What If...? Season 2's Iron Man Episode Was Almost Completely Different

"What If...?" returned from its two-year hiatus and promptly earned a Rotten Tomatoes score that set a 2023 record for Marvel Studios. Not many fans expected that, especially given how little promotion "What If...?" received in the weeks leading up to its second season premiere. Nonetheless, "What If...?" Season 2's use of fan-favorite Marvel villains and heroes, as well as its imaginative episodic storylines, made it a surprisingly welcome hit among both viewers and comic book readers. 

Those same fans may be surprised to learn that one of the season's episodes was almost very different. Indeed, "What If...?" creator A.C. Bradley revealed that the season's fourth episode — titled "What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?" — was originally supposed to be a love story revolving around Tony Stark and Pepper Potts that would have involved the former crossing paths with Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord.

As viewers will attest, the final version of the episode couldn't be further from a Tony-and-Pepper adventure. The memorable "What If...?" chapter instead follows Tony (voiced in the episode by Mick Wingert) as he ends up trapped on Sakaar following the Battle of New York in 2012. It's a wacky cosmic thrill ride that makes great use of several other Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, including The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi), and Gamora (voiced by Cynthia Kaye McWilliams).

Bradley, who also wrote the episode, rounded out her tweet about the "What If...?" Season 2 installment by noting, "Development changed things — for the better I think!"

It's worth noting that "What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?" was originally supposed to be released with "What If...?" Season 1. However, the episode was pushed to the show's sophomore season. As a result, viewers were left initially confused by the "What If...?" Season 1 finale, which introduces a variant of Gamora who is not only referred to by The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) as the "Destroyer of Thanos," but who has also seemingly partnered up with Tony Stark.

Gamora's role in the finale wouldn't have felt so abrupt had "What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?" been released before it, as was originally planned. The episode, after all, features a meeting between its Tony and Gamora variants and ends with them leaving Sakaar to go kill Thanos together. In a 2021 interview with Comicbook.com, A.C. Bradley revealed that the "What If...?" creative team ultimately chose to just move its Sakaar-set chapter instead of pushing back the show's debut season to accommodate the episode's delays.

"There was originally supposed to be — early on in the season — a Tony and Gamora-centric episode. However, due to COVID and production delays, one of our amazing, amazing animation houses around the globe got hit pretty hard by the pandemic," Bradley explained. "We made the choice to push that episode to Season 2, and hoped that seeing Gamora in the finale [would serve] as a teaser for what is to come."

Now, viewers have finally learned the long-awaited backstory of Tony and Gamora's "What If...?" friendship. Given how well it has been received, it seems safe to say that Bradley and co. were right to leave their original, Tony and Pepper-centric idea for the episode behind.