Warning! Spoilers ahead for Marvel's What If…? episode 8.

In What If...? episode 8, Marvel retconned the power of the Infinity Stones - again. Marvel Studios has earned a reputation for playing the long-game, but - however justified this reputation may be - the truth is that the studio often conducts pivots and course-corrections. The Infinity Stones lie at the heart of many of these changes because Marvel only decided to commit to the story of the Infinity Gauntlet in meetings around the release of The Avengers, and they retconned several items - notably the Tesseract and Loki's Scepter - as Infinity Stones.

What If...? episode 8 is inspired by Infinity Stones when Thanos paid Earth a visit, and he was able to use them to destroy all life in his universe - before learning of the existence of the Watcher when possession of the Infinity Stones granted him cosmic awareness. Ultron broke through the dimensional barriers and attacked the Watcher, launching a battle that spanned the dimensions, in which the Watcher and Ultron went head-to-head. However, while the conflict is spectacular, it also suggests that the MCU's Infinity Stones operate differently to those in the comics.

Related: Every MCU Easter Egg In What If? Episode 8

The original Infinity Stones were destroyed by Thanos in Infinity Stones don't work in the TVA. This seemed to be inspired by the comics, where the Infinity Stones only retain their powers when they're used in their own dimension, and it confirmed a line of dialogue in Avengers: Endgame where the Ancient One suggested there's a relationship between the Infinity Stones and the very existence of a branched timeline. But Marvel's What If...? takes a different approach, revealing the MCU's Infinity Stones do not possess that particular limitation at all. As Ultron's actions prove, the on-screen Infinity Stones actually do retain the power, representing a serious retcon in the MCU.

Watcher and Ultron in What If Episode 8

Despite the confusion, there's actually a good reason for this apparent Infinity Stone plot hole; namely, that Marvel's producing a wealth of content at the same time, and it's hard to manage it all. As What If...? showrunner A.C. Bradley told The GOAT Podcast, the MCU's animated TV series was being made before the scripts for Loki had even been finished - which is also the real reason the Watcher doesn't use any of the Multiversal language introduced in the earlier Disney+ TV series, such as "nexus points." To be fair to Marvel, continuity is a good servant but a bad master, and in both cases the Infinity Stones' abilities were crucial to the story, meaning this continuity problem is justifiable from a narrative perspective.

Fortunately, there is a way to fix this. It's possible the depowering of the Infinity Stones in Loki was less to do with the nature of the Infinity Stones themselves, and instead was related to the properties of the dimension the TVA is based in - believed by many to be the Quantum Realm. Thus the MCU's Infinity Stones do not possess the same limitations as their comic book counterparts - which, oddly, means it would be easy for the Watcher to acquire the Infinity Stones for himself and have a rematch with Ultron. This means that Marvel's What If...? episode 9 could be even more explosive.

More: What If...? Episode 8 Asks 9 Big Questions About Ultron & The Watcher

Marvel's What If...? streams Wednesdays on Disney+.

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