What If Made Tony Stark's Iron Legion Plan Incredibly Weak

The eighth episode of Marvel’s What If…? showed what would have happened if Ultron took control of the multiverse, and in the process, it showed how weak Tony Stark’s Iron Legion plan really was. Although the Infinity Saga has come to an end, that doesn’t mean the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which continues its expansion with a long list of movies and TV shows. The MCU’s highly-anticipated Phase 4 is the first to cover both TV shows and movies, and after four live-action shows, Marvel brought something different but very intriguing as well with the TV series What If…?.

What If…? is an animated anthology series that instead of following events from the main MCU timeline, explores different scenarios from the multiverse. What If…? takes viewers to different timelines where some key MCU events happened differently for various reasons, becoming the first look at the MCU’s multiverse. Through nine episodes, What If…? shows scenarios such as one where Peggy Carter became Captain Carter, Doctor Strange became evil, a quantum virus turned everyone into zombies, and more. However, the most dangerous story was saved for episode 8, and it showed what would have happened if Ultron had reached his full potential.

At the end of What If…? episode 7, viewers saw Ultron arrive in his Vision body and with the Infinity Stones, and so episode 8 showed how that happened. The Avengers never got to Vision’s vibranium body, so Ultron successfully uploaded his consciousness to it. With Vision’s vibranium body and the Mind Stone on his forehead, Ultron effortlessly killed Thanos when he arrived with the rest of the Stones and took them, and so with the help of a drone army, he moved forward with his plans to bring peace through genocide. However, the drones weren't that much of a threat, and they were easily defeated, and this shows that Tony Stark’s Iron Legion plan would have also been a big failure.

The Iron Legion was a group of Iron Man armors and droids created by Tony Stark with the purpose of guarding and protecting civilians while the Avengers fought in populated areas. They were originally controlled by J.A.R.V.I.S. and served as Iron Man’s combat support team, as seen in Iron Man 3 during the Battle on the Norco. A second incarnation of the Iron Legion, now consisting of droids, was made and used at the beginning of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Ultron later used them to attack the Avengers. Now, back to What If…?, the drones were shown to be visually threatening but not so much in practice, with Hawkeye and Black Widow taking them down somewhat easily and the drone with a copy of Arnim Zola’s consciousness was left useless when shot on the legs with a pistol. The Iron Legion, then, wouldn’t have resisted much during major battles, and so they wouldn’t have been able to fulfill their purpose of protecting civilians and helping the Avengers.

Through all these alternate scenarios, What If…? has not only explored different possibilities but also the powers and weaknesses of many well-known characters, and it has also exposed the flaws of some characters, plans, and events. The Iron Legion would have been hopeless against a real threat, so with that in mind, it was for the best that they didn’t last long in the main timeline of the MCU.

Next: How Ultron Travels The Multiverse - New Powers Explained