Is it me or is What If...? getting better and darker with every upcoming episode? Last week's episode felt like a red herring, a really funny episode featuring Party Thor and his light-hearted romance with Jane Foster. However, that took a grim turn when out of a portal arrived an army of bots led by Ultron-Vision, who possess all Infinity Stones, and his appearance left both Thor and most curiously, The Watcher, stunned! Marvel’s What if…? Episode 7 Ending Explained: Who Is the Villain That Shocked Thor and the Watcher at the End?

(SPOILERS AHEAD) We had theorised that the upcoming episode, the one that landed on September 29 on Disney+ Hotstar, would have Ultron achieve his dream of taking over Vision and somehow become so powerful that he can now conquer and destroy multiverses. Which is exactly what happened in the new episode of What If...?.

You know things are really serious, when even after seeing a universe getting destroyed over a broken heart, The Watcher says the new universe is the most heartbreaking of them all. Not only did Ultron-Vision go on to kill his creator Tony Stark (more on his multiple deaths ahead), but also goes on to destroy his planet. What if…? Episode 8 Recap: From Ultron-Vision vs the Watcher to Thanos’ Comical Death, 9 Twists That Happened in Marvel’s Latest Disney+ Animated Series.

The rampage doesn't end there, as thanks to the arrival of Thanos with his Infinity Stones and his immediate insulting murder, Ultron-Vision possess the powers of all the Stones and becomes Infinity Ultron. Infinity Ultron, true to his misconstruction of Stark's command, goes on to destroy other planets, including Asgard, Xandar (so how did Thanos get the Power Stone?), Ego and end up killing Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel among others.

Having lain barren all the planets in his universe, Infinity Ultron is dejected that he has no purpose in life anymore, when he becomes aware of The Watcher, and thereby of the multiverse. For the first time in the series, The Watcher was forced to drop being a passive witness (save for chat with Doctor Strange in episode 4, again more on this later) and then end up having a multi-versal fight with Infinity Ultron that destroys more universes (in one we also get where Steve Rogers is now a senator!). But Infinity Ultron proves to be stronger than The Watcher and taunts the latter for being a creepy voyeur (kinda true there). The Watcher ultimately escapes from being killed by his enemy and seeks help from someone he refused to help earlier.

The Ending

The Watcher, quite heartbroken with the turn of events that he couldn't foresee, has taken solace in a mirror dimension cage where he is greeted by Doctor Strange. Left with no other options, he decided to take the help of Strange to defeat Infinity Ultron, thereby breaking the oath of not being a passive overlooker.

What Does This Meeting Signify?

For those who had forgotten, this is the very same Strange we met in episode 4 who had gone way into dark magic way to bring back his dead lover, only to destroy his universe in the process. In order to save her from being decimated, he created a mirror dimension, which couldn't do much. Not only Strange has to see the universe and Christine Palmer get finished, he is now trapped in the dimension all alone. But not dead, as we might have thought then.

Who thought that he would return in such a shocking manner in Episode 8? When his universe was getting destroyed in episode 4, Strange who had already sensed and known The Watcher's presence, had asked the powerful being to help him out. Instead, The Watcher coldly refused to do so, saying that Strange should have known better than to manipulate space and time, as that would ultimately lead to destruction. What if…? Episode 4 Might Explain Doctor Strange’s Seemingly Reckless Behaviour in Spider-Man: No Way Home Trailer.

Now with Infinity Ultron destroying all multiverses, The Watcher is left with no option but have an epic team-up with Doctor Strange to restore the multiverse and destroy Ultron. And let's not forget Black Widow and Arnim Zola (infecting an Utron bot) are also out there too!

Where Will This Lead To?

Unlike what we thought previously, What If...? may have given an impression of unrelated episodes of Marvel stories, but with each episode a thread was being formed and now it has become a ball of yarn. The finale would have Strange and The Watcher take on Ultron, but there is a storyline of Gamora picking up Thanos' gauntlet that's left pending. So in some way, both might be connected here.

Now let's move on to couple of other mysteries that we saw Marvel fans discussing on social media after watching the new episode...

Why Does Iron Man Keep Getting Killed?

I know why Iron Man fans are quite pissed with What If...? killing their beloved hero for what is now the fourth time. Many are opining that this is Marvel's way of hitting back at Robert Downey Jr for leaving the MCU (it doesn't matter that his character is already killed in the main timeline, and RDJ himself is done with playing the role).

I have a different opinion here, though. In the series, whenever Tony Stark has prematurely died, those stories haven't seen a happy ending. In the one where he was killed by Hank Pym, Loki took over Earth. The one where he turned zombie, the entire planet came under zombiecalypse, and was facing a bigger one in Zombie Thanos. The one where he was killed by Killmonger sees USA in war with Wakanda. So there...

The main universe, the one we have seen in Marvel Cinematic Universe, has sustained because Iron Man played the time-correct moves (even though he did steer into a mistake in making Ultron). Even he sacrificed his life in Avengers: Endgame -out of his own choice - it ended up saving the universe (that is, until the next calamity). So What If...? Is actually trying to underline how significant Tony Stark was to the preservation of the main timeline.

Why Didn't Vision Kill Thanos in Infinity War?

After seeing episode 8, another question that crept up in the minds of Marvel fans is why couldn't Vision kill Thanos using his Mind Stone in Wakanda during Avengers: Infinity War, the same way he killed him here. This is also just a theory but I believe it makes sense when you compare both the Visions. The Vision we have known in the MCU till WandaVision (not the white one!), is a being of love, of being pure of heart which is why he could lift Thor's hammer. He isn't programmed to murder but does it out in desperate situations, like destroying Ultron (which he sees as a rogue programme) and then killing Corvus Glaive to save a fellow Avenger. He would rather destroy the Stone in his forehead, and then be destroyed himself, than kill Thanos on a whim.

But the Vision we meet in episode 8 is nothing like that. He is a genocidal maniac who is programmed to destroy everything in the name of preservation. Why is why he didn't even blink before he cut Thanos in half, not even knowing who he is and what's the purpose of visit.

The final episode of Marvel's What If...? season 1 will drop on October 6 on Disney+ Hotstar at 12.30 pm.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 29, 2021 04:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).