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What If…? Season 2 Episode 2 takes the series back to dealing with an Avengers-level threat. This is what if Peter Quill invaded the Earth in 1988, which leads to a new form of Avengers team getting assembled way before the original MCU timeline. What If…? Season 2 Episode 2 has many references and easter eggs about some of the old MCU events and characters, including Hank Pim, Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, and even King T’Chaka himself suited as the Black Panther!
The Watcher Shows Up
After the first episode was only narrated partially by The Watcher, this time, we’ve got him towering over the new timeline to tell the story of Peter Quill invading Earth. This is the way What If…? episodes unfold to get to the main threat of the multiverse by The Watcher getting closer and closer to the realities and characters.
Peter Picks Rocket!
Peter Quill is the Star-Lord, or at least that’s how we know him from the main MCU timeline. In this timeline, however, he’s not Yandu’s staffer anymore, so he won’t turn into Star-Lord as a Raveger to build the Guardians of The Galaxy team. However, he likes raccoons, even if it’s not Rocket.
In What If…? Season 2 Episode 2, we see Peter invading Earth and destroying anything that stands in its way. In one particular scene, however, he’s standing in an amusement park, pausing to choose a doll. Which doll does he pick among all? A raccoon.
Let’s Just Put It in A Trash Can?!
If you remember Avengers: Endgame, you’re probably familiar with this line: “Why don’t we just stick this one (Time Stone) down the garbage disposal). This is the exact line Tony Stark tells Doctor Strange when they’re having a conversation about Thanos coming to get the Infinity Stones. And now in What If…? Season 2 Episode 2, the same line is said about Ego’s Celestial seedling.
There are seedlings of Ego on the planets, and if he gets his hand on them, he’ll wipe that place to become a part of him. And just like his son, Howard Stark comes up with the perfect idea to put the seedlings down the garbage disposal. Problem solved!
Project Pegasus
Avengers 1 was one of the best superhero movies to show the ultimate team-up of the first MCU heroes. However, one of the very main details about that movie was the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. This company was there to keep Earth safe from the invasion of aliens. And one of the crucial projects cooperated by NASA was the Pegasus.
This project was about scientists studying the Tesseract and trying to open a portal through space in Avengers 1. And if you pay close attention, project Pegasus is there in What If…? Season 2 Episode 2, many years before the events of Avengers in the main timeline.
We Are The World
A direct reference to Michael Jackson? Check. What If…? Season 2 Episode 2 features a line from Howard Stark, saying that all we are the world chants are for MTV only; it won’t work like that in real life. This is because the Soviets had sent the Winter Soldier to help the team destroy the world threatening Peter Quill. And in 1988, Russians helping the U.S. wasn’t the thing that anyone would’ve expected.
And that’s it for all the important easter eggs and hidden details in What If…? Season 2 Episode 2. The next time we see the Watcher telling us a tale about Marvel’s multiverse, it’d be in episode 3, where Happy Hogan is going to save Christmas. Stay tuned with The Nerd Stash for more What If…? Season 2 episodes breakdown.
What If…? Season 2 is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
