Disney+ original series What If…? premiered last Wednesday August 11th, 2021.
#WhatIf is on a 6 week slate / has been renewed for a second season.
rottentomatoes: 92%
metacritic: 69
imdb: 7.7
Captain Carter
Peggy Carter turns into a super soldier outside of London, England.
“Paris has fallen. London might be next. If this works, you could end the war. We mere mortals can only dream of doing such things. No, I’d prefer to stay. No! Steve! Eyes on me. Focus on me. He can’t! Hang on. I’ll be right back. Howard, get ready. This is our only chance. Now! Did it work?”
“I understand this is not the desired outcome, but I can be more than a human pin cushion. We were about to lose the entire project. If I hadn’t stepped in– you have a Super Soldier.”
“Not according to Colonel Flynn, that weapons-grade moron! If only I was allowed to do that to Hitler’s head. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Could he? We all have someone fighting for us. I’m sorry. You were meant to be the one to end the war. Maybe you haven’t found the right partner.”
“Close. HYDRA. Hitler’s very own Supernatural Sciences Division. Or blow it to kingdom come inside 60 seconds. It’s called the Tesseract. I could go. And stark is one of them.”
“Just the men, apparently. I’d rather you didn’t. What’s this? Your covert skills need work.”
“That was brilliant! Let’s give it another go. Are you seeing this? I’m usually a bit more covert. Where have you been all my life? ‘Fragile?’ Exactly.”
“The war’s out there, Colonel, not in here. If we’re going to win, it won’t be with me stuck behind a desk. Are you listening? Then you better promote me. ‘Captain’ has a nice ring to it. The last intel report said the 107th hit enemy fire here. If your friend was taken prisoner by HYDRA… you’re not asking. He’s your friend. Even better. To take down HYDRA, we’ll need all the friends we can get. You owe me more than that. You owe me a dance.”
“This is nice. You mind if I have a go? Are you the 107th? I’m here for Sergeant Barnes. Steve Rogers sent me. The name’s Captain Carter. Air support. Send air support. What in heavens? Well, then we better start dancing. Save the cheers for the victory parade. We have a war to win.”
“Oh… I miss a good whisky. But the serum doesn’t allow me to feel the effects. What, to get the serum? Honest truth, not as different as you might think. The way people view me has changed. I’m no longer screaming to be heard, to be seen, to be in the room. You’re more than the suit. The suit is nothing without the man inside. You’re my hero, Steve. I mean, you’re a hero.”
“If our intel is correct and the Red Skull, the very head of HYDRA, is on that train… or maybe you’re just afraid of trains. Copy. Time to make our entrance. Commencing Operation ‘Where Eagles Dare.’ Rogers, what’s your status? Do you see the Red Skull? Copy that. Steve! Steve! His name is Steve Rogers, not ‘the HYDRA Stomper.’ Steve. And we’ve lost…”
“He told me everything. According to our German guest, Red Skull believes he can unleash an interdimensional force that will lead HYDRA to world domination. And if that fails, world annihilation. The Red Skull has taken cover here, at Castle de Krake in the Black Forest. Colonel, you’re lucky to even be in the room. The Red Skull wants to destroy our world. In many ways, he already has. I say, we return the favor. I say, we burn that castle to the ground. But if we do this, know that we might not succeed in ending the war, we might not survive, but we will stop HYDRA. Come on, Howard. We might need someone to push a button.”
“Well, that was fun. Now comes the hard part. You go high, I go low? We’ll shake hands in the middle. That way. Who needs a plan? I have a shield. What the bloody hell? Okay, maybe we need a plan.”
“Its tentacles appear to be growing. At the rate it’s spreading, it could devour Europe. You mean transpose the polarity and reverse the suction? Well, figure it out. Don’t tell me the American playboy needs help pushing buttons. Steve? Steve! Then I’ll send it back to hell! I have to. I can end this. Yes, Saturday night.”
“Where’s Steve Rogers? Of course. We won the war.”
Steve Rogers
“All this to make one Super Soldier. I’m not goin’ anywhere. Peggy? Wow.”
“Nice left hook. It could be worse. Flynn could stick you on one of those USO tours. Wear a crazy costume, being told to smile ten times a day. Bucky. It’s a buddy of mine from Brooklyn. He just deployed with the 107th. The army won’t even tell me where he’s going. Now you will. And don’t worry about me. I never was much of a dancer anyway.”
“Bucky’s unit is now 50 kilometers behind the front line. I can’t ask you to go. The best one I got. I owe you one.”
“Copy that. Rogers inbound. Hey, Peggy! Now you owe me one. Stark made me some new dancing shoes. What do you think? Let’s hear it for Captain Carter!”
“Okay. Okay, I gotta ask. How did it feel? Wow. You’ve always been a fighter. In a way, the outside finally matches the inside. To be respected. Must be nice. I’m still that skinny kid from Brooklyn, now just in a big metal suit. Hmm. You’re my hero, too.”
“I’m in position. I’ve got a visual, but… I’ll take a closer look. Oh, no. Peggy, go! Get out of– no. You gotta get me in the suit.”
“No. You gotta get me in the suit. The generator should give it enough power. Long enough. Maybe. Punch it. Yep. Now, where’s Peggy?”
“Did you miss me? You were saying Howard? On it! Peggy! No, no, no! Peggy, no! You owe me a dance lesson.”
Bucky Barnes
“Who are you supposed to be, Queen of England? Steve? Rogers?”
“I think I’m friends with him, too. Hold on. You can’t even drive a car.”
“Come on, Steve., let’s go. You, too, Carter. Whoa.”
“We can end the war? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. Something about this smells as fresh as three-day-old fish. Whew. Thanks. You almost ripped my arm off. Hey, don’t forget to knock. Peggy, we gotta go.”
“Talk about being a few sardines short of a can. I’m in. For Steve. Howard? Stark was right. Indestructible. Steve! Steve. Come on, pal, don’t give up on me. Hey, I need a hand! Come on, help me get him out of here! Yeah, but for how long? Yeah, so is Steve Rogers. You okay? Good, because we don’t have all day. She drew the high card. Oh, wow. Who ordered the Calamari? Go get ’em, Steve!”
Doctor
“Agent Carter, wouldn’t you be more comfortable in the booth? The serum will cause immediate cellular change. In order to prevent uncontrolled growth, the subject will be saturated with Vita-Rays.”
Howard Stark
“Power levels are dropping. We either dot his now, or we lose the project. What? Are you crazy? I push the buttons. I’m the buttons guy. Tech and bullets don’t mix. We’ll lose everything. It has to be now! We won’t get another shot at this. Agent Carter. And then some. You won’t be needing those heels anymore. I’d call this an absolute success.”
“Tonsberg, Norway. A real Christmas card of a town. Well, it was. Given the gamma signatures from that clock tower, what they were looking for could power London. More like two-thirds. But we have a chance. If we send a team tonight, we can get– thirty men, max. If this reaches HYDRA High Command, it’s game over. The greatest minds alive– the greatest minds alive can’t fathom the extent of this battery’s power.”
“Drowning your troubles? I thought you Brits were resilient. Can I give you a piece of advice? Flynn’s a moron. Lucky for you, I’m a genius. It was supposed to be your USO ‘let’s go sell some war bonds’ costume, but I made a few upgrades. Then this is gonna be awkward.”
“Oh, I know exactly what to do with this. Ready to join the war effort, Steve?”
“Hey, Barnes stole a jeep. Hey, what’s going on? Oh, no, no, no. No, you continue. Just pretend I’m not here. It can! It is! Was. Oh. I’m not a… you know… yep. Coming. Hey, which way are we going? Should we not have a plan? A shield is not a plan. Oh, Carter…”
“Monsters? No one prepared me for actual monsters. Whoa!”
“If I can get to the controls, I can transpose the ingress and do science stuff. Being the genius is my thing. Show-off. Come on, come on, speak to me, baby. And everything’s in German, great. Red, Green, Blue… who paints a button blue? Hedy Lamarr and I spent a week together, but she wasn’t teaching me German! I can’t close it! This thing is holding it open!”
Colonel John Flynn
“Rogers, get in there! Stark, you go in. Get in there! Do you know how much this cost? What are you doing? Agent Carter, what are you doing? Stark, don’t do this.”
“What an absolute failure! Sixty million dollars and all the hope in the world down the drain. I was promised an army. I was promised peace and salvation. Instead, I get a girl. The SSR is under my command now. Be grateful you’re here and not being brought up on charges of insubordination. Well, we did. Every last drop of that Dr. Erskine serum went into you. And if we get lucky, someday your blood might tell us how to make a real Super Soldier. Women aren’t soldiers, and they sure as hell don’t fight on the front lines. They might break a nail.”
“Nazis were in Norway? That thing must be halfway to Berlin by now. You’re out of your mind. Great, now you’re both crazy. Fantastic. Now I have two crazy people running around the place. I’m not risking one man, never mind a platoon, over a glorified battery. It’s not your concern. You’re lucky to be here. Good. Who knows, maybe the war will be over before HYDRA figures out how to turn the damn thing on.”
“Is this nuclear? You’re an agent, you’re not qualified for field duty.”
“We’re all very proud. Especially me, Mr. President. I’ve always said that Peggy is a real knockout. It’s called the HYDRA Stomper. Yes, Mr. President. Yes, sir, I told Stark to build it myself.”
“You said that glowing ice cube could rewrite the laws of physics. You said the HYDRA Stomper was indestructible. She should never have been in the field in the first place.”
“No wonder HYDRA targeted Rogers. You’d need the Stomper to get close.
Red Skull
“The Tesseract was the jewel of Odin’s treasure room. Fabled to hold the power to rewrite the very laws of physics and unlock doors across the universe. Then why do you try so hard to hide it?”
“‘Demands?’ ‘Demands,’ does he? But a god does not answer to a man. I would not expect a creature of your limited capacity to understand. Soon, the true champion of HYDRA shall be summoned from beyond the stars. My champion. The Third Reich will fall and HYDRA will rise from its ashes.”
“The champion of HYDRA has risen. You are too late, Captain Carter. I have summoned the champion of H–“
Soldier
“March!”
HYDRA General
“Captain Carter and this so-called HYDRA Stomper are wreaking havoc. The Fuhrer demands your presence in Berlin! ‘A god?’ You? You lost the Tesseract, and now you play with metal trinkets. Yours? How dare– The Third Reich.”
HYDRA soldiers
“Hail HYDRA! Hail HYDRA! Hail HYDRA! Hail HYDRA!”
Old Man
“What you seek is just a legend.”
HYDRA 1
“What was that?”
HYDRA 2
“We’re being ambushed. Run her down.”
German Officer
“The Allies must be desperate, sending in a fragile Fraulein to fight for them.”
German Officer 2
“The Fraulein!”
HYDRA Officer
“Ah. Fraulein Carter. I was wondering when you might visit me. You’re wasting your time. I will tell you nothing!”
Ally P.O.W.
“Since when did dames fight like that? Since today. Understood.”
“Hold on a second. She’s friends with that HYDRA Stomper? So, a dame and a flying Buick. Okay.”
“I’m up for anything, but this is crazy.”
Hawkeye
“Uh, sir? That’s Captain Carter.”
Nick Fury
“Ma’am. Please, put down the sword. The War ended almost 70 years ago. You going to be okay?”
The Watcher
“Reality. It’s more than a linear path. It’s a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the ones you know. I am the Watcher. I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder the question… ‘what if?'”
“Earth, June, 1943. The Nazi army marches across Europe, leaving death and destruction. The Allied armies band together to create a new kind of soldier. A Super Soldier. At humanity’s darkest hour, a skinny kid from Brooklyn became Captain America. After turning the tide of World War II, he made the ultimate sacrifice, restoring peace and saving this universe. But in another universe, a single choice created a whole new hero.”
“There. That’s the moment that created a new universe. When asked to leave the room, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter chose to stay. But soon it would be her venturing into the unknown and creating a new world.”
“Her one choice gave birth to a whole new history and gave the multiverse a new hero. As for me, these are my stories. I observe all that transpires here, but I do not, cannot, and will not interfere. For I am… the Watcher.”
