Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Season 1 Finale of What If...?.
Marvel Studios officially completed its fourth Disney+ show of 2021, which was also the franchise's first-ever fully animated project, with the ninth episode of What If...?. Focusing exclusively on stories from Marvel's Infinity Saga, the first 23 MCU movies served as the core for eight unique retellings of past events before the Guardians of the Multiverse teamed up to fight Infinity Ultron.
Each episode took fans on a whirlwind adventure with new Absolute Points in time that led to events like Peggy Carter's superhero transformation, T'Challa taking on the galaxy as Star-Lord, and Doctor Strange turning to the dark side in a quest for love. With stunning visuals and MCU stars returning to their roles in voiceover form, it was truly a unique adventure for Phase 4 to tackle.
However, the show wasn't without its shortcomings, although not all of them were easily fixable thanks to the global pandemic. This crisis forced the show to delay some of its work, leading to an episode featuring Tony Stark and Gamora on Sakaar being pushed to Season 2.
This caused an issue in real-time though, as the Watcher selected Gamora in the episode to be part of his Multiversal team and fight the Infinity Stone-adorned robot. This led to confusion all across the MCU fandom, which manifested the way events such as this usually do - via Twitter reactions.
Marvel Fans Talk Gamora's Surprise Appearance
MCU fans across the globe took to Twitter to express their confusion over Gamora's appearance in the Season 1 finale of Marvel Studios' What If...?.
@Smartimus_Prime asked the obvious question about What If...? simply gliding over Gamora's new status as "Thanos Killer" in her own alternate universe:
"So did ‘What If’ just decide not to elaborate on the Gamora Thanos Killer?? Very weird decision
@furryprick doubled down on this question, specifically curious as to why Marvel Studios delayed that particular episode over one such as Episode 7, which featured Chris Hemsworth's Party Thor:
"Marvel really left a Titan-Killer Gamora What If episode on the table and just tossed it into the finale as if we’re supposed to know abt it but they made sure to do a whole episode of Thor throwing a big party"
@Erne_Kid commented on how obvious it was that Marvel cut the episode with Tony and Gamora during the season finale, calling it "real weird:"
"It’s real weird how the Final of Marvel’s What If? Made it clear that they left an entire episode about Gamora and Tony Stark on the cutting room floor."\
@DarthRukkus held nothing back with an opinion that What If...? was a letdown. On top of that disappointment, the fan specifically lamented how Marvel Studios didn't "tell us (the) story" of Gamora and Tony's adventure together from the cut episode:
"What If...? SUCKS...! It really does. Episode 8 was cool but the rest was boring garbage with terrible voice acting, like they put zero effort into it at all. So there is a Gamora that killed and became Thanos... but you dont tell us that story? and this is Bosemans last work?
@bevismusson also boarded the confusion train by asking why characters from every other episode of What If...? were included in the season finale, but someone who hasn't been featured yet in Gamora was also featured:
"Why have characters from almost every episode of What If but then also have Gamora who hasn't had an episode?"
@theVERmarcelo took the comedic route with his confusion over Gamora's appearance as he used Drax's quote from Avengers: Infinity War, which asked "why is Gamora?"
"Just watched the What If...? season finale and... ...why is Gamora?"
@arcticfoxgamer used two Tweets to express everything he "(disliked) about the show," specifically how the final episode "ended way too quick" and how he felt it was simply used ton set up future projects:
"welp this episode of what if sums up everything i dislike about the show, its way to nicely wrapped up some of the characters kinda useless (party thor and killmonger was only there to betray) we saw nothing of gamora and that universe there way too oh wow we have this thing that we need and its dumb af these episodes are way too short too it can work for some stories but the final ended way too quick they just started fighting and there was 10 minutes left. kinda also adheres to my issue that all they do is sequel bate now a days its dumb
@duckisgod simply called the show "an unfortunate failure for Marvel Studios," expressing disbelief at how the show introduced "Thanos Gamora" in the final episode:
"I can’t believe how poorly put together What If was. Legitimately laughed out loud when they brought Thanos Gamora in for the finale as if she had her own episode and we knew anything about her I think this show was an unfortunate failure for Marvel Studios"
@ChanceOSadness felt that a huge chunk of the story was missing with Gamora's episode being cut, saying that it "really hurt the story" not to have had "a massive part of context" for the character:
"Cutting the Tony & Gamora episode of what if really hurt the story. I feel like I’m missing a massive part of context for gamora in the most recent episode."
@WonderBread4510 said that the entirety of What If...? "Season 1 was fun," but agreed with other fans that the finale fell short with Gamora's episode being pushed.
"What if season 1 was fun but the finale truly didn't work for me for 2 reasons The delay of the gamora episode really hurt the first half of the episode in terms of knowing what mcguffin does what And the lack of exp/chemistry among the group made the 'twist' fall flat"
"I'll do you one better! Why is Gamora?"
With reports detailing Gamora's role in What If...? as the true Daughter of Thanos, along with LEGO leaks detailing Tony Stark's adventures on Sakaar, there was clearly a level of anticipation building to see what this story would hold. This entry was even described as one of the funnier episodes of the season, which brought even more disappointment when it was delayed for the foreseeable future.
Some fans took a comedic approach to this unfortunate delay, while others seemed genuinely upset by the episode's absence, although there seems to be some acceptance over the fact that COVID-19 had its effect on this show.
With all signs pointing to Season 2 of What If...? going into development sooner rather than later, the wait now begins to see exactly how Gamora and Tony Stark end up on Nivadellir with the empty Infinity Gauntlet. Fans will particularly be looking forward to this episode for another big reason, as it's one of the rare ones that doesn't kill Tony Stark in some brutal fashion!
All nine episodes in Season 1 of What If...? are available to stream on Disney+.
