Did What If…? Season 2 Just Retcon a Major Infinity Stone Detail?

What If…? has, not for the first time, cast some doubt on exactly how the Infinity Stones work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following the episode “What If Kahhori Reshaped the World,” audiences are wondering whether the Space Stone has previously-unseen powers that weren’t seen in the “Infinity Saga” movies. During the episode, Kahhori manages to take control of the gem, and uses it to give identical super powers to a large group of people. That’s two things that we’ve never seen the Stones do onscreen, since the Mind Stone — one of the only ones we saw get a real workout — only worked on a very small number of people and gave out seemingly random powers.

On the first season of What If…?, questions were raised when Ultron seemingly broke the “rules” established in Loki that said the stones were only powerful in their own universe. Head writer AC Bradley responded to the apparent contradiction by pointing out that Ultron was using the gems to power his own body — a body that was of and from the same universe as the stones. So it was kind of a loophole, but one that had logic behind it.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff both got powers from the Mind Stone, but there’s a big asterisk there: they got totally different power sets (and, as we would see later with Wanda’s incredible abilities, wildly different power levels). They also were part of a group of test subjects, and none of those people got powers.

Of course, it’s suggested in-universe that the powers Wanda and Pietro had were already dormant in their bodies, and contact with the Stone just brought them out. Maybe there’s something about Kahhori’s ancestors that predisposes them to having this same set of powers, which would at least kind of make sense of the apparent contradictions. It’s also possible that there’s a difference in the way the Space Stone works versus the Mind Stone, since it was the former that powered Kahhori and the Mohawks, and the latter used on the Sokovians in Age of Ultron.

Season 2 of Marvel’s What If…?, which premieres episodes daily on Disney+ beginning on December 22nd, continues the journey as The Watcher guides viewers through the vast multiverse, introducing brand new and familiar faces throughout the MCU. The series questions, revisits and twists classic Marvel Cinematic moments with an incredible voice cast that includes a host of stars who reprise their iconic roles.

The series is led by Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher, with returning appearances that include Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk, and Cate Blanchett as Hela. Devery Jacobs joins the cast as Kahhori, a new Native American character created specifically for the show. What If…? Season 2 is directed by Bryan Andrews, and executive produced by Andrews and AC Bradley.