Warning: This article contains full spoilers for Marvel's What If…?: Season 1! For more on the animated series, check out our review of the Season 1 finale, and then see our breakdown of the most shocking What If…? moments and a list of all the returning MCU actors.
Now that Loki has opened up the Marvel multiverse, Marvel's What If…? has shown us some of the alternate realities where life in the MCU took a slightly different turn. Over the course of Season 1, we saw some pretty wild superhero battles, including a number that would flat-out never happen in the regular MCU.
From Hank Pym showing how to beat a Hulk to Uatu going full Dragon Ball Z against Ultron, let's take a look back at the biggest and most unexpected match-ups in What If…?: Season 1.
Captain Carter vs. Shuma-Gorath
While the premiere episode follows the main story beats of Captain America: The First Avenger pretty closely, it does take a last-minute swerve. Rather than duke it out with Red Skull, Captain Carter is faced with a much bigger and more powerful enemy – the unholy monstrosity known as Shuma-Gorath. We might have expected this monster to appear in a future Doctor Strange movie, but not trading blows with a serum-empowered version of Peggy Carter. Good thing this Cap carries a sword along with her shield.
The Ravagers vs. The Collector and The Black Order
In the Avengers movies, the Black Order are happy to do the bidding of their master Thanos. Who would have thought we'd see the Mad Titan fight against these minions, and as a teammate of T'Challa, no less? The role reversal is strong in the climax of Episode 2. This episode also does far more than the movies ever have in showcasing the threat posed by The Collector. When you've accumulated valuable trophies like Captain America's shield and Hela's helmet, even the galaxy's brightest heroes are outmatched.
Hulk vs. Yellowjacket
There's super-strength, and then there's the Hulk. The Green Guy's power is near-incalculable, and he's perfectly capable of fending off entire army battalions on his own (as we saw once more in this episode). But we also learned just how easily even the Hulk can fall when someone has the right tools. One Magic School Bus-style trip into Hulk's bloodstream and Hank Pym is able to plant a bomb that explodes Hulk from the inside. A real blowout victory, if you will. It's a stark reminder of just how dangerous Pym's technology can be when in the wrong hands. Especially if those hands are his own.
"Nick Fury" vs. Yellowjacket
Episode 3 gave us another unexpected match-up when Nick Fury confronted a grieving Hank Pym at the grave of Hope van Dyne. For once, we saw Fury taking matters into his own hands and putting up a surprisingly good fight against his much more powerful foe. Who knew Fury was so limber? Of course, by the end it was clear "Fury" was actually Loki in disguise, but still. We're not apt to see this alliance in the regular MCU anytime soon.
Doctor Strange vs. Strange Supreme
Doctor Strange has already gone up against some of the most terrifying villains in the MCU, including Dormammu and Thanos. Who would have thought his greatest battle would be against himself? Episode 4 shows us the full power of magic unleashed when the good and evil halves of Strange collide. And where our Stephen Strange would surely find a way of triumphing in the regular MCU, all bets are off in the realm of What If…?. By the end, Strange Supreme found himself the sole survivor of a universe torn to shreds by his actions.
Doctor Strange's Cloak vs. The Marvel Zombies
The MCU movies have established Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation as a character unto itself, one who doesn't always obey the whims of its master. That really pays off in the opening moments of Episode 5, where the Cloak shows up just in time to save a befuddled Bruce Banner from zombified versions of the Avengers and the Black Order. When the enemy thrives on human flesh, it sure pays to have an ally who has no flesh of its own.
Wakanda vs. the US Military
This may be What If…?, but Episode 6 showed us an all too believable turn of events when General Ross waged war against the nation of Wakanda. It turns out global superpowers don't like it when a remote African nation suddenly turns out to be king of the technological hill. It doesn't help that Episode 6 casts Killmonger as an Emperor Palpatine-esque mastermind manipulating both sides. The end result is a bombastic clash between Wakanda's elite warriors and a fleet of Killmonger/Tony Stark-designed anime robots. Compared to this episode, the scope of the final battle in 2018's Black Panther feels quaint.
Thor vs. Captain Marvel
Thor and Captain Marvel were both off-world during the events of Civil War, which is probably just as well for the sake of the planet. But if you've ever wondered what might happen if these two strongest Avengers went head-to-head, Episode 7 has the answer. We've never seen punches land this hard in the movies. Each blow sends these heroes flying across entire continents. Fortunately, this feud proved to be as short-lived as hero vs. hero rivalries usually are.
Ultron vs. Uatu
Episode 8 marked a major turning point for Marvel's What If…?, as Uatu shifted from passive observer to active defender of the multiverse. It takes a special kind of villain to orchestrate that change, and we got just that with a turbo-charged version of Ultron. The ensuing battle may well be the biggest and most memorable in the series so far. Who knew Uatu had that kind of power to throw around? Not that it was enough to stop a being with a perfect Synthezoid body and the power of the Infinity Gauntlet.
The Guardians of the Multiverse vs. Ultron
The season finale delivered Round 2 of the epic Ultron throwdown, with the newly minted Guardians of the Multiverse giving their all to stop Ultron. Between a Doctor Strange imbued with the power of countless demonic entities and an Ultron capable of rewriting reality as we know it, the power levels here were off the charts. Where else will you see a portal dump thousands of Marvel Zombies on top of a killer android? The Avengers should count themselves lucky they only ever had to deal with vanilla Ultron.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.