The MCU Just Proved How Weak The Ancient One Really Was

Warning: Contains spoilers for Marvel's What If...? episode 3.

With Loki’s successful invasion of Earth in What If…? episode 3, “What If… the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?,” the show inadvertently proved how weak the Ancient One really was. What If…? has expanded the Marvel Cinematic Universe to include examinations of what could have happened in alternate timelines. This device is rife with potential narrative and storytelling pitfalls.

In episode 3 of What If…? Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) seeks vengeance against Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) for the death of his daughter, Hope Van Dyne, by assassinating each member of his planned Avengers initiative before he can properly recruit them. Pym’s self-involved plan has the obvious knock-on effect of leaving the Earth without the original Avengers to defend it. While the episode closes with the implication that Captain Marvel and Captain America could be the start of a new version of the team in this timeline, it is not before catastrophe has struck. A result of Pym’s plan that would have been harder for him to predict is that Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) would arrive on Earth with an Asgardian army, and without a team to stop them, Loki easily conquers the planet.

However, the MCU has made it clear that beyond Nick Fury’s Avengers there are other people intent on keeping Earth safe. Doctor Strange set up the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) as Sorcerer Supreme of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and Avengers: Endgame demonstrated that she was in New York and protecting the Sanctum Sanctorum during the events of The Avengers. During the Chitauri invasion, she presumably did not take a larger part in the battle because she had used the Time Stone and knew the Avengers would succeed. However, during this alternate timeline, they have already diverged from what the TVA called the Sacred Timeline, and yet she allowed Loki to take control of the planet unhindered. After the death of the Ancient One, Thor: Ragnarok shows Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in the role of Sorcerer Supreme and as soon as Loki appears on Earth he addresses the situation as he sees Loki as an obvious and credible threat. The fact that the Ancient One does nothing to confront Loki in What If…? highlights how much weaker she was than Strange is able to become.

The Ancient One standing at the Sanctum Sanctorum in Avengers: Endgame

This is not the first time that a Disney Plus series has undermined the presumed power and knowledge of the Ancient One. Prior to What If…?, the true laws of time were explored within the TVA in Loki and proved the Ancient One wrong about the Infinity Stones and timelines. While this might feel like the MCU working to retcon the statements made by the Ancient One, it likely is a different problem.

All of this was probably unintentional on Marvel’s part and underlies an issue that the MCU is hitting up against as it becomes so large and interconnected. Whenever they introduce a new powerful character, it raises the question of what they were doing during other catastrophes, leading to them including explanations that sidestep the issue as with The Eternals. Similarly, as happened with Black Widow, when they go back to tell a story earlier in the timeline (which is effectively the whole point of What If…?) they risk forgetting the presence of a powerful character who should have undoubtedly had an effect on the situation.

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