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Friday, October 8, 2021

The What If Infinity Ultron episode on Disney+ was a lot of fun to watch and left me with a lot of thoughts.


Spoilers ahead for Infinity Ultron and the What If series on Disney +

So, I'm still a little behind on the What If series on Disney +. However, I did finish watching the penultimate episode wherein Ultron gets a hold of the Infinity Stones and then proceeds to expand his power into other universes and then beats up the Watcher (who's been telling the What if stories in the first place). As entertaining as it was (and it was fun in the comic book sense of watching powerful characters slug it out), I was left with questions and observations that will probably never be answered. Here are some of them.

1) Ultron is able to use the Infinity Stones once he goes to another universe. This doesn't make sense to me having finished watching the Loki series wherein the Infinity Stones were used as paperweights in clerk drawers in the Time Variance Authority building (which is outside the known universe). They established in that series that the Infinity Stones have power only within the universe with which they originate. Even in the comic books, this is a thing. For example, in a JLA and Avengers crossover, Darkseid briefly gets a hold of the Infinity Stones, and then realizes that they are useless because they are not a part of his universe (Darkseid is a huge DC villain similar to Thanos).

2) Ultron in the episode got the stones way too easily. I mean...he just used the mind stone to cut Thanos in half. For some reason, I think Thanos would have put up more of a fight than that. But it's all what the writers want, right?

3) Was Clint's arm and cloak some Wakanda Tech? It seemed like it was, given that the Winter Soldier's arm came from there.

4) I'm actually not sure how powerful the Watcher is within the canon of the Marvel comic books. Is he up there with the Living Tribunal? I'm just not sure. I do know that the Living Tribunal can just turn Infinity Stones off, like flicking a switch. He did that in some of the Infinity Stones plotlines before placing them beyond anyone's ability to abuse.

5) I loved seeing Captain Marvel's true power unleashed when she attacked Ultron. That's impressive, even if she was ultimately defeated by the robot with all the stones. Still...we've never seen that kind of power flex from that character.

I'm kind of an anomaly when it comes to fans of the Age of Ultron movie (the second Avengers movie). I actually liked it. However, I do get that Ultron was a Thanos-level villain who could easily serve as the big bad of several MCU films, and he didn't even survive one movie. I get that...and I get why online bros are pissed about it. However, the team at Marvel already had a story-arc mapped out. They didn't need another big bad for this arc. Instead they used Ultron like a strong chess piece. For example, in my opinion Ultron is what creates the fissure between Cap and Iron Man. It's what decimates S.H.I.E.L.D. And, it arguably is what allows Thanos to win the first time.

Anyway...those are my thoughts about the episode. Anyone else watch What if? If so, what do you think of it thus far?

I will be taking Monday off from blogging to celebrate Indigenous People's Day (Columbus Day). So, I shall see you on Wednesday. Until then, take care.

2 comments:

  1. So you didn't watch Episode 9 yet? The thing with him killing Thanos was pretty ridiculous but I'm sure they did that because they needed to save time in the episode. But then like with Captain Marvel or The Watcher, comic book characters are always as powerful (or not) as the writer needs them to be. If need be, I'm sure the writers could come up with some BS reason Ultron could use the Stones outside his universe.

    Not to spoil things but the final episode was not the greatest. There was some good stuff, especially at the end (and the cookie scene) but it was kind of a rushed conclusion. Not sure if you read anything about it, but they reference a universe from an episode that hasn't even aired yet and probably won't until season 2--provided there is one.

    I really liked Episode 2, Episode 5 (zombies!), and Episode 7. Episode 1 was OK but it was just a gender swap for the most part; it felt like the easy tutorial level of the video game where it's just easing you into the concept. Episode 4 was kind of cliche, Episode 3 kind of obscure, and Episode 6 too convoluted. Episode 8 was ok but like at the end of Episode 7 it felt like, "OK, where did this come from? Why didn't you hint at your overall story from the start?"

    Anyway, I have a longer version of those thoughts on my blog next week.

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  2. Glad you've been enjoying the show.

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