Hey, remember when What If…? first started and it offered up fun, lighter-hearted episodes like “What if Peggy became Captain America?” or “what if Black Panther was Star-Lord?” For the past few weeks, the animated show has delivered dark dystopia after dark dystopia, and in today’s episode 6, it unfolded another twisted timeline where Iron Man was never created because Killmonger rescued Tony Stark from the Ten Rings.
The problem was that, as fans know, Killmonger was not to be trusted as he used Stark’s power and position for his own ends. When Black Panther showed up to stop Stark Industries from buying a ton of vibranium from Ulysses Klaue, Michael B. Jordan’s villain killed both T’Challa AND James “Rhodey” Rhodes, making it look like they had killed each other, thereby igniting a war between the US and Wakanda.
While fans appreciated how ingeniously evil Killmonger’s plan in this episode was, many are fuming that he also murdered Rhodey. We’ve seen such an unexpected amount of beloved characters die in What If…? so far that folks just weren’t on board with War Machine being killed off so soon into what is his very first appearance in the animated series, with Don Cheadle reprising his role.
Not just sick, but sick and twisted.
OK, I’m sensing a pattern here.
No one was prepared.
It spoiled the whole thing for some people.
Spoilers: they lost it.
The good news is that Cheadle is believed to be making at least one more appearance this season on What If…? And, of course, he’s also got his very own Disney Plus show on the way in the form of Armor Wars, which will see Rhodey having to protect Tony’s legacy after dangerous Stark tech falls into the wrong hands. That series is hitting streaming sometime next year.
In the meantime, What If…? continues Wednesdays on Disney Plus.