What If: Everything Black Panther Changed By Becoming Star-Lord
The second episode of What If…? on Disney+ gave fans one of the last outings with Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther. The episode featured the first of four What If…? appearances of King T’Challa in the series by having the Ravagers abduct him rather than Peter Quill, making T’Challa the new Star-Lord.
This presented the MCU an opportunity to show what would have happened if the son of a great man took the role of Star-Lord rather than a child suffering from loss and tragedy. The ultimate result was a very different Marvel Universe, with several significant changes, all because of one great man.
10 The Ravagers Were Heroes
When Yondu and his Ravagers took Peter Quill from Earth, they ended up pulling heists, stealing things, and doing all the wicked deeds the Ravagers became infamous for. That didn’t happen with T’Challa as Star-Lord.
T’Challa convinced Yondu to do better. Instead of stealing things and working as wanted fugitives, the Ravagers instead became heroes, saving planets, stealing for the greater good, and earning their role as an intergalactic Robin Hood squadron.
9 The Avengers Never Needed To Form
There is a possibility that The Avengers formed for a different purpose, but as far as What If…? showed, there was no reason for the team to join forces. The Avengers teamed up because Thanos gave Loki the Tesseract and he led an alien invasion of Earth at Thanos’ behest.
However, in What If…?, Thanos never set out to find the Infinity Stones. T’Challa convinced him to give up his quest to wipe out half the universe and instead he learned there were better ways to handle things than through genocide.
8 Gamora and Nebula Changed
Gamora and Nebula had their lives forever changed in this episode. For Gamora, she never lost her family because Thanos didn’t start wiping out half the population of every planet he arrived on. This included Gamora’s, so she likely lived there in peace with her family.
As for Nebula, she was a prized daughter of Thanos. She worked with him and T’Challa, and Thanos never deconstructed and tortured her, allowing her to remain a well-adjusted ally. Nebula even helped save the day.
7 Drax Never Lost His Family
Because Thanos never set out to destroy everything he touched, that also allowed Drax to have a happy ending. It was the Kree warrior Ronan that went to Drax’s planet and murdered his wife and daughter in front of him.
With Ronan no longer working for Thanos, he never went to Drax’s planet. He never killed family, and Drax never became the Destroyer. Drax remained one of the MCU's funniest characters, but for a very different reason. Also, with Ronan no longer working for Thanos, he likely never devastated the Nova Corps.
6 There Was No Snap
Not only did T’Challa as Star-Lord stop the alien attack of Earth by helping rehabilitate Thanos, but he also ensured that the all-out attack in Avengers: Infinity War never happened.
This means, Thanos never attacked Earth with the Infinity Stones. He never snapped his finger and Earth never suffered its great losses. Also, if the Avengers never had to form, the destruction of Sokovia likely never happened and the Civil War never took place. The episode even made jokes about Thanos even considering the plan.
5 The Collector Becomes The Big Bad
With Thanos no longer causing the universe to cower in fear, it left room for another bad guy to step up. The villain was The Collector, but unlike Thanos, he wasn’t a world conqueror.
Instead, The Collector was still a collector and kidnapped creatures from different alien races to keep in cages. He was still a threat, and very dangerous, but more in a mobster sort of way and nowhere near as destructive as Thanos was.
4 Black Panther’s Father Lived
There is a mode of thinking that T’Challa, becoming Star-Lord and saving Thanos, also saved his father T’Chaka’s life. The reason for T’Chaka’s death was because Baron Zemo was angry that his wife and child died in Sokovia.
Tony Stark built Ultron because of the alien attack on Earth. With that event not happening, there was no need to build Ultron, no Sokovia destruction, and no reason for Zemo to turn evil. That also meant the terrorist attack that killed T’Chaka wouldn’t happen, and he was there waiting when his son returned to Earth as Star-Lord.
3 The Black Order Are Thanos’ Enemies
Thanos used the Black Order on his mission to attack other planets. They were with him when he killed Loki and Heimdall, and they were there when he attacked Earth, arriving first and leading the initial strike against the Avengers.
Now, the Black Order works for The Collector. With Thanos, they were conquerors, attacking and killing individuals on other planets. With The Collector, they worked as security in Knowhere. This means many people possibly didn’t die, including Loki, Heimdall, and many more.
2 Ego Is Still A Threat
While Thanos never attacked Earth and destroyed most of the universe, there is still a cosmic danger out there, and it is one of the Guardians of the Galaxy's strongest villains, Ego, The Living Planet, that sent The Ravagers to kidnap Quill, and when they grabbed the wrong kid, everything changed.
What didn’t change was Ego coming to find Quill. This time he found him on Earth, working at a Dairy Queen. With no experience at being a hero and no friends to help him, Quill will either help Ego conquer the universe or possibly die if he refuses, and Ego could achieve his goal.
1 Are Captain America and Thor Dead?
While Thanos never attacked Earth, and it looks as if it is in okay shape with Wakanda and Peter Quill in a Dairy Queen at the end, there are some hints that The Collector did attack Earth at one point. While he is fighting T’Challa’s Star-Lord, he has two items he had in a collector’s case.
One is Captain America’s sword. The second is Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. There is no way he would have these if those heroes were still alive. There was talk about a “chatty Kronan” losing his arm. Could that be Korg? It also seemed he killed Hela, and that means Odin had to have died for her to return. For all the good T’Challa did as Star-Lord, there could be a few downfalls to this role as well.