Marvel's What If...? episode 7 spoilers follow.
Loki has caused his fair share of problems over the years, but in this latest episode of Marvel's What If…?, it's actually his absence in Thor's life that messes everything up for a change. Without his mischievous brother around, our beloved Crown Prince of Asgard becomes a shallow, fun-loving himbo of godly proportions who winds up wrecking Midgard in a party for the ages.
That's all well and good, but without any Avengers around to help keep the peace, SHIELD struggles to contain the party exploits of Rager Thor, so they turn to the one person who's actually powerful enough to stop him – Captain Marvel.
Following that '90s pager callout, it's not long before Brie Larson's character arrives from beyond the stars to keep Thor in check. The pair fight it out, punching each other across entire oceans while destroying a few landmarks along the way. Captain Marvel fails to stop Thor completely after their first fight, but when SHIELD calls her out on this, she points out that unleashing her full power would result in many casualties.
This isn't the first time that Carol Danvers has had to defend herself. Out of every Marvel hero in the MCU, Brie Larson's Captain Marvel is pretty much the only one who has been openly criticised by "fans" who object to her... well, just being a strong woman, by the look of it.
For a fandom that unabashedly loves almost everything that Marvel does, it sure did raise a lot of eyebrows when misogynistic trolls bashed Captain Marvel's first solo film before they even had the chance to see it.
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"Oh boy first off this will be worst than The Last Jedi I'm calling it now critics will love it audience hate it," said one so-called Marvel fan on Rotten Tomatoes.
"This Captain Marvel is a fake. Captain will always be the [sic] superhero dressed in red with a lighting bolt in front of his chest," said another.
Brie Larson herself endured abuse from online trolls too, bringing to mind other stars like Kelly Marie Tran who left social media after receiving sexist and racist abuse from the Star Wars fandom.
One particularly lazy and sexist comment that drew traction in Brie's case was the idea that Captain Marvel should smile more, something which plenty of women in real life have unfortunately heard all too often as well. Brie responded at the time by sharing some truly terrifying fan-made posters which revealed how ridiculous male heroes would look if they too were forced to smile.
Clearly, Marvel hasn't forgotten this fan debacle, because What If…? directly pokes fun at these trolls towards the end of the episode when Thor calls Captain Marvel out for trying to thwart his fun. "Why do you insist on crushing my mellow?" asks Rager Thor. "Loosen up, have fun. Smile a little!"
Smile. A. Little. In response to that, Captain Marvel does anything but smile, but before she can teach Toxic Thor a lesson, his mother Frigga arrives to do that for her. So realising that he's about to get a big telling off from mummy, Party Thor finally decides to clean up his mess and puts an end to the rager.
"Look who’s pooping the party now!" says a drunken Drax, and to be fair, he's right. Thor has now become exactly what he just described Captain Marvel to be. So when Frigga arrives shortly after, she makes a point of thanking Carol Danvers "for helping to educate my son," knowing all too well that Captain Marvel was the one who helped keep the god of thunder in check.
Let's just hope any misogynistic fans watching back home pick up on this dig and think twice before asking another woman to smile and loosen up a bit. That would be the true happy ending here, unlike the one this episode almost gives us before Vision/Ultron arrives to cause chaos with all six infinity stones.
Marvel's What If...? is out now on Disney+ with new episodes releasing weekly on Wednesdays.
Disney+ Watch the MCU on Disney+
Abrams Books The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
