"What If... T'Challa Became A Star-Lord?" is the second episode of What If...?.
Plot[]
The rough-and-tumble space pirates known as the Ravagers abduct T'Challa instead of Peter Quill.
Cast[]
- Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher
- Chadwick Boseman as Star-Lord T'Challa
- Maddix Robinson as Young T'Challa
- Karen Gillan as Nebula
- Michael Rooker as Yondu
- Djimon Hounsou as Korath
- John Kani as T'Chaka
- Josh Brolin as Thanos
- Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan/The Collector
- Kurt Russell as Ego
- Sean Gunn as Kraglin
- Chris Sullivan as Taserface
- Seth Green as Howard the Duck
- Danai Gurira as Okoye
- Ophelia Lovibond as Carina
- Carrie Coon as Proxima Midnight
- Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw
- Fred Tatasciore as Drax and Corvus Glaive
- Brian T. Delaney as Peter Quill
- Tanya Wheelock as Female Ravager
- Dave Boat as Additional Voices
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
- Don 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
Non-Speaking Cameos/Unconfirmed Voices[]
Continuity and References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe[]
- Morag appears.
- The Orb appears.
- Sakaarans appear.
- Ronan is mentioned.
- Yaka Arrow appears.
- Skrulls are mentioned.
- Kree are mentioned.
- Kamaria is mentioned.
- Ovette is mentioned.
- Knowhere appears.
- Frost Giants are mentioned.
- Kronans are mentioned and a fist (possibly Korg's) appears.
- Starblaster appears.
- Necrocraft appears.
- The Commodore appears.
- Quantum Vehicle appears.
- Royal Talon Fighter appears.
- Captain America's Shield appears.
- Mjölnir appears.
- Malekith's Dagger appears.
- Hela's Helmet appears.
- A Pluvian appears.
Trivia[]
- This is the last work of Chadwick Boseman. He contributed his voice in the series as T'Challa before his death.
- Though Chadwick Boseman's final live action performance was in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", this is his true final performance. Filming for "Ma Rainey" wrapped in August 2019 which was the same month that "Marvel's What If?" was beginning to record its voice actors. Chadwick Boseman passed on August 28th 2020.
- T'Challa named his ship the Mandela after Nelson Mandela instead of the Milano which Peter Quill named after Alyssa Milano.
- Djimon Hounsou who reprises his role of Korath from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also provided the voice of T'Challa in the animated series Black Panther (2010).
- In the German dubbing Howard the Duck is voiced by Santiago Ziesmer, the same actor which provided his voice for Howard in Howard the Duck (1986).
- An homage to Star Wars, the phrase "Punch it" is used to when the Ravagers escape in their spaceship at the last possible second.
- Yondu's line at the end, "We've got a stowaway" is taken from Captain Marvel (2019) and was said by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).
- Groot, or a member of his species, can be seen in silhouette inside one of the Collector's pods.
- During his fight with T'Challa, The Collector says he got his rock arm weapon "from a rather chatty Kronan." This is most likely referring to Korg, first seen in Thor: Ragnarok.
- Thor's Mjölnir is among The Collector's collection, along with Captain America's shield and other items seen in the MCU Phase I and Phase II films.
- The ending scene with Ego and Peter Quill takes place at the same Dairy Queen shown in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It's where Meredith Quill and Ego go to in the beginning of the film, where Ego shows her his "seed" implanted in the ground.
- The Guardians of the Galaxy theme and Black Panther theme (along with a lot of other music/instrumentation from Black Panther (2018)) are reprised in this episode.
- The Collector dons the helmet and uses the necrosword of Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, during his fight with T'Challa. Hela originally appeared in Thor: Ragnarok.
- The gimmick of walking the audience through a successful heist scenario only to have the heist go south when attempted comes from the 1966 film Gambit which starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.
- Originally, Yondu was the one that found Peter Quill in his Ravager space craft. In this alternate timeline, Kraglin and Taserface were the ones that were sent to find Peter Quill. However, they were thrown off by the signature of Vibranium coming from Wakanda. They explained to Yondu that it was an alien signature not belonging on the planet. They also explain after abducting T'Challa that him and Peter Quill had the same humanoid features that everyone has on Earth, thus not knowing the difference between every human.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
To be added