🚨Warning: There are MASSIVE spoilers ahead for What If...? Episode 6 on Disney+!🚨
Hi, hello. I hope you recovered from What If...? Episode 5 and are ready to dive into the next episode. So, here are all the details I noticed in Episode 6, aka "What If...Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?"
If you're new to these posts, welcome, and I apologize for all of my nerdy yelling! If you're returning after my weekly WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, AND Loki Easter eggs/details posts, thanks so much for coming back!
1. First, this episode begins with a perfect re-creation of the opening scene from Iron Man and shows Tony taking a picture with a soldier.
2. The moment from Iron Man when Tony is hiding and a Stark Industries bomb lands near him is seen in this episode too.
3. One notable difference between this episode and the beginning of Iron Man is that "Back in Black" by AC/DC isn't the song that is playing inside the convoy with Tony and the soldiers.
4. In this universe, Killmonger saves Tony before he's captured by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, and Ross mentions Killmonger's time there in Black Panther.
5. These are pretty obvious details, but I love these side-by-sides so much, so we have to talk about them. We see the iconic Avengers team-up from The Avengers and Tony's heroic snap from Avengers: Endgame in this episode.
6. In this timeline, Killmonger takes Happy's job as Tony's Chief Security Officer, a promotion Happy gets in Iron Man 3, which allows him to spy on Aldrich Killian.
7. Just like in Episode 4 when we heard her on the news, Leslie Bibb reprises her role as Christine Everhart, who she played in Iron Man and Iron Man 2.
8. When Killmonger pulls up the documents implicating Obadiah Stane, you can see the Ten Rings logo. This logo is the one from Iron Man, not the one we see in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
9. Just like he took Happy's job, Killmonger also receives Pepper's rightful promotion, which she is seen doing in Iron Man 2 before becoming CEO of Stark Industries.
10. Rhodey talks about how Killmonger was part of an elite unit that specialized in assassinations, which is exactly how Ross describes Killmonger's work in Black Panther.
11. If you look closely, you can spot Tony's 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster, which he can be seen rebuilding and toying with in Iron Man and Iron Man 2.
12. Killmonger immediately recognizes "repulsor tech" in Tony's garage, which is the piece of technology he presents to the military in Iron Man, and it later becomes part of the Iron Man suit.
13. Killmonger mentions Howard Stark's quote about peace, which Tony first talked about way back in Iron Man.
14. Michael B. Jordan's real-life love of anime gets a reference here when Tony pulls up Killmonger's designs.
15. While building the Liberator drones, Killmonger and Tony record their failed tests, which is just like when Tony was building the Iron Man suit in Iron Man.
16. Tony mentions miniaturizing an arc reactor to help with the drones, but deems it a "dumb idea." Of course, Tony does use the arc reactor in Iron Man in order to save his own life.
17. Tony mentions how Howard used up all his vibranium during the war, which is, of course, a nod to Howard making Steve Rogers' shield.
18. Killmonger's vibranium ring is also seen in Black Panther. In this episode, Killmonger says he got it off the black market, but it's actually N'Jobu's ring.
19. When Rhodey goes to meet Ulysses Klaue, it's on a boat off the African coast, which is exactly where Klaue is when Wanda and Pietro track him down in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
20. Killmonger uses a sonic taser on Rhodey and T'Challa, which is the same tech Obadiah Stane used to torture Tony in Iron Man.
21. Tony dies, yet again, in this episode, which makes me think his death is an "absolute point in time," which makes it unchangeable and unmovable, no matter the timeline.
22. Pepper mentions how J.A.R.V.I.S. was "wiped clean," which is why there's no footage of Tony's death. This is a nice callback to a little earlier in the episode, when Tony realized Killmonger killed Rhodey and T'Challa because of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s footage.
23. Just like in Black Panther, Killmonger carries Klaue's body into Wakanda as a sign of peace.
24. After entering Wakanda, we get a look at Killmonger's War Dogs tattoo, which we saw in Black Panther.
25. Killmonger mentions watching the sunset on Mt. Bashenga while meeting King T'Chaka. In Black Panther, Mt. Bashenga is where the meteorite crashed that was filled with vibranium, and Killmonger watches the sunset there before he dies.
26. In this universe, Ramonda is the general of the Dora Milaje instead of Okoye, and I have nothing intelligent to add except this is awesome and I need to see Angela Bassett in this uniform too.
27. And finally, when Killmonger sees T'Challa on the ancestral plane, T'Challa is wearing his white ceremonial outfit, which we saw in Black Panther.
