The all-knowing narrator of the Marvel What If? series revisits the past in the fourth episode of Season 2 to tell the tale of a character who not only redeemed herself but also became one of the chosen ones to fight against the super-mighty Ultron. This episode has a direct connection with Season 1’s episode nine, where we saw a band of superheroes chosen by The Watcher himself in order to beat Ultron, who in his universe had acquired all the infinity stones. Tony Stark’s genius robot fell prey to his greed and desire and started to conquer other universes using the power of the infinity stones. He even had a fight with The Watcher in the previous season’s episode, after which the narrator had no other option but to intervene in the universe’s narrative to contain the damage. In Season 2, Episode 4, of What If?, The Watcher brings to us the story where Gamora ultimately becomes the survivor of Sakaar and the destroyer of Thanos with the help of Tony Stark.
Spoiler Alert
How Did Tony Stark End Up On Sakaar?
In The Avengers, it was Tony Stark who saved the Earth from the Chitauri Invasion and diverted a nuclear missile towards their fleet through a wormhole to stop the aliens. However, before he came back through the portal, his superhero suit lost its spark, and because of this, he started to free fall through outer space. Fortunately, in that universe, he made it through the portal by sheer luck, but in What If? episode 4, the portal closed before Tony could come back home, and in the aftermath of it, he ended up on Grandmaster’s planet, Sakaar.
Earlier, in Thor: Ragnarok, it was the titular character who had arrived on the same planet where he saw his “green” friend, Hulk. However, in the What If? episode 4 universe, Tony Stark met another “green” friend, Gamora. But obviously, he didn’t know her. In the movies, Tony Stark never met Gamora because she was taken away by Thanos before Tony met the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers: Infinity War. Gamora, however, knew all about the Earth’s genius and billionaire because time worked differently on the Sakaar planet, which had previously been established in the 2017 Thor film. It could be speculated that Tony was lost in space and time, and everyone on Earth believed that he was dead. Gamora, on the other hand, was well aware of the fact that it was Tony Stark who had stopped Thanos’ Chitauri army, which was the reason why she tried to kill the enemy at all costs.
How Did Mr. Metal Mojo Man Meet Gamora?
Tony wanted to leave the planet and get back to Pepper as soon as possible; however, the self-obsessed dictator of Sakaar made him a prisoner and forced him to contest the life-threatening Sakaar Grand Prix. In this universe, it was a chariot race with racers mercilessly trying to kill each other on the track in order to become the champion. While watching one of these races, Tony also came across Valkyrie, who, being a skilled rider, had been participating in these deadly races in order to get a thrill out of them.
During the race, Grandmaster finally ordered the release of his champion (which was not Hulk this time) to create further ruckus on the track. At this juncture, Tony had had enough of the Grandmaster’s madness and decided to stop his champion, Snuffy. Somehow, Tony landed on the racetrack but failed to blast the monster as his suit still didn’t have enough power. Fortunately, he was saved by Gamora, who walked through a thick cloud of smoke and started to attack Tony at first sight. Grandmaster finally intervened in the game and stopped Tony and Gamora from killing each other and later locked them up together along with a third wheeler, Korg.
How did Tony and Gamora escape Sakaar?
With the help of his arc reactor, Tony escaped Grandmaster’s secure facility, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave the planet before beating the obsessive narcissist in his own game. With the help of Korg and Valkyrie, Tony re-designed his superhero suit and turned it into a similar version of “Hulkbuster.” He then hacked into Grandmaster’s system and challenged him to a race where the winner would take charge of the planet. Grandmaster was egoistic enough to fall for Tony’s trap, and he took the challenge without any further ado. Next, we saw all the important characters on the planet taking part in the death race, where the Grandmaster didn’t leave a stone unturned to cheat against his opponents. In the end, Tony used all the power of his Arc Reactor to fuel his suit-cum-racecar and beat the Grandmaster. However, the evil dictator still had issues accepting his defeat, which was when the staff of his own general, Topaz, melted him to death. Tony had saved the planet from Grandmaster, but evidently, he didn’t have any intention to rule it. He wanted to leave the planet so that he could stop Thanos and his attack on Earth. However, witnessing the crowd’s love and cheer for Valkyrie, Tony knew she would be the right leader for them. The people had chosen her for the role, therefore hinting at the formation of a democracy of some sort.
How did Gamora kill Thanos?
In Guardians of the Galaxy, it was Peter Quill who brought about a change in Gamora and helped her see through his tyranny. In Season 2, Episode 4 of What If?, it was Tony who helped Gamora see the truth, as his father was killing innocent individuals in his own greed for power. At this point, Gamora’s change of personality seemed a bit rushed, as perhaps the showrunners didn’t have much time to portray a reasonable transformation. But the question is: if it was Gamora’s story, then why not spend time showing what was really important?
During What If? episode 4’s ending, Tony finally got a spaceship to leave the planet; however, before he could do so, Gamora entered the scene and told Stark that she couldn’t return to her father without him. It turns out Gamora had planned a surprise attack on her father. He brought Tony to him as a prisoner, and as soon as the Mad Titan dropped his guard, Gamora used Topaz’s melting staff to kill Thanos and end his legacy for good. So that was how Gamora became a Titan killer and survivor of Sakaar. Later, she took her father’s blade and his armor to team up with Stark and fight against evil across the universe. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or perhaps something more, between these two polar opposite individuals. In the first season of What If?, we saw them melting Thanos’ Gauntlet, and Gamora also had an infinity crusher, which hints at the fact that she and Tony had been destroying all-powerful artifacts that could bring death and destruction to the universe.
