There are only two episodes left in Marvel’s animated anthology What if…?, and one of the most disgruntled employees in the multiverse ends up being reprimanded by upper management. In the penultimate episode of the series, Uatu, better known as Observervisited by three other Watchers – Eminence, Incarnation, and Executioner – to answer for his many wrongdoings.
In the latest episode What if…? Uatu takes us through an alternate reality where Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and… Shang Chi (Simu Liu) are cowboys chasing Hood (Meng’er Zhang) into the Wild West to find his sister. Along the way, they meet Kwai Jun-Fan (Allen Deng). Trying to avoid getting caught on top of a moving train, Jun-Fan comes close to being thrown off the train until Uatu intervenes, knocking the bad guys to the ground after suggesting that the youthful boy’s tragic end takes place in other timelines. It’s typical superhero altruism until you realize the one principle that makes being a Watcher.
As the Watcher, Uatu took an oath to only observe the history of the multiverse, but never interfere. Unfortunately for Uatu, he cares a little too much. The first season finale was titled “What If… The Watcher Broke His Oath?” and saw him assemble a team of superheroes known as the Guardians of the Multiverse to defeat Ultron. The reason why Uatu decided to interfere is because Ultron gained multi-level consciousness in the previous episode, breaking through the barrier separating Uatu from the multiverse and kicking his ass.
This season alone, he broke his oath by saving Jun-Fan, and in the previous episode, he wanted to Ririe Williams (Dominique Thorne) in order not to succumb to the tragic fate he witnessed her fall victim to repeatedly while fighting Mysterio (Alejandro Saab). Although he did not interfere materially, even uttering encouraging words was enough for the three remaining Watchers to grow weary of Uatu’s constant transgressions. In the latest episode, they stop playing games and Eminence pins Uatu to his dimensional barrier after sternly informing him, “We can no longer allow your interference to go unanswered.”
It’s always fun when we get to see the full extent of the power of multi-sided deities. Unfortunately, there are only a few episodes left What if…? series, we can only hope that we will get two episodes full of multi-sided chaos.
