You won’t have What If…? to kick around anymore! The Marvel animated series wrapped up its run with today’s episode, “What If… What If?” And while the main action got tied up with a bow appropriate to its holiday airing schedule, there are several dangling questions — per the title of the episode. And if you’re looking for a What If series finale ending explained? Why, that’s what this very article is, you lucky little bugger.
Obviously, a spoiler warning past this point, but let’s break down a recap for What If…? Season 3, Episode 8 so you have the context for the ending explained. And then after that we’ll break down whether there will be a What If…? Season 4 (there will not) and whether there’s a What If…? series finale end credits scene (there is not).
Read on, true believer! And ponder the question… What if we explained the ending of What If Season 3?
What If Series Finale Recap:
We start the episode not with the last episode’s cliffhanger, but with the beginning of The Watcher’s (Jeffrey Wright) time as a, well, Watcher. The Eminence (Jason Isaacs) is inducting him into their order, though our Watcher has doubts. That, we’re told, is what makes him a perfect, inquisitive candidate. He’s also told that in order to preserve the natural order of things, they must not interfere. And furthermore, he’s told that “What if is an irrelevant question.”
Smash back to the present, where The Watcher is on trial in front of The Eminence, The Incarnate (DC Douglas), and The Executioner (Darin De Paul). They chide him for his actions in the series, intervening with first Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) and then the young Iron Fist, Kwai Jun-Fan (Allen Deng). But that’s not all he did… He also (off-screen) saved Reed Richards, Nick Fury, and “some girl named Madisynn.”
The trio of Bad Watchers brings in Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), his worst offense in multiverse meddling… Which is when Infinity Ultron (Ross Marquand) attacks, and the Exiles — that would be Byrdie The Duck (Natasha Lyonne), Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), and Kahhori (Devery Jacobs) — crash in, freeing Peggy Carter and The Watcher, and rocketing them to safety.
They escape into the seams of the multiverse, while the Bad Watchers take out Ultron, giving them time to hatch a plan. They’re going to escape into the universe that was created in the What If…? Season 2 finale by Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a living universe separated from the multiverse where Strange is the universe. He was able to bring his world back, but by sacrificing his own individuality and existence.
Unfortunately, they don’t make it there as the Bad Watchers knock their ship out into another part of the multiverse and proceed to beat the heck out of them. Everything seems lost as the Watchers and Exiles are pummeled into a rock wall until The Watcher has an idea: have them all take the Watcher Oath and turn them into Watchers. It works and evens the playing field. The Bad Watchers armor up and dig into him… He’s no one, how dare he turn the others into Watchers?
“I am not no one,” says our Watcher. “I am Uatu.”
This is a big deal for anyone who reads comics, who knows that his name is Uatu in the books. Huge reveal! Huge!
Anyway, they all have an enormous blasty fight that I’m not going to beat by beat here, but our team manages to blast the Bad Watchers into submission… Only for Uatu to stop his friends and give the other Watchers a chance to join his side: watching, with a light bit of interference when you feel like it.
It’s not to be, though, which brings us to…
What If Series Finale, Ending Explained:
The Bad Watchers combine into one being and proceed to blast (lots of blasting in this episode, should have been titled, “What If… Everyone Blasted Each Other?”) the Exiles. The Bad Watchers proceed to erase every version of our heroes from the multiverse, presumably them last. But Captain Carter ain’t having it. She pulls herself back together — or herselves, if you prefer — and blows up the Bad Watchers, except The Eminence.
What’s left is a broken shield, and that’s it. She’s gone. But her real plan is revealed when The Eminence tries to blast one more time… And he can’t. Turns out, Peggy got them to the Stephen Strange universe, and he got the message: The Eminence has no power here, because Strange controls everything.
Lost and finally open to listening, The Eminence and Uatu sit on the Moon (hey, in the comics Uatu is on the Moon!) and stare at the Earth. The Eminence doesn’t know what to do now — it seems the student has become the teacher.
Back in the Observational Plane, the Watchered Up Exiles stare off into all the realities there are to explore as Peggy Carter’s reformed shield flies away into the distance. Is she, perhaps, not quite as gone as she seemed? “Perhaps she is,” says Uatu when Storm expresses sadness that Peggy isn’t with them. “Someone, somewhere, is always watching.” And we end with a flash of all the multiversal possibilities we, the viewing audience, will never get to see since the show is done.
As this happens, we get one, final narration from Uatu, reiterating what he says in the title sequence, and expanding on it.
“With some mysteries, sometimes, the only answer is another question,” Uatu says “You see, time, space, reality… It’s more than a linear path. It’s a prism of endless possibility. Where a single choice can branch off into infinite realities, creating new phenomena beyond what you could possibly imagine. I… Am Uatu. I see all of these vast, new realities. Open your eyes. Dare to face the unknown. And ponder the question… What if?”
Is There A What If End Credits Scene?
Nope, there’s no What If…? end credits scene, or mid-credits scene, or post-credits scene, whatever you call it. Once the credits start rolling on What If…? Season 3, Episode 8, that’s it for the show — though they do take their sweet time paying tribute to the voice cast like this is the end of Avengers: Endgame.
There is, however, all those multiversal variants, as mentioned above, which serves the same purpose, to tease what could have been.
Will There Be A What If Season 4?
Nope! There won’t be a What If…? Season 4. Today’s episode, “What If… What If?” is the series finale. There are other Marvel Animation shows to come, though. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premieres on January 29, 2025. Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, an all-ages show, premieres sometime next Summer. Eyes of Wakanda, a four-part series set in the MCU proper premieres on August 6, 2025.
…But if you’re missing What If, specifically, there is an extension coming: Marvel Zombies, another four-part animated show spinning out of the What If episode, will premiere sometime in October of 2025.
Where To Watch What If…?
What If…? Season 3 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The first episode of What If…? Season 3 premieres Sunday, December 22 at 3 am ET / Midnight PT on Disney+. One episode a day premieres after that, leading to the series finale on December 29, 2024.
Here’s the full list of episodes in What If…? Season 3, with premiere dates:
- Sunday, December 22, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 1: “What If… The Hulk Fought The Mech Avengers?”
- Monday, December 23, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 2: “What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood?”
- Tuesday, December 24, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 3: “What If… The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier?”
- Wednesday, December 25, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 4: “What If… Howard the Duck Got Hitched?”
- Thursday, December 26, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 5: “What If… The Emergence Destroyed The Earth?”
- Friday, December 27, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 6: “What If… 1872?”
- Saturday, December 28, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 7: “What If… The Watcher Disappeared?”
- Sunday, December 29, 2024: What If…? Season 3, Episode 8: “What If… What If?”
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