Surprisingly, the sixth episode of What If? Season 2 is the best episode of the season so far. It thematically explores the idea that superpowers aren’t always meant to fulfill one’s ambitions. Instead, anyone strong or powerful enough should use their gift to help the weak and those in need. The space stone Tesseract has been a conflicted artifact in the Marvel Universe. Odin, the king of gods, had originally hidden it in an isolated village on Earth after achieving an age of peace. However, in the What If? universe, the fire Titan attacked the king of Asgard before he could deliver the Tesseract. Surtr’s blade broke the Tesseract, leading to the complete destruction of Asgard in the battle of Ragnarök. However, the Tesseract somehow survived the doom and ended up in a new world. So, will its story be any different this time? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
How Did Kahhori Find the Sky World?
The two teenagers, Kahhori and her brother Wahta, belonged to a native tribe situated somewhere near the borders of North and South America. On a bright sunny day, while roaming outside the village, Kahhori and Wahta ended up on the cursed portion of the land and discovered the Forbidden Lake. Kahhori, being a curious soul, wanted to explore the area more and let her people know that they could use the lake’s power to stop the invaders. Wahta, on the other hand, had heard too many cautionary tales and, therefore, begged his sister to return to the village before any tragedy struck. It was at this moment that they heard loud gunshots in the vicinity, only to find out later that Spanish invaders had attacked their village. Under the command of the Conquistador Rodrigo Alphonso Gonzolo, the Spanish army had arrived to claim the mythical Fountain of Youth for their Queen Isabella of Spain.
Rodrigo believed in the power of the force and, therefore, took the Mohawk people hostage to get the whereabouts of the Forbidden Lake from them. However, before he could spill any innocent blood, his eyes fell on Kahhori and Wahta, who were hiding nearby. The kids ran for their lives and fell into a hidden cave, where they finally discovered the magical lake that the Spaniards had been looking for. The Spanish guards followed Kahhori and Wahta and threatened to kill them. One of them even shot Kahhori in the arm, leading to her falling into the lake. As soon as Kahhori hit the water, she was sucked into a portal that brought her to the mythical Sky World. Apparently, it was a different realm created by the broken Tesseract, which exposed the power of the space stone and created an interdimensional portal, leading to the disappearance of tribal people for centuries.
Why did Kahhori want to return?
The people trapped inside the Sky World had evidently become ignorant and had lost their warrior spirits over time. They considered the new realm a paradise, which was why they never felt the need to return to their tribe to help them fight against their oppressors. However, Kahhori, who had recently witnessed the tyranny of the Spanish invaders, knew that her brother would end up dead if she didn’t return for his help. Kahhori had harnessed the energy of the space stone and wanted to use it to fight against those who kill and plunder land to satisfy their greed. The young woman didn’t believe in “having” peace. Instead, she wanted to achieve it by killing those who threatened its very existence. While many around her wanted to ignore the evil, Kahhori wanted to put an end to it so that never again another innocent tribe had to witness such atrocities.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, Rodrigo asked his men to walk into the Fountain of Youth to become immortal; however, the portal only made them disappear, giving a message to the commander that he shouldn’t toy with things he didn’t completely understand. As the Spaniards reached the Sky World, they decided to conquer these new lands because that was the only thing that these invaders were capable of doing. When Kahhori saw them in the realm, she understood the fact that these invaders would bring terror to every piece of land they stepped foot on, and therefore they needed to be stopped at all costs. Kahhori used her powers not only to defeat these evil men but also to bring down the portal so that she could escape the Sky World and save her people from their tyranny. Ironically, it was something that the young woman believed in. There is always a way out, but only if one is willing to try harder. Kahhori finally left the Sky World and requested her ancestors to do the same. But she didn’t wait for them to make a decision. Her brother’s life was on the line, and Kahhori had to move forward.
How Did Kahhori Save Her People?
As soon as Kahhori came out of the portal, she went to the shores where the Spanish people were preparing their ships to sail back to their country. Kahhori used all her powers to stop them. She raised a protective shield around her to stop their bullets and cannons, but it wasn’t enough. Kahhori needed the help of her ancestors, and fortunately, they arrived at the right moment to stop the invaders from imprisoning their people. In the end, Kahhori faced Rodrigo and buried the tyrant in the ground so he wouldn’t see the light of day again. Meanwhile, the other Sky World people destroyed the Spanish ships and freed Wahta and other prisoners. Kahhori, however, had understood the fact that stopping a wave of invaders wouldn’t bring peace to her lands, and therefore, she needed to deal with the root of all evil and put a stop to her greedy ambitions.
During What If? season 2 Episode 6’s ending, Kahhori used the portal to visit the court of Queen Isabella of Spain, where she tried to knock some sense into her. Kahhori wanted the queen to understand that the world was rich enough for everyone to live peacefully, but the queen had become too blind in her greed for power. When words failed, Kahhori used her powers to crush her throne. It was a direct message to the queen. It was what would happen to her entire nation if she didn’t stop plundering land and stealing from its people. Kahhori was going to rewrite history for these new lands, and perhaps because of her courage and endeavors, her native tribe wouldn’t suffer the fate the Spaniards had written for them. Perhaps Kahhori would really be able to save her lands from slavery and the execution of the native tribes.
Why did Doctor Strange visit Kahhori?
At the end of the previous episode, we saw Peggy Carter falling into a portal, after which she met a wizards named Nick Fury and Merlin Wanda, who wanted her help to save their queen. The ending sequence implied the fact that these two people were recruiting a team of multiversal heroes in order to protect their world, but against whom? Stephen Strange’s visit in the sixth episode broadened the canvas further, and his dark eyes suggested the fact that the evil sorcerer was creating an army of his own to revolt against the multiversal laws. So, is his agenda the same as in the previous season: to save his beloved, no matter what effect it has on the world? We don’t know yet. But Kahhori and Carter’s stories haven’t concluded yet, and we are certainly going to see them in the upcoming episodes of What If?, where they will fight a multiversal war to save the world.
