the Lemurian Star mission briefing herself. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Crossbones does the honors while Steve Rogers listens alongside the other soldiers. Peggy handling the pre-match talk suggests she's a more active member of SHIELD than Captain America in the MCU.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Parallels
Beyond the presence of the Lemurian Star and Batroc, What If...? episode 9's intro sequence contains many other parallels to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Peggy's briefing dialogue is almost identical to Crossbones', while Black Widow teasing her super soldier pal about potential love interests happened with Natasha and Steve in live-action. Peggy mimics Steve's jump from the plane, and Batroc challenges Captain Carter to fight without her shield, which is the same gambit he made with Rogers (just as unsuccessfully).
Captain Carter's Sequel Costume Copies Captain America
When Captain Carter debuted in What If...?'s season 1 premiere, her costume was blue with Great Britain's red, white and blue Union Jack emblazoned across her torso. During the Lemurian Star mission, she's wearing a sleeker, more subtle uniform with a smaller, silver Union Jack design. This is exactly the same fashion evolution Chris Evans made between the MCU's Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with his colorful American flag changing to gray.
Peggy's A Good Dancer Too
When Batroc politely requests Captain Carter do battle with fists instead of a solid vibranium Frisbee, she happily accepts, replying, "I'm a pretty good dancer too." This line is a callback to Peggy and Steve's promise to share a dance in the MCU, which Cap had to miss due to being trapped under a glacier for several decades. As excuses go, that's a pretty good one.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Ships
Better late than never, as What If...? returns to episode 2's cliffhanger ending. Ego the Living Planet is absorbing Peter Quill at his Dairy Queen workplace, and Ravager M-Ships are fighting back. The leading vessel looks suspiciously like the Milano Quill flew in his original MCU timeline.
GOTG2's Blue Goo Dairy Queen
Absorbing his son's power, Ego has covered the Dairy Queen establishment in a big lump of glowing blue goo, which rips directly from James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. When Kurt Russell's live-action Ego triggered his masterplan, the seeds he spread across the galaxy began sprouting blue gunk, resulting in the very same Dairy Queen visual What If...? uses.
Nidavellir & Eitri
In a brand new What If...? universe, The Watcher drops in on the odd couple of Tony Stark and Gamora. He finds them on Nidavellir - the neutron star introduced in Thor needed a new weapon and constructed Stormbreaker. We also see a brief glimpse of animated Eitri, who was played by Peter Dinklage on the big screen.
Gamora Has Thanos' Armor & Weapons
The Gamora variant chosen to The Watcher's anti-Ultron squad is adorned very differently to how MCU fans will Zoe Saldana's character. Indeed, What If...?'s Gamora is wearing the golden armor of her adopted father, Thanos, and now wields his double-ended blade also. The Watcher refers to Gamora as "destroyer of Thanos," which implies she offed her old man and swiped his gear. This also explains why What If...? episode 9 shows Eitri destroying the Infinity Gauntlet.
Tony Stark's New Hulkbuster Gear (What If...?'s Lost Episode)
Alongside Gamora is Tony Stark, wearing an altered version of his Hulkbuster armor from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Many What If...? fans will be confused at this point, and that's due to a planned season 1 episode that was mysteriously dropped. Reportedly called "What If...? Iron Man Landed On Sakaar," this episode likely explains how Stark and Gamora come to be best friends.
