It’s worth noting that “What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?” was originally supposed to be released with “What If…?” Season 1. However, the episode was pushed to the show’s sophomore season. As a result, viewers were left initially confused by the “What If…?” Season 1 finale, which introduces a variant of Gamora who is not only referred to by The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) as the “Destroyer of Thanos,” but who has also seemingly partnered up with Tony Stark.
Gamora’s role in the finale wouldn’t have felt so abrupt had “What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?” been released before it, as was originally planned. The episode, after all, features a meeting between its Tony and Gamora variants and ends with them leaving Sakaar to go kill Thanos together. In a 2021 interview with Comicbook.com, A.C. Bradley revealed that the “What If…?” creative team ultimately chose to just move its Sakaar-set chapter instead of pushing back the show’s debut season to accommodate the episode’s delays.
“There was originally supposed to be — early on in the season — a Tony and Gamora-centric episode. However, due to COVID and production delays, one of our amazing, amazing animation houses around the globe got hit pretty hard by the pandemic,” Bradley explained. “We made the choice to push that episode to Season 2, and hoped that seeing Gamora in the finale [would serve] as a teaser for what is to come.”
Now, viewers have finally learned the long-awaited backstory of Tony and Gamora’s “What If…?” friendship. Given how well it has been received, it seems safe to say that Bradley and co. were right to leave their original, Tony and Pepper-centric idea for the episode behind.
It’s worth noting that “What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?” was originally supposed to be released with “What If…?” Season 1. However, the episode was pushed to the show’s sophomore season. As a result, viewers were left initially confused by the “What If…?” Season 1 finale, which introduces a variant of Gamora who is not only referred to by The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) as the “Destroyer of Thanos,” but who has also seemingly partnered up with Tony Stark.
Gamora’s role in the finale wouldn’t have felt so abrupt had “What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?” been released before it, as was originally planned. The episode, after all, features a meeting between its Tony and Gamora variants and ends with them leaving Sakaar to go kill Thanos together. In a 2021 interview with Comicbook.com, A.C. Bradley revealed that the “What If…?” creative team ultimately chose to just move its Sakaar-set chapter instead of pushing back the show’s debut season to accommodate the episode’s delays.
“There was originally supposed to be — early on in the season — a Tony and Gamora-centric episode. However, due to COVID and production delays, one of our amazing, amazing animation houses around the globe got hit pretty hard by the pandemic,” Bradley explained. “We made the choice to push that episode to Season 2, and hoped that seeing Gamora in the finale [would serve] as a teaser for what is to come.”
Now, viewers have finally learned the long-awaited backstory of Tony and Gamora’s “What If…?” friendship. Given how well it has been received, it seems safe to say that Bradley and co. were right to leave their original, Tony and Pepper-centric idea for the episode behind.