Marvel’s “What if…” Episode Seven Review
Get ready to party in the newest “What if…” episode!
After the more somber episodes, such as grieving the deaths of loved ones in episodes 5 and 6 or tackling the world’s corrupt order in episode 7, it is about time for a light-hearted party break.
This episode deals with what if Thor was an only child? Well, he becomes the party prince without Loki helping him grow up.
In the beginning, the episode recaps that instead of Odin adopting Loki, he gives Loki back to the Frost Giants which leaves Thor to grow up alone.
After the recap, the episode shows Odin going into a deep slumber to recharge his powers, called the Odin sleep.
Thor’s mom Frigga tells Thor she is leaving Asgard for a little break and is giving Thor his first taste of what it is like to be a King. She goes on to tell Thor two rules.
He should spend this time studying and most importantly, no parties.
Thor, who acts like a party-obsessed high schooler in this episode, clearly agrees to this and watches his mother go off.
Before she goes, Frigga tells Heimdall, the one who sees all in the multiverse, to be keeping his eyes on him to make sure there are no parties.
Since Thor will stop at nothing to party, he and his best friends: the warriors three and lady Sif, scheme to go to the most backwashed and low advanced planet that even Heimdall won’t look at for their party.
Midgard! Or otherwise known as Earth. This is where the party begins.
Thor lands on Earth and at first is seen as a terrifying alien conqueror. So, his love interest from the movies, Jane Foster, is first introduced with her assistant Darcy to try to alert the world of the alien invasion.
But when they arrive, they see a massive party. Jane starts to track the root of the alien “invasion” by tracking the leader.
Eventually Jane finds Thor. Being skeptical, she tries to find his motives on Earth, but Thor’s charm slowly seduces her into a montage of where it's them partying all night.
Also, in that montage, Darcy gets married to a duck named Howard and is a repeated gag throughout the episode.
Jane wakes up in a bed next to Thor and various other worldly beings. Then knocks on a door and suddenly SHIELD is standing there requesting her.
SHIELD, being run by Agent Hill because Nick Fury is incapacitated, wants Jane and Darcy because they were the first to notice the alien threat.
SHIELD is trying to stop the party aliens because it has spread across the world and, as rowdy partiers do, they are destroying everything in sight.
Jane, after falling for Thor, wants a peaceful solution but SHIELD refuses to listen and sends in the “Big Guns.”
Going back to Thor’s party, Loki shows up as a Frost giant. The show goes into a hilarious bit where Loki and Thor are best friends or brothers from another mother.
Suddenly, the “Big Guns” arrive and try to stop Thor: Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel tries to convince Thor to leave but he just sees her as a party pooper and says no.
Then a fight across the globe breaks out. It was funny and an amazing action sequence that Marvel is known for. At the end, Thor emerges victorious with a crowd of people booing Captain Marvel.
The episode cuts back to SHIELD, where Agent Hill, Captain Marvel, Jane and Darcy are plotting on how to end the party spree before it ends the world.
During the meeting, Thor calls Jane to check with her and to give her more of a reason to defend him.
But SHIELD during this call decided to have Captain Marvel to draw out Thor so they can nuke him and end the threat. Jane obviously disagrees, which leads to her and Darcy being dismissed from the operation.
To save Thor, Jane and Darcy manage to call Heimdall and he transports Jane to Frigga. Jane goes on to explain the situation to Frigga and gets her to call Thor to bust his party.
Meanwhile on Earth, part two of the battle between Captain Marvel and Thor is raging. Right before the nukes go off, Thor gets the call from Frigga where she warns Thor that she is going to Earth now to check on him studying.
This leads Thor into a frenzy and he gathers his followers to clean Earth up to hide it from his mother. He nearly escapes but ends up getting caught due to graffiti on his hammer.
The episode ends on the happy note of Thor and Jane agreeing to go on a date, until Ultron shows up as Vision holding the infinity stones to build up another timeline.
The twist ending to a bright episode added flavor due to keeping the theme of a cliff hanger in every episode.
The fights, comedy, voice lines and the random characters they threw into the episode from the Marvel universe just made this episode stick out in a fun way compared to the previous dark episodes.
So overall, the episode lives up to the party with its fun, exciting and humorous moments. This episode’s cliffhanger leaves the audience having more questions than answers; which adds an exciting value to keep watching the show.
Ethan Hetrick is a first-year majoring in communications. To contact him, email eth5186@psu.edu.
