WHAT IF? Episode Six Alternate Timelines
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel's What If? or their characters.
Summary: What If... The Ancient One got involved in saving the world?
Ideas used with permission from Spideypool52 who wrote 'What If? Episode 6: The Continuation' on this site.
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(The Multiverse Watchpoint)
After seeing how things played out in Earth-TRN898, when Eric Killmonger Stevens saved Tony Stark from being injured and thus taken prisoner by the Ten Rings, which lead to Killmonger betraying Stark and killing him, along with James Rhodes and T'Challa the Black Panther, I, The Watcher, could not resist glimpsing back into the universe to see what happened next…. Pepper and Shuri were able to convince everyone that Killmonger was the real enemy, and he was exiled from Wakanda. Since no other heirs were left, Shuri became the next Black Panther and heir to the throne of Wakanda.
But other events, set in motion by the deaths of Tony Stark, James Rhodes, and Prince T'Challa, would have far-reaching consequences….
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Within the Inner Sanctums of Kamal Taj, the Ancient One was meditating.
However, she was using the Time Stone for a very important purpose.
To see into the myriad of alternate futures, to find a way to save her life.
She had spent years/decades/centuries, drawing power from the Dark Dimension in order to sustain her life. She believed it was a necessary evil, to extend her life so that she could help others, protect the world, and train future generations to follow in her footsteps.
But through her teachings, she had always wondered about the future, and so she used the mystic arts in order to see and foretell the future. However, she always stopped at one particular scene. One in which, she knew, she was going to die.
She had been using the power of the Time Stone for more than an hour. In that time she had seen hundreds of millions of different and alternate possibilities. Mostly about her own life, and it all ended up the same way. There were, of course, the handful of alternate possibilities where she was able to cheat death... but the consequences of those actions were too horrible to even watch.
Disparaged at what she saw, she started looking at other peoples lives. And that's when she saw the life of one Tony Stark.
She saw what would happen if Tony Stark had been kidnapped by the Ten Rings.
She saw him meet Dr Yinsen, whom he had met previously at a conference in Bern, and together they managed to create a crude, makeshift suit of armor that would be the basis for a new series of technological marvels, which Tony Stark would use to better protect the world.
She saw his escape from the Ten Rings and the sad death of Dr. Yinsen. She saw him battle and defeat the Ten Rings several times, and the betrayal of Obadiah Stane, who took the armor Tony had built in a cave and used Starks resources to create his own suit, dubbed an Iron Monger, and battle Tony inside the city.
With Pepper Potts help, Tony managed to defeat Stane.
He then publicly declared that he was Iron Man... to the world.
She saw Stark slowly dying of paladium poisoning, from the Arc reactor in his chest. She saw him solve this problem, creating a new element thanks to research courtesy of his own father, Howard Stark. She saw the rise of the heroes known as Black Widow and War Machine, in the fight against the Russian genius criminal named Ivan Vanko, and a glimpse at what the future held for the world.
But then she saw, right alongside that, the current path in which Tony had lived... and died.
Killmonger manipulated everything leading up to his death. He prevented Tony from being captured, which would have lead to him creating the Iron Man armor with Dr. Yinsen in order to escape. She saw Tony upgrading and enhancing his armor. She saw his battles against Obadiah Stane, Ivan Vanko, the Hammer Drones, and then the battle in New York against the Chitauri. She saw Iron Man standing besides other heroes, The Avengers, in defense of not only the city of New York but the world at large. She saw more and more disparaging images, numerous people and civilizations dying, and all of them resulting from Thanos getting all six of the Infinity Stones and succeeding in wiping out trillions of innocent, and not so innocent, peoples across the universe.
Of course, by the time Thanos snapped his fingers using all six stones, she was already dead.
But she saw, in multiple timelines, that this was a constant, and all because Tony Stark was not there. She saw other possibilities, but she also saw what could be and what could not be.
In 2012, Loki and the Chitauri attacked Earth. Nick Fury still formed the Avengers…but they were a team of five, not six. When Loki's allies attacked the Helicarrier to free him, Iron Man was not around to keep the Helicarrier airborne, and it crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. The crash took Hawkeye's life, leaving only four Avengers as Earth's first line of defense during the Battle of New York. With Iron Man not around to carry the SHIELD nuke through the wormhole and destroy the Chitauri mothership, Thor did so instead…but didn't make it back through the wormhole before it closed, and was lost in space.
At the end of the year, when Aldrich Killian kidnapped President Ellis, Captain America and Black Widow were sent to save him. Unfortunately, they didn't arrive in time – Ellis was killed, and in the following battle, Captain America's leg was badly burned by one of the Extremis-powered A.I.M. agents, leaving him with a slight limp for the rest of his life. Vice President Rodriguez succeeded President Ellis, and A.I.M.'s attacks around the U.S. continued. A victim of one of these attacks was none other than Jane Foster.
In 2013, because of Jane Foster's death, the Aether (also known as the Reality Stone) was never discovered during The Convergence. The Dark Elves never awoke to come after it, and the Aether remained hidden for years to come.
In 2014, during HYDRA's attempt to take over the world with Project Insight, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon allied to stop them. Unfortunately, Cap's injury from the battle with A.I.M. kept him from replacing the third Helicarrier's targeting chip in time. In the few seconds the Helicarrier was active, over 10,000 people on the eastern seaboard were killed, including Stephen Strange and, as fate would have it, the man who would one day kill Ben Parker. Because of that, his nephew would never learn the harsh lesson that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. But Caps injury also prevented him from saving James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, aboard the Helicarrier, and thus he too perished in the conflict.
In 2015, the four current Avengers – Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, and Falcon launched an attack on Baron Strucker's HYDRA fortress and took Loki's scepter from him before battling Pietro and Wanda Maximoff: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. The twins got away and, searching for a way to take down the Avengers, sought out and allied with Killmonger since he had murdered Tony Stark. The Avengers and Wakandans ultimately allied to defeat them, leading to a massive battle outside Wakanda. The Maximoffs were killed in the battle, and Killmonger was captured and imprisoned in a cell beneath the Pentagon.
In 2016, when the Avengers were sent to Lagos, Nigeria to stop Brock Rumlow, a.k.a. Crossbones, his suicide bomb killed both him and Captain America, since Scarlet Witch wasn't there to contain the blast. After that, only three Avengers were left – Hulk, Black Widow, and Falcon.
People began to believe that the age of superheroes was coming to an end.
In 2017, Peter Parker became the Spider-Man, though without the personal loss of his uncle he did not become the helpful vigilante he could have. His conflict with Adrian Toomes, The Vulture, led to a far worse version of the battle on the Staten Island Ferry. After webbing up the Chitauri-powered weapon on the Ferry, he swung it at the Vulture, causing a massive explosion that killed Toomes and also completely destroyed the upper levels of the Ferry. Many people died. Spider-Man was arrested and imprisoned for murder.
Later that year, Surtur amassed an army of Asgard's enemies, which included the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, besieged it. After holding out for a few weeks, Asgard's defenses crumbled and Surtur's army overran it. Everyone on Asgard died, including Odin, Loki, and Frigga, as no ship was present to save any of them. In the explosion that destroyed Asgard, the Tesseract's shell was destroyed, leaving the Space Stone to float adrift in the cosmos.
In 2018, after destroying Xandar to obtain the Power Stone, Thanos located the Space Stone and collected that too. He then sent his Black Order to obtain the Time and Mind Stones still on Earth, as well as the Reality Stone from its secret location across the cosmos. Thanos himself, meanwhile, ambushed the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Sanctuary II and captured Gamora. Star-Lord and Drax were killed in the battle, while Rocket, Groot, and Mantis managed to get away in the Benatar's escape pod. Thanos took Gamora to Vormir, where he obtained the Soul Stone.
Corvus Glaive led a horde of Outriders to attack the Avengers Compound, where Loki's scepter was being held. The three Avengers were caught off-guard, and before the battle started, Corvus Glaive presented the Avengers with Thor's severed head. He revealed that Thanos had captured Thor since he didn't make it back through the wormhole in time, and murdered the God of Thunder in retribution for the Chitauri mothership being destroyed. The Avengers were hopelessly outnumbered; Falcon, Black Widow, and even Hulk were all killed, the latter by Corvus Glaive's weapon. Proxima Midnight, meanwhile, recovered the Reality Stone, but doing so awoke the Dark Elves, who tried to stop her. Her Q-Ship was shot down above Svartalfheim, and Malekith took the Aether from her.
In New York City, Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian confronted the Ancient One, but Cull Obsidian was killed in the ensuing battle and Ebony Maw was forced to retreat to his rendezvous with Thanos on Titan empty-handed.
Upon realizing that Proxima Midnight was absent, Thanos tracked her Q-Ship to Svartalfheim, where he killed Malekith and took the reality Stone from him. He and his army headed to Earth and attacked New York City again to take the Time Stone, but Rocket, Groot, and Mantis arrived on Earth with the Ravager fleet to battle Thanos. But while the Black Order held them off, Thanos was able to use the power of the five Infinity Stones he had to break the enchantment that bound the Time Stone to its owner. After inserting the Time Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet, he snapped his fingers, disintegrating half of all life in the universe, including Groot, Mantis, Stakar... and the Ancient One herself.
In California, Hank Pym and Hope and Janet van Dyne disintegrated before Ant-Man entered the Quantum Realm. Because he wasn't stuck in there, he never discovered that the Quantum Realm could be used to travel through time. Thanos' actions were never undone.
Three weeks later, Captain Marvel arrived on Earth and headed to Thanos' home on the Garden with Rocket and Nebula, who had escaped the Sanctuary II during the battle in New York. But upon reaching the Garden, they discovered that Thanos had destroyed the Infinity Stones to prevent his actions being undone. Rocket blew off the Mad Titan's head in revenge, but the universe would never be the same.
And so Tony Stark being saved by Killmonger, and later killed by him, ended in trillions of souls not being…avenged.
The Ancient One, for the first time she had ever known, felt her heartbeat pound in her ears like she had never felt before.
She had seen the future, a very real and possible future. And it terrified her, more so than her own death.
"Coulson was wrong. So very, very wrong. The world does need Tony Stark. More than it realizes."
She held the glowing green stone in her hand before closing her fist around it.
In the end, she came up with the only possible solution.
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It was 2009.
A lone figure walked through the grounds of the cemetery and came to a stop in front of two graves.
Anthony Edward Stark, and Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes.
She knew what she was about to do was wrong, on many levels, but the world, the universe at large, was going to need this. They were going to need him. And for that, she was prepared to accept the judgement of the universe.
She turned her head when she saw two people approach her.
"Who are you?" Pepper Potts asked.
"And why did you summon us here?" Nick Fury asked.
The woman pulled back her yellow hood to reveal her bald head.
"My name would mean nothing to you. I am the Ancient One." she said to them.
"You're right. That doesn't mean anything to me." Fury said.
"Or me." Pepper said.
"I have asked you to come here, because something extreme is about to happen. Something that requires me to act outside my original intended mission."
The pair looked confused.
The Ancient One unlocked the power of the Time Stone, the green energy was focused as it blasted the graves of both Tony Stark and James Rhodes.
Pepper and Fury just stared in disbelief as the graves caved in, and from it a pair of figures rose.
"T-Tony?" Pepper gasped.
"Colonel Rhodes!" Fury gasped.
The two men groaned as they looked around, shaking their heads in confusion. They looked like they had just woken up from a long nap.
"What The Hell! You brought them back to life?" Fury gasped in shock and horror as Pepper, overcome with emotion, hugged her former boss and then her friend. "Like zombies?"
"No. This is not a resurrection. But something else." she said.
"What? But how?" James Rhodes gasped.
"And most importantly... Why?" Tony Stark finally said.
The Ancient One held the glowing green stone in her hand, surrounding the quartet with its unique energies, like a bubble, to show the quartet the visions she saw.
"This is the Time Stone. One of the six cosmic Infinity Stones. With this... I was able to see multiple alternate realities and other possible timelines. I have foreseen your fates, but I have also seen what will happen to this world, if it is allowed to happen."
And then she showed them what she saw, the lives they could have lived, as Avengers.
At first they saw the myriad of different alternate possibilities she had foreseen, until they all vanished and she showed them the particular visions she had seen in this timeline.
They also saw the life that Tony had lived and could have lived, which ultimately, would have been better had he been captured by the Ten Rings and forced to work with Dr. Yinsen.
Namely, becoming the hero called Iron Man.
Once the vision of Rocket killing Thanos vanished, Tony, Pepper, Rhodey and Fury fell to their knees, overwhelmed by the images of a possible future. A very bleak future.
It was several minutes before Tony spoke up.
"I could do it. I could still do it." Tony mumbled to himself. "Make that armor."
"Don't forget my War Machine suit." Rhodes said.
"On my to-do list." he smirked.
"What about Killmonger?" Fury asked.
"I have foreseen his future as well. It will, unfortunately, be taken out of your hands." The Ancient One said.
"What do you mean?"
"Just trust me on this." she said, knowing that in another possible timeline, Killmonger will get chosen to be part of The Guardians of the Multiverse to stop an Infinity Stone powered Ultron from wiping out all of mankind across all dimensions. But his treachery will be his undoing. He will attempt to take the power of the Stones from Ultron, and in the power-struggle, he will be contained in a prison bubble and watched over by an alternate version of Dr. Stephan Strange.
"And you foresaw all of this... because of that?" Fury asked, pointing to the glowing green stone around her neck.
"The Time Stone. Yes."
"And this... Thanos... he managed to get all six of them and wiped out the universe." he said, now knowing about the Six Stones and what they were capable of.
"No. Only half." she said simply.
"Oh. Just half. Half the universe. Trillions of lives, just... gone. With the snap of a finger." Fury said sarcastically.
"Yes. I have shown you one of many possibilities. And knowledge of the possibilities of the future is both dangerous and beneficial. What you choose to do with this knowledge is yours. I... have already broken natural law once too often by bringing you back." she said with a heavy voice.
"And I appreciate your sacrifice." Rhodey said.
"And I fear I must do it once more." she said.
With that, the Ancient One vanished, leaving the four people alone in the cemetery.
"Well... this is going to be a problem." Fury said as he looked at Stark and Rhodes.
"You mean coming up with a way to explain how two people who were officially declared dead are suddenly back amongst the living?" Pepper asked.
"Exactly."
"Can't exactly say a magic space rock wielded by a sorcerer was responsible." Rhodes said.
"We'll figure out something. In the mean time..." Tony said.
"Yeah. We've got work to do." Rhodey said.
"Three years... before the invasion." Tony stated.
"We got to find the others. The other... Avengers." Rhodes said. "And this time around... I'm gonna be apart of it."
"Glad to have you, buddy."
While Fury was glad to hear he had two such good candidates for his Avengers Initiative, he knew he had another problem. Namely, about the HYDRA agents having infiltrated SHIELD, which was caused by those damned politicians back in WWII. Idiots to think they could control people like that.
Alexander Pierce, United States Senator Stern, and several more people. People he trusted. He would have to do some serious house cleaning and soon.
But right now, the future was looking a lot brighter.
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(Wakanda)
"I still don't understand what you want." Shuri said as she stood before T'Challa's tomb.
Princess Shuri, King T'Chaka, Queen Ramonda, and several Dora Milaje surrounded the Ancient One, uneasy at her being here.
"To right a wrong. An injustice that should not have happened." The Ancient One said.
The Ancient One stood before the tomb as she waved her hands and focused the power of the Time Stone on the deceased body of Prince T'Challa.
Within seconds, the tombs slab cracked and broke open, as the young and healthy-looking body of Prince T'Challa, the Black Panther, now fully rejuvenated emerged before them.
"But... how?" General Okoye asked.
"This is not a resurrection, but a reversal of time itself. As if it never happened." The Ancient One said.
"BROTHER!" Shuri shouted as she glomped her older brother.
"Shuri? I... Baba?" the dazed-looking prince said.
"Welcome back, my son." T'Chaka said. "We have much to discuss."
"Yes. Like what happened to Killmonger?"
"He has been taken away, and will not be seen again." The Ancient One said.
"But how? By whom?" T'Challa asked.
"A being... beyond our understanding."
The Ancient One then used the power of the stone one last time, to show T'Challa and his family what was going to happen. Or at least what could happen in the very near future.
When she was done, she departed.
T'Challa looked at his father and the king of Wakanda could only sigh.
"You saw it too, Baba." T'Challa said.
"Yes. And I can see it in your eyes. Your intention." the king said.
"Wakanda has a Black Panther. And a future queen." he said as he looked at his little sister. "But the world thinks that I am dead... so... what better way to use this to our advantage... than by having me join forces with these Avengers."
"But they have not yet been formed." Okoye said.
"The battle against the Chitauri will take place in three years. And Wakanda... will help them."
The Queen mother looked at her son, newly returned, and felt conflict and sadness at his words.
"No. T'Challa, you are suggesting to leave Wakanda... to help these Avengers fight a battle they can win themselves." she said.
"Yes. The more heroes this world has, the more that terrible future we all had seen, will not happen."
"But with the return of Tony Stark, the six of them can..." Okoye started to say.
"Yes, they can. And just imagine what seven or eight or more Avengers could do." he said with a smile. "And besides... Wakanda has hidden long enough. We will not share all of our secrets, but we will show the world that we can offer much to the world, to bring peace and security to all. As if we are one village."
While Ramonda and T'Chaka were not pleased with these ideas, they could not be more proud of their son.
Shuri would become the new Black Panther in time, their formerly-deceased son would join these Avengers to protect the world at large, and possibly the universe, and Wakanda itself would change.
While they were not pleased with this, the alternative was far worse. The far-reaching ramifications of EVERYTHING they had seen was going to come to Wakanda whether they wanted it to or not. They would have to be prepared. But they were Wakanda, and they would be forever.