Thor’s invasion of Earth in Marvel’s What If…? had numerous plot holes, but what were they? The Marvel anthology series’ second episode, “What If... Thor Were an Only Child?,” introduces a jarringly different iteration of Thor, the Asgardian Avenger. With Odin returning an infant Loki to Jotunheim rather than adopting him, the episode claims that Thor would have grown up into a dangerously hedonistic buffoon, whose antics as the self-proclaimed “party prince” endanger the Earth. The episode is intended to be a comedic installment, but its humor, unfortunately, leads to glaring inconsistencies with the rest of the MCU.

Marvel’s What If…? has depicted quite dark and tragic subject matter in certain episodes, with Doctor Strange’s installment seeing a heartbroken sorcerer struggle against a fixed point in time, resulting in a gradual turn to villainy and the destruction of his entire reality. Killmonger and Nick Fury’s episodes showed the brutal deaths of some of the MCU’s most iconic heroes, effectively dooming their respective realities. With such dark subject matter, it’s understandable to balance them out with more comedic installments, though the story of “Party Thor” perhaps lost sight of the MCU’s chronology and lore in pursuit of levity.

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The zombie episode of What If...? had a somewhat similar issue, balancing out the apocalyptic premise of nearly all MCU heroes becoming monstrous shells of their former selves with a hefty dose of comic relief. While understandable, the episode tended to treat the deaths of beloved characters rather callously before taking a jarring turn to mourn the demise of others. “Party Thor’s” episode, by design, almost completely lacks substantive drama until the final scene. Though it isn’t meant to be taken seriously, the episode does contain several glaring plot holes.

Thor’s Tattoo

What If episode 7 Jane and Party Thor

Party Thor and Jane Foster meet early on in this episode of What If, quickly developing romantic feelings for each other like their mainstream MCU counterparts. Upon realizing that the Asgardian prince is too buffoonish to threaten Earth, she and Thor party in Las Vegas. Also like their mainstream counterparts, the two compare Jane’s scientific background with Thor’s Asgardian “magic, and during their shenanigans, the two get tattoos on their arms. Jane’s tattoo has the word “magic” with Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, and Thor’s says “science” with a microscope. While it’s one of the episode’s cuter moments, it shouldn’t be possible for Thor to get a tattoo from an ordinary Earth needle.

As an Asgardian, Thor is a god-like being, compared to humans. In addition to having the ability to fly and control the weather (a unique power of his), Thor also possesses superhuman strength and durability, shrugging off nearly any attack from Earth-based weaponry and being considered one of the strongest Avengers and Asgardians of all time. Though the MCU’s Thor is significantly less powerful than his Marvel Comics counterpart, he survived the heat of a star when forging the magical Uru hammer Stormbreaker in Avengers: Infinity War, so it’s absurd for him to be affected in any way by an Earth tattoo needle.

Mjolnir’s Worthiness Enchantment

Odin holding Mjolnir in Thor

Thor’s most iconic weapon is Mjolnir, an Uru hammer empowered by Asgardian magic and the Odinforce. Although Thor intrinsically has the power to control the weather, Mjolnir enhances and focuses his abilities, and he specifically trained for combat with the legendary hammer. In 2011’s Thor, Odin teaches his son a lesson in humility by putting a permeant spell on the hammer. Only those who are “worthy” may wield Mjolnir, and the weapon is impossible for anyone “unworthy” to so much as pick up, regardless of their physical strength. In What If, Thor incapacitates Captain Marvel by placing the hammer on top of her, immobilizing her. This shouldn’t be possible for several reasons.

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Since the events of the 2011 film didn’t happen in this universe, Thor never learned humility and honor from his father, and, thus, there should not be a worthiness enchantment on Mjolnir. Thor is a selfish, spoiled, hedonist in this episode, and he implies, while incapacitating Captain Marvel, that the worst punishment he received was a “time out.” Moreover, if the hammer did have the worthiness enchantment placed on it for some reason, Thor acts completely unworthy throughout the episode, mocking his father’s responsibility to protect the Nine Realms and abusing his authoritative and literal power throughout the episode’s runtime.

Heimdall’s Sight

Heimdall posses with his sword in Thor.

Similar to Thor’s control over the weather, Heimdall has unique powers, even among the god-like Asgardians. The kind and powerful Asgardian has senses so attuned that they’re essentially omniscient. In Thor, Heimdall was described as being able to perceive the most minuscule details on faraway worlds. For this, Odin tasked Heimdall with guarding the gate to Asgard and keeping watch over the Nine Realms. Operating the Bifrost Rainbow Bridge, Heimdall was called upon by Asgardians to teleport them to and from Asgard when traveling between worlds. The few instances of beings sneaking in or out of Asgard without Heimdall’s notice were facilitated through incredibly powerful magic users, such as Loki and the Dark Elves, blocking his senses.

In What If, the all-seeing Heimdall is unaware of Thor’s party on Earth until Jane Foster calls out to him. Considering that beings from all over the galaxy, including Frost Giants, Skrulls, and Surtur, all traveled to Earth for Thor’s party, it’s ridiculous that the all-seeing Asgardian watchman didn’t notice what was happening until a human reached out to him. Additionally, Heimdall is said to observe all Nine Realms simultaneously, so despite Thor’s insistence that he’s uninterested in observing Earth, Heimdall can and would be watching over humanity during Thor’s escapades.

Ultron’s Existence

Ultron Vision in What If

As with many other episodes of What If, Party Thor’s story ends with a cliffhanger. After cleaning up his world-spanning mess, Thor tries to reconcile his mistake with Jane and ask her out on a date, only to be interrupted by Ultron Sentries and Ultron himself, in his vibranium Vision body and wielding all six Infinity Stones. While a dramatic finale to an otherwise comedic episode, Ultron shouldn’t exist in this new universe, since Tony Stark and Bruce Banner would never become motivated to begin the Ultron Project.

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The episode establishes that Loki grew up as a Frost Giant, becoming a frivolous and hedonistic fool like Thor. For this, Loki never became Thor’s adversary, nor did he invade New York with an army of Chitauri, provided by Thanos, and, thus, The Avengers never formed. In the mainstream MCU, Tony concocted the Ultron Project as a means to protect the Earth from otherworldly existential threats and make The Avengers obsolete one day. The chain of events caused by Loki’s Jotunheim upbringing would prevent this chain of events, ending Party Thor’s episode of Marvel’s What If…? with yet another plot hole.

Next: Marvel Shows It Doesn't Understand Thor's MCU Arc

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