WARNING: Spoilers for Season 1, Episode 4 of What If?
Last week's episode of What If? was quite dark but this week things went even further. We're introduced to a universe where Christine Palmer was in the car that Doctor Strange crashed and rather than the accident causing damage to his hands, it ended up killing Christine. It appears that the events of the Doctor Strange film then took place with Strange seeking solace in the mystic arts and using them to defeat Dormammu.
This episode wasn't then a different take on the events of the film but told a new story from this Strange suffering from grief. Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to travel back in time to the day of the crash and attempts to avoid Christine's death. He drives more carefully, takes different routes, doesn't drive at all and even tries not meeting Christine but no matter what he does Christine ends up dying. We later learn that this is because her death is an "absolute point" in time in this universe and cannot be changed.
The concept of absolute points is really interesting for the wider MCU. We've yet to see any evidence that they exist in the main universe but that doesn't mean they don't. It could be that the deaths of Natasha Romanoff and Tony Stark in the MCU were absolute points. This would mean that even using time travel technology and without the TVA around to worry about variant timelines, these deaths cannot be undone. I really like this concept as it allows for plot points to be meaningful rather than being under the threat of being undone thanks to comic book goings-on.
Strange refuses to take no for an answer and heads to the library of Cagliostro to discover how to save Christine. In the comic books it's actually the book of Cagliostro, an account of the 18th century mystic containing his personal history and mystic knowledge including sections of the Darkhold. I like the MCU's version being much grander, a whole library rather than one measly book. At the library he meets a character we've not seen before, O'Bengh. In the comic books O-Bengh is Cagliostro's real name but as far as I could tell from this episode this O'Bengh didn't appear to be the same person. This is the first time we've seen an entirely new character in What If? so I wonder if there may be plans for a live-action version of the character at some point in the future.
Strange discovers that he needs more power to undo Christine's death and acquires this by absorbing the energy of various monstrous beings from inter-dimensional realms. These appear to include a garden gnome but also a huge tentacled creature which looked very familiar. We're given no confirmation it appears to be the same tentacled creature we saw Captain Carter fighting in the first episode of What If? that was assumed to be Shuma-Gorath. The fact we've seen this creature again is interesting and would further indicate that it will play a role in the ongoing MCU, likely an appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It's all interesting to note whilst we're on the subject of future appearances that Rachel McAdams reprises her role of Christine Palmer here for the first time since the original Doctor Strange film which suggests the actor is still involved with the MCU and could also potentially be appearing in Multiverse of Madness.
Once Strange has become hugely powerful through monster-absorption we discover that he has one more foe to fight: himself. The Ancient One magically made it so that two timelines could exist at once in this universe- one where Strange goes to the library and gains power and another where he begins to accept the loss. In the end the powerful Strange wins and is able to save Christine but by destroying the absolute point he destroys the entire universe. We're left with just this version of Strange left in a bubble, which has surely got to be the most bleak thing Marvel Studios have given us to date.
Throughout the episode we see the Watcher take a close interest in events. At first Strange appears to hear something but as the episode continues he actually interacts with the Watcher, the first time the narrator of this series has interacted with any other Marvel characters (I speculated that he eventually would back in my episode one discussion). For the first time we get a real judgement from the Watcher as he clearly tells us that what Strange is doing is wrong. It's interesting that he still continues to say he can't interfere yet actually communicates with Strange and attempts to stop him, which feels a lot like interference to me. I still think the Watcher will have a bigger role to play in an episode or two later in the series and that we might well see him break his no interfering rule in a more extreme way.
I thought this was another strong episode and it went even further than the previous episode at showing just what this show can do and how it can legitimately take the MCU to darker places than the movies can. I do hope we get a bit more lightness in the next episode but given it's set to star "Party Thor" that looks like it will be the case.
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