Here's Who Fans Think The Tentacle Monster In What If...? Could Really Be

There are (and will continue to be) a few consistent factors and characters seen across multiple episodes of the Disney+ Marvel series "What If..?" There is our narrator and guide The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), who gives us these glimpses into what could have been every episode. We also know that Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) will appear across multiple episodes as will T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman). In fact, it would seem that many pre-existing Marvel heroes will make multiple appearances on the show — but they aren't the only ones popping up time and again.

As of this writing, there is a mysterious figure we've seen on multiple occasions — a collection of otherworldly, sentient tentacles which seem to have god-level strength. We first saw them in the debut episode, "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?" when Carter was pulled into their dimension to save Steve (and the rest of the world). It's those tentacles who are responsible for Carter moving forward in time to the present day, just like Steve Roger's Captain America (Chris Evans) in the main MCU.

We saw the tentacles again in the episode "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" where Dr. Strange kills and absorbs the beast. The consequences of Strange taking on the creature's powers yields the end of his version of reality, which gives us a real sense of just how powerful this mystery being truly is.

At this point, fans have exactly enough information to make a best guess for who owns those tentacles.

Shuma-Gorath is one of the most powerful Elder Gods within the Marvel universe and effectively reigned over countless dimensions for hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of years. In the comics, Shuma-Gorath is overtaken by a sorcerer named Sise-Neg, and, at the same time, this event was witnessed by another sorcerer capable of time travel: Doctor Strange.

Doctor Strange tends to face off against Shuma-Gorath pretty repeatedly in the comics. Strange is forced to summon Shuma-Gorath by Ebony Maw in the Marvel Comics story arc, Infinity, for example. Strange also resurrects every dead person in Las Vegas during the "Damnation" story which also just so happens to open a tear in the fabric of space and time allowing for many powerful beings to cross into our world — including Shuma-Gorath.

At this point, fans are pretty sure of the tentacle monster's identity. "So it seems like the side-quest of What If? is to make sure we know that there's a massive extradimensional tentacle monster out there, and I'm hoping it's not just generic cosmic horror beastie shorthand and we actually could be getting MCU Shuma-Gorath," tweets @Ritchie018. 

People suspect we may see this creature in the live-action MCU too. "I think it's pretty clear Shuma-Gorath is coming to the MCU. Showed up in What If..? twice now," tweets @SpiderStrick. Perhaps he will be the true villain in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

We'll almost certainly see our tentacle monster again, but whether or not they will be revealed as Shuma-Gorath is yet unknown.