- "Six months earlier, the Ravagers were dispatched to abduct Peter Quill from his home world. But young Quill's captor couldn't bring himself to turn him over and chose to raise him as his own. At least, that's how the story often goes. But in this universe, Yondu never had his change of heart. So he turned Peter over to his father, the Celestial being known as Ego."
- âWatcher
What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes? is the second episode of the second season of What If...?.
Synopsis[]
When Ego and a young Peter Quill threaten Earth in 1988, Howard Stark and Peggy Carter form a team.
Plot[]
In 1988, the Ravagers, led by Yondu, abduct Peter Quill from Earth, but, instead of raising him, Yondu delivers him to his father Ego. Ego plans to harness his son's energy to bring forth what he calls his Expansion. Six months later, Ego's Ship with Quill inside crash lands in New York City, where Quill starts to wreck chaos using his Celestial powers. S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors Quill's actions and Peggy Carter tells Howard Stark that they need to put together a team to stop him.
Stark reaches out to Hank Pym, who initially refuses to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. again after losing his wife, but changes his mind after seeing Quill in action. He and Hope van Dyne head over to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, where they meet other team members: his ex-colleague Bill Foster and T'Chaka, the King of Wakanda. The Soviet Union also dispatches Winter Soldier to aid S.H.I.E.L.D., and while Carter is shocked to see Bucky Barnes again, Stark reminds her that he is no longer the man they knew.
Together with Wendy Lawson, the team takes the Asis aircraft and travel to Coney Island where Quill is having fun. Ant-Man, Black Panther and Goliath attempts to subdue Quill, while Lawson analyzes his ship, however, Quill proves to be too much of a threat. With Winter Soldier covering them, the team retreats before Thor suddenly descends and knocks Quill out. S.H.I.E.L.D. apprehends Quill and Thor tells them that he already decimated eight of the Nine Realms on his way to Earth. Thor also shows them a Celestial Seedlings that Ego planted in Missouri to launch his Expansion with Quill's help.
While the adults discuss their next moves, van Dyne talks with Quill and sympathizes with him, as he claims that he only wanted to get home. Using her father's Pym Particles, van Dyne liberates Quill and sends him on the bus to Missouri, giving him her Walkman as a gift. Van Dyne defends him to the adults, saying that it was Ego behind the destructions and that Quill only wanted to escape him. Thor and Winter Soldier claim that Quill must be killed to protect the planet, but van Dyne insists that Quill is the one who needs help.
Ego arrives to finish the Expansion himself, landing right outside the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. T'Chaka suggests that their best course of action is to pit Ego and his son against each other, as they cannot fight two Celestials at once. Thor, Black Panther, Goliath and the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces confront Ego, stalling time for Ant-Man and Lawson to locate Quill. As the fight goes in Ego's favor, Stark finds out that the Winter Soldier deserted to complete his mission by eliminating Quill.
Pym talks to Quill, who insists that Ego forced him to do his bidding, while he only wanted to see his home one more time. However, he still feels lonely as his mother is no longer there, and Pym comforts the boy. Winter Soldier prepares to snipe Quill down, but Stark interjects with his comms and urges him not to do it. He tries to ignore him, but Stark reminds him of Steve Rogers and that the Bucky Barnes he knew would never take that shot, which convinces Winter Soldier to stand down.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. losing the battle, Ego manages to reach his seedling, but Ant-Man and Lawson manage to bring Quill back just in time. The two intercept the seedling and confront Ego directly, who reveals that he had Quill's mother killed so the Expansion could commence. Enraged, Quill absorbs the seedling and uses its energy to destroy Ego's physical form. Everyone celebrates the victory at the Pym Residence and Lawson gifts Goose to Quill and van Dyne as their new pet. Stark informs them that Winter Soldier is in the wind, but he believes that Bucky Barnes is still alive deep inside him. Thor tells his allies that he must depart as Ego was still very much a threat and he must strike him down. Pym, however, tells him that they are a team now, so they join him to avenge the ones lost to Ego.
Cast[]
Starring Cast
- Jeffrey Wright as Uatu/Watcher
- Michael Douglas as Hank Pym/Ant-Man
- Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
- John Slattery as Howard Stark
- Kurt Russell as Ego
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor
- Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster/Goliath
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
- Atandwa Kani as T'Chaka/Black Panther
- Madeleine McGraw as Hope van Dyne
- Mace Montgomery Miskel as Peter Quill
- Keri Tombazian as Mar-Vell
- Gene Farber as Vasily Karpov (voice)
Guest Stars
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
- Arif Kinchen as Additional Voices
- Matt Lowe as Additional Voices
- Scott Menville as Additional Voices
- Helen Sadler as Additional Voices
- Fred Tatasciore as Additional Voices
- Debra Wilson as Additional Voices
- Matthew Wood as Additional Voices
- Unknown actor as Daniels (uncredited)
Non-Speaking Characters
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- Earth
- New York City, New York
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Mojave Desert, Nevada
- San Francisco, California
- Wakanda (mentioned)
- Arctic (mentioned)
- Moscow, Soviet Union (mentioned)
- Dolores River (mentioned)
- J.D. Canoe Rental (mentioned)
- Ego's Planet
- Nine Realms (mentioned)
- Asgard (mentioned)
- Jotunheim (mentioned)
- Svartalfheim (indirectly mentioned)
- Vanaheim (indirectly mentioned)
- Muspelheim (indirectly mentioned)
- Niflheim (indirectly mentioned)
- Nidavellir (indirectly mentioned)
- Alfheim (indirectly mentioned)
Events[]
- Ego's Expansion
- Kidnapping of Peter Quill (mentioned; recap)
- Cold War (mentioned)
- World War II (mentioned)
Items[]
- Ant-Man Suit
- Goliath Suit
- Pym Particles
- Vibranium
- Panther Habit
- Captain America's Shield (mentioned)
- Winter Soldier's Prosthetic Arm
- Starforce Uniform
- Uru
- Asgardian Armor
- Magnitron Gauntlets
- Light-Speed Engine
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Detention Cell
- Hope van Dyne's Walkman
- Peter Quill's Walkman (flashback)
- Tesseract (mentioned)
Concepts[]
Vehicles[]
- Asis
- Ego's Ship
- M-Ship (flashback)
Sentient Species[]
Creatures[]
Organizations[]
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Avengers
- United States Armed Forces
- New York City Police Department
- Ravagers (flashback)
- Ravagers (mentioned; recap)
- Starforce (mentioned)
- MTV (mentioned)
Mentioned[]
- Tony Stark
- Azzuri
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Meredith Quill
- Janet van Dyne
- Odin
- Captain America
- Peter Quill (recap)
- Yondu Udonta (recap)
- We Are the World
- Van Halen
- David Lee Roth (indirectly)
- Bruce Springsteen
- Born in the U.S.A. (indirectly)
- Terminator
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Out of Control | Love Affair |
|
| T'Challa's Theme | Ludwig Göransson |
|
| The Winter Soldiers Theme | Henry Jackman |
|
| The Avengers Theme | Alan Silvestri |
|
| Never Surrender | Corey Hart | Played three times:
|
Videos[]
Clips[]
Trivia[]
- This is the second episode of What If...? that does not feature a closing narration from Watcher.
Behind the Scenes[]
- According to A.C. Bradley, she originally pitched the idea for this episode while applying for the work on the first season. She also stated that Matthew Chauncey included Mar-Vell due to his love for the film The American President, starring Annette Bening.[1] They opted to push back the episode in favor of including What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? in the first season.[2]
- Bradley came up with the idea after Brad Winderbaum asked for an episode set in the past surrounding Peter Quill being delivered to Ego once she realized that both Quill and Hope van Dyne were mourning their mothers at the same time and built the episode around that, creating a found family story.[2]
References[]
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External Links[]
What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes? on Wikipedia
What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes? on Marvel Database
What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes? on IMDb
What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes? on Disney+