What If...? (2021) s03e01 Episode Script

[lasers zapping]
[announcer] Go-Avenger!
Heroes of the Gamma War!
[heroic music playing]
Long ago, there was an age of heroes,
when the Avengers
kept the forces of darkness at bay.
Until, consumed by his fury,
the Hulk unleashed terrors
the likes of which
the world had never known.
Their sole purpose?
- To destroy!
- [roaring]
In humanity's darkest hour,
the Iron Man found inspiration in an idea.
- [static]
- [girl gasps] No!
Oh, come on, Avengers, don't fail me now.
Mom! The Internet's not working!
Didn't you reboot the modem?
- I'm trying to watch that old show.
- [rumbling]
[suspenseful music playing]
What? Mom, what's going on?
[screaming]
- [dramatic music playing]
- [people screaming]
[gasps]
[Gamma Beast roars]
[heroic music playing]
[The Watcher] Time.
Space.
Reality.
It's more than a linear path.
It's a prism of endless possibility,
where a single choice
can branch out into infinite realities,
creating alternate worlds
from the ones you know.
I am the Watcher.
I am your guide
through these vast new realities.
Follow me and ponder the question
"What if?"
Big things have small beginnings.
So let me take you back
to the dawn of the Gamma War,
- which all began with a friendship.
- [Banner pants] Oh, God.
Who likes doing this?
- [panting]
- On your left.
Yep, you're good, buddy. Okay.
[panting]
Hey, you're doin' all right?
'Cause you're looking a little
Oh, wait, let me guess.
- Green?
- [laughs]
- Sam Wilson.
- Dr. Bruce Banner. [grunts]
- Yeah, I kinda put that together.
- Uh-huh?
Looked like you were
really pushin' it out there.
[inhales sharply] I mean, yeah.
I I read somewhere that cardio
is a good stress reliever.
I've been trying everything lately.
- Yoga, knitting
- [chuckles]
[Banner]cooking shows. But I mean
[Sam] You ever just try
talkin' to someone?
[Banner] Huh?
[The Watcher] Sam Wilson sought to help
the brilliant doctor
with a field of science
far different from his own.
The rage isn't even the worst part
when he takes over.
[The Watcher] Therapy.
It's the fear.
The fear I see in everyone else's eyes.
And how does that make you feel?
[inhales sharply] Lonely.
Because if I'm being honest,
I'm just as scared of myself
as they are of me.
Well, look around you.
Ain't no one's afraid of you here, Bruce.
[The Watcher] Sam Wilson knew
he had a responsibility
to Banner as his counselor.
But in that moment,
he saw a man struggling
and felt he could do more to help him
as a friend.
[birds squawking]
- I like this. This is a great boat, man.
- [Sam laughs]
- Throw me another brew, would ya?
- [thunder rumbling]
[waves splashing]
[The Watcher] But there are some forces
of nature that cannot be controlled.
[Sarah] Sam, come on!
Gotta secure the lines!
[Sam grunts softly]
- [Sarah] Tie that
- Look out!
- [grunts]
- [screams]
[groans]
[grunting]
[deep growling]
Bruce.
[tense music playing]
[growling loudly]
[Sarah screams]
- Bruce, no!
- [Sarah whimpers]
- [growls]
- Bruce, come on, man.
It's me. It's Sam.
[The Watcher] It turns out
there was still one side of Banner
- [Sam] No, no, no, Bruce!
- [grunts]
[The Watcher] he didn't want
his friend to see.
So he took matters into his own hands.
Gamma put this monster in me,
I've gotta believe it could take it out.
[grunts, screams]
[dramatic music playing]
[deep growling]
[The Watcher] Unfortunately,
things didn't pan out
the way Dr. Banner had planned.
And in trying to expel the beast within,
Bruce Banner created
a whole new monster
[growling]
[sinister music playing]
[groans]
[The Watcher] and set it free.
[growling]
[people screaming]
Forged in Gamma
and unrestrained by Banner's conscience,
the threat grew in size and number
as this Apex and his legions
rampaged across the globe.
- [pilot 1] Look out!
- [pilot 2] Pull up! Pull up!
[pilot 2 screams]
[roars]
[The Watcher] With everything at stake,
the Avengers realized
that to fight these bigger, meaner Hulks,
they would need bigger,
meaner Hulk-Busters.
[heroic music playing]
[Avengers shouting indistinctly]
[The Watcher] And so,
Earth's mightiest heroes fought
and fell.
[somber music playing]
And in their sacrifice,
inspired the surviving heroes
to finish the fight.
[zapping]
They chased the last of the monsters
to the end of the world.
Until there was nothing left of them.
Or so it was believed.
Of course, issues left unresolved
rarely stay buried for long.
[dramatic music playing]
[thrusters whooshing]
[Sam] This is
the worst-case scenario, folks.
At 1100 hours,
Chicago and a dozen other major cities
were attacked by Gamma Beasts.
And more are emerging every hour.
Captain Rambeau?
This could be a wave triple the size
of the one we faced in the old Gamma War.
Yeah. And that one took out
all the Avengers.
So, if anyone ordered a death wish
Argh! These Gamma grunts try to set foot
in Mother Russia,
but one face-off with the Red Guardian
Can you really call it a face-off
when you just ran away?
I was luring the beasts
- away from civilians.
- Mmm-hmm.
- Like hero!
- [Shang-Chi] Okay.
The point is,
there's more of them this time, okay?
But where are these beasts
even coming from?
Our satellites are picking up
a Gamma signature in the Arctic
with the same isotopic fingerprint
as the original Apex beast.
We need to get Bruce Banner on this.
No.
Sore subject. Noted.
- Sam
- We know how to win this war.
We've done it before.
Monica and I will head to the Arctic
and cut this thing off at the knees.
- Small note. I would go for head.
- [Melina sighs]
Much more final.
Now, the rest of you,
focus on holding your territories.
Barnes, you have the conn.
Start prepping your mech, Rambeau.
We're wheels-up within the hour.
[sighs] Bucky, we won the last war
by the skin of our teeth.
You do not get that lucky twice.
You really think Banner's a better bet?
I mean, this all started with him.
Maybe he can finish it.
See what you can find.
I saw on some cartoon
he lives in a lair
in the center of an active volcano.
Get to it.
The show's pretty great.
[Monica] Cap, confirming the Gamma
signature. It's massive.
[Sam] Then I guess we're here.
[Monica grunts]
[suits clanking, thudding]
[Sam] This place is a ghost town.
The sensors say
the Gamma spike is right here.
[program running]
[alarm blaring]
- [Monica yells]
- [Sam] Monica, look out!
- [Sam grunts]
- [growls]
I guess we just found the spike.
[Monica grunts] Oh, yeah, you want some?
[Monica grunting]
- [growling]
- [both grunt]
[both groan]
[growling]
I'm thinkin' big guns.
Oh, yeah. I'm thinking very big guns.
- [suits clanking]
- [growls softly]
[rapid firing]
[growling]
[firing continues]
[dramatic music playing]
Whoa! What'd you just fire? A nuke?
Well, that's not me.
Something else is happening.
[both yelling]
[Sam] Monica, you seein' what I'm seein'?
[Monica] It's worse than we thought.
There's thousands of them.
[tense music playing]
- [suits whirring]
- [Sam grunts softly]
- [both pant]
- [rumbling]
[ominous music playing]
[growling softly]
[Sam] The Apex.
[growling loudly]
- [Monica] They're listening to him.
- [Sam] And awaiting orders.
This isn't an infestation.
It's an invasion.
[roaring]
- [grunts]
- [alarm beeping]
- [alarm beeping]
- [grunts]
[growling]
[growls]
[ominous music playing]
[ice cracking]
[beacon ringing]
Bucky, you got news for me?
Officially,
Banner's location doesn't even exist.
But I found it anyway.
- A black site?
- Abandoned,
but something there
must have caught his interest.
Mmm.
[waves lapping]
Then, I guess I'm on deck.
Sam?
We gotta get ourselves back in the sky.
So we can just get our asses handed to us
all over again?
- Stop playing.
- You know who we need.
- Again with this.
- [sighs]
Look, he's the one
who got us into this mess.
What I don't understand is why you seem
more scared of Bruce Banner
than you are of those Gamma Beasts.
There was a time
when he was your friend, Sam.
And look how that turned out.
For everybody.
You tried to help him. It didn't take.
But now, like it or not,
the two of you talking
is the only thing standing
between us and the end of the world.
- I don't even know where he is.
- Hmm.
Then it's a good thing I had Barnes
go behind your back to find out.
[Sam scoffs] You didn't.
[Monica] Oh, I did.
[Monica over comms] Coordinates
will be loaded to your onboard AI.
Just make sure
you don't come back without a souvenir.
[Sam] Yeah, no promises.
[heroic music playing]
[whooshing]
[heroic music continues]
[insects chirping]
[birds chirping]
[leaves rustling]
Bruce?
Who were you expecting, Sam?
A monster?
[intriguing music playing]
[Banner] Well, here we are.
Bit of a fixer-upper, but I call it home.
A nuclear combat bomber? Really?
[Banner] Yeah. I don't know.
An abandoned government pet project
somehow felt like the right fit.
[Sam] Hmm.
And the leftovers
made for a half-decent lab.
Right.
Uh, is that a nuke?
[Banner] Sam, it's inactive. Don't worry.
Banner. Nukes. I love it.
I'm gonna guess you didn't come
all this way for my little science fair.
Yeah, I'm afraid not.
[Banner] What is it this time?
Aliens? Spooky wizards? Evil gods?
- [Sam] A new Apex has risen.
- What?
[Sam] Now, just hear me out
No, no, no.
What do you mean, "No"?
It's been years
since I've had an incident.
I can't throw all that work away.
The Apex's legions are thousands-strong.
I don't know if we can take this guy down,
not without a Gamma Beast of our own
in the fight.
[sighs heavily]
I I can't do it, Sam.
- Not like that.
- [chair skids]
Bruce, come on, man. We're talking
about the end of the world here.
- We need you.
- [sighs]
[Banner] No, Sam.
What you need is this.
And what is this?
It's a plug-in I wrote
for the mech's interface.
What?
[suspenseful music playing]
[program running]
I call it the Mighty Avenger Protocol.
- Whoa.
- Yeah.
Use it against the Apex
and you should have a fighting chance.
So that's it, huh?
The rest of the world gets to fight
your monsters
while you just hide in fear?
Fear?
What do you know about fear, Sam?
About being a threat.
A living force of destruction.
I know you can't get past the things
that scare you
if you don't face them.
[sighs]
Why do you think I built this protocol?
[somber music playing]
You built it to use against yourself?
I built it to protect everyone
from a monster no one can control.
Look, I've never seen a monster
when I look at you, Bruce.
I've only ever seen my friend.
I guess I hoped if you faced this thing,
then maybe you'd see what I see, too.
[thrusters roaring]
[Monica over comms]
Talk to me, Cap.
I think I've done enough talkin'
for one day. Thank you.
Then I take it Bruce isn't coming?
No. We're on our own.
Not entirely.
The team and I are tracking the Apex
and his herd to New York.
They're gonna make landfall any minute.
[Sam] Banner did give me
something to work with.
- [beep]
- [program running]
- "The Mighty Avenger Protocol"?
- Banner built this?
Great, 'cause none
of his science experiments
have ever gone sideways.
A weapon this complex
has never been field-tested.
How do we know he hasn't gone
full Colonel Kurtz in his volcano?
Yeah, even if he hasn't,
if we run this op and we all go down,
the world will be left defenseless.
But this is the shot we have.
We may not get another one.
Well, then we better take it soon.
Because the invasion has already begun.
[foreboding music playing]
[growls]
[girl] Wait for me!
[people panicking]
[Apex growling]
We're out of time. We've gotta go.
We've got to go.
[Monica] Roger that, Agent.
We'll take it from here.
- [Nakia] So many.
- [Monica] Everyone, spread out.
We need to hold them at the harbor
until Sam gets here.
[Gamma Beasts growling]
[Shang-Chi grunting] Take that!
[Shang-Chi and Monica grunt]
- [Shang-Chi] There's too many of them.
- [Monica grunts]
[Monica] Sam? We could sure use
that Hail Mary right about now.
Actually, Rambeau,
this play is more of a blitz.
[Shang-Chi] Whoo-hoo!
Yeah! [laughs]
[heroic music playing]
On my mark.
Avenger, assemble.
[whirring]
[laughs] Avengers!
If Colonel Dreykov could see us now.
[Melina] Mmm-hmm.
[laughing continues]
Okay, Mr. Banner.
Engines clocking at 1000%.
Let's go.
[Shang-Chi] Incredible.
All our operating systems are integrated.
This is great.
All systems green, Cap.
Oh, we're good to go.
[Bucky] Whoo-hoo!
Not bad for a bucket of bolts.
[Sam] The whole world is watching, people.
Let's finish it this time.
[heroic music playing]
[powering up]
[mechanical whirring]
[suit clanking]
- [growling]
- [Sam] Here they come.
Fire at will.
[Monica grunts] Take that!
Oh, yeah, you want some?
- [Spector] Yeah! [laughs]
- [growling]
[laughs] Okay, Mighty Avenger!
[chuckles] Yeah. Teamwork. Who knew?
Oh. Banner made the interface
pretty user-friendly.
I'll give him that.
[growling]
[Sam] Second wave's comin'.
Let's open up
a six pack of whoop-ass.
[metal clanging]
- [Nakia] Let's do this!
- [Monica] Whoo!
[Spector] Oh, Banner, I love you, man!
[dramatic music playing]
- [groans]
- [Spector grunts]
[rumbling]
[Sam] Anyone have eyes on the Apex?
- [Bucky] On our six.
- [growls]
[Sam] Don't give him time to think.
Let's take him out.
[laser zapping]
- [Nakia] Hit him harder!
- [Spector] Don't let up!
- [Sam] Give it everything you got!
- [Spector grunts]
[Shang-Chi] Yeah, we're trying, Cap,
but it's not closing the deal.
[Monica] No, no, no!
His Gamma readings are spiking.
[Sam grunting]
[powering down]
[Gamma Beasts roaring]
[grunts] Come on, people. We gotta get up.
We didn't come here to lose today.
[Nakia] Yeah, not gonna happen.
All systems critical.
Uh, Cap?
There's something in the sky.
How's that possible?
We don't have any mechs left.
- No, it's not a mech. It's a
- [engine whirring]
- It's a
- [growls]
[Banner] On your left, Cap.
- Bruce?
- [Banner] Hah!
Yeah.
Thought you might need something
that packed a bigger punch.
So I gave the bomb an upgrade,
- a fresh Gamma core.
- [Bucky] What?
No. He can't release
all that energy over the city.
He's not. He's going to take it all in.
He's going Gamma critical.
Whoa, whoa, that that's too much power.
He may never come back from it.
Bruce, there are other ways.
You don't wanna do this.
You know what's funny? I do.
Bruce!
[Banner] It's okay, Sam.
For the first time in a long time,
- I'm not afraid.
- [electricity crackling]
[grunts]
[dramatic music playing]
[growling]
Bruce! Oh, sh
[explosion]
[groans]
[hatch door clanks]
[menacing music playing]
- [rumbling]
- [soft growling]
[grunts]
[thunder rumbling]
[grunting softly]
[menacing music continues]
[roaring]
[grunts loudly]
[roaring]
[growls]
[menacing music intensifies]
[both grunt]
[tense music playing]
It appears the smaller ones
are watching the fight.
To see who comes out on top.
That's why he nuked himself.
Not just to kill the Apex, to replace him.
[grunting]
[grunts]
[both grunting]
[groans]
[roars]
We gotta give him a hand.
[grunts]
- [powering up]
- [straining]
[whirring]
[Apex growling]
Big guns, right?
[dramatic music playing]
[grunts]
[growls]
[roaring]
[groaning]
[dramatic music playing]
[growling]
[groaning]
[inhales deeply]
[roar echoes]
[gasps] It looks like we have a new Apex.
[grunts]
[roars]
Mega-Hulk.
Nope. No, thank you.
Khonshu says light him up!
Avenger Team, stand down! Stand down!
Are you kidding me?
We've got a giant Mega-Hulk inbound.
- I said, stand down.
- [footsteps thudding]
- [Shang-Chi] Cap, what are you doing?
- [Bucky] It's not Bruce in there.
Sam! He's off his rocker.
The man wants to have tea with Lenin.
Sam, are you sure about this?
It's like you said, Monica.
He and I talking
is all that stands between us
and the end of the world.
[breathing heavily]
Hey!
Hey!
Over here! Bruce, come on!
What do you say, Bruce?
It's me, Sam.
[dramatic music playing]
Oh, Bruce, come on, man.
[Mega-Hulk grunts softly]
Hey, it's just us. Take it easy.
I know you've always been scared
that everyone just sees you as a monster.
But from where I'm standin',
all I see now is a friend.
And I'd bet my life
that you still see one, too.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Mega-Hulk grunts]
[somber choral music playing]
- [Melina sighs]
- [Shang-Chi] Banner.
I'm sorry, Sam. I know he was your friend.
He still is.
[stirring music playing]
Big things have small beginnings.
Even the way a person sees themselves
can change their lives
and the fate of the entire world.
But in humanity's darkest hour,
sometimes the greatest heroes
are the friends who accept us
for who we really are.
[roars]
[theme music playing]