What If Season 3 Episode 1 Review/Ending Explained: Gamma Hulk Makes Things Go Boom!

What If is back with its third season and the first episode is titled “What If… the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?”. The episode follows the Mech Avengers, who have to fight a genetically enhanced Hulk who is on a rampage! The episode has a runtime of 28 minutes.

What If Season 3 Episode 1 Recap

The episode opens with a young girl watch an Avengers cartoon and, after feeling an earthquake, finds Hulk going on a rampage through the city. We then cut to Bruce Banner and Sam Wilson coming across each other and Wilson eventually chooses to help Banner by taking him to therapy and helping him talk his feelings out. However, an unfortunate boating accident pushes Banner to do something about controlling or destroying the green monster in him and he takes matters into his own hands.

Of course, that doesn’t go according to plan either and after exposing himself to even more Gamma radiation, he gives birth to and set free a monster from within who turns out to be even more ruthless than the Hulk. As the monster takes over the city and spawns more from itself, causing a rampage, the Avengers come out and taking them down one by one, resulting in these creatures to be eventually eradicated… or so they thought.

10 years after the Gamma War, the Beasts return once more and Wilson and Monica Rambeau head to the Arctic to follow the Gamma signature while Rambeau instructs Bucky Barnes to find Banner by any means necessary. At the Arctic, things don’t go as planned and the two Avengers are left stunned at the scope of the Beasts, realizing that it’s an invasion. As the Beasts march towards causing havoc once more, Rambeau implores Wilson to meet Banner, who might just be the only person able to solve this mess. After initially refusing, Wilson agrees and rushes to the coordinates that Bucky found for Bruce Banner.

At Astra Islands, Bruce refuses to come with Wilson but hands over the Mighty Avengers Protocol, a plugin he designed for the mech’s interface. Sam implores Bruce to come fight the monsters with them, but he refuses. The two get into an argument but Bruce tells him that he bult the interface against himself and that it is all that they will need to stop the Beasts. Sam reluctantly flies off alone, but not before reminding his friend that he never saw a monster when he saw him.

As the monsters reach the city, the Avengers make their way to fight against them and using Banner’s protocol, creates a suit that integrates all their systems, giving them a fighting chance against thousands of Beasts. However, it doesn’t work for until as the Apex turns out to be much stronger, until Bruce arrives at the spot, nuking himself and turning him into the Apex instead. A devastating fight ensues between the two for power, resulting in Hulk to come out on top and destroy the other Beast and becoming the Apex.

However, this results in the Avengers wondering whether or not he will pose another threat for them and as they get ready to face off against him as well, Sam decides to reach out to his old friend within Mega-Hulk, resulting in him and his minions to walk back into the ocean and back to the island.

What If Season 3 Episode 1 Review

The episode was an adventure and then some, reminding us why What If is a show with endless possibilities. I think the theme and the messaging are quite nice and reflects on why friendship and having people to rally behind us is so necessary in human beings accepting themselves and turning their lives around. There’s thrill and anticipation here as well and ties in a character that we don’t see much discussion on. Bruce Banner has always been an interesting topic that doesn’t get discussed enough, and this small snippet is quite entertaining in its own right. The first episode, thus, starts off great and I am looking forward to what the rest of the series brings for us!

What If Season 3 Episode 1 Ending Explained

In the end of the episode, Bruce Banner turns himself into Mega-Hulk in order to fight against the Apex beast by exposing himself to even more Gamma radiation. After defeating the beast, he almost loses control once more but Sam reminds him that he has always seen a friend in him, indicating that he has always believed in his ability to do good. His words break through to Bruce, who, along with his minions, go back to the island away from human beings.

Also Read: All What If Season 2 Articles