SPOILERS AHEAD! STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE FIFTH EPISODE!
What If...? Episode 5 explores a reality where the Earth as we know it, is overrun by the undead, even the Avengers. The Watcher shares the story of such reality, introducing Marvel Zombies to the multiverse.
The Story-view
The episode picks up directly during the events of Avengers: Infinity War, where the world needs saving not just from Thanos, the Mad Titan, but also from the undead brain-eaters.
Bruce Banner is teleported to Sanctum Sanctorum, Earth by Heimdall where he finds none watching the place. Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian come to Earth for taking the infinity stones. But they are later infected by Iron-Man, Doctor Strange, and Wong. Bruce tries to resist them and is helped by the cape of Doctor Strange. Later on, Hope Van Dyne as Wasp comes with his army of insects which kills the zombie Avengers whereas Spider-Man takes Bruce and flies away.
Janet Van Dyne is revealed to be the patient zero of the outbreak as she was infected by some quantum virus. She infects Hank Pym who comes back to Earth resulting in infecting the entire Pacific North-West. The Avengers consisting of Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America, Iron-Man, and Black Panther tries to take control but Captain America is infected as he gets bitten by tiny Hank in his quantum suit. One by one, every one of them gets bitten resulting in the doom of Earth.
We cut to a video where Peter Parker shows some steps on how to avoid being bitten by the zombies and how to stay safe to Bruce Banner. He is interfered with by Okoye, General of Dora Milaje, who reveals that a beacon came which says that another survivor claims to have progress on the cure in Camp Lehigh, New Jersey which is S.H.I.E.L.D's first base of operations. Sharon Carter says there might be equipment to fabricate a cure for this disease. So, they rush to the train station to get a train to the base.
The survivors split up resulting in Happy Hogan being infected by Zombie Hawk-Eye. Meanwhile, Zombie Falcon tries to get to Bucky and Okoye but Okoye cuts his body in half. Spider-Man tries to get the train started but is met by a horde of Zombies. Doctor Strange cape saves him and they start the train. While on train, Zombie Captain America shows up and bits Sharon Carter. Bucky fights with Zombie Cap and ends up killing him with his own shield. Hope comes and enters into Zombie Sharon's mouth and bursts from inside but resulting in infecting herself with the virus.
The train stops due to low fuel mid-path and ends up in the middle of a horde. Hope goes gigantic and sacrifices herself as she was slowly turning into a zombie, and helps the survivors reach the base. There they meet Vision who seems to have a lead to cure but which is actually a trap. He set up this trap to lure them into the base as food for Wanda Maximoff who has also turned into a Zombie. There, they find Scott Lang (Ant-Man) as a preserved living head and T'Challa with one leg incapacitated. Zombie Wanda gets Kurt and Okoye but Vision helps others escape. He says that he will have to atone for what he has done and takes off his mind stone which is the key to survival. Bucky and Bruce as Hulk try attacking the zombies and Zombie Wanda while the others escape with the quinjet to Wakanda.
Though they are going to Wakanda, it is seen that even Wakanda couldn't escape the outbreak as Zombie Thanos awaits with five infinity stones, waiting for the sixth to come to himself.
Major Details
In the starting scenes of the episode, Iron-Man, Doctor Strange, and Wong are revealed to be zombies. Doctor Strange's cape tries to help Bruce which resulted in chopping off Zombie Wong's head using the mystic portals, similar to the scene in Avengers: Infinity War where it was Cull Obsidian's hand which was chopped off by that portal.
We learn that the patient-zero of the virus outbreak was Janet Van Dyne who contracted with a quantum virus resulting in infecting Hank Pym. This is similar to Marvel Comics, where the zombie virus came from a hero from a different dimension, but in this case, from a different realm.
Kurt returns from Ant-Man movies with the same X-Con security uniform from the movies, which he and his friends set up. Later on in the episode, Kurt mentions Baba Yaga in comparison with Wanda. This legendary Russian witch was previously name-dropped in Ant-Man and the Wasp where he compared Ghost with her. His comparing with Baba Yaga again is surely not a coincidence, but a small easter egg left for us to discover.
Happy Hogan wears an Iron-Man glove which is later on worn by Sharon Carter, which is the same hand weapon worn by Iron-Man in Captain America: Civil War while fighting Bucky. Meanwhile, Spider-Man references many horror movies for proving that splitting up is not a good idea. This is similar to Spider-Man constantly using references to different movies throughout his appearances in MCU.
Bucky decapitates Zombie Captain America and closes his friendship with him saying "Sorry pal, guess this is the end of the line." The two were seen saying "I am with you till the end of the line" in Captain America movies as a friendship bond, and this episode's Bucky's line is a bitter ending to their long friendship.
During a conversation with slowly turning to zombie Hope Van Dyne, Peter says, "My mom, dad, Uncle Ben, Mr. Stark, now Happy… I've lost a lot." Now, this is big. This is the very first time we hear about Uncle Ben in Marvel Cinematic Universe. Uncle Ben holds great importance in Spider-Man movies from before. Not introducing him in MCU's Spider-Man movies was quite a lot to take in for Spidey fans but this name drop could mean we might get more information about the existence of Uncle Ben in live-action in near future.
T'Challa was held captive in the base but not turned into a zombie. This is similar to Marvel Comics, where Black Panther was under captivity and was eaten slowly by the zombies. When everyone was escaping with the help of Vision, Scott Lang's head was taken by the Doctor Strange cape. While flying, Scott screams "wingardium leviosa!" which is the levitation spell from Harry Potter. Vision removes his mind stone which makes his body grey, similar to the live-action counterpart where his body turns colorless grey when Thanos takes out his mind stone.
Just after Vision dies, the zombie from around the place starts entering, proving it that the zombies avoid the sub-frequencies emitted by the Vision's Mind Stone. In his absence, they can easily enter and infiltrate which we later see. Wanda stops bullets mid-air, similar to her son Billy, who stopped the bullets fired by Director Hayward using his newly gained superpowers in the WandaVision series.
Bruce gets bitten by Wanda but at that very moment, his arm turns green, meaning that whenever any danger is possessed on Bruce, Hulk will help him survive. This was previously told by Bruce Banner in Avengers, "I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spits it out." So, this makes Hulk invulnerable near zombies, making him quite an ally during a zombie apocalypse.
Final Verdict
Episode 5 of What If...? played with an interesting much-awaited Gothic horror premise, with a fascinating lineup of characters. The entry has presented a suspenseful story filled with multiple twists and turns, making for a fun experience. The episode centers around our familiar characters in a zombie apocalypse with mindless action, keeping up a comfortable pace. The animation is once again top-notch with the visuals of the zombie as perfect as ever alongside the incredible voice-acting where most of the actors from the movies returned.
Rating: 9.25/10
What If...? Episode 5 is streaming now exclusively on Disney+ with new episodes airing every Wednesday.
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