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Marvel's What If...? Clip: Black Widow Knows How To Make An Escape

Marvel What If Brock Lumlow Marvel Studios
By Joshua Meyer/

Episode 3 of Marvel's animated Disney+ series, "What If...?," is almost upon us. To get you ready, the studio has released a short clip from the episode, entitled, "What If... The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes?" Only one of those mighty heroes is actually featured in this clip. It's the one who finally got her own solo movie this year. Here's another hint to her identity: she's been portrayed in live-action by Scarlett Johansson, an actress who is currently suing Disney.

That's right, it's Black Widow. Most of the clip, however, centers on Brock Rumlow, voiced by Frank Grimes. He's riding along in a van in what looks like the desert, a scenario similar to the beginning of the first "Iron Man" movie, where we saw Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) sitting in the back seat of "the Fun-vee," as he called it. It feels like Rumlow and all HYDRA agents should be confined to the Humdrum-vee.

This episode of "What If...?" backspaces over the Battle of New York and sees an unknown assassin targeting the candidates for the Avengers Initiative before Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) can ever assemble the team. Check out the clip and a teaser for the episode below.

"What...?" Episode 3 Clip and Teaser

The second episode of "What If...?" posed the question, "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" It contained one of Chadwick Boseman's final performances and there was a moment or two in it where the scene played like a touching tribute to the late "Black Panther" actor. Otherwise, the episode was something of a mixed bag. It was filled with many zany twists and turns, some of which leaned well into the coolness factor of a what-iffy multiverse where stories are different and anything is possible. Yet the episode also had some questionable voice acting and animation, not to mention a few too many genocide jokes.

This came after a somewhat prosaic first episode, which rehashed many of the events of "Captain America: The First Avenger," but with Sharon Carter filling in for Steve Rogers, assuming the mantle of Captain Carter. Overall, Marvel's animated "What If...?" series shows promise in some areas but it's still finding its footing, so it will be interesting to see what direction the third episode takes it and if it can course-correct any of the show's previous hiccups. Chalk them up to growing pains, maybe, similar to the ones the Marvel Cinematic Universe went through during its slightly more uneven Phase One.

You can currently stream the first two episodes of "What If...?" on Disney+. "What If... The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes?" premieres on August 25, 2021. Check out the teaser below via the official "What If...?" Twitter account.

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