1602-07-15 CE - What if... ? - Season 2, Episode 8: The Avengers Assembled in 1602?

In an alternate universe set in the year 1602, Captain Peggy Carter is summoned by that world's Scarlet Witch to help prevent the reality from collapsing in on itself. She arrives to find familiar heroes and villains transplanted into the early 17th century, serving under Queen Hela... until a rift tears open and pulls Hela through it, leaving Carter blamed by Thor and declared a fugitive.

Forced to operate outside the law, Carter enlists the era's Tony Stark to engineer a solution and teams up with a Robin Hood-styled Steve Rogers and his band of outlaws. Using a Time Stone-powered gauntlet built by Stark, she uncovers the source of the collapsing timelines: Rogers himself, who cracked the Time Stone during a battle with Thanos in the present day and was sent back to 1602 without his memories. Restoring the reality comes at a personal cost, requiring Carter to say goodbye to yet another version of Steve Rogers.

Universe Designation

This story takes place in the Marvel Continuity: Earth-TRN1093

Characters in the Episode

In-Universe Date

Solidly set in 1602 B.C.E.

Comic Roots

Neil Gaiman's "Marvel 1602"

The episode "What If... the Avengers Assembled in 1602?" is explicitly inspired by the eight-issue limited series Marvel 1602, published in 2003 and written by Neil Gaiman with art by Andy Kubert. However, the MCU adaptation takes significant creative liberties, shifting the focus from Gaiman's Silver Age characters to the modern Avengers lineup.

The Role of Steve Rogers (Rojhaz vs. Rogers Hood)

In Gaiman's original comic, Steve Rogers is revealed to have fought against a 21st-century dictatorship led by the Purple Man as President-for-Life, was subsequently captured and sent back in time, was taken in by Native Americans who misheard his name, and upon encountering the struggling Roanoke Colony, helped it survive and became Virginia Dare's bodyguard. Wikipedia In the What If...? version, Rogers is a Robin Hood-style outlaw in England, and his displacement is the result of accidentally striking the Time Stone during the Battle of Wakanda. While the "outlaw" status of Rogers Hood evokes the Robin Hood archetype, Gaiman's Rojhaz was a more somber, culturally complex figure whose presence in the past was a calculated act of political exile rather than an accident.

Note: the submission refers to the Purple Man as "Kilgrave," which is the MCU naming convention from Jessica Jones. In the Marvel 1602 source text, the character is identified only as the Purple Man.

The Exclusion of the Witchbreed and the Fantastic Four

Gaiman's Marvel 1602 was a foundational exploration of how mutants (called "witchbreed") and the Fantastic Four (the "Fantastick") would be perceived in an era dominated by the Spanish Inquisition and the fear of sorcery. This social commentary is largely absent from the animated episode, which prioritizes the "Avengers Assemble" motif. Characters such as Carlos Javier (Xavier), the Inquisitor Enrique (Magneto), and the crew of the Fantastick are adapted out, likely to maintain narrative focus and to avoid introducing teams not yet fully established in the live-action MCU.

The Court Mage: Strange vs. Maximoff

In the comics, Stephen Strange serves as Queen Elizabeth's physician and magician. Wikipedia He is executed by King James following the witchbreed's escape, and his death releases him from the Watcher's oath, allowing his astral form to communicate with his wife Clea and reveal the truth of the temporal anomaly. The What If...? episode replaces Strange in the court mage role with Wanda Merlin. In the comics, Wanda was a nun rather than a court magician. TV Tropes This change allows the series to explore the specific "Guardian of the Multiverse" connection between Wanda and Peggy Carter, while keeping Strange Supreme as a looming figure who appears only in the final moments to drive the overarching season narrative.

Narrative Comparison Table