I could go on length about a lot of things in this episode, but the main thing I do want to go on, is exactly How many things this what if...? Episode revealed about the mainline MCU, things that are certainly interesting to find out about.
One of the things that I seem to find both frustrating and enjoyable about fandom culture is their inclination towards nitpicking, you see as a science student, more importantly as a mathematics student, I really enjoy and find value in asking all the maybes and what ifs?(HAHA!).
It can sometimes lead to a lot of eye-opening revelations and a lot of learning experiences especially for someone looking to make movies/stories/shows of their own.
Asking a lot of questions also leads many times to a much more enhanced experience the second time around, because now you are looking for things you weren't the first time around.
But it is my belief that this should only be a way to enhance the movie experience, and should not otherwise become an expectation on the movies part, because, not every maybe needs to be answered for a movie to be enjoyable.
And in recent times, certain movie channels... are placing that expectation very hard, that along with the fact that Nerd culture has become more mainstream(Which in my opinion is always a good thing.), which has lead to all aspects of it becoming more open, the good, and the bad.
So, why am I going on this side tangent instead of discussing the episode? Well... Remember Thanos's Butt? No, not him twerking you pervert, more like Antman going up his butt and expanding, which is definitely the more sophisticated thought.
That was a, theory, and while that definitely did not overcome the Fandom and was pretty much used as a Joke, Marvel did address it, Thanos would crush Antman with his butt density, Kinky.
And it featured in one of season one's episodes, specifically the Zombies one, where Hope killed a Zombie that way.
But, okay, that is a joke, what about the more... interesting questions like what if...? Tony was not an orphan? Would he still have turned out as he did, well it would seem yes, because the Avengers still assembled at the end of this episode, presumably, Tony's father being a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D. is what lead to him going down the path of Iron man in this universe, because his parents did not die, but Stane did.
So he will never build shit in a cave, with a box of Scraps.
But that is not the question that this episode chooses to tackle, no, this episode chooses to Tackle a whole different question.
Why did Tony's Parents Die?
I mean yes, the episode name suggests it is about the Red Guardian and the Winter Soldier teaming up, but it is not, what this episode is really about is expanding the Lore around the Winter Soldier's Brainwashing and why what exactly was behind the Starks' assassination.
Because while this episode continues on the silliness and the lightheartedness of the previous episode, it unequivocally sheds light on what exactly Shield was up to back during the cold war, and alongside shield, what was Hydra and the Red Room up to?
Turns out the Red Room was working with Americans, because according to marvel beneath the cold war, individuals from both sides were routinely defecting to the other side for the sake of personal gain, shocking, I know.
So who was the individual in question? Obidiah Stane, This man is creating trouble for the Starks left and right, tried to kill Tony to get his company, Actually killed his father to get his money.
Now, yes, this is an alternative universe, but it seems a lot of the universe is still very similar, like Bill Foster is still Goliath as he was in the Main Line MCU.
So it would seem who actually got Tony's parents killed in the MCU is also Stane.
And me knowing that Thunderbolts* is coming up which will have Red Guardian and the Winter Soldier teaming up, this Team up is definitely setting some things up for the later team up.
Makes me wonder, is Stane going to feature again in the MCU? Because, for all the Focus the MCU had on Iron Man, they didn't really focus on the Lore of Iron Man, we did not have things like the Crimson Dynamo, or Ezekiel Stane, or Titanium Man/Detroit Steel(Justin Hammer) or Obidiah for long enough, because Iron Monger is a long Standing villain for Iron Man, he is the evil capitalist counterpart to Howard Stark.
In the MCU, he is Evil Robot Jeff Bridges.
But Regardless, What about the Team up between Red Guardian and the Winter Soldier?
Well the Red Guardian is a true believer in the Marxist theory, he truly believes that the boots on the ground should be the main ones getting the credit, which you know, not a bad Idea.
And it is this attitude of his, that leads to him deconstructing the Conditioning of the Winter Soldier and "Freeing his mind" Because truly, the programming was a form of Trauma based conditioning.
It has already been established that when the Winter Soldier is outside for too long, he begins to grow out of his Programming, and in this case, his programming is challenged directly many, many times by the Red Guardian.
Like: "I never fail an assignment." But he actually does, "I do not remember anything." But he actually does. "Kill the Red Guardian?" Well he doesn't.
And it is this sort of more direct confrontation of his conditioning that makes him able to break it much faster this time around, to the point that the words are spoken, and he is able to keep his memories.
But it is interesting, that while Obidiah is defecting to the other side for personal gain, that is also what The Red Guardian is doing, in a sense, except the Red Guardian's intentions are towards truly bettering society, but "the Rook" or Stane, is well...
It is very interesting that an episode with many very Dark Subjects at its core, like the Cold War, the Winter Soldier's Trauma, the Death of the Starks, The Red Guardian's espionage history takes such a light hearted and comedic tone.
It is also interesting that the best friend of Captain America is teaming up with Russian Captain America.
The Watcher, is all but absent here, except for, you know, the funny scene.
It makes me think, perhaps, the Christmas episode, will have a similar flipping of scripts, where the supposedly "wholesome" episode will end up being the Debbie Downer.
Because While I like the lighthearted episodes and I think they are well done, what really clicked for What if...? at least in season one, was the Darker aspects, like Strange Supreme kills the Universe.
So it does make me question why they are being so nonchalant about it all, especially on the season that is supposed to end it all.
Again not bad enough for me to complain, maybe they are just getting the lighthearted ones out of the way first, so tomorrow will also be lighthearted, and then shit goes down.
I know I am a Sadist, sorry not sorry.
You see the entire problem is that What if...? is ending, like I would be fine with the entire season feeling low stakes and light hearted if this was not the last season, also, why are they ending it here, like I said, a lot of cool info can be learnt through what if...? Maybe even shut a few idiots up...
Eh who knows, maybe they want to expand further...
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