‘What If…?’ Season 2 Episode 5 Summary & Ending Explained: What If Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?

We’re more than halfway through the second season of ‘What If…?’ a real holiday treat with a single episode released daily over the course of nine days. We’ve already seen some of the most outlandish scenarios, from Nebula as a part of Nova Corps to Iron Man dethroning the Grandmaster, and today, we’re going to see Captain Carter in action as she fights the Hydra Trooper.

Peggy Carter faces Steve Rogers once again

The episode opens up with Black Widow approaching Captain Carter with a mission from Nick Fury. She leads her to what appears to be an abandoned warehouse, and there she presents her with Hydra Stomper. But it’s not about the Hydra Stomper, really; it’s about who is wearing it; as Black Widow put it bluntly, it’s like RoboCop.

Peggy immediately puts two and two together and correctly guesses that it’s Steve. The Stomper comes back to life immediately and starts attacking both Natasha and Peggy. They narrowly miss his destruction, and the Stomper starts flying parallel to the side of the ship, revealing his face to truly be that of Steve Rogers.

Black Widow knew that Steve Rogers was alive in one form or another

Peggy and Black Widow go together to visit Nick Fury so he can explain what happened, and Nick Fury reveals that he knew all along about the rumors of Steve Rogers / Hydra Stomper being alive and committing some of the worst terror attacks in Earth’s history. Captain Rogers was under the impression all this time that Rogers died in Argentina in 1953, and while that was true, it looks like Red Room took control of whatever that thing was and reprogrammed it to commit acts of terror. Black Widow knew about it but kept it silent so Peggy’s heart would be broken twice.

Fury says to Captain Carter that she will not be a part of that strike mission because her feelings would put the mission in danger and that Hydra Stomper, who is now a threat to national security, is not the man she used to love.

Hydra Stomper targets Bucky Barners

Bucky Barnes is serving as a secretary of Defense nowadays, and he is surrounded by special ops teams that are sent to put him to safety; despite the protests, he eventually agrees to it and is evacuated from the building. This is when Captain Carter shows up and tells him that it’s Steve Rogers in the suit.

At the same time, Nick Fury is giving orders to Black Widow to use lethal force if necessary since Hydra Stomper is trying to assassinate a US official. Hydra Stomper manages to infiltrate the building with brute force and clears his way until he reaches Bucky Barnes. Bucky is blocking Black Widow’s shot and he is trying to reason with Steve and for a second it seems like old Steve is back, the Hydra Stomper still powers up his weapons and attempt to shoot Bucky.

Captain Carter breaks the fight at the last second, and Hydra Stomper now attempts to flee the building with Peggy riding on his back. The fight continues mid-air, and Peggy somehow manages to put him unconscious with her shield. Black Widow intercepts both of them in mid-air with Quinjet and saves their lives while Hydra Stomper is held in captivity.

Steve is being kept alive only with the Hydra Stomper suit

After saving Steve and Peggy mid-air, Black Widow brings Peggy and Steve to St. Hilda in Scotland, which is a secret location that not even SHIELD knows about, considering that every government on Earth, including SHIELD, wants Hydra Stomper dead.

Captain Carter and Black Widow are doing some rudimentary examination of Steve’s body or what’s accessible and notice that he hasn’t aged a day, but also, as soon as he is pulled out from that suit, he will most certainly die. Capain Carter believes that it has to be a cure for his condition but doesn’t want to involved Stark and Banner into it. She believes that Red Room has a cure for it, but Black Widow says to her that the only reason why Red Room still exists is because nobody knows its location. At that moment, they are interrupted by a now-awake Steve Rogers, who says that he can take them there.

He seems to be back to his old self, but Black Widow still doubts it.

It was all a trap to get to Peggy Carter

Steve Rogers brings Black Widow and Peggy Carter to an old Sokovian Military base that was built to look like a stereotypical American town from the ’60s. It’s filled with creepy animatronic statues that move all across the town saying stuff like “American Pie” and basically everything you would associate with the country.

Steve Rogers called the Red Room, claiming to need maintenance, but the plan is to jump them and look for a way to make him human again. Black Widow walks away to give Peggy and Steve some privacy, and the two start to reminisce about what life would be like if Steve married and had children; he says he doesn’t want that without Peggy. They are just about to kiss when they are attacked by the animatronics who shoot widow’s bites at them and incapacitate them. Steve Rogers powers down in the middle of the fight, and Black Widow and Captain Carter have already stopped fighting at this point because they are out of strength.

They can see red mist in the sky with Red Room flying to their location. It turns out it is a giant aerial station. Out of the Red Room steps Melina, with an army of Black Widows; it turns out that Steve was never “back to his former self.” It was all a trap to get to Captain Carter, who is apparently famous and respected all across Russia and in the Black Widow circles.

Steve Rogers decides to destroy the Red Room

The fight breaks out with Captain Carter fighting Steve Rogers on one front and Black Widow fighting other Black Widows and Melina on a second front. Steve Rogers is going all in on killing Captain Carter, even going as far as to collapse a massive water tower on top of her. Melina is telling Black Widows Natasha’s weaknesses so they can fight her better.

At one point Steve stops fighting and Peggy tells him that she doesn’t want to give up him, she wants him no matter the form in which he is coming in. At the same time, Black Widow and Melina are fighting each other, with Melina having the upper hand and choking Black Widow to death.

Steve doesn’t say a word but decides to kill himself by crashing into Red Room. He starts charging upwards toward the Red Room, and Black Widow uses the opportunity to tie Melina to him so he can kill him when he crashes into the station. Her plan is successful, and both Rogers and Red Room are destroyed in the explosion. But Steve Rogers is presumably still alive.

Captain Carter is transported to 1602

At the end of the episode, Black Widow and Captain Carter are just starting to go out for Friday night out when Watcher starts narrating that Peggy’s story is far from over, she is sucked into a red portal right in front of Natasha’s eyes and she wakes up in the middle of nowhere in a forest with Nick Fury and Scarlet Witch comment how she will save their queen. This episode will be continued in ‘What If…?’ Avengers Assembled in 1602, so be careful not to miss out on it.

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