The What If...? Episode 6 Moment That Made No Sense To MCU Fans

Contains spoilers for "What If...?" Season 1, Episode 6: "What If...Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?"

"What If...?," Marvel's latest series on Disney+, is still going strong. Based on the popular comics of the same name, the series explores what would happen if some of our favorite heroes (and villains) made some very different choices.

Episode 6 takes us all the way back to the beginning of the MCU. In this episode, Tony Stark is saved by Killmonger in the Afghan desert, rather than getting captured by the Ten Rings. Because of this, he never becomes Iron Man — and things are never the same.

Killmonger has been hailed as one of the MCU's best villains, and it's a real treat to see him in action again. However, his evil deeds reach farther than Wakanda this time. With the same mission as he had in "Black Panther" — liberating oppressed people of color through Wakandan intervention — Killmonger finesses his way into Stark Industries, only to kill Lt. Col. James Rhodes, Prince T'Challa, and shockingly, Tony Stark himself.

Killmonger's crimes remain mostly undiscovered, with the US government still seeing him as loyal soldier. However, the episode ends with Shuri, T'Chall's sister, in Pepper Pott's office, revealing to her what Pepper suspected all along: Killmonger was responsible for Tony's death. Some fans, though, are a bit skeptical of how Shuri was able to procure this valuable information.

In the r/MarvelsWhatIf subreddit, u/Squirrelsona said, "I wish they would have gone into how Shuri figured it out tho bc that ending was kinda abrupt." 

Indeed, it seems like quite the deus ex machina that Shuri suddenly knew the truth about Killmonger. She explains to Pepper, "Mr. Stark was a genius — but he's not the only genius." Shuri's incredible intellect and technological skill have been shown in depth in both "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Infinity War," so it's not entirely far-fetched she discovered what really happened to T'Challa and Tony. 

U/Groot726, however, echoed the confusion, but had a plausible explanation: "Yeah, I definitely could have done for an extra couple of minutes or so to his actual downfall: maybe these are designed to be returned to in season 2, though?" A second season of "What If...?" has already been confirmed, and Kevin Feige has revealed it will focus largely on Phase 4 of the MCU. As Killmonger is dead in the official MCU timeline (and therefore not part of Phase 4), we're unsure if the character be appearing in the sophomore season of "What If...?" or if his story will be complete when it airs.

Either way, "What If...?" has shown itself to be can't-miss viewing for Marvel devotees, and we're excited to see what happens in the season's remaining three episodes, dropping Wednesdays on Disney+.