‘What If…? – Season 3’ Episode Six Recap: “What If…1872?”

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for episode six of What If…? – Season 3. 

As more Watchers observe The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) tell many stories within the infinite Marvel multiverse, one has the impression that he will intervene, at one point or another, in today’s episode of What If…?, titled “What If…1872?” For a while, directors Stephan Franck and Bryan Andrews tease The Watcher, closely observing Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) on their quest to find the mysterious villain known as “The Hood,” in Marvel’s version of the Old West. 

Franck and Andrews appropriate Western iconographies to match with the character’s powers. Instead of a bow and arrow, Bishop is a sharpshooter and doesn’t miss, while Shang-Chi’s martial arts are more steeped in tradition than the elaborate choreographies of Destin Daniel Cretton’s 2021 feature film. The bearer of the Ten Rings is on the lookout for his sister, Xu Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), who has fallen victim to The Hood after looking for the antagonist, who plans to eradicate Chinese immigrants from the United States. 

Bishop, on the other hand, is looking for The Hood because he allegedly killed their family. Together, they meet Jun-Fan (Allen Deng), a young boy looking for his father, who was kidnapped by The Hood not long ago. After they extract information from John Walker (Wyatt Russell), now a plain ol’ bandit (it fits the character, though), the three are off to an adventure, where they find The Hood’s “Ghost Train,” which can travel without rails and jump between large cliffs. 

As they board the train, they find out that all of its passengers have been brainwashed, including Jun-Fan’s father. Shang-Chi and Hawkeye also discover that Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) works hand-in-hand with The Hood. The arms dealer kidnaps the two heroes and takes them to the villain’s whereabouts, where a fight ensues. Before that, however, Jun-Fan successfully evades the train and is pursued by some of Burch’s bandits. Knowing that this encounter will meet with his doom, The Watcher says, “Not this time,” and helps Jun-Fan survive. Of course, The Eminence (Jason Isaacs) is closely watching, which doesn’t spell good news for our Watcher, meddling with things he should leave alone. 

As Burch begins to put Bishop in a state of trance, he reveals to have killed both of her parents, whilst Shang-Chi fights off with The Hood, who is revealed to be…Xialing. This is a neat twist since Anthony Ramos’ take on the character in Ironheart has not yet graced our screens. However, it primes audiences with the extent of the character’s powers, which seemingly corrupts individuals who too easily fall with what the cloak has promised. Xialing explains to Shang-Chi that she successfully defeated The Hood and took its powers, which is poisoning her mind. 

Under The Hood’s shackles, she attempts to convince her brother to join her, but he willingly refuses, leading to the shocking moment where Bishop guns down Xialing, not knowing she is the person they are looking for. It’s a reasonably shocking moment that could’ve gotten a significantly tragic reaction for Shang-Chi, but Andrews and co-writers Matthew Chauncey and Ryan Little surprisingly (and smartly) don’t fall into this trap. Xialing has a moment of clarity, finally freed from The Hood, but can’t complete her sentence before dying in her brother’s arms. 

Bishop apologizes to Shang-Chi, not knowing who The Hood’s identity is, but he doesn’t blame her for what happened, saying, “You didn’t kill her, Kate. The Hood did.” It’s a fairly tragic conclusion to an otherwise intriguing episode that puts newly established MCU heroes in a completely different setting (like 1602 in What If…? – Season 2). But just before The Watcher gets to end his story, The Eminence visits him, stating that he has interfered far too many times and needs to pay for what he has done. What happens next? We will all find out tomorrow, with the penultimate episode on the way. 

The sixth episode of What If…? – Season 3 is now available to stream on Disney+.