Recap, Ending Explained, and Easter Eggs

Notice! This post contains SPOILERS for What If...? Season 3, Episode 8And if...? Season 3, Episode 8 is the epic finale to the MCU animated series that began in 2021. Featuring Uatu the Watcher (Jeffry Wright) as he finally answers for the many times he broke his oath to only observe the multiverse, the show ends on a thrilling high note. Likewise, the final episode is full of exciting twists on the multiverse that will make even the series' harshest critics wish this wasn't the final season, so that their stories could also be explored.

As seen in the previous And if...? Season 3, Episode 7, The Guardians of the Multiverse and Infinity Ultron were preparing to access the 5th Dimension, home of the Observational Plane and the Watchers. Rescuing Uatu and Captain Carter in this new episode, what follows is a huge cosmic brawl that brings the entire series to a very satisfying end. With that in mind, here is our full review of And if...? Season 3, episode 8, its ending explained and the biggest MCU Easter eggs, references and variants we could find.

And if...? Season 3, Episode 8 Spoilers and Key Story Takeaways

"What if...what if?"

• Uatu is shown in the past taking the oath for the first time, as The Eminence confirms his great trust in his star student.

• In the present, Uatu is forced to answer for his heresies, having broken his oath to help the heroes and save the multiverse more than once.

• Peggy Carter represents Uatu's greatest transgression, hence her recent capture by the other Watchers who intend to execute Peggy and Uatu.

• Infinity Ultron attacks the Watchers, stopping them while the heroes rescue Uatu and Peggy.

• The heroes attempt to reach Strange Supreme's new universe where the Watchers' power will be nullified, though it is too late after Infinity Ultron is killed.

• Destroying their ship, the Watchers prepare to kill Uatu and the heroes, only for Uatu to share the Watchers' oath with his allies to even the odds.

• With the heroes now imbued with the Watchers' own power, a great cosmic brawl results in the Eminence merging with the Incarnate and the Executioner.

• The Eminence begins to erase all variant heroes from all universes before Peggy sacrifices herself, saving her friends before transporting them all to Strange Supreme's universe.

• With his power nullified, Uatu spares the lives of his fellow Watchers while offering to teach them to see instead of just observe, to find and preserve the true beauty of the multiverse, and the Eminence agrees.

• The heroes hold a funeral for Peggy on the Observational Plane, before Uatu ends the MCU series with a final closing narration as several emotional variants are shown.

Captain Carter's Great Multiverse Sacrifice Explained

(And why Uatu spared the eminence)

After Uatu has his allies take the Watchers' oath to gain their powers, what follows is an intense cosmic brawl of epic proportions at the end of And if...? Season 3, Episode 8. After all, The Eminence, Incarnate, and Executioner believed they had no choice but to break their own oaths to destroy Uatu and The Guardians of the Multivese to restore order, so much so that they are shown merging as one to simultaneously erase all variants of heroes that exist in all universes. However, Peggy refuses to lose any more friends.

Through sheer will and her new cosmic power as a Vigilante, Peggy throws herself at The Eminence, ending her cosmic attack that saves her friends and their variants. She also transports everyone to the living universe of Strange Supreme, who nullifies the Watchers' powers. However, this was Captain Carter's last act of heroism, as shown when the surviving heroes held a funeral with Peggy's shield on the Observational Plane at the end of the episode.

Fortunately, Captain Carter's sacrifice was not in vain. Uatu managed to speak to his fellow Watchers after sparing their lives, offering to teach the Eminence everything he had learned about how to truly see the multiverse and its beauty. While he may have broken his oath to preserve beauty, he never fully abandoned his people's core mission and customs.

And if...? Season 3 final scene explained

There are a lot of really cool MCU variants

There are several exciting variants that are shown in the episode's final scene, as Uatu ends the series with a narration that mirrors the episode's introduction. Here are all the interesting MCU variants we managed to spot at the end of And if...? Season 3, Episode 8 (as some quickly appear):

• A Six-Armed Spider-Man

• Samurai Samurai Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

• Riri Williams as Punisher

• Gamora in a wedding dress

• Blade As A New Moon Knight (scheduled to appear in 2025) Marvel Zombies)

• Weapon X Thanos

• Kingo in Iron Man suit

• A mix of Ms. Marvel/Wasp

• The Hulk Maestro as The Sorcerer Supreme

• A mix of Scarlet Witch/Howard the Duck

• Hawkeye as a warrior dragon

• Jubilee as the silver surfer

• Skrull Captain America with Wakandan Shields

• Sersi dancing in a ball gown

• Deadpool with an absurd amount of weapons

• Young Hela with Mjolnir (from And if...? – An engaging story)

• Shang-Chi as Star-Lord (mirroring T'Challa's Star-Lord from And if...? Season 1)

• Sheriff Loki

• The Infinity Witch (from And if...? – An engaging story)

• New Centurion Carol Danvers (from And if...? – An engaging story)

• A variant of Doctor Strange (details are difficult to define)

Some of these included variants like Young Hela, Infinity Witch, and Centurion Carol Danvers were first seen in And if...? – An engaging storya mixed reality video game spin-off from Marvel and ILM Immersive for Apple Vision Pros.

And if...? The Biggest Easter Eggs and References from Season 3, Episode 8

Uatu, Kirby Krackle, Strange Supreme and more

There are several exciting MCU Easter eggs, references, and more multiversal variants in And if...? Season 3, Episode 8. Here are the biggest ones we found:

• The many transgressions of the beholder - In addition to the previously established times The Watcher broke his oath to Peggy Carter, Stange Supreme, Riri Willaims, and Kwai Jun-Fan, The Eminence confirms that Uatu also broke his oath off-screen to Reed Richards, Nick Fury, and even She-Hulk Madisynn (with two "n's" and one "y").
• Uatu shares its name Choosing to be someone and not someone who simply observes, Uatu shares his name with his allies for the first time.
• Kirby Krackle The power of the Watchers is shown in full force, featuring the classic energy effects seen in the comics known as “Kirby Krackle”, by artist Jack Kirby. This is appropriate, as Uatu was created by Kirby and Stan Lee.
• Classic Peggy and Storm themes - During the battle with the Watchers, both Captain America and the X-Men '97 themes are heard playing for Peggy and Storm.
• Living Universe of the Ultimate Strange - The Eminence is defeated once it is brought into the Sorcerer Supreme's living universe, revealed to be composed of the former sorcerer's spirit and essence.

In addition to the many variants presented at the end of What If...? Season 3, Episode 8, the combined power of the Watchers threatens to erase every variant of Storm, Kahori, Byrdie, and Peggy that exists in the multiverse before Captain Carter sacrifices herself to stop their attack. Here are all the different variants we were able to find:

Captain Carter

• Black Knight - One variant appears to be a version of Peggy who becomes the Black Knight, but could also just be wearing generic medieval armor.
• Sabertooth - A variant of Peggy who, for some reason, is a version of the classic X-Men villain.
• Elektra What if Captain Carter became Elektra?
• Deathlok- A cyborg Captain Carter resembling Deathlok from Marvel Comics.
• Asgardian - A Captain Carter wearing Asgardian armor.

Kahori

• Apocalypse - What if Kahori became the main X-Men villain in Apocalypse?
• Western - Kahori is shown wearing more ancient, western attire.
• Captain America - A variant of Captain America from the Mohawk nation.
• Cover? - This Kahori variant could be a version of Marvel's Cloak.
• Classic X-Men costume - This Kahori is shown wearing the classic X-Men yellow and blue.

Byrdie

• New Body - What if our site was recruited by the Nova Corps on Xandar?
• Cartoon Byrdie A more classic cartoon duck variant.

Storm

• Black Panther - Connecting to Storm's comic book history when she was once T'Challa's wife and queen of Wakanda on the page.

All episodes of And if...? The third season is now streaming on Disney+.

• Release date

  February 14, 2025
  

• Release date

  July 25, 2025
  

• Release date

  July 24, 2026