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What if..?The finale debuted on Disney Plus today, and it brought more multiversal mayhem with it. But fans may have already had the big reveal of the final to themselves all through August… thanks to a Hyundai Tucson commercial?
Spoilers for “What if … The Watcher has broken his oath” and What if…?’s first season below:
Marvel projects are no stranger to commercials and product placement, of course, but the Hynduai commercial (part of a series of commercials the company has done with Disney Plus) marks a particularly odd turning point – one that mixes up storytelling with advertising.
The thrust of most of What if…?The first Marvel episodes were that the series was an anthology, providing standalone narratives in different corners of the Marvel Multiverse that offered alternate versions of existing films. Each episode was linked through the narration of Uatu the Watcher, a god-like being who existed to observe – but not intervene in – events of differing timelines.
Of course, with the MCU being the MCU, where interconnected storytelling reigns supreme, it soon became clear that What if…? was heading for a multiversal mashup, prompted by the rise of an Infinity Stone-powered Ultron / Vision hybrid introduced in the previous episode, dubbed “Infinity Ultron”. Infinity Ultron aimed to use its power to endure wastage, not only for its own universe, but, thanks to the comedic consciousness imparted by possession of the Six Stones, to all universes.
In response, Uatu (after fighting unsuccessfully in a cosmic brawl) decides to break his no-intervention policy and assembles a group of heroes from the previous one. What if…? episodes (and an alternate version of Gamora whose episode was pushed back to next season after COVID delays) to form “Guardians of the Multiverse” to defeat Infinity Ultron and save the MCU’s nascent multiverse from destruction. Superheroes follow.
The founding of the Guardians of the Multiverse is meant to be a major moment in the series. Uatu breaks his sacred oath and crosses the line from observer to participating in Marvel’s adventures. It unites separate heroes from different slices of Marvel to unite against a bigger foe, almost like a Avengers miniature film.
But for anyone who’s seen the Hyundai Tucson commercial – which has been running for months, in places as important as prime-time NFL games – the whole concept had already been messed up months in advance. The ad shows various heroes of What if…?, including Captain Carter, T’Challa, Star-Lord, Strange Supreme and partying Thor, are brought together by The Watcher to devastate an army of Ultron drones (albeit with the help of a Hyundai placed from incongruously).
Hyundai’s eerily spoiler ad is the perfect example of the current state of spoiler culture in 2021, especially as streaming has expanded to include major franchises like Star Wars and Marvel that build on the more on their great moments and their revelations. In an age of overly long trailers that reveal major plot points or villains, or the sprawling Twitter threads and trending topics that pop up minutes after the shows start in the middle of the night, what is another national ad campaign that reveals a big surprise from a show.
There is more to What if…? and its final that an automobile advertisement can show. And with more Disney Plus shows going on – and presumably more corporate ties to go along with them – it’s likely that this latest crack in Marvel’s wall of secrecy is just another thing fans and creators alike have to say about it. will have to learn to live. .
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