Marvel's What If..? could see the MCU's Multiverse invaded by Ultron. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally embraced the Multiverse, with Loki culminating in the death of He Who Remains and the timeline's breaking free from the control of the TVA. The possibilities are literally limitless, as proven by the wild and wacky Loki variants the trickster god encountered in a void at the end of time. If the Multiverse can include Alligator Loki (dubbed "Croki" by the fans), then it can include anything.
The next Marvel Studios Disney+ TV show will begin to explore this Multiverse of madness. Marvel's What If..? is an animated series that will introduce viewers to timelines where history took a different direction. There'll be a timeline where Peggy Carter became a super-soldier instead of Steve Rogers, one where Killmonger partners with Tony Stark and succeeds in taking over Wakanda, and one where T'Challa becomes Star-Lord rather than Peter Quill. Most exciting of all, there'll even be a timeline inspired by the "Marvel Zombies" comics, with the What If..? trailer teasing zombie variants of Captain America and Iron Man.
But, while most audiences have been expecting each episode to be a stand-alone set in a different timeline, the What If..? trailer suggested there will be an overarching narrative - one that forces interdimensional heroes to team up. It's possible Ultron will be the threat they're facing.
In April 2021, leaked merchandise suggested What If..? will introduce the Guardians of the Multiverse. A t-shirt featured what seems to be the team logo, accompanied by a number of characters known to appear in the Disney+ TV show; evil Doctor Strange, "Party Thor," a variant of Black Widow who doesn't seem to have ever left the Red Room, another version of Gamora, King Killmonger, T'Challa's Star-Lord, and the super-soldier Captain Carter. They were all overshadowed by the Watcher, a cosmic being who observes the Multiverse, and this led to speculation the Watcher will ultimately abandon his vow of non-interference and assemble a team of interdimensional superheroes to defeat some mysterious threat. Voice actor Jeffrey Wright hinted these theories were correct when he discussed the Watcher's character arc in What If..? "Here, in the first season, he starts off as an observer," Wright observed, "but he gradually becomes more compelled by what he watches."
The What If..? trailer supports this Multiversal team-up, featuring a handful of scenes in which variants from different timelines work together; Doctor Strange was seen introducing himself to Captain Carter, while another shot showed Black Widow tossing Captain Carter's shield. Most intriguing of all, the heroes were shown assembled in an Avengers-esque scene, deliberately hinting they'll come together against a force too great for any one of them to defeat on their own. But what could this threat be?
A number of scenes in the What If..? trailer features glimpses of a very familiar villain from the MCU - Ultron, the android created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner using the Mind Stone, who almost destroyed Earth in Avengers: Age of Ultron. A fleet of Ultrons were shown soaring into the skies in one shot, while others showed both Party Thor and a version of the Hulk battling against Ultron. Tie-in merchandise supports the idea Ultron is the greatest threat in What If..?, because the Funko Pop of Killmonger's Black Panther has him holding the severed head of an Ultron bot.
The sad truth is that Avengers: Age of Ultron largely failed the classic Marvel villain, who in the comics is a foe who has brought humanity to the brink of extinction on countless occasions. Indeed, the film bore absolutely no relation to the comic book it is named after, which was set in a timeline in which the android had successfully conquered the world. Humanity was on the verge of extinction, with the Avengers forced to use time travel in order to rewrite history - a plot that bears more similarity to Avengers: Endgame, and resulting in their breaking time apart. That isn't the only Multiversal story featuring Ultron, either; in another Avengers story, Kang the Conqueror invaded a timeline ruled by Ultron and found himself stalemated. Kang attempted to use the same trick as the Avengers, continually traveling back in time in order to find a way to defeat Ultron, but he was unable to do so - and nearly destroyed the entire Multiverse due to the strain he put the timeline under. The crisis was only prevented when the Avengers persuaded Ultron it was better to pretend to lose the battle with Kang than be destroyed when all of creation was obliterated.
Marvel's What If..? could redeem Ultron by turning him into an enemy on the same scale as the comics - or even greater. The Disney+ series could introduce a timeline in which Ultron was never defeated, but instead destroyed humanity and has taken control of his entire dimension. In the MCU, Ultron is bound to the power of the Infinity Stones, and as such it's entirely possible he could detect the creation of the Multiverse, and Ultron would then seek to expand across all these different timelines. Such a Multiversal invasion could easily form the central narrative for the show, with the Watcher eventually choosing to bring together the Guardians of the Multiverse in order to defeat Ultron.
Marvel may have already hinted at how Ultron could be defeated, too. In 2015's Secret Wars, all the alternate Earths of the Marvel Comics universe collided together, creating a single world called Battleworld. There, the armies of Ultron found themselves stalemated by the creatures from the Marvel Zombies reality, with neither able to defeat or destroy the other. Just as in the comics, it's possible the Marvel Zombies will be the greatest defense against Ultron - with the Guardians of the Multiverse perhaps finding a way to bring Ultron's dimension and the zombie one together, stalemating two deadly forces. That would be a fitting way for Marvel's What If..? season 1 to end.
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