By [ad_1]
The premiere of Marvel’s What If…? on Disney + put a shocking twist on a tragic moment from Captain America: The First Avenger.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for What If…? Season 1, Episode 1, “What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger,” streaming now on Disney+.
Marvel Studios’ first animated series, What If…?, explores the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newly established multiverse and visits various dimensions, where events have radically diverged from the main timeline. The show’s first episode visits a universe where Peggy Carter became a super soldier instead of Steve Rogers. This obviously leads to a number of changes throughout history, and one of the most major ones is Steve putting on a mech suit designed by Howard Stark called the Hydra Stomper.
What If…?‘s Captain Carter goes through many similar experiences to the Sacred Timeline’s Captain America, including freeing the Howling Commandos and opposing the Red Skull and Hydra. This also means that Peggy has to live through her own version of one of Captain America’s most heartbreaking moments — the apparent death of Bucky Barnes onboard a Hydra train. In Captain Carter’s universe, however, Bucky Barnes lives and instead Peggy seemingly suffers an even more shocking loss: Steve Rogers.
When Captain Carter and her allies arrive on the train, it seems for a moment that Bucky’s apparent death is going to be revisited, as he loses his balance and falls almost immediately. However, Carter quickly catches Bucky and pulls him back onto the train. He jokes that she almost ripped his arm off with her strength, which is a cheeky reference to the Winter Soldier’s metal arm.
Steve enters one of the cars to search for the Red Skull. It is then revealed that the train was meant to serve as a trap for them, as he discovers a huge number of explosives. The bombs detonate as Steve tries to warn Peggy and the Howling Commandos, and he is presumed to have been killed in the explosion, despite Stark’s insistence that the Hydra Stomper armor is indestructible.
Steve’s apparent death weighs heavily on Peggy, but also motivates her to take down Red Skull once and for all. At the What If…? episode’s climax, she and the Howling Commandos raid the Red Skull’s fortress, where they are shocked to discover that Steve is still alive and being held captive. It turns out the Red Skull purposefully faked Steve’s death to get his hands on the Tesseract, which was powering the Hydra Stomper armor. Stark was right, the suit is in fact indestructible.
Substituting Steve for Bucky in the train scene helps to give his apparent death a lot more weight. He had proven to be a true hero despite his lack of powers, and his skill with the Hydra Stomper rendered him an incredibly powerfully ally to Peggy. In addition, the two truly loved each other, and his supposed death helped Captain Carter to realize the gravity of their fight against Hydra, as well as motivating her to bring them down.
In addition, with Peggy becoming a super soldier instead of Steve in What If…?, it just suits the story better to have Steve die rather than Bucky. Bucky was Captain America’s best friend, and one of the only people Steve felt truly understood him. His loss motivated Cap in the same way the loss of Steve motivated Peggy. If Bucky had died on the train in Captain Carter’s universe, it would have affected her, but certainly not as much as Steve’s death. Bucky was just a fellow soldier, while Steve was her love.
To see Captain Carter and the Hydra Stomper, watch the premiere episode of What If…?, now available on Disney+, with new episodes debuting on Wednesdays.
About The Author
[ad_2]
