Recap, Ending Explained, and Easter Eggs

Notice! This post contains SPOILERS for What If…? Season 3, Episode 6And if…? Season 3, Episode 6 is the next best thing instead of a real Shang-CHi sequence. Starring Simu Liu and the cowboy hero “The Ten Rings” and Hailee Steinfeld as sharpshooter Kate Bishop, aka Hawkeye, this new episode and alternate reality of the MCU is set in the year 1872. Likewise, the ending of this new episode sets up the main series. finale on the horizon for Marvel's And if…? also.

Not much different from the previous one And if…? Season 3 Episode 5 This new episode of the MCU multiverse is a little more serious and focused compared to some of And if…? crazier chapters (see Howard the Duck and Darcy Lewis' Egg). To that end, “What If…1872” features some really cool action sequences, as well as a thrilling cliffhanger at the end. To that end, Here is our breakdown of And if…? Season 3, episode 6, its ending explained and the biggest Easter eggs and references we found.

And if…? Season 3, Episode 5 Spoilers and Key Story Takeaways

“What if… 1872?”

• Shang-Chi, also known as The Ten Rings, and his shooting partner, Hawkeye, defeat a detachment led by John Walker in the year 1872.

• John Walker points the pair to Point Pegasus while the pair are hunting The Hood.

• The Watcher reveals that Xu Xialing immigrated to the United States, only to find his fellow Chinese immigrants pressured by the crime lord known as The Hood. Xu Xialing disappeared going after The Hood, motivating Shang-Chi to hunt him down along with Kate Bishop (who lost her parents to the crime lord).

• Ten Rings and Hawkeye encounter a boy named Jun-Fan, whose entire town has been kidnapped by The Hood on a “ghost train”.

• The ghost train is revealed to be a trackless floating train designed by inventor Tony Stark, filled with ammunition and with the kidnapped immigrants who are all in a trance.

• Sonny Burch and a group are on board, revealing themselves to be in league with The Hood. Burch agrees to take Ten Rings and Hawkeye to the crime lord.

• The Hood is revealed to be Xu Xialing, who killed the original crime lord and took up his mantle, building an army to counterattack the Wild West.

• Sonny reveals himself as the one who killed Kate's parents while locking her in the same hypnotic trance, having stolen her parents' fortune to finance the Hood's army.

• un-Fan rings a bell ten times, breaking the trance that allows Hawkeye to defeat Burch.

• Shang-Chi refuses to fight his sister, forcing Hawkeye to kill the newly corrupted Hood when she tries to kill him.

• Helping Chinese immigrants settle, The Ten Rings and Hawkeye ride off into the sunset in search of more danger.

• The Observer is captured by the Eminence, the Executioner and the Incarnate to pay for their interventions.

How Shang-Chi Defeated the Hood and His Identity Explained

(Also, what happened to the observer?)

The end of And if…? Season 3, Episode 6 reveals that Xu Xialing killed the original Hood before taking the mantle presumably possessed by the demon as his own. Seeking to raise an army of immigrants against the West to “do what they were promised”, Xialing fails to see that he is enslaving the innocent and distorting their minds. Unfortunately, Xialing was too warped and corrupted by the Hood's power to see differently, resulting in his death by Hawkeye when Shang-Chi refuses to fight (and Xialing was preparing to kill).

The Observer confirms that the story ends better than it could have, as he himself dispatched one of Burch's men who would have killed Jun-Fan. Instead, Jun-Fan lives to help save the day with Hawkeye and The Ten Rings. However, this proves to be too much of an intervention for the trio of other Watchers first seen in previous episodes., who have now come to see Uatu finally answering for the many times he broke his oath. As such, this final reckoning will likely be the focus of the series' final two episodes yet to come.

And if…? The Biggest Easter Eggs and References from Season 3, Episode 5

Featuring Cameos, Key MCU References, and More

There are tons of exciting and cool MCU Easter eggs, appearances, and references in And if…? Season 3, Episode 6. Here are all the biggest ones we found:

• film on fire The new And if…? The episode opens with a fiery film effect, a classic transition seen in many Westerns.
• The Ten Rings Shang-Chi is known as “The Ten Rings”, as legends say, he appears when a bell rings ten times.
• Shang-Chi bandana Shang-Chi's bandana is red with white dragon scales, a nod to the MCU's “Great Protector” seen in 2021 Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings.
• John Walker- Wyatt Russell's John Walker leads the group against The Ten Rings, also known as US Agent in the primary MCU, who is set to appear next in the Marvel film. Rays*.
• Hawkeye by Kate Bishop – The Ten Rings' partner is none other than Kate Bishop's Hawkeye, an impressive marksman.
• The Hood – The Ten Rings and Hawkeye are after The Hood, who is revealed to be Shang-Chi's sister Xu Xialing. However, the original Hood is Parker Robbins, who will soon debut in the main MCU played by Anthony Ramos in 2025. Iron Heart series.
• Pegasus Point John Walker points the Ten Rings in the direction of Point Pegasus, a homage to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Pegasus seen in Avengers and Captain Marvel.
• Shang-Chi Theme The main theme of 2021 Shang-Chi can be heard briefly in this episode from original composer Joel P. West.
• Crazy alternate MCU universes – The Observer mentions some very strange realities in the multiverse, including one that is home to Throg and Croki, Crossbones commanding a band of seafaring pirates, and even one where Ultron was programmed to play show tunes.
• MCU Titans of the Industry – Boarding The Hood's high-tech trackless train, The Ten Rings and Hawkeye discover stores for Stark Munitions, Hammer Steel, and Cross Manufacturing. As such, these appear to be the Wild West counterparts of the MCU's main Stark Industries, Hammer Industries, and Cross Technologies.
• Sonny Burch Sonny Burch is revealed to be working with The Hood, Walton Goggins' black market arms dealer from 2018 Ant-Man and the Wasp.
• “Fists of Fury” – Sonny Burch refers to Shang-Chi's hand as “first of fury”, the same name as the classic Bruce Lee film.
• Russian hypnotism? – Burch uses a form of hypnotism he learned from a Russian to subjugate all of the Chinese railroad workers into the Hood's army. This could be a reference to the Winter Soldier's brainwashing or Doctor Faustus' hypnosis techniques seen in Agent Carter.
• “Iron Fists” – Hawkeye mentions that Jun-Fan has “Iron Fists,” which is more than likely an homage to the MCU's kung fu warrior Iron Fist, who many hope will one day join Shang-Chi.
• “The sun is getting too low” – The episode ends with Shang-Chi speaking the same phrase used to calm Bruce Banner's Hulk, having been heard for the first time in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

New episodes of And if…? Season 3 launches daily at 3am ET/12pm PT on Disney+.

• Release date

  February 14, 2025
  

• Release date

  July 25, 2025
  

• Release date

  July 24, 2026