This article contains spoilers for What If…? episode 9.
Black Widow’s “happily ever after” ending in Marvel’s What If…? episode 9 accidentally created a plot hole in Loki’s story. The first seven episodes of What If…? season 1 served as an anthology, with each episode set in a different timeline – one that veered away from the main MCU timeline due to a single significant change. But What If…? episode 8 saw the Watcher’s observation of the multiverse unwittingly unleash Ultron upon all of creation, when the synthezoid gained possession of the Infinity Stones and ascended to a state of cosmic awareness where he could sense the Watcher’s eyes upon him and hear his narration. The Watcher was left no choice but to break his vow of non-intervention in order to save the multiverse from Ultron, and he assembled the Guardians of the Multiverse as his agents.
With Ultron defeated, in What If…? episode 9 the Watcher sent the Guardians of the Multiverse back to their home dimensions. There was one exception, though; Dystopia Black Widow, whose entire universe had been sterilized of all life by Ultron before he broke through the barriers between the dimensions. Natasha Romanoff understandably refused to walk through the door back to a world where she would die alone, and accused the Watcher of lacking compassion for expecting her to do so. The Watcher rejected this charge, insisting the stories of the beings who exist in the multiverse mean everything to him, and he granted Black Widow a happily ever after – sending her to a timeline seen in What If…? episode 3, one that had lost its Black Widow. This Earth was in danger of turning in a wrong direction too, because a second attempt at the Avengers Initiative – one consisting of Nick Fury, Captain America, and Captain Marvel – was about to be overwhelmed. Dystopia Black Widow intervened at just the right moment, disarming Loki and taking his scepter.
But this scene actually introduces a major plot hole in What If…? season 1, because Loki never acquired that particular scepter in that timeline. As seen in What If…? episode 3, this timeline was one in which the candidates for the Avengers Initiative were murdered by Hank Pym during the events of “Fury’s Big Week”; Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2 all played out completely differently. Thor Odinson died while on Earth, stripped of his powers; Loki followed his brother to Midgard in order to avenge his murder, and then claimed the planet. He was never cast into the portals beneath the Bifrost, meaning he never encountered Thanos and gained that scepter.
It’s easy to understand why What If…? made this mistake, because Dystopia Black Widow was emerging during that timeline’s version of The Avengers, and the artists based their models of Loki on the version seen in the classic MCU team-up movie. Unfortunately they failed to follow through on the dramatic changes in the timeline that had resulted from the deaths of the Avengers during “Fury’s Big Week.” And so they’ve introduced an awkward continuity problem, one that has no easy solution.
To be fair to Marvel, What If…? was made during unprecedented circumstances, and it must have been very hard to coordinate all the different animation houses. An entire episode of What If…? was dropped from production because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the story of Gamora the Thanos-killer moved to season 2 when the animation house involved was hit badly by COVID. Given the difficulties Marvel faced, it’s no surprise some mistakes happened, and hopefully Marvel will avoid them in What If…? season 2.