In season two, episode six of What If, entitled “What if Avengers Assembled in 1602?” Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) is sent to 1602 by Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen). Their hope is that Captain Carter will be able to save their world, even though The Watcher (Jeffery Wright) has told Captain Carter that it was meant to die eventually. Captain Carter must find the forerunner to fix a mistake they made that created another universe. Tears in the universe have caused multiple issues, one being that this is what caused Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) to die. After Queen Hela’s death, Thor is quickly appointed king and is served by Happy Hogan. While Steve Rogers (Josh Keaton) is more like the Robin Hood of the universe with his merry men. So she teams up with Tony Stark (Mick Wingert) and asks him to build a time machine.
A group of heroes got together to try and save their reality. Among this group was the Scarlet Witch, Wanda. Wanda used her abilities to take a hero from another universe, and she chose Captain Carter, which is how Captain Carter ended up in this situation. She chose Captain Cater because she wanted someone strong enough and caring enough to save a universe that wasn’t their own. After multiple failed attempts, the group left Captain Carter alone to save their universe. The year 1602 and the twenty-first century have been combined, and it’s up to Captain Cater to separate them. This is what leads Captain Carter to need to assemble a group of her own and ask Stark to build a time machine.
In order for the time machine to work, they must insert the Time Stone. Their main obstacle is not only building the time machine, but they also have to get the stone from Thor. This is a problem because Thor doesn’t trust Captain Carter after she fails to save his sister, Queen Hela. Since Captain Carter has lost Thor’s trust, she decides the best thing to do is to steal it from him rather than explain and ask. Along with discovering she needs to capture the time stone, she also discovers that she needs to locate the forerunner by eavesdropping on a conversation. The forerunner is the first person transported to the universe they are currently in in the future; they are responsible for what is happening.
Captain Carter asks for help from Rogers and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), seeing as they are both experienced thieves and she will need to steal the time stone right from Thor’s scepter. She also needs help from Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who declines and says that he doesn’t turn into the Hulk anymore. Captain Carter cannot afford to take no for an answer, so she makes sure he gets provoked, and she apologizes right before. Banner turns into the Hulk she needs him to be, and they head to meet Stark. Stark shows them the finished time machine and tells them it will not only find the forerunner, but it will also reveal who it is and send them back once the time stone is inserted.
Rogers and Barnes meet Captain Carter, Banner, and Stark, and then they all head to the castle to capture the stone. Later in the castle, another tear in the universe happens, and Wanda tries to contain it. Right as everyone was looking at the storm caused by the storm, the Hulk burst into the wall, yelling to give Captain Carter and Rogers a signal. Captain Carter tries to convince Thor to trust her, but he still won’t, so she fights him for his scepter. They are able to retrieve the stone from Thor, and it reveals that Rogers was the forerunner all along. Rogers leaves and goes back to his universe. Captain Carter goes to have a drink alone and gets paid a visit by Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch), and he tells her he has a story to tell her.
Overall the episode did a good job of keeping the viewer engaged. Whether it was a fight scene or just a scene of Captain Carter drinking alone, there was a good use of dramatic structure. The episode also did a great job of giving the viewer time to process new information. Whenever we learn new information with Captain Carter we see her explain it more in-depth when telling other characters. Which gives the viewer a better understanding of what’s going on.
Rating: 8/10