Warning: This article contains spoilers for What If...? episode 4.
Marvel's What If...? episode 4 features Doctor Strange fighting himself, which immediately makes it the strangest installment in the series. With What If...?, the Marvel Cinematic Universe reshuffles everything that fans think they know. The series looks back at past MCU stories and explores how small changes can make a huge impact. And with the Multiverse being unleashed in Loki, all the new stories are a canon part of the MCU's multiple timelines. Many of the original actors even returned to voice their characters, including Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), and Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes).
What If...? has already introduced vast changes to the MCU. In the series premiere, Peggy Carter takes the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers (voiced by Josh Keaton). As a result, she becomes Captain Carter, and Rogers becomes an early version of Iron Man. Then, in What If...? episode 2, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) becomes Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill (voiced by Brian T. Delaney). Though the new Star-Lord brings prosperity to the galaxy, the change also allows Ego (Kurt Russell), Quill's Celestial dad, the opportunity to carry out a plot that's more devastating than Thanos' deadly finger snap. Since the stories are canon, the characters could potentially return to the MCU at some point.
Doctor Strange breaks bad in the next episode of What If...?. In a promo for the episode (via Screen Culture), Benedict Cumberbatch's character seems to go up against himself, battling a potentially evil version of Doctor Strange. The trailer also features other returns. In addition to fighting against himself, Strange encounters Chris Hemsworth's Thor, Tilda Swinton's Ancient One, and possibly even Hayley Atwell's Captain Carter. The episode also includes trippy visuals, such as books swirling around a massive room, the Sorcerer Supreme shooting beams from his hands, and Strange coming face to face with his potentially sinister doppelganger.
What If...? episode 4 breaks open the series' connection to the MCU. Though What If...? episodes are all technically in the Multiverse, the series has featured various isolated stories up to this point. However, with Doctor Strange's association to the Multiverse, and the upcoming film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the character has the potential to connect Marvel's various timelines. An appearance by Captain Carter is proof. Because of Doctor Strange, characters from different What If...? episodes can now possibly enter other timelines and even the main MCU.
The timing of the episode is particularly interesting. In the recently released Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, Doctor Strange makes a dangerous mistake, performing a spell to make everyone forget that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man. Unfortunately, due to Parker interfering, the magic goes awry, ripping a hole in the Multiverse. It seems like a reckless move from Strange. In fact, his behavior is so bizarre that fans are speculating that Marvel secretly replaced him. Now that there's an episode of What If...? featuring an alternate version of Doctor Strange, it appears fan theories about the Sorcerer Supreme getting replaced with a copy may not be so strange after all.
Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.
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