Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for What If…? Season 3There are several Easter eggs and references in Marvel’sWhat If…?Season 3. Continuing to explore the"prism of endless possibility"that is the multiverse, several variants and fun nods to the main MCU can be found throughout this final season of the animated series. That said, some are more notable than others.
In the final season of the series, eight new stories are revealed, narrated, and observed by Uatu the Watcher (Jeffery Wright). Likewise, Uatu finally has to answer to his fellow Watchers for all the times he’s broken his oath to never interfere,as seen inWhat If…?Season 3’s ending.Keeping that in mind, here are some of our favorite Easter eggs and MCU references inWhat If…?Season 3.
10Blade as Moon Knight
Coming Soon in 2025’s Marvel Zombies
InWhat If…?Season 3, episode 8, multiple variants are shown in a large montage to close out the entire series.This includes Mahershala Ali’s Blade as a brand-new Moon Knight, who’s already been confirmed to appear in 2025’s animatedMarvel Zombiesseries. Spinning-off fromWhat If…?Season 1’s Marvel Zombies episode, it’s going to be very exciting to not only see the narrative expanded with the upcoming miniseries, but to also see Ali’s Blade on-screen for the first time (even if it is in animation and a variant).
It should be a pretty cool appearance to help hold over MCU fans who are still waiting for Ali’sBlademovie that was first announced way back in 2019. That said, it is somewhat odd thatMarvel Zombieswill essentially be Blade’s true on-screen debut, where he’ll be taking on the mantle of a completely different hero. At any rate, it will be fascinating to see how and why he was chosen by Khonshu in this alt reality.
9Kwai Jun-Fan
The Comics' Iron Fist of 1872
InWhat If…?Season 3, episode 6, viewers are shown an alternate Wild West reality where Shang-Chi is known as The Ten Rings and is partnered with Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, an expert sharpshooter on the hunt for a brutal crime lord who’s been kidnapping Chinese immigrants. During their pursuit, the duo encounters a young boy name Kwai Jun-Fan whose father was taken.In the original comics, Kwai Jun-Fan is the Iron Fist of 1878, which is fitting considering the episode takes place in 1872.
Kate Bishop even complimented the young boy’s impressive “iron fists” by the episode’s end.As such, the implication is that Jun-Fan will eventually grow up to become his reality’s Iron Fist. Likewise, this is especially true after The Watcher broke his oath to only observe and saved the boy’s life when he was on top of the train earlier in the episode.
8Kang’s Time Sphere
What Does This Mean For Kang?
At the beginning ofWhat If…?Season 3, episode 7,Captain Carter arrives in Kang the Conqueror’s Time Sphere. As such, one has to wonder what this might mean for Kang himself and the Council of Kangs that was formed at the end ofAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Given Marvel Studios' significant pivot away from Kang the Conqueror in favor of Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom inAvengers: Doomsday, piloting the Time Sphere could be a tease thatCaptain Carter and her allies took care of Kang and his variants off-screen.
7Natasha Lyonne As Byrdie
Preceding Her Secret FF Role
What If…?Season 3 episodes 7 & 8 both feature Natasha Lyonne voicing Byrdie the Duck, the grown-up daughter of Darcy Lewis and Howard the Duck (whose hatching was shown inWhat If…?Season 3, episode 4). Byrdie is an MCU role that certainly must have been made with Lyonne in mind, though it may only be her first Marvel role. After all,Lyonne is attached to a secret role inFantastic Four: First Steps.
What If Season 3 Cast & Character Guide
What If…? returns for its final season with an enormous cast of characters plucked from every disparate corner of the constantly expanding MCU.
It’s certainly possible that Natasha Lyonne could be playing a live-action Byrdie. After all, it’s already known thatFantastic Fourwill be set in an alternate universe beyond the main MCU reality of Earth-616, and Byrdie is a protector of the multiverse, especially afterWhat If…?Season 3’s finale.That being said, it still feels more likely that she’ll be playing a different role, such as voicing the robot HERBIE or Alicia Masters, Ben Grimm’s love-interest.
6The Debut Of The Hood And His Powers Before Ironheart
(Sort Of, Kind Of)
The crime lord inWhat If…?Season 3, episode 6 is confirmed to have once been The Hood aka Parker Robbins. A classic criminal from the comics,The Hood is set to debut in live-action with 2025’sIronheartplayed by Anthony Ramos, though the series itself was originally meant to be released in 2023, well beforeWhat If…?Season 3. While it’s revealed by the episode’s end that Robbins' Hood was killed off-screen and replaced by Shang-Chi’s sister Xu Xialing, the phasing/teleporting powers granted by the hood and its corruptive nature will likely be the same in live-action (regardless of the particular wearer/host).
5MCU First Looks Via Foosball
Invisible Woman, Doctor Doom, Galactus, And More
Byrdie has her own Foosball table aboard her ship, as seen inWhat If…?Season 3, episode 7.However, all the Foosball players are various Marvel heroes and villains, even those who’ve yet to debut in the main MCU. The full line-up of characters includes Thanos, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Red Skull, Kang, Hela, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Zemo, Mystique, Magneto, Rogue, Wolverine, She-Hulk, Captain America, Galactus, Loki, Doctor Doom, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Beta Ray Bill, and Infinity Ultron who ends up becoming a key ally to Captain Carter and her allies in their mission to save Uatu from his fellow Watchers.
4Daredevil and Karen Page
Attending The Grandmaster’s Banquet
InWhat If…?Season 3, episode 4, The Grandmaster is only the first Marvel villain who wants Darcy and Howard’s eggs for themselves. However, The Grandmaster was seemingly the only one who wanted to eat the egg, rather than simply claim it for its prophesied power.Nevertheless, two of the guests at his banquet are none other than Matt Murdock’s Daredevil and Karen Page, both of whom can be seen very briefly before all chaos breaks loose once the main course is revealed. Likewise, it’s doubtful that the duo knew what was on the menu before they attended the dinner.
3Scott Summers and Jean Grey
Enjoying Las Vegas At Night
Much like Matt Murdock and Karen Page during the Grandmaster’s dinner, another major Marvel couple makes a cameo inWhat If…?Season 3, episode 3. When the Red Guardian and Winter Soldier are on the run from Bill Foster’s Goliath in Las Vegas,the duo are shown jumping through the streets and over the heads of none other than Scott Summers' Cyclops and Jean Grey of the X-Men. As such, it’s simply another fun animated appearance from a powerful mutant couple who will soon make their live-action MCU debuts in the years to come.
2Uatu The Watcher Once Broke His Oath For Madisynn (Seriously)
FromShe-Hulk: Attorney At Law
As revealed inWhat If…?Season 3, episode 8, Uatu’s full transgressions are laid out by his fellow Watchers. This includes known times he broke his oath like with Strange Supreme, Kwai Jun-Fan, and most notably, Captain Carter. However, it’s also revealed that he also interfered in the past to help the likes of Reed Richards and Nick Fury.
That said, the most hilarious crime is the reveal thatThe Watcher once broke his oath to only observe the multiverse for the sake ofShe-Hulk’sMadisynn (“with twon’sand oney”). This is the same girl who got drunk and ended up in a fiery hellscape with demon goats due to the malpractice of the untrained sorcerer, Donny Blaze. Having been a stand-out character inShe-Hulk(who became a friend of Wong’s), it’s fun to seeMadisynn get such a cosmic shutout here inWhat If…?’s series finale.
1Astra Islands
From Original Hulk Comics
InWhat If…?Season 3, episode 1, it’s revealed that this alternate reality’s Bruce Banner became a hermit after he tried to remove the Hulk with more gamma radiation. Instead of curing him, Banner inadvertently created the monstrous Apex Hulk, a kaiju-sized monster who created an army of minions and kickstarted the Gamma War.Living on the Astra Islands, this location is a subtle reference to the original comics, as it’s the same island where Banner built his Absorbatron, a device capable of absorbing the force of an entire nuclear blast.
This is rather fitting, seeing how Bruce Banner is shown working on old nuclear weapons in the premiere episode ofWhat If…?Season 3. That said, Banner turns himself into a major gamma bomb in this case. This allows him to become a kaiju-sized Hulk to take on the Apex inWhat If…?Season 3, episode 1, defeating the rival monster and leading all the gamma minions to live in peace on the Astra Islands.
What If…?
Cast
What If… ? is an animated anthology series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which features fan-favorite characters, including Peggy Carter, T’Challa, Doctor Strange, Killmonger, Thor, and more. The new series, directed by Bryan Andrews with AC Bradley as head writer, features signature MCU action with a curious twist. The show sees Uatu the Watcher, an omnipotent being that observes the events of multiple universes from afar as they unfold, unable to interfere. However, things shift when an entity peers beyond the veil, jeopardizing the multiverse.
