Summary
What If…? Season 2 ends with the obligatory crossover finale, building to an odd ending that perhaps suggests the series is done pretending to be a standalone anthology after all.
Since this is a Marvel project, it’s only fitting that the ending of What If…? Season 2 is a big multiversal crossover that concludes Agent Carter’s internal storyline, folds in other characters and elements from the rest of this season and elsewhere, and delivers a balls-to-the-wall all-action extravaganza. Episode 9 is a fun visual treat with some big moments, but it’s also kind of a mess, as is to be expected at this point.
What If...? Season 2 Episode 9 Recap
Despite an abundance of cameos and Easter Eggs, “What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?” is primarily interested in Agent Carter as a hero, Strange Supreme as a villain, and Kahhori as the most interesting contribution to the canon that this series has made.
The finale picks up where Episode 8 left off, with Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) having saved the 1602 universe and been propositioned by Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch). For some reason the show expects us to have forgotten that this version of Stephen Strange is a villain who destroyed his own universe out of grief and desperation, so when he whisks Peggy to the deeply creepy Sanctum Infinitum, which is replete with crystals containing countless so-called “universe destroyers” that Strange has altruistically defeated, we’re to assume that everything is A-okay.
Strange Supreme has a mission for Agent Carter
It’s not, of course. Strange wants Peggy’s help in retrieving one of these universe-destroying escapees who was last seen in a world where Project Rebirth killed Peggy and Steve and the Red Skull led Hydra to victory in World War II. The Watcher accompanies her to provide lecturing narration, which frustrates Peggy since she naïvely sees Strange’s interventions as worthwhile.
The problematic being Strange is looking for turns out to be Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), who was presumably captured by Strange when he appeared at the end of her own episode, and she spills the beans immediately about what Strange is really up to. Through something called “The Forge” he is trying to resurrect his own universe by the mass sacrifice of villains and heroes plucked from various disparate universes.
Battle Royale
It’s here that it becomes more obvious why Strange chose Peggy as his patsy. All he wants is to save Christine, and he expects someone who has repeatedly been denied the happy ending with the love of her life to understand where he’s coming from. Unfortunately for him, Peggy’s beau is the noblest man who ever lived, so after a brief moment of contemplation, she assures him that she would never go this far for Steve and that, crucially, Steve wouldn’t want her to.
To give her and Kahhori a chance to destroy the Forge before Strange can use it, Carter frees all the captive heroes and villains from the walls of the Sanctum, triggering an insane battle full of cameos and individual moments that it’d take too much time to list here. Just know that they include Zombie Wanda, more Hela (Cate Blanchett), Thanos, Infinity Killmonger, dragons summoned from Strange’s magic, and multiple clones of both Strange and Peggy.
The crux of the character drama comes when Strange transports Peggy to a false memory of Project Rebirth, where she’s apparently confronted with a redo. She can support Steve being given the super-soldier serum and allow them to be together forever, but she quickly recognizes the whole thing as a ruse and socks Strange in the mouth for the deception.
Armed to the Teeth
The big climax involves the falling heroes and villains throwing all their powerful weapons and accouterments – Hela’s helmet, Mjolnir, the Ten Rings – while Kahhori opens portals to save them from the Forge. In a major moment of fan service, the two women arm themselves with all of the MCU’s most famed gizmos and prepare to take on the literal, monstrous manifestation of Strange’s grief and mania, which Carter defeats with an Infinity Stone-infused straight right to the chops.
Strange is too far gone, though, and he cannot keep the grief demon contained. It pulls Carter down into the pit containing the Forge, but the human Strange is able to intervene for long enough that Peggy can grab a ledge during the fall. Strange Supreme tumbles into the Forge, causing a giant explosion.
How does What If…? Season 2 end?
Peggy wakes up with the Watcher, apparently alive. Having finally decided to intervene, I guess, the Watcher assures Peggy that Kahhori and everyone else were safely transported back to their own universes.
In a roundabout way, Strange Supreme was successful. His universe was indeed reborn, and Christine is alive in it, however, Stephen Strange will never exist there. He sacrificed himself – and caused all kinds of carnage along the way – to ensure that the love of his life got another chance at living, even if it had to be without him. It’s a cute poetic climax to his arc, even if he got so villainous that it’s hard to swallow any kind of redemption effort.
The Watcher offers to take Peggy home, and she finally agrees, though asks to take the scenic route on the way there. It seems she and the Watcher have some more intervening to do.
What did you think of What If…? Season 2 Episode 9 and the ending? Let us know in the comments.
