What If…? 2×05 “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?” is the first true sequel of What If…? and it’s no surprise that it involves one of the most memorable characters from Season 1: Captain Carter. Ironically, we have seen Captain Carter after Season 1 of What If…? – more memorably in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Haley Atwell gets to play the character in live-action.
But Atwell in What If…? 2×05 has something that Captain Carter didn’t, or at least that we didn’t get to see: a best friend. And, if this episode is to be believed – a love story that transcends universes. Plus, the episode also features the appearance of the ultimate friendship in the MCU, Steve “I’ll do inadvisable things to save my bestie” Rogers (though a rather brainwashed version of him), and Bucky “Anything he can do I can do better, even sacrifice” Barnes.
It’s the best friend, however – well, and the love story, that takes center stage this hour. Secretary (!!) Barnes is only around long enough for us to remember that there is one more person who always loved Steve before the hour focuses on Peggy, Natasha, and this version of Steve Rogers inside the Hydra Stomper.
There is, of course, no happy ending for Peggy and Steve – at least not yet. But that doesn’t mean What If 2×05 “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?” isn’t a worthwhile episode. It might just be the best episode so far this season and the one that most effectively reimagines something we already saw in canon and makes it even better.
And that’s not about the Hydra Stomper, not even a little bit. At its core, the MCU has always been a story of humanity behind the superheroes. Peggy is, in this episode, the epitome of both: the hero and the human. And though this tale – and whatever might happen with her and Steve – is a question for another episode, or maybe even another season, perhaps the most comforting part of Peggy’s journey is the knowledge that, had things gone different, she wouldn’t have been alone.
Just as Steve found a team – a friend, Peggy would have gone on to do the same. And though it’s hard for us to imagine a team without the Captain America we know, this one, with Captain Carter and Black Widow as her best friends, is also immensely satisfying.
The Peggy we’ve gotten to know needed that friendship. The Natasha we knew also did. And though this story has now separated them, we truly hope that just as Peggy and Steve found their way to each other all those years later …What If…? also brings Peggy and Natasha back together.
Not to mention, it would be nice to see this Steve and this Bucky get to have that drink.
The possibilities are varied. Marvel could have even gone in a different direction and let fans finally get the romance they’ve been writing fic about for years. Let’s just hope at some point What If…? takes advantage of all they could do.
Things I think I think:
- “Steve would be stupid enough to do the same for me” is both accurate and unfair. I did not ask for these emotions.
- Look, Natasha IS right. Why wouldn’t you call Tony or Bruce?
- I have so many questions about “Barton introduced me to Dad Rock”
- Yes, please, Natasha needs someone to unpack the mom thing with.
- Look, I love it when the stories tie together, but I would also have loved a road trip with Nat and Peggy.
- Elizabeth Olsen really had ONE line.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of What If…? 2×05 “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?”? Share with us in the comments below!
New episodes of What If…? will be released daily from December 22nd to December 30th on Disney+.