The first season of Marvel Studios’ What If…? came to a close on Wednesday, but not before introducing a wide array of new concepts and questions into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the animated series dipped in and out of various universes and scenarios, its constant has been Uatu The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), who narrates the events of each episode from outside of the multiverse, with a promise to not intervene with the events he’s overseeing. (Spoilers for the finale below!) The finale, appropriately titled “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?”, saw Uatu going against that rule, uniting a number of heroes from across the multiverse in hopes that they could stop Ultron (Ross Marquand) from destroying the entire multiverse with a full set of Infinity Stones. In a roundabout way, the group succeeded in their effort, and Uatu ended in the finale in high spirits — but it’s safe to say that he was changed by that event.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“The Watcher was designed to almost be us,” What If…? head writer A.C. Bradley explained in an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com. “He’s us, the audience. He’s us, the watchers, as we’ve been watching the MCU grow and expand these last almost-14 years now. And then even for some of these older folks who grew up reading the comic books, reading these universes. So the whole idea of The Watcher was that as these stories continue, he steps more and more closer, he becomes more real to us, because these stories become so much more to him. They become his language, his cultural touchstones, the way it has for our entire society. And these heroes become, in a way, his friends. He needs to save the multiverse because he can’t let this go. He breaks his oath because they matter so much. Something finally matters so much to him that he’s forced to break his oath.”
“And that was pulling from the comic books,” Bradley continued. “In the comic books The Watcher is notorious for saying he won’t intervene, and then when he does, it’s always for something huge. He doesn’t intervene because Reed Richards’ car broke down. He intervenes because something huge is coming on the horizon. We just had to figure out what that would be in the Marvel multiverse, and that was the idea of playing with Ultron, who is such a great villain. And now, thanks to Phase Four, he could have the Infinity Gauntlet. You marry Ultron with the Infinity Gauntlet and you have utter devastation.”
While Ultron’s threat was definitely formidable enough to justify Uatu breaking his oath, it remains to be seen if he will have to face the consequences of that decision, either from the other Watchers or from the multiverse itself. But with a second season of What If…? already in the works, we hopefully won’t have to wait long to find out.
Season 1 of What If…? is now available to stream in its entirety on Disney+.
