The following contains spoilers for What If…? Episode 7, “What If… Thor Were An Only Child?”
Multiple episodes in Marvel’s What If…? series have taken the audience back to the initial hero-forming moments for several of the Avengers. In Episode 7, it’s time for Thor’s journey. Instead of cutting it off before it begins as Episode 3 did, this time around, the audience is set to see how Thor’s first journey to Earth would have proceeded if his father never adopted Loki as his younger brother.
Much of the MCU has been spent reminding the audience that Loki is shaped by his relationship with Thor, Odin, and Frigga, but they get to see just how much of Thor is shaped by growing up with Loki here. That means there aren’t quite as many diverging paths in this episode as there is one singular diverging point. There are, however, quite a few nods to Marvel properties outside of the first Thor movie, as well as cameo appearances by several characters.
The Thor Opening
Because the episode tracks Thor’s first time visiting Midgard, it does open on Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis observing astronomical phenomena in their van in the middle of the desert. While that opening shot is reminiscent of the first Thor movie, that’s where the Easter eggs end. That’s because Erik Selvig isn’t with them for this trip, and they don’t end up encountering Thor immediately as he chooses to land in Las Vegas instead of simply being banished to Earth for bad behavior by his father.
The Fake Infinity Gauntlet
It might be a bit difficult to spot since it’s behind the group of characters, but the Infinity Gauntlet from Odin’s vault is visible in the episode. When Thor calls Lady Sif and the Warriors Three together to inform them of his plan to visit Earth, they appear to walk through Odin’s treasure room. None of the other treasures spotlighted from the Thor movies are visible, but the replica of the Infinity Gauntlet is briefly glimpsed behind them, possibly as a nod to its appearance in the first movie, but also possibly a nod to the episode’s cliffhanger ending.
The Refilling Beer Glass
When Thor starts inviting all manner of alien beings to Earth for an epic party, one of those beings is Skurge. Skurge, fans will remember, is Hela’s right hand man in Thor: Ragnarok. Here, he’s given a beer from Thor in a glass that magically refills itself. The last time the audience saw the magically refilling glass was also in Thor: Ragnarok, a gift from Doctor Strange.
Jane And Thor’s Tattoos
While spending the night partying together, Jane and Thor don’t get matching tattoos, but complementary ones. Jane’s details “magic” with an image of Mjolnir, while Thor’s details “science” with an image of a microscope. It might seem like a nod to their respective personalities, but it’s also more than that.
Jane quotes Arthur C. Clarke in the original Thor movie with, “Magic is just science we don’t understand.” The same idea is used by Jemma Simmons in Agents Of SHIELD, and comes back into play when Jane tries to understand the Aether in Thor: The Dark World. The tattoo is a nod to that same idea.
The Captain Marvel Nods
When SHIELD agents Maria Hill and Phil Coulson join the episode, they call on Carol Danvers for help with the beeper that she left with Nick Fury in the ‘90s. The audience gets a couple nods to her movie - and the people who protested Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel - as a result.
When Darcy and Carol interact, Darcy remarks that she thought Carol would be a male captain. That’s not just a nod to the MCU’s first captain, Captain America, but also a nod to her predecessor being male in the comics. Mar Vel was a male Kree who Carol helped with his heroics before becoming a hero in her own right.
When Thor and Carol trade blows, Thor remarks on Carol needing to loosen up a little bit, that she should “smile more.” Marvel might have a long way to go with how it writes its female characters, but Carol’s response to being told to smile in her solo movie is one that critics didn’t find fault with, so it gets a nod here.
The Frost Giants
It seems like the relationship between the Frost Giants and Asgardians might have, for lack of a better word, thawed, in this timeline. In the original timeline, Odin kept Loki and the Casket of Eternal Winters after a battle, creating a divide between the two communities. It appears that’s not the case here at all since, not only are Thor and Loki friends, but the Frost Giants still have the Casket.
The Casket has previously been seen in Episode 3 of What If…? when Loki comes to Earth to take over. Here, it’s not used as a weapon, but a party trick. He and the Frost Giants use it to put ice horns and beards on the figures carved into Mount Rushmore.
The Cameos
Every episode of the series has seen some interesting character combinations as those who haven’t had much of a chance to interact cross paths, like Killmonger and Tony Stark. Here, many of the characters that have appeared in Thor’s movies, as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, make cameos as Thor’s party guests on Earth.
The star of the first Marvel movie, Howard The Duck, appears in several scenes as he attempts to romance Darcy (and they get married in Las Vegas). In addition to Howard and Skurge, there are also Skrulls, members of the Sovereign, the Grandmaster and his right hand Topaz, Valkyrie, Korg, Miek, Mantis, Rocket, Drax, Nebula, and members of the Ravagers. Thor even still refers to Rocket as a rabbit as he does when they first meet in the live action movies. There’s also a cameo amongst the SHIELD agents. Though Maria and Coulson are named, the other man accompanying Maria isn’t. That’s Brock Rumlow who is disappointed that they don’t use nuclear weapons against Thor, also known as Crossbones, and a Hydra agent who has it out for Captain America.
Interestingly, still missing from the long list of cameos is Gamora, who hasn't yet been seen in the series, but will likely have her story told in Episode 8.
The Mojave Desert
When Maria and Carol discuss using the full extent of Carol’s power against Thor, the Mojave desert is a location mentioned as a spot to take him to. At just under 49,000 square miles, it’s actually the smallest of America’s dry deserts, but it gets a lot of screen time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Mojave Desert is also where the headquarters for Project Pegasus was located, where Carol and Nick Fury broke into said secret facility, and where Loki influenced the minds of Erik Selvig and Hawkeye in The Avengers. It’s also where Phil Coulson was taken when he was kidnapped in the first season of Agents of SHIELD as Hydra tried to figure out just how SHIELD brought him back to life, and where Lady Sif came to Earth to hunt for Loreli in the second season of the series.
Mjolnir And Captain Marvel
When Thor finally gets the better of Captain Marvel, it’s by pinning her with Mjolnir on her chest. Some fans might have hoped to see her lift the hammer herself, but Carol never even makes a move to attempt lifting the hammer, so it’s unclear if she’s unable to or unworthy of it.
What’s interesting about the shot is that Thor also employed the same technique to stop Loki when Loki was revealed as the person behind letting the Frost Giants into Asgard in the live action movies.
The Cliffhanger
Episode 7 ends on a surprising cliffhanger. As one of the lightest episodes of the series so far, fans might have expected a happy ending for Thor and Jane, just as the Watcher seemingly does. Instead, a figure appears to invade this reality.
That figure appears to be Ultron using Vision’s body as he initially intended to in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. He’s likely from another alternate universe since the Avengers haven’t teamed up yet in this one, which could mean he’s the impetus for several heroes from alternate timelines teaming up as has been hinted in the midseason trailer for What If…?
What If…? Is available to stream on Disney Plus with new episodes available on Wednesdays.