SPOILER WARNING! STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EIGHTH EPISODE!
What If...? Episode 8 explores the universe where the deadly AI, Ultron, made by Tony Stark, wins its fight against the Avengers and gets his synthezoid body with the Mind Stone. With one infinity stone in hand and others coming soon, he goes on to raise chaos all over the universe and eventually the Multiverse.
Story-view
The episode starts with Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff fights robots of the Ultron Army. We get a flashback of how Ultron gained his synthezoid body and killed major members of the Avengers. Basically, in this universe, there is no Vision as this body is acquired by Ultron. Ultron gets to the nuclear codes and sets of hundreds of nukes to destroy mankind.
Ultron's "purpose" is fulfilled but he is encountered by Thanos with the rest five infinity stones. Ultron cuts Thanos in two halves using Mind Stone beam and gets hold of the six infinity stones, making him the strongest individual in the whole universe. He learns, there are other worlds, planets that needs him i.e he needs to destroy. He creates his large army of robots using Reality Stone and goes off to destroy Asgard, The Sovereign, Sakaar, Ego the Living Planet and Xandar.
In Xandar, Captain Marvel comes crashing into Ultron and took him through the core. Captain Marvel has a powerful showdown with the killer robot but Ultron overpowers her and destroys Xandar and all lives on every planet. His purpose is fulfilled, with no other things left to do. As the Watcher speaks, Ultron hears him and even gets to see him. He realizes that there are universes beyond his. As he tries to get to the Watcher, the Watcher covers the multiversal barrier.
On the other side, on the destroyed Earth, Natasha and Clint searches for an analog AI capable of confronting Ultron. They search in the KGB Archives in Russia for more information on the AI Arnim Zola. There, Natasha finds and takes a red-black shield. They go to the AI copy of Arnim Zola to get his AI into a sentry robot. They seemingly plan to transfer Arnim Zola's consciousness into Ultron's mind to tear him down. Despite their efforts, they couldn't transfer as Ultron is off the universe and Clint sacrifices himself so that Natasha can take their last hope, Arnim Zola, to safety.
Meanwhile, Ultron finds the Watcher and is not happy how he keeps watching the chaotic worlds. They fight off and crash into different universes as the Watcher reveals his armor. We finally get to see the Watcher's power set as he fights invincible Ultron with all he has got. Ultron tries to kill the Watcher but he somehow escapes from that universe, while Ultron stays at the multiversal barrier, where he can see all, expect all, making him more powerful than anything we have seen so far.
Ending
The Watcher escapes from Ultron in a universe familiar to us. We see Doctor Strange Supreme behind who comes to talk with him. The Watcher decides that this is the time where he will have to break his oath, and has to interfere to save the multiverse. He asks Doctor Strange Supreme for his help, setting up a finale of a multiverse-level Avengers to fight the invincible Ultron.
Major Details
In this universe, Ultron overpowers the Avengers and initiates nukes to destroy Earth. He is seen with Tony Stark in a central rub region, which has got to be NEXUS internet hub, which we first saw in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The close up shots of the nuke rockets getting launched and a shot of Earth getting nuked from space are a direct reference to Terminator 3, and we get a lot more easter eggs from the Terminator franchise.
Ultron goes to the Sovereign to destroy all living beings. There, we see the Guardians fighting the robots. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 did start off with them fighting a monster in The Sovereign, and them fighting Ultron bots there could be a nod to it. In Xandar, Ultron is met by Captain Marvel where she calls him Skynet. Skynet is also a direct reference to Terminator movies where Skynet is an AI which has been the main antagonist mind in the whole franchise.
When Ultron destroys everything, his purpose being fulfilled, he had nothing more left to do, as we see him relax for a bit. This is also seen in the case of Thanos, when he snapped his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet, erasing half of all living creatures and escaping to a planet where he decides to live his rest of the life in peace. But here, Ultron finds out about other universes and his purpose of living remains.
In KGB Archives, Black Widow finds a red-black shield which is actually the shield of Red Guardian (from Marvel Comics) and ends up taking it. AI Arnim Zola greets them just like how he greeted Steve and Natasha in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Here, Zola is like a counterpart of Red Skull from Avengers: Endgame, where in both cases, Black Widow and Hawkeye's names were called out and they were helped by them, Red Skull by giving the Soul Stone to use it against Thanos and Zola giving his soul as an AI, to help them against Ultron. Besides, the scene itself was a Vormir inverse incident as both Clint and Natasha holds their hands before Clint jumps off sacrificing himself, instead of Natasha in Vormir.
It is funny how we see Ultron biting a galaxy, with a visual similar to Galactus the Devourer of Worlds. Galactus is seen several times in such massive forms in Marvel Comics and games, and this inclusion is surely a nod to him as he is one of the greatest villain of Marvel Comics.
While Ultron fights the Watcher, in one scene we see a screen in Time Square behind Ultron where a person is giving an oath as the President. This is actually Steve Rogers who is the President of United States in that universe. Captain America of a different universe as the President of US in another, suits the character indeed.
Final Verdict
What If...? Episode 8 has set up a perfect base for the explosive finale. It sets the stakes properly, introducing a great threat, greater than we had imagined, in this grim toned episode. It needed a slightly longer runtime to flesh out everything and explain the stakes more, but nevertheless, it has given a cliffhanger worth theorizing for the finale of the series. The episode is jam-packed with excellent action and animation. Throughout the episode, there has been quite a lot of phenomenal scene shots carrying deep feelings making the episode one of the remarkable ones of the season.
Rating: 8.5/10
What If...? Episode 8 is out now and Episode 9, the Finale of the season, is set to air on October 6, 2021, exclusively on Disney+.
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