A very great episode with such an out of the box premise and cast of characters; really the type of episode that exemplifies what What If..? offers which you couldn’t get otherwise. The only complaints I have is that the animation looked a little stiff at a few points and that there was not a clear explanation as to the sci-fi train tech nor an answer to whom the Hood was. Who do you think the original Hood was? Kang? Dr. Doom? Red Skull? The MCU fan wiki says that they’re an alt-universe version of a yet-to-be introduced Earth-199999 character.
The Hood:
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makes people fear and target minority groups
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seeks to gain unquestioned power
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wears a purple hood
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occupies a new host body upon death
Am I not supposed to conclude that this is meant to be the reviled Hate-Monger from the comics?
Sonny Burch’s musical pocketwatch seems like an alt version of the Stark Sonic Taser from Iron Man 1. A couple of other subtle Marvel references were Shang-Chi’s horse being named Morris and Kate’s mention of Kwai Jun-Fan’s “iron fists”.
Interesting to see an episode head-on tackle anti-immigration sentiment especially when Disney has recently been bending the knee and axing upcoming media that advocates for empathy and inclusivity for demographics whom current political groups seek to persecute (ex. the “Win or Lose” series, and the Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur episode “The Gatekeeper”). I’m noticing a pattern of capitalist commentary (S03E02, S03E03) and oddly enough Thelma & Louise driving off a cliff references (S03E03, presumed in S03E04) across this season.