Marvel Cinematic Universe · What If...?: Season One
What If... Ultron Won? — S01E08
TV · 2021 · 30 minutes · Phase Four · alternate
In this variant reality, Tony Stark's Ultron program goes rogue as in the prime timeline, but this time Ultron succeeds in transferring his consciousness into Vision's synthetic body and slaughters most of the Avengers before devastating humanity with nuclear missiles. When Thanos arrives seeking the Mind Stone, Ultron defeats him and claims all six Infinity Stones, using them to annihilate most life across the universe and becoming aware of the multiverse itself. Survivors Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton are left to search for any way to stop him, setting up the season's multiversal endgame.
Follows on from
- Avengers: Age of Ultrontimeline-branch — Reimagines the climax of Avengers: Age of Ultron — instead of the Avengers destroying him, Ultron succeeds in transferring his mind into Vision's body, diverging the timeline into one where he wins outright.
- Avengers: Infinity Wartimeline-branch · optional — Reimagines Infinity War's central conflict: this variant Thanos arrives seeking the Mind Stone and battles Ultron for the Infinity Stones, but is defeated and killed, letting the victorious Ultron claim all six stones himself — a substantial divergence from that film's story, not just a cameo.
Leads to
- What If... the Watcher Broke His Oath? — S01E09direct-sequel — Picks up directly from Ultron and Vision's fusion into a cosmic, Infinity Stone-empowered being, and returns to the Ultron-ravaged reality where Black Widow is the last human survivor.