What If...?

Go-Avenger! Heroes of the Gamma War!

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!

In humanity's darkest hour,

the Iron Man found inspiration in an idea.

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.

What? Mom, what's going on?

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. - Oh, God.

Who likes doing this?

On your left.

Yep, you're good, buddy. Okay.

Hey, you're doin' all right? 'Cause you're looking a little...

Oh, wait, let me guess.

Green?

- Sam Wilson. - Dr. Bruce Banner.

- Yeah, I kinda put that together. - Uh-huh?

Looked like you were really pushin' it out there.

I mean, yeah.

I--I read somewhere that cardio is a good stress reliever.

I've been trying everything lately.

Yoga, knitting...

...cooking shows. But I mean--

You ever just try talkin' to someone?

Huh?

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.

Therapy.

It's the fear.

The fear I see in everyone else's eyes.

And how does that make you feel?

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.

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.

I like this. This is a great boat, man.

Throw me another brew, would ya?

But there are some forces of nature that cannot be controlled.

Sam, come on! Gotta secure the lines!

- Tie that-- - Look out!

Bruce.

Bruce, no!

Bruce, come on, man.

It's me. It's Sam.

It turns out there was still one side of Banner...

No, no, no, Bruce!

...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.

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...

...and set it free.

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.

- Look out! - Pull up! Pull up!

With everything at stake,

the Avengers realized that to fight these bigger, meaner Hulks,

they would need bigger, meaner Hulk-Busters.

And so, Earth's mightiest heroes fought...

and fell.

And in their sacrifice,

inspired the surviving heroes to finish the fight.

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.

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! - 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.

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.

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.

Cap, confirming the Gamma signature. It's massive.

Then I guess we're here.

This place is a ghost town.

The sensors say the Gamma spike is right here.

Monica, look out!

I guess we just found the spike.

Oh, yeah, you want some?

I'm thinkin' big guns.

Oh, yeah. I'm thinking very big guns.

Whoa! What'd you just fire? A nuke?

Well, that's not me. Something else is happening.

Monica, you seein' what I'm seein'?

It's worse than we thought.

There's thousands of them.

The Apex.

- They're listening to him. - And awaiting orders.

This isn't an infestation.

It's an invasion.

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.

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.

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.

You didn't.

Oh, I did.

Coordinates will be loaded to your onboard AI.

Just make sure you don't come back without a souvenir.