Warning! SPOILERS for Marvel's What If...? episode 1, "What If...Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?"

In Marvel's What If...?, Steve Rogers' Hydra Stomper features the best hero twist in the series' premiere episode on Disney+. While Agent Peggy Carter's transformation and new status as her own brand of super-soldier is certainly impressive, Steve Rogers' new path on this alternate timeline is arguably the more dynamic and engaging of the two of them. Additionally, Rogers' complex feelings about his armored identity call back to the same ideals and perspectives he holds in the first Avengers film with Tony Stark's Iron Man.

In the first episode "What If...Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?," divergent circumstances force Peggy Carter to become the SSR's super-soldier instead of Dr. Erskine's intended volunteer Steve Rogers (voiced by Josh Keaton), who was injured before he could undergo the transformation. Peggy would then go on to embrace a new uniform and shield as Captain Carter, assuming the role Rogers was meant to take in the primary MCU timeline. However, once the SSR retrieved the Tesseract from Hydra, Howard Stark used its power to create the Hydra Stomper for Rogers, a large suit of armor that allowed him to fly and fight by Carter's side as World War II continued to rage on.

Related: What If…? Episode 1: 5 Big Questions About Captain Carter's MCU

That being said, Rogers was meant to become America's first super-soldier and Avenger and his twist is all the more resonant because it hearkens back to his first fraught encounters with Tony Stark. While Steve does appreciate the opportunity to fight and serve thanks to his new armor, he still sees himself as "just a skinny kid from Brooklyn, now just in a big metal suit." However, Peggy encourages him that the suit is nothing without the man inside, which calls back to the tensions between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark's Iron Man. During their initial interactions after meeting one another in the first Avengers film, Cap believed that Tony Stark wasn't much of a hero outside of his armor either: "Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" While Stark certainly had his list of accomplishments to counter with, Steve's sentiment still stood until he saw Tony prove himself to be a true hero underneath the armor.

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With the dynamic inversion in the first episode, Steve is putting himself under a similar lens now that he's wearing armor of his own in the new timeline featured in Marvel's What If...?. Rather than letting the armor define who he is and what he can do, Peggy encourages Steve by telling him that nothing good happens with the Hydra Stomper suit unless there's a hero inside to operate it. Take the armor away and Steve is still a hero, stemming from the (intended) Captain America being "a good man", which is what made him Dr. Erskine's prime candidate in the first place.

As a result, the changes that have occurred in Steve Rogers' divergent life within this premiere episode seem much more impactful and unique. While it's certainly impressive to see Peggy as Captain Carter, she was already strong and capable before the super-soldier serum (albeit fighting for her voice to be heard in a male-dominated world). In contrast, Steve Rogers' entire means of being able to fight and serve drastically changed, all while he's grappling with the idea of whether or not he's a hero without the Hydra Stomper armor. As such, Steve Rogers carries the most complex and dynamic hero twist in the first episode of Marvel's What If...?.

More: What If…? Episode 1 Addresses The MCU's Biggest Peggy Carter Crime

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

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