Every MCU Easter Egg In What If Episode 4

Every MCU Easter Egg In What If? Episode 4

What If? episode 4 focuses on an alternate Doctor Strange who heads down a much darker path. Luckily, it’s a path full of MCU Easter eggs.

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Caution: Spoilers ahead for What If…?

The Sorcerer Supreme he may be, but What If…? episode 4 proves Doctor Strange is a terrible driver – here are the Easter eggs from Disney+’s latest episode. What If…?’s latest installment takes 2016’s Doctor Strange solo movie as its foundation and twists the core premise. Instead of taking up mystic arts because he lost the use of his hands, what if Strange learned magic because he lost Christine Palmer? Predictably, the result is a darker Strange who’s desperate to revive his girlfriend through arcane methods, and he’ll defy anyone in order to succeed – even himself.

A typically time-twisting affair, What If…?’s Doctor Strange episode poses another curious wrong turn MCU history might’ve taken, and features a slightly more hands-on role for Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher. Strange is the only What If…? character so far to actually interact with the mysterious cosmic onlooker. Joining Wright are the familiar voices of Benedict Cumberbatch (Strange), Rachel McAdams (Palmer), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One), and Benedict Wong (Wong).

As Strange messes up the timeline, What If…? gives fans plenty of callbacks and Easter eggs from both the MCU and wider Doctor Strange comic lore. There are knowing dialogue winks, familiar tentacles, and recycled rituals that audiences might remember from previous Strange adventures. These are all of the Easter eggs from What If…? episode 4.

Strange’s Car Crash Copies His Solo Movie

What If…? episode 4 begins with Stephen Strange, master surgeon, traveling to a conference in honor of his medical achievements. This scene is lifted from Strange’s 2016 solo movie, but with a few key differences. Firstly, Strange is being celebrated for a radical hemispherectomy, whereas Benedict Cumberbatch’s MCU character was attending a general Neurological Society dinner. The bigger deviation, however, is that Strange has somehow managed to avoid pushing away Rachel McAdams’ Christine. These alterations aside, the scene plays out more or less the same, with Strange’s Lamborghini Huracán dangerously overtaking other vehicles on a mountain road, and landing upright through a fence after doing several rotations through the air. Strange isn’t distracted by X-ray images like in the movie, because Christine has obviously taught him not to be so consumed with work.

Reused Doctor Strange Scenes

What If…? has already animated key moments from Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk, and episode 4 offers the same courtesy to Doctor Strange. We get depressed Strange during his “hippy traveler” phase, learning basic mystic arts at Kamar-Taj, testing the Time Stone on an apple, the Ancient One’s death in hospital and, of course, “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.” Naturally, some scenes play out differently, such as Strange being proficient with the sling ring because his hands aren’t damaged in this reality.

Cagliostro

Strange mentions “Cagliostro” as the sorcerer who first discovered the Eye of Agamotto. In the main MCU timeline, the Book of Cagliostro is the tome Benedict Cumberbatch consults to learn the basics of time travel, and is also where Kaecilius swipes a few pages from before summoning Dormammu. This won’t be the only occasion What If…? episode 4 expands upon the mysterious Cagliostro.

Strange IS The Sorcerer Supreme

The MCU can’t seem to decide whether Doctor Strange is or isn’t the Sorcerer Supreme. On one hand, he became the leader of Sanctum Sanctorum following the Ancient One’s death; on the other, he doesn’t seems to command the same authority as Tilda Swinton’s character, and hasn’t been officially referenced as the MCU’s Sorcerer Supreme. While recapping the Dark Dimension fight against Dormammu, however, The Watcher confirms Stephen inherited the Ancient One’s full title in the final act of Doctor Strange.

“Something Reckless…”

As Strange sits ominously clutching the Eye of Agamotto, Wong suggests making a cup of tea before the Sorcerer Supreme does “something reckless.” This line feels especially poignant after the recent Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, where Wong warns his colleague not to cast Peter Parker’s memory spell, only for Strange to wantonly ignore him. Obviously not an intentional Easter egg, Strange and Wong’s What If…? dynamic is the best foreshadowing yet for Spider-Man: No Way Home’s multiverse incident.

Christine’s Deaths Replaces Strange’s

In 2016’s Doctor Strange, Cumberbatch dies over and over again in a multitude of different ways during the course of defeating Dormammu. He gets eviscerated, impaled, squashed and strangled, and each time undoes his death using the Time Stone. Strange does exactly the same in What If…?, but this time it’s Christine who discovers 100 different ways to die. There’s a car crash, a heart attack, a shooting and an explosion, with the Eye of Agamotto once again used to run the same scenario back time and time again.

Christine Everhart

In one version of Christine Palmer’s death, Stephen Strange tries saving her life by not showing up at all, but later watches a news broadcast of an explosion at her apartment building. The anchor confirming Palmer’s demise in this short bar scene is Christine Everhart – the journalist who briefly replaced Pepper Potts as Tony Stark’s love interest in Iron Man 2. Played by Leslie Bibb, Everhart later became a TV news anchor in the MCU’s WHiH webseries. Bibb reprises her role in What If…?

Strange’s Time Travel Proves Hulk Right

If the MCU had doubts over whether Stephen Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme, the franchise is even more uncertain over its own time travel rules, as every Phase 4 release seems to rewrite the existing guidelines. In this latest explanation of time travel, Doctor Strange discovers the universe will “course correct” should any significant deviations occur – like Final Destination, but with capes. This is broadly what Bruce Banner was arguing during Avengers: Endgame’s infamous time travel conversation. Professor Hulk believed traveling back in time couldn’t change the future, because the past then becomes your future. Though he didn’t mention the universe finding a way to right itself, the outcome he predicts is more or less what Strange experiences in What If…?

The Ancient One’s Return Copies The Comics

When the Ancient One died in Doctor Strange, she siphoned power from the Dark Dimension to enjoy one last conversation with her successor before disappearing into the ether for good. In What If…?, Ms. One returns from the grave via a spiritual projection cast through a splinter in reality… or something. This might explain how Tilda Swinton could one day return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the idea actually comes directly from the comics. The original Ancient One (Yao) fell in battle to Shuma-Gorath (more on him later), but his spirit remained as a cosmic entity, and would later resurface to select Strange’s Sorcerer Supreme replacement, thus giving Tilda Swinton’s animated comeback a comic book foundation.

Marvel Does Doctor Who

In another bending of MCU time travel rules, the Ancient One declares Christine Palmer’s death an “absolute point” in time. One might even call it a “fixed point in time,” which is a concept Doctor Who fans will be very familiar with. Though other time travel stories have used the idea, fixed points are key events in history that no one can alter for fear of rewriting history. In Doctor Who, this means the deaths of key individuals or civilizations coming an end can’t be stopped – even by The Doctor. In What If…?, a different egotistical Doctor is held back by the same pesky law of fixed points.

Strange Does Loki’s Fall

Locating the mysterious Library of Cagliostro, Strange struggles to gain entry until a mystic portal appears beneath him. The sorcerer falls to the floor below, lands face down, then raises his head looking sorry for himself. Strange then has a very similar experience 10 minutes later when summoned by his alternate self. The falls are both akin to Loki’s in Thor: Ragnarok, when Strange sent the God of Mischief hurtling through different worlds for 30 minutes while he and Thor chatted. Upon returning to Sanctum Sanctorum, Loki was less than pleased. The Loki fall has since become somewhat of a trademark for the character, occurring numerous times throughout Tom Hiddleston’s Disney+ solo series. It’s apt that Strange gets a taste of his own medicine in What If…?

O’Bengh

Not your typical librarian, the keeper of Cagliostro’s book collection is the mysterious O’Bengh, who greets Strange and apparently has no problem with monsters being summoned on library premises. Though What If…? gives little indication of this character’s origins, O’Bengh is actually Cagliostro himself in the Marvel comics. An adversary to Doctor Strange, Cagliostro/O’Bengh was indeed a powerful and ancient sorcerer, who not only studied the Darkhold (troublesome book glimpsed in WandaVision) but who also trained Doctor Doom. There’s no indication of What If…’s O’Bengh being similarly fiendish, but Strange does question whether the keeper is Cagliostro himself after first arriving.

Kaecilius Used Strange’s Name Joke Already

With a name like “Doctor Strange,” the MCU couldn’t help but make gags at the surgeon’s expense. O’Bengh mistakes Strange’s name as “Armani” due to his suit of choice, and when the doctor tries correcting him with “it’s Strange,” O’Bengh replies, “not any stranger than any other name.” Strangely, Marvel wheeled this particular gag out already in the 2016 Doctor Strange solo movie. During a confrontation with Kaecilius, the villain mistakes his opponent’s name as “Mr. Doctor.” Strange tries correcting him the exact same way, saying “it’s Strange,” but Kaecilius misunderstands, replying, “maybe… who am I to judge?” The beauty of What If…? is that it’s impossible to say whether Marvel is referencing itself or has run out of jokes.

Cagliostro’s Time Travel Symbol

When Strange is studying time manipulation in the Library of Cagliostro, the pages of his chosen book contain large red symbols. One of these is exactly the same as a symbol glimpsed during Strange’s Eye of Agamotto practice in Doctor Strange. Since the Library of Cagliostro exists some time in the ancient past, we can perhaps infer that the book made its way from there into the Ancient One’s possession, where it remained until the 2010s.

HYDRA’s Monster

Doctor Strange summons and absorbs all manner of mystical monsters in his attempt to gain power, including a dwarf, a dragon and Cerberus. The pièce de résistance, however, is a giant monster of which viewers only see the tentacles. This multi-limbed beastie is almost certainly the same creature seen in What If…?’s premiere episode – the one Red Skull tried summoning and Peggy Carter beat back into its inter-dimensional hole. At the time, fans believed this could be Shuma-Gorath, and the same creature appearing in Doctor Strange’s world supports that assumption.

Beasts Don’t Bargain

After failing to strike a deal with Shuma-Gorath, a wounded Doctor Strange is tended to by O’Bengh, who warns the sorcerer, “mystic beings do not bargain.” This line is clearly a nod to Strange’s previous battle against Dormammu, in which Benedict Cumberbatch repeatedly tried to “bargain” with the big purple face threatening to destroy reality. As we know, Dormammu eventually conceded, proving O’Bengh’s sentiments wrong.

Suma-Ket

Doctor Strange summons a litany of monsters in his tragic quest for power. Although most of these don’t match up exactly to Marvel comic monsters, the glowing green skull thing with horns and wings shares a vague resemblance to Suma-Ket – Lord of the Old Ones and an enemy of Namor.

The Necromancer

The more mystic creatures Doctor Strange absorbs, the more power he exudes and the stranger his physical appearance becomes, taking on traits of each beast within him before eventually turning into Jafar from Aladdin. There’s no direct comic book comparison here (though Strange has certainly had darker moments), but his What If…? transformation (officially called “Doctor Strange Supreme”) bears some similarity to the Necromancer – Doctor Strange’s Counter-Earth alter ego. The Necromancer’s path diverged when he killed Baron Mordo and physically transformed into a bald blue being with not a lick of facial hair in sight. Necromancer also controlled demons from another dimension, though he didn’t absorb them like What If…?’s Evil Strange.

Strange’s New Cape Origin

As Doctor Strange cycles through mystic monster after mystic monster, he encounters a bug that flies using an enchanted cloak – one ever so similar to the sorcerer’s own Cloak of Levitation (which he left behind before heading to the library). Strange compliments the bug’s fashion sense and steals the cape for himself. Not only does this provide Strange with an origin story for the gold and purple cape seen in trailer footage, but the scene plays on Strange’s fondness for flamboyant cloaks – regardless of whether he’s good or evil.

Dark Dimension

The Ancient One makes her second What If…? appearance, this time offering advice to the “good” side of Doctor Strange, which she apparently separated during their previous encounter. The voice of Tilda Swinton explains how this was possible by drawing power from the Dark Dimension, and her secret connection to this evil realm was confirmed previously in 2016’s Doctor Strange.

The Vishanti

Before Doctor Strange does battle against his evil counterpart, Wong casts a “heavy duty protection spell” named after the Guardian Vishanti. In the Marvel comics, the Vishanti are a trio of ancient beings who form a key part of Strange’s mystic arsenal. Comprised of Oshtur, Hoggoth and Agamotto (he of “eye” fame), Strange calls upon the Vishanti’s strength in his comic adventures, though this power hasn’t been explicitly translated into the MCU. What If…?’s protection spell is the most overt reference to the Vishanti’s existence yet, and their comic backstory accounts for the magical armor holding up so well against a far more powerful Strange variant.

Strange’s Infinity War Lasso

Doctor Strange’s What If…? episode includes several spells MCU fans will recognize immediately, including Strange’s own mystic shields and the Ancient One’s fans. Perhaps the most interesting of the reused spells, however, is the golden lasso which Stephen uses to ensnare his wicked alternate self, restraining the villain with a magical bond. The roles are then reversed, and this is the very same technique Strange used to pin down Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

The Cloak Has Moves

Strange vs. Strange isn’t the only like-for-like battle in What If…? episode 4 – each man’s cloak faces off to decide once and for all which cape reigns supreme. Before that, however, Evil Strange tosses his cloak into Doctor Strange’s face. The purple garment wraps around its target and drags Strange to the ground. In the Doctor Strange movie, the Cloak of Levitation does exactly the same against one of Kaecilius’ goons during the Sanctum Sanctorum fight.

Strange’s Arrogance

With the universe crumbling around him and Christine’s resurrection not quite the tearful reunion he planned, Doctor Strange realizes just how badly he messed up in What If…? Pleading for The Watcher’s help, the fallen sorcerer yells, “the world shouldn’t pay for my arrogance.” This focus on arrogance is a recurring theme for Strange in the MCU, with Benedict Cumberbatch’s character accused of such on no less than 3 separate occasions in his solo movie. Recent developments in Spider-Man: No Way Home prove little has changed. What If…? episode 4 shows that, with enough motivation, Strange’s egotistical ambition could end the world.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/marvel-what-if-episode-4-mcu-marvel-easter-eggs/

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