Marvel's What If...? Episode 8 Appears To Enter The Star Wars Universe
This week, the latest episode of Marvel's "What If...?" animated series finally delivered on the crossover possibilities we've been hoping to see from the animated anthology series that take place in alternate realities outside of the primary Marvel Cinematic Universe. The episode, titled "What If...Ultron Won?," imagined a world where the villainous artificially intelligent robot Ultron succeeded in assuming the body of Vision and launched nuclear missiles around the world, leaving an apocalyptic wasteland ruled by Ultron and his robot army. But that's not all.
In this universe, Thanos still arrives on Earth, having collected most of the Infinity Stones. However, he's easily dispatched with by Ultron/Vision's energy beam that shoots from the Mind Stone, and this powerful being is the one who comes to harness all of the Infinity Stones. That makes him the most powerful being, not just in his universe, but seemingly all universes. In fact, it appears that might even include the "Star Wars" universe, thanks to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter egg.
Marvel's What If...? May Have Snuck into Star Wars
During the climactic moments of "What If...Ultron Won?," the villainous Ultron/Vision suddenly finds himself able to see outside of his own universe, becoming aware of the alternate universes that make up the Marvel multiverse. That includes being able to see The Watcher, whom he sees as the next powerful being that he needs to destroy. The two get into an intense battle, where The Watcher holds his own much more than we thought. And this is where we appear to quickly veer into the "Star Wars" universe.
The fight between The Watcher and Vision/Ultron becomes so heated that as they fight through the cosmos, they suddenly start smashing through several different universes, literally shattering the invisible walls that separate them. It's during this sequence that it looks like the conflict flies through a familiar location that we've seen in the "Star Wars" movies. Check it out (via Inverse):
Marvel Studios
Does that place look familiar? The lava-covered landscape with the industrial spires? I think we might have seen a certain Jedi Master comes to blows with his former apprentice after he turned to the dark side of the Force here, in a movie called "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith." Yes, it would appear that this is the planet Mustafar that The Watcher and Ultron/Vision briefly fight their way through. If you need any more convincing, check out the photo of Mustafar below from the "Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire" VR experience.
There's Another Familiar Star Wars Location Too
As you can see above, not only does it look like The Watcher and Ultron/Vision flew through Mustafar while battling, but it looks like the prongs of Darth Vader's castle are lingering there in the background. How close were we to Darth Vader becoming aware of what was happening and turning this into a three-way fight? Perhaps not close at all since "Star Wars" was meant to take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. This could be the time period in which Darth Vader's castle is being turned into a luxurious hotel, which we'll soon see in "LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales."
That's not the only familiar location fans noticed from "Star Wars" either. In a scene before the Mustafar moment, The Watcher gets knocked down into another universe, and the surroundings appear to call attention to another world from "Revenge of the Sith." Take a look:
Marvel Studios
Don't remember this landscape? It's the planet Felucia that's briefly seen in the montage of the film's climax when Darth Sidious has executed Order 66, prompting the Clone Trooper army to take out their Jedi allies. In a quick scene, the blue Twi-lek Jedi named Aayla Secura is killed on Felucia. Though what we see in that scene in the film doesn't closely resemble what is shown in this episode of "What If...?" you'll see that the concept art definitely matches:
Lucasfilm
What Does This Mean for Star Wars and the MCU?
Even though this is quite a surprising crossover, this is likely just meant to be a cheeky nod to "Star Wars" since both director Bryan Andrews and head writer A.C. Bradley are big fans of the franchise. In fact, this isn't the first time "Star Wars" Easter eggs have made it into an episode of "What If...?" If you go back and look carefully at the "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" episode, when the prince of Wakanda is looking for a ship to make a getaway from The Collector's lair, you can see the distinct features of both an X-wing and a TIE Fighter in the fleet of other starships that The Collector has amassed over time.
Though we wish that this crossover into "Star Wars" could pave the way for an even more epic alternate universe where Marvel superheroes and "Star Wars" character could occupy the same space, just for the novelty of it all, we'll just have to settle for Easter eggs. Plus, there's always Patton Oswalt's epic filibuster that combined the "Star Wars" and Marvel universes in an incredible fashion: