What Only Hardcore MCU Fans Know About The Collector's Weapons In What If...? Episode 2
"What If...?" Episode 2 focused on what would have happened if T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) was kidnapped from Earth instead of Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) by the Ravagers in the 80s. The Wakandan becomes Star-Lord and lives a Robin Hood-inspired life alongside Yondu (Michael Rooker) as they steal from the rich and give to the poor. T'Challa was even able to convince Thanos (Josh Brolin) to abort his plan to decimate half of the universe's population, and it was interesting to see the Mad Titan play a good guy in the episode.
Thanos, Yondu, and some of the other Ravagers let us know early on that the Collector, a.k.a. Taneleer Tivan, is bad news, and he serves as the big bad of the episode. T'Challa goes one-on-one with the Collector in his massive library of display cases, and the white-haired villain proves to be much more powerful than the character we first met in "Guardians of the Galaxy." Just before the two come to blows, the Collector summons a large case by tapping on his wrist guard, which contains several large weapons. At first glance, two of these weapons stand out, but hardcore MCU fans should be familiar with more than that.
The Collector has multiple famous MCU weapons in his vault
Before the Collector calls the case of weapons to him, he sports a wearable arm that has skin identical to a Kronan — the species that Korg (Taika Waititi) is. He releases the arm insert to the ground and then hails the famous MCU weapons case behind him. At first glance, Captain America's shield and Mjolnir can be spotted on the left of the case, with several swords on the right side. He leaves both of those items in the box and summons a small dagger to his hand. This appears to be a Dark Elves dagger from "Thor: The Dark World." The Collector tosses it back in the case, which then flips around, revealing Hela's helmet from "Thor: Ragnarok." Wearing it atop his head, the Collector can manifest Necroswords, and he tosses them at T'Challa.
A deeper dive on the weapons board behind the Collector reveals other interesting weapons from the MCU's past. One of Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) daggers appears on the board, as does a necklace that we suspect is the Eye of Agamatto from "Doctor Strange." A sizeable curved sword resembles the one Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) wields in the "Loki" series as well. A larger, wider sword also looks to be half of the weapon Thanos fights with in "Avengers: Endgame." These fun easter eggs prove that nothing is random in the MCU, not even in its first animated series, and it suggests viewers should take a deeper look into the background on their second watch.