In episode 7 of Marvel’s What If…?, ‘What If… Thor Were an Only Child?’, we get to find out what would have happened if Odin had decided to return the wee babby Loki to his Frost Giant family instead of keeping him, and Thor had grown up believing he was an only child. I’m phrasing it that way because, y’know, Hela still exists. Lest we forget her majesty.
It’s a fun, fluffy episode that ends with a terrific cliffhanger that seems to set up the finale of this consistently entertaining animated series, and gives us plenty to talk about until it arrives. I’m sure they’ll find a way to kill Tony Stark at least one more time before it does.
As we’ve come to expect, Uatu the Watcher is Jeffrey Wright. Chris Hemsworth is Thor, Tom Hiddleston is Loki, Natalie Portman is Jane Foster, Kat Dennings is Darcy Lewis, Samuel L. Jackson is Nick Fury, Jeff Goldblum is The Grandmaster, Cobie Smulders is Maria Hill, Clark Gregg is Agent Phil Coulson, Frank Grillo is Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, Taika Waititi is Korg, Karen Gillan is Nebula, Jaimie Alexander is Lady Sif, Seth Green is Howard the Duck, Clancy Brown is (amazingly) Surtur, Alexandra Daniels is Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, and Rachel House is Topaz. Frigga is played here by Josette Eales from Blended and Covert Affairs.
This reality diverged from the mainline MCU hundreds of years ago, after Frost Giant king Laufey abandoned his son Loki as a baby. In the Sacred Timeline, Asgardian king Odin found the tiny Frost Giant and adopted him -- Loki was then raised as an Asgardian prince along with Odin's biological son Thor (Chris Hemsworth).
Here, we're introduced to a universe in which Odin gave Loki back to Laufey, so Thor grew up without a sibling and is even more of a doofus than he was early in the MCU. We join the "Party Prince" at the moment his father enters the Odinsleep, a state he must go into periodically to recharge his powers (this happened in the first Thor movie).
When Thor's Midgardian party moves to Paris, we meet this reality's Loki (Tom Hiddleston). He looks awesome in his towering Frost Giant of Jotunheim form, and he and Thor are apparently tight.
"Brothers forevaaaaa!" Jotun Loki says as they greet each other warmly.It's unclear how this relationship developed, but it's likely Odin formed a bond with Laufey and the Frost Giants when he returned baby Loki. Then their sons became party bros, and it's pretty heart-warming to see.
Astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) realizes the Bifrost Bridge energy signature from Thor's teleportation shenanigans matches one that happened just before a planet was destroyed (though it turns out the Asgardians weren't responsible that), so she tracks the Party Prince down in Las Vegas. She and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) end up falling for that Asgardian charm.
SHIELD is out to spoil the fun, though, since Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was left unconscious by an exuberant Korg (Taika Waititi) as he tried to make contact with Thor. As a result, the less diplomatic Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is in charge, and she wastes no time in summoning Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Alexandra Daniels).
MONEY HIEST SEASON 5 PART 1 REVIEW
Much of the episode is taken up by Carol and Thor battering each other across the planet (with some awesome music as they fight in the desert). SHIELD is ultimately prepared to nuke them both to eliminate the "threat" Thor poses.
Jane opts for a less violent approach, tracking down Thor's mother, Frigga (Josette Eales), and revealing her son's silliness. He convinces his party buddies to clean up Earth before Frigga arrives, and almost gets away with it.
