"What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" is the second episode, of Marvel's Disney+ series What If...?. It premiered on August 18, 2021. It was written by Matthew Chauncey and directed by Bryan Andrews. This episode is based on Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther, and was dedicated in memory of Chadwick Boseman.
Synospis[]
The rough-and-tumble space pirates known as the Ravagers abduct T'Challa instead of Peter Quill.
Plot[]
Opening narration[]
- “The galaxy! To your eyes, a hundred billion points of light, but where you see light, I see worlds and the countless stories that fill them. But in a multiverse of infinite possibility, is your destiny determined by your nature, or by the nature of your world?... Though our hero's destiny might lie in the stars above, the beginning of his journey was much more... down to earth... What you call destiny is just an equation, a product of variables. Right place, right time, or in some instances, the wrong place at the wrong time. As fate would have it, at that very moment, a Ravager spacecraft was arriving on Earth to abduct the spawn of the Celestial, Ego. But in this universe, Yondu outsourced the assignment to his subordinates.”
- ―The Watcher
Earth, Wakanda, 1988. Young T'Challa is annoyed with his father for not letting him see the world outside their country; having been warned it's dangerous and violent. T'Challa practices tossing his spear and it goes outside the barrier of Wakanda. He goes to get it, only to be surprised by a Ravager ship. In this reality, Yondu sent Kraglin and Taserface in his place to get Ego's offspring; the device they were using to track Celestial's cosmic energy picked up on Wakanda's Vibranium instead, causing them to mistake T'Challa for Peter Quill. Yondu is angry with the two of them, showing an actual photo of Quill; they stupidly defend themselves by saying they got a kid with the right amount of "head holes". Yondu wonders what T'Challa was doing alone, to which the boy explains he was exploring the world. Impressed, Yondu offers to take him across the galaxy, adopting T'challa and raising him as the Star-Lord of this reality.
20 years later, Star-Lord obtains the orb, only to be surprised by Korath the Pursuer, whom is a big fan of his for his heroic exploits in stealing from the powerful and giving to those in need. Star-Lord recruits Korath to his Ravager family, while Yondu kills the Sakaarans that came with Korath. Since T'Challa has such a good moral compass, he became well known across the universe for reforming the Ravagers into a robin hood-esque resistance group, earning them fame and free drinks. Unlike in the main timeline, the Ravagers are keeping the orb to make sure it doesn't fall into Ronan's hands.
The Ravagers celebrate their success on Contraxia, where Korath asks excitedly about their exploits with Star-Lord. Another change in this reality is Star-Lord managing to talk Thanos out of his plan, by showing him that diplomacy would help allocate the resources planets need, rather than genocide; Thanos even joined the group, leaving his empire behind. Nebula is also there and, as consequence of Thanos giving up his plan, she is not robotized and still has a difficult relationship with her adoptive father, but it is not hostile and she can also get along with him. She is close to Star-Lord, calling him by the affectionate nickname "Chacha". T'Challa has even been trying to get Thanos and Nebula into counseling to help them get past the pain Nebula still feels.
Nebula offers a job to the Ravagers to reclaim the Embers of Genesis, a powerful artifact that can bring life and vegetation to dying planets, ensuring many will be well fed. Unfortunately, they are being held by the Collector, who became the greatest criminal kingpin in the universe after Thanos went straight and left a power vacuum. Yondu is hesitant to do it because the Collector is involved, but T'Challa manages to speak to him and convinces him of how important it is, so he agrees to go through with the job.
The Ravagers infiltrate Knowhere, where the Black Order is now employed by the Collector. While the Ravagers create chaos outside to keep the security distracted, Nebula and Yondu talk to the Collector claiming they wish to sell the Orb, as they sneak Star-Lord into Tivan's collection archive to search for the Embers. Once inside, Star-Lord searches the exhibits and finds Howard the Duck, whom he frees to lead him to the Embers. Outside, the Black Order eventually realizes it is a diversion and sounds the alarms to lock down the building.
Inside the exhibits, T'Challa finds his necklace reacting to a ship of Wakandan origin. He finds a message sent by his father, T'Chaka, after he had disappeared, in which he is asking for help to find him. He is surprised by Nebula, who reveals she doublecrossed him to settle a debt with the Collector, and all the Ravagers are captured. Imprisoned, T'Challa demands Yondu to explain about being lied to, saying that Wakanda was destroyed. Yondu reveals he knew the truth, but wanted to protect him, he wished T'Challa could see the universe more and says that he belongs with the Ravagers which are his family now. However, T'Challa claims he does not see the Ravagers as his family. The Collector later has T'Challa imprisoned in a display case; however, he changes his mind after being annoyed by his righteousness. He orders Ebony Maw to dissect T'Challa for his collection.
Nebula frees the Ravagers, revealing her betrayal was all part of Star-Lord's plan and she frees the Ravagers by killing Corvus Glaive. She has stolen the Embers of Genesis, completing half the mission. Yondu wonders about Star-Lord, whom Nebula reveals already has an escape plan. Star-Lord uses his vibranium necklace to break out of his case, only to be stopped by Maw's telekinesis. The Collector's maid, Carina, who had suffered under Tivan, kills Ebony Maw and frees T'Challa. Star-Lord is stopped by the Collector, who uses a variety of weapons from villains like Malekith and Hela to fight him. The Ravagers flee back to the ship, but Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian attack the group, Thanos stays behind to delay them.
Yondu returns to help Star-Lord, whom he still considers his son. The two team up face off against the Collector who manages to beat the two severely. However using their tricks, they take his control away and knock him into a glass case. They give the controls to Carina who frees the other imprisoned people. She then opens the Collector's cage to leave him to be killed by the mob in anger. Outside, Nebula turns around to help him and uses some of the Embers to defeat the Obsidian, causing him to explode from a plant growing in his body. After rescuing Thanos, Nebula and him return to the Ravager ship, while Star-Lord and Yondu steal a ship from the Collector.
On the ship, Yondu notices Cosmo the space dog stowed away with them. Both sit down and talk. Yondu tells T'Challa that his life is where he wishes it to be. T'Challa admits he always felt his home was in the stars, but now it's time to return to his origins. This leads the Ravagers to arrive in Wakanda, where they happily celebrate T'Challa's return to his people. T'Challa introduces the family he made while traveling the stars and everyone enjoys dinner together.
Elsewhere, Peter Quill is working as a night janitor at a Dairy Queen in Missouri, when he is suddenly approached by Ego who spent the last three decades looking for him and tells him he is his father.
Closing narration[]
- “And from one family reunion to another... Too bad that this might spell the end of the world... But that's a story for another day.”
- ―The Watcher
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher
- Chadwick Boseman as |Star-Lord T'Challa
- Michael Rooker as Yondu
- Josh Brolin as Thanos
- Benicio Del Toro as The Collector
- Kurt Russell as Ego
- Ophelia Lovibond as Carina
- Carrie Coon as Proxima Midnight
- Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw
- Karen Gillan as Nebula
- Djimon Hounsou as Korath
- John Kani as T'Chaka
- Sean Gunn as Kraglin
- Chris Sullivan as Taserface
- Seth Green as Howard the Duck
- Danai Gurira as Okoye
Guest Stars[]
- Fred Tatasciore as Drax & Corvus Glaive
- Maddix Robinson as Young T'Challa
- Brian T. Delaney as Peter Quill
- Tanya Wheelock as Ravager K
- David Boat as Additional Voices
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
- Donald Fullilove as Additional Voices
- Piotr Michael as Additional Voices
- Michael Ralph as Additional Voices
- David Sobolov as Additional Voices
- Debra Wilson as Additional Voices
- Matthew Wood as Additional Voices
- Michael Woodley as Additional Voices
Trivia[]
- Nebula has long blonde hair, suggesting she was spared the extensive cyberization her main counterpart went through.
- The Collector having Hela's headdress might suggest that Odin died sooner in this timeline, and thus his seal keeping Hela imprisoned was broken earlier. The Collector also had Mjolnhir, which he could have only moved had he retrieved it from Asgard before the events of Thor.
- The Black Order didn't follow Thanos after he abandoned his goals, suggesting they loved violence too much to change their ways.
- Unlike Guardians of the Galaxy (film), Korad knows who T'Challa is as Star Lord, but he had no idea who Peter Quill was when he met him.
- This episode is dedicated to Chadwick Boseman, who voiced Star-Lord T'Challa). It is the first episode out of 4 that he recorded as T-Challa's Star Lord before his death.
- Korad asking if he should bow in front of T'Challa mirror's Avengers: Infinity War when Bruce Banner asked the same question.
- T'Challa named his ship The Mandela. When he was kidnapped in 1988, Nelson Mandela was still a political prisoner.
- The Thanos in this universe decided not to invade and get all the Infinity Stones because of T'Challa's input and convincing him against it.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
_promo_image.png "Nebula (What If) promo image.png (2.61 MB)")
.jpg "Howard the Duck promo (What If).jpg (461 KB)")
.png "The Watcher's Report (Kidnapping of Peter Quill).png (1.15 MB)")
Screenshots[]
Merchandise[]
_POP.png "The Collector (What If) POP.png (661 KB)")
.jpg "Marvel Legends Nebula (What If).jpg (123 KB)")
.jpg "Marvel Legends Nebula 2 (What If).jpg (135 KB)")
External Links[]
What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? on IMDb
What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? on Wikipedia
What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord? on Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki
