Marvel's What If? Finale Sets Up Several Major MCU Villains' Return

Will the final villains of What If...? Season 1 return in the live-action MCU?

The season 1 finale of Marvel's What If...? featured an epic battle for the Marvel Multiverse that brought together the various heroes and anti-heroes we met (Doctor Strange Supreme, Star-Lord T'Challa, Party Thor, Captain Carter, etc.). The Watcher Uatu was forced to intervene and gather these lost souls into a team in order to stop Inifinity Ultron from conquering every reality. However, in a twist that pretty much everyone saw coming, two Marvel Cinematic Universe villains who were supposed to step up to the calling of being heroes pulled a double (and triple?) cross that could set them up for new futures in the franchise!

(WARNING: Marvel's What If? Finale SPOILERS Follow!) 

The climax of "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?" saw The Watcher's "Guardians of the Multiverse" make their last stand against Ultron in his home universe (the dystopian Earth where Ultron won the battle in Avengers: Age of Ultron). The final play the Guardians had, saw Black Widow and Captain Carter team up to deliver the computer virus arrow containing the Arnim Zola A.I. into Ultron's matrix. Zola is able to defeat Ultron from the inside out; while the evil robot is down, Erik Killmonger finally betrays his team (shocker!) to seize control of Ultron's Infinity Stones himself! However, Killmonger can't quite pull off his supremacy when Zola takes control of Ultron's body and tries to keep the stones for himself. 

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What ultimately happens is that Doctor Strange Supreme realizes that The Watcher's intention all along wasn't to stop Ultron - it was simply to take these Infinity Stones out of play. Strange uses his magic to create a pocket dimension around the tug-of-war between Zola and Killmonger, where they will remain trapped and under the observation of Doctor Strange Supreme. 

So, What If...? season 1 ends with two famous MCU villains now having a door (or at least a window) opened for their possible return in future projects, be it What If...? season 2 or a live-action MCU franchise. In fact, a lot of fan speculation is now looking at Doctor Strange Supreme as a possible cameo character and/or antagonist for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness; it woud be remarkable easy for that film to knock Doctor Strange Supreme off his guard post, and cause these alt-dimension versions of Ultron Zola and Killmonger to get free. 

Someone dial-up actors Michael B. Jordan and Toby Jones... 

Marvel's What If...? is now streaming all episodes on Disney+

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