Where The Avengers Were During Thor’s Invasion Of Earth

Warning: SPOILERS for Marvel's What If...? Episode 7 - "What If... Thor Were An Only Child?"

Where were the other Avengers when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) came to Earth to party in Marvel's What If...? episode 7? The rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes were noticeably absent as the God of Thunder, who is an only child in this alt-universe tale, brought his best Asgardian buddies to Midgard for an epic rager that spanned the globe. But the timing of Thor's party that goes too far in the latest What If...? episode explains the whereabouts of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

In "What If... Thor Were An Only Child?", Odin (Anthony Hopkins) never adopted Loki (Tom Hiddleston) so Thor didn't grow up with his mischievous brother in this universe. Instead of being a bold warrior, Thor became an incorrigible party animal, and he decided to take advantage of his parents' absence by throwing an epic bash on Earth. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe's cosmic denizens like Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), the Guardians of the Galaxy, Korg (Taika Waititi), Howard the Duck (Seth Green), and even Surtur (Clancy Brown) came to party on Earth, Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) contact S.H.I.E.L.D. to prevent Thor's party from destroying the world, and acting S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) summons Captain Marvel (Alexandra Daniels) to stop the God of Thunder.

The reason that Maria Hill sent a distress call to Captain Marvel is that the Avengers haven't assembled yet in What If...? episode 7. "What If... Thor Were An Only Child" is set during Phase 1 and it presumably replaces the events of the original Thor movie in this version of the MCU timeline. In turn, Thor happens during a period dubbed "Fury's Big Week" where the events of Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk occur within a few days of each other, a couple of years after Tony Stark first became Iron Man. So, since Nick Fury himself was taken out of action and given the lack of superheroes Maria Hill could call upon to counter what S.H.I.E.L.D. saw as a full-blown alien invasion, asking for Captain Marvel's help was the acting S.H.I.E.L.D. director's best option as there is no formed Avengers team yet.

At this point in time, the future Avengers are scattered all over. Presuming that the rest of the events of What If...? episode 7's universe are identical to the mainline MCU's, Tony Stark, James Rhodes, and Pepper Potts, as well as Natasha Romanoff, are likely still reeling from the attack on the Stark Expo by Ivan Vanko/Whiplash. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers is still frozen in ice and won't be found by S.H.I.E.L.D. for a while longer. And Bruce Banner is on the run after the Hulk defeated the Abomination in Harlem.

The one Avenger whose absence from What If...? episode 7 is curious is Clint Barton. Hawkeye appears in Thor and nearly shot an arrow at a depowered Thor Odinson in the mainline MCU. Indeed, What If...? also echoed this moment in What If...? episode 3, "What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?", where Barton did kill Thor thanks to an evil Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Agent Barton should have been part of this S.H.I.E.L.D. operation to stop Thor's party but perhaps not wanting to repeat a prior episode of What If...? prompted episode 7 to replace Hawkeye with Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo). However, Marvel's What If...? episode 7's terrifying cliffhanger of Ultron appearing with the Infinity Stones may lead to Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and whatever other heroes are available to form the Avengers with Thor to stop the android and his ultimate weapons.

Next: Every MCU Easter Egg In What If...? Episode 7

Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.