The MCU Retcons Arnim Zola's Ending (& Sets Up His Return)

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Marvel's What If...? episode 8, "What If...Ultron Won?"

Thanks to Marvel's What If...?, the MCU just retconned the fate of Hydra's Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) while also setting up his potential return in the primary timeline. In the eighth episode of the animated series, Black Widow and Hawkeye are the last surviving Avengers in an alternate timeline where Ultron succeeded in Avengers: Age of Ultron, inhabiting the body Soul Stone-powered synthezoid body that originally became Vision, nuking the Earth before killing Thanos for the other Infinity Stones, motivating his departure from Earth to destroy the entire universe. Seeing their last opportunity to defeat Ultron, Black Widow and Hawkeye searched for the AI of Arnim Zola, their only hope despite its believed destruction in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (prior to Ultron's creation).

A leading Hydra scientist during WWII, Arnim Zola worked directly under Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), helping him weaponize the Tessaract as well as being the founding father of the Winter Soldier program. However, the believed defeat of Hydra at the war's end saw Zola being recruited by the SSR which eventually gave birth to SHIELD. From there, Zola was secretly a part of the Hydra that survived within SHIELD itself, working in secret to bring about Hydra's reign and complete control over the world. Additionally, when Zola's body died in 1972, his mind was uploaded into a complex system of computers at Camp Lehigh, transforming him into a secret artificial intelligence where he would continue to help his fellow Hydra agents. However, the base was destroyed in an effort to kill Captain America and Black Widow in Winter Soldier, seemingly marking Zola's ultimate demise just before Hydra's eventual downfall as a whole thanks to Steve Rogers and his allies.

However, this new timeline featured in Marvel's What If...? episode 8 sees Black Widow and Hawkeye searching for the analog Zola in the aftermath of a true Age Of Ultron, where all digital systems and the internet itself have been taken over by Ultron. According to Black Widow, despite the Zola AI being destroyed at Camp Lehigh, a copy was made and installed in Siberia so he could oversee the Russian arm of the Winter Soldier program, which retcons his history. Furthermore, this change could very well be the case in the primary timeline of the MCU as well, meaning that it's now possible for Zola to return and continue Hydra's work at some point in the MCU's future now that he presumedly still exists in Russia.

Due to Zola's systems being analog in nature, Black Widow guessed that the Zola's AI would be unknown and uncorrupted by Ultron, seeing Zola as their best chance to shut Ultron and his hivemind of drones down for good. While Natasha was proven correct, Ultron's battle with the Watcher across the multiverse meant he was out of range of Zola's signal. Regardless, the reveal that a copy of Zola potentially exists in the primary MCU is a pretty dynamic retcon to his story. It would certainly be interesting to see him return, perhaps even in his classic robot body he constructs for himself in the comics rather than just being a face within a computer monitor.

In any case, Zola being an incredibly advanced AI makes him the perfect candidate to combat Ultron in Marvel's What If...?, and it's a pretty exciting concept should Zola get the chance to face him when and if Ultron returns. Furthermore, the retcon to Zola's story is a welcome one, as it makes sense that the Hydra AI would have created backups of himself in the event of his destruction. While Arnim Zola's story will likely continue with Black Widow as the animated series reaches its final episode, here's hoping the story of the dynamic Captain America villain continues in the main MCU as well with a potential appearance in the future.

More: What If...? Episode 8 Asks 9 Big Questions About Ultron & The Watcher

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