What If…? Creators Break Down That Emotional Post-Credits Scene

On Wednesday, fans were treated to the Season 1 finale of Marvel’s What If…?, and all of its various plot threads and Easter eggs are still being discussed. While the episode largely wrapped up the “Guardians of the Multiverse” storyline that had been seeded across the season, it did tee up some other storylines for future episodes — particularly in its final moments. The season finale provided What If..?’s first post-credits scene, and it might have laid the groundwork for a major story that’s to come. Spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Marvel’s What If…?, “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?”, below! Only look if you want to know.

The post-credits scene of the episode cut back to the present day, where Peggy Carter / Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and her Earth’s version of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Lake Bell) are on a mission. The duo find their way to a crate on a ship, which happens to hold the old Hydra Stomper mech suit from Peggy’s days fighting in World War II. Natasha tells Peggy that they also found someone inside of the Hydra Stomper, seeming to indicate that Steve Rogers (Josh Keaton) is alive.

While What If…?‘s crew have indicated that Season 2 will largely revolve around some new stories and universes, fans have already begun to wonder if this post-credits scene could be setting up a Peggy and Steve reunion in the new batch of episodes. As head writer A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews revealed in an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, that scene does serve as a “promise” to viewers.

“Well, we have to wait and see,” Andrews explained. “But then again, I think it’s pretty safe to say that — I mean, Ashley said it. You put it perfectly, so I don’t want to steal your line. You should say it.”

“Well, I was just saying that our twist endings are fun, but a post credit scene is a promise to the audience,” Bradley echoed. “And Peggy and Steve, come on, they’re the OTP.”

It was already confirmed before the series’ debut that Captain Carter would return in future seasons, and now fans have a bit of an indication of what that could entail.

“We realized, I think, early on in development as we were starting to get AC [Bradley’s] scripts and starting to look at the arc of the series that there was going to be a character that bubbled up and became more important,” Marvel producer Brad Winderbaum said earlier this year. “Not more important than the rest, but had a strong relationship with The Watcher, who is really our driving force behind the series, and that’s Captain Carter.”

“And we realized as we started developing the second season that Captain Carter was going to be the character who we would revisit in every season and continue that adventure,” Winderbaum continued. “Obviously, we’re telling a story on a giant multiversal canvas so you never really know who’s going to pop up where and when. It’s very much an anthology, but there’s always opportunity for fun connections to be made.”

Season 1 of What If…? is now available to stream in its entirety on Disney+.