Top 10 Things You Missed in Marvel's What If...? Episode 6

When Tony needs vibranium, he decides to rely on the shady Ulysses Klaue. Despite Pepper's reservations, the billionaire doesn't have a problem shaking hands with a criminal on the show. But Tony had a completely different relationship with Klaue in live-action. During “Age of Ultron”, the criminal’s name comes up while the heroes are looking for the titular robot. Tony is quick to dismiss any hints that he had a working relationship with the villain. Iron Man’s knowledge of Klaue in the movie was ultimately just symbolic of his dark past. Unfortunately, his relationship with the villain on the show was a sign that he was headed toward a bad future.

During a press conference, Killmonger exposes an assassination plot that was concocted by at least one American and members of The Ten Rings. His words bring him closer to Tony while exposing Stark COO Obadiah Stane as a traitor. Killmonger’s comic counterpart would be jealous of how his animated variant took advantage of the Ten Rings. In the comics, Killmonger is presumed dead after an intense battle with Black Panther. But the villain somehow returns and tries to end the hero once and for all. It’s eventually revealed that he was revived and used as a pawn by the Ten Rings leader known as The Mandarin. Seeing Killmonger use the organization as a stepping stone to his plans showed how brilliant and dangerous he was.

Before Tony Stark built his most iconic suit, he was known for creating a host of powerful weapons. His company’s vast arsenal included Jericho missiles that were combined with repulsor tech. Tony put on a big and bombastic demonstration of this tool of war in the first “Iron Man” film. While he probably gave the same presentation in the “What If” story, we only get to see a small hint of the Jericho missiles through Kilmonger. During his tour of Tony’s lab, he picks up a weapon that’s based on the bigger missile system. Tony personally destroyed destructive items like these after becoming a live-action Iron Man. But since he never put on the suit in the episode, the production of dangerous Jericho missiles continued.

Klaue has an uncanny knack for getting his hands on vibranium. We’ve seen his shiny stockpile of metal and watched him grab a Wakandan warhammer from a museum. While it’s hard to choose which item is more iconic, seeing him with a vibranium spear is definitely ironic. In the comics, Klaue met resistance when he tried to break into Wakanda with a powerful gun. During a fierce battle, a spear pierces his arm and he drops the weapon. After T’Challa picks up the gun and turns it on Klaw, the villain loses his arm. If Klaue’s animated counterpart knew about this spear story, we think he would’ve tried to get someone to take it off his hands much sooner.

After carefully manipulating major events, Killmonger makes it so the Wakandans have to fight an army of drones. In order to look like a hero, he jumps on a rhino and rides into battle to fight the robots. The sight of Killmonger riding this animal as part of a complex scheme is a great call back to 2018’s “Black Panther”. During the movie, we learn that the Border Tribe is known for the care and training of rhinos. After Kilmonger arrives in Wakanda, he convinces many of their members to help him execute his evil schemes and turn their animals against the other tribes. It seems like Kilmonger just gets along best with the Border Tribe in every universe he’s in.

The always fantastic and extremely clever Shuri wasn't played by actress Letitia Wright in this “What If” story. Instead, the talented Ozioma Akagha was able to effortlessly step into the role. But this was far from her only experience working in the superhero realm. Before “What If?” Akagha voiced the heroine Bumblebee on “Teen Titans Go!” Over in the Marvel universe, she played Tamar on “The Runaways”. Akagha did a fantastic job making those characters and more stand out with humorous and powerful performances. Her marvelous resume made it her a great fit to voice the Wakanda princess.

We didn't think anyone would be able to stop the Black Panther after his incredible fight scene. Unfortunately, Killmonger is able to use a sonic weapon to stop the king in his tracks. The villain goes on to execute T’challa and get away with it. This harrowing scene was a dark reflection of their big live action clash. After Kilmonger puts on a vibranium suit, T’Challa uses sonic technology to create an opening. The hero is eventually able to deal his cousin a fatal blow. Despite the intensity of the battle, the two watch the sunset together before Killmonger perishes. But in this dark “What If” world, the villain doesn’t let his cousin see that beautiful light.

Although the Watcher is usually the character that's breaking the fourth wall, Killmonger and Tony did everything but wink at the audience with a funny and animated conversation. Stark’s “Gundam” joke wasn’t just a nod to the long running anime. Actor Michael B. Jordan, who plays Killmonger, is a huge fan of the genre. He’s discussed everything from “Gundam” to “Dragonball Z” in various interviews. And on top of watching anime, Michael B. Jordan executive produces and stars in an animated series called “Gen: Lock”. He voices a character who uses a mecha to take the fight to his enemies. Jordan’s love for anime and involvement with another mecha show made Kilmonger’s gundam inspired robot a ridiculously fun reference.

Killmonger couldn't have picked a more inappropriate name for his domineering robot army project. But as bad as this Liberator line of drones seemed on the show, they could’ve been much, much worse. In one Marvel Universe, the United States is attacked by a group of robots and supervillains. This evil team is known as the Liberators. Featuring versions of villains like the Crimson Dynamo and Abomination, the team was a serious threat to the heroes and country as a whole. Fortunately, the heroes were eventually able to triumph against this massively evil force. We think the good guys in “What If?” got off relatively easy by only having to break an army of robots.

It felt like Killmonger took the best parts of failed plans from Tony Stark’s live action villains to win in the end. In the first “Iron Man”, the hero nearly escaped being executed at home by Obidiah Stane. He didn’t survive when Kilmonger did the exact same thing. The villain later supervised the creation of a drony army. While Kilmonger’s liberator robots brought him glory, the robots Justin Hammer’s helped produce led to misery in “Iron Man 2”. Lastly, Kilmonger wanted to gain political power in his home country by manipulating events. Although Aldrich Killian failed to do just that in “Iron Man 3”, Kilmonger became the Black Panther. While he doesn’t deserve the mantle, he definitely deserves recognition as a top-tier villain.