27 "What If...?" Episode 3 Details That Are Small, Brilliant, And Make The Episode Even Better
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🚨Warning: There are MASSIVE spoilers ahead for What If...? Episode 3 on Disney+!🚨
Hi, hello. I hope you recovered from What If...? Episode 2 and are ready to dive into the next episode. So here are all the details I noticed in Episode 3, aka "What If...The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?"
If you're new to these posts, welcome, and I apologize for all of my nerdy yelling! If you're returning after my weekly WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, AND Loki Easter eggs/details posts, thanks so much for coming back!
1.First, the style of the episode is a reference to the Marvel comic Fury's Big Week, which was released in 2012, before The Avengers. It revealed that Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk actually took place during the same week and showed Fury recruiting everyone for The Avengers.
2.Fury's first line to Natasha in this episode is exactly what he says while trying to motivate Tony and Steve during The Avengers.
3.Also, this is the first time we see what Nick Fury is doing before we see him in Iron Man 2 — of course, we also get an animated version of the iconic donut moment.
The same music that plays during this scene in Iron Man 2 can be heard here as well.
4.When The Watcher talks about assembling The Avengers, you can hear the iconic "Avengers Theme" that has been used in countless MCU movies, and the shot is a nod to The Avengers fighting together in The Avengers.
5.When Coulson finds Thor's hammer in the desert, it matches when he finds Mjölnir in the Iron Man 2 post-credits scene, except this time we hear Fury's side of the conversation.
6.In case you don't immediately recognize the voice, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who arrests Natasha is Brock Rumlow, who we first met in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
7.Brock mentions Alexander Pierce from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is brilliant because we know that Brock and Alexander were part of the HYDRA cell within S.H.I.E.L.D.
8.While guarding Mjölnir, Clint says that even Jackson can't lift the hammer, and Jackson was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in Thor as well.
9.The sunglasses and hoodie Natasha wears to visit Betty Ross is a perfect nod to the disguises she wore in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.
10.When Natasha spots the pizza delivery outfit in Betty's lab, it's a callback to a disguise Bruce Banner used in The Incredible Hulk.
11.Bruce's first line to Natasha in this episode is similar to what Bruce tells her after she tracks him down in The Avengers.
12.Coulson mentions Middle-earth from Lord of the Rings, and I just love that throughout the MCU, Coulson continues to be the best at random pop culture references.
13.Fury tells Loki that they don't kneel before anyone on Earth, which is seemingly a nod to when T'Challa told Bruce the same thing in Avengers: Infinity War.
This moment was also referenced in What If...? Episode 2.
14.When Loki arrives on Earth, he is wielding the Casket of Ancient Winters, which he found out he could use in Thor, which confirmed that he's a Frost Giant.
15.When Bruce transforms into The Hulk on campus, it happens in the same spot as it did in The Incredible Hulk.
I figured I'd point this out because, like me, I'm sure others haven't watched The Incredible Hulk in a while.
16.Also, Natasha does her signature landing pose, which I can't help but notice every single time now thanks to Yelena from Black Widow.
17.Coulson's password being all about Steve Rogers is a perfect callback to his love for Captain America, which we saw in The Avengers.
Remember, Steve was born on July 4, hence the numbers in the password.
18.Also, "04" could also be linked to Avengers Issue #4. The comic features Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, emerging from the ice and joining The Avengers.
19.While looking at the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, you can see that Maria Hill, Janet van Dyne, and Alexander Pierce's files were all accessed, alongside Coulson and Fury's files.
20.When Fury is listening to Natasha's message about "hope," he's sitting inside the diner where Thor notably smashed a coffee cup during Thor.
21.Coulson shows Fury's original Avengers Initiative memo, which we saw him writing at the end of Captain Marvel.
22.Of course, Fury picks up his Captain Marvel beeper, which we saw him use during the Avengers: Infinity War post-credits scene.
23.While looking for Hank, Fury encounters The Destroyer, which we last saw in Thor.
24.When Fury visits Hope's grave in San Francisco, the cemetery's location is similar to where the Wall of the Vanished is in Avengers: Endgame.
25.Hank Pym's outfit is a nod to Yellowjacket's from the comics and in Ant Man. In The Avengers comics, Hank is the first person to use Yellowjacket as his superhero name.
26.Fury mentions that Hope van Dyne was killed on a mission outside of Odessa, Ukraine. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Natasha mentions Odessa when talking about Bucky/Winter Solider, which means he probably killed Hope in this timeline.
27.And finally, when Carol shows up at the end, you can hear the Captain Marvel theme song playing.
Absolutely obsessed with What If...? Check out all of our coverage now.
Did you catch any other Easter eggs or cool details? Have a better theory for one mentioned above? Tell me everything in the comments below!
More What If...? Details:
I Am Once Again Screaming About Marvel, So Here Are 27 Details I Noticed In "What If...?" Episode 1Nora Dominick · Aug. 11, 2021
27 Marvel's "What If...?" Episode 2 Details That Make Chadwick Boseman's Final Performance As T'Challa Even BetterNora Dominick · Aug. 18, 2021
