The following contains spoilers for What If…? Episode 4, “What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?”
As Marvel’s What If…? continues with its fourth episode, the series explores more than just another timeline in the multiverse. “What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?” explores what happens when that alternate timeline actually leads to the end of that universe.
The episode comes on the heels of alternate realities and variants coming to the forefront of every Marvel fan’s mind thanks to Loki. It provides plenty of quick callbacks to the first Doctor Strange movie before fans really get into the multiverse with Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness (out in 2022). The episode also, however, features a handful of nods to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe and a few comic book characters.
Moments Recreated From The Doctor Strange Movie
As is usually the case for episodes of What If…?, the first part of the episode recreates moments from the MCU movie it diverges from. In this case, that’s Doctor Strange, though it makes the tale even darker than episode 3.
Not only does the accident in which Strange loses the use of his hands get a twist, but the audience also sees a recreation of him speeding up time with an apple and bargaining with Dormammu.
Interestingly, the episode also shows that Strange’s way of sidelining Loki in the MCU isn’t just an idea he came up with on his own. When Thor and Loki visit the Sanctum Santorum, Strange makes Loki fall for a ridiculous amount of time through a portal. The same thing happens to him here every time he enters a place he shouldn’t be. It’s clearly something he picked up from other sorcerers while studying.
A Familiar Reporter
While it’s no surprise to see Christine or Wong as they are large parts of Strange’s life, it might be surprising for fans to see a familiar face from another area of the MCU. When Strange catches a news broadcast in the episode, the reporter is a woman who has appeared in a few movies, mostly in the Iron Man franchise.
Christine Everhart started her MCU journey as a writer interviewing (and spending the night with) Tony Stark. She appeared in Iron Man and Iron Man 2 before becoming the face of the fictional WHiH news and appearing in promotional materials for Ant-Man and for Captain America: Civil War. Played by Leslie Bibb in live-action, Christine is also voiced by her for the broadcast in the animated episode. WHiH also recently appeared in episodes of WandaVision and The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.
Cagliostro
The name Cagliostro will likely ring bells for Doctor Strange movie fans. A book by the sorcerer is the one Kaecilius stole from the library in the movie. Here, the audience gets to see more than just one lost book - Strange seeks out an entire hidden library.
The sorcerer is straight out of Marvel comics, and even trained Doctor Doom in time traveling. Time is definitely his specialty. Interestingly, Cagliostro’s name in the comics is O-Bengh, the name of the person Strange encounters at the library. It’s not made clear if the two are meant to be the same person in the episode, or if it’s just a nod to the comics.
The Tentacled Monster
As Strange decides it’s necessary to absorb the power of other mystical beings in order to change an “absolute point” in time, it’s a familiar idea. Not only is this exactly what Mordo does in the credit scene of Doctor Strange, but it’s made clear repeatedly that this is not a good path to take.
Amongst the beings that Strange absorbs is a tentacled monster - or at least some of its tentacles. It looks remarkably similar to the same one Peggy Carter fought in the first episode, which some fans speculated was Shuma-Gorath. It looks like both episodes managed to summon the same being from an alternate dimension.
Before Strange absorbs the tentacles though, he works his way up to the more powerful being by absorbing several others. Some of them appear to be nods to enemies faced by other Marvel comic book characters. There is the Two-Headed Thing, a shapeshifter that faced the Fantastic Four. There is also a dragon that resembles Shou-Lau, the same dragon that has to be defeated in order for someone to become the Immortal Iron Fist.
Guardian Vishanti
When Wong places protection runes on Doctor Strange’s face before his battle against himself for the fate of the universe, he says that it’s courtesy of Guardian Vishanti. In the comics, Vishanti isn’t actually one person, but a trio of supernatural beings. Agamotto, who the Time Stone is named for in the MCU, is actually one of the three beings that makes up Vishanti, and also pens the Book of Vishanti, used by the Sorcerer Supreme. He was the first Sorcerer Supreme for Earth. The seal of Vishanti is also the design for the window in the Sanctum Santorum as it appears in the comics.
One Choice Can Destroy The Entire Universe
This particular line from the Watcher is used to bring home how “absolute points” in time shouldn’t be changed. Strange’s choice to try to prevent Christine Palmer’s death causes the destruction of his universe because it’s one of those points.
This contradicts some of the ways the timeline and the multiverse work in Loki, but not entirely. As Loki repeatedly reminds the audience, variants are created when the timeline diverges, and this is a variant version of Doctor Strange. The Time Variance Authority also repeatedly prunes these alternate timelines so the universe doesn’t get destroyed, so it’s entirely possible this episode just gave the audience a look at what happens when a timeline isn’t pruned.
What If…? is currently streaming on Disney Plus with new episodes available on Wednesdays.