Marvel’s What If…? took us back to the 1600s in season 2 episode 8 “What if…the Avengers Assembled in 1602?” and it asks another important question: Who is the Forerunner? When Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is brought to the Shakespearean era, she discovers she’s not the first to be transported there out of time.
Throughout the episode, she has to find who is there that shouldn’t be so that they can fix the timeline because it is being ripped apart. Which is unfortunate because this is an exceptionally fun timeline to exist in. Still, Peggy has to set things right and we spend most of the episode trying to figure out exactly who is there that shouldn’t be.
Peggy assembles her own team to make sure she has people on her side when she needs them. It includes Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Bruce Banner, and Scott Lang all on her side as they’re trying to figure out what is going on in the timeline under the rule of King Thor as they are fighting against the rip in time. Peggy and Tony work together to use tech to make something to help them find the Forerunner that will help them reset the timeline and erase this one from existence.
But what exactly is the Forerunner in this case and who does it end up being in the end despite what Peggy and her team think?
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So what exactly is the Forerunner?
The Forerunner is simply explained as the one who brought this timeline into existence. What we learn in the end, when Peggy uses the tool that Tony built, is that the Forerunner ended up being Steve. This Steve Rogers was brought into this timeline when he was fighting Thanos in the battle in Wakanda.
Steve Rogers strikes the Time Stone when he is fighting against Thanos, with his Nomad shield, and it takes him back in time, thus becoming the Forerunner in question. It becomes a moving moment between Peggy and Steve as they are yet again forced apart by time, realizing that this is not meant to be for them and Peggy watches as Steve is put back into his timeline and she resets the world in question.
Still, it is sad to watch this very fun timeline of the Avengers, which loved Shakespeare plays and had our heroes all together in their own ways, gone with just one quick blast from Tony’s new invention.
(featured image: Disney+)
