- "And when rumor spread the Hood had taken Xialing and her neighbors hostage, no one cared to look for them. Except Shang-Chi. Desperate to find his missing sister, he joined forces with Kate Bishop, a sharpshooter with her own bad blood against the Hood. Together, they became a frontier fable. But this tall tale was starting to sound more like a ghost story."
- ―Watcher
What If... 1872? is the sixth episode of the third season of What If...?
Synopsis[]
The legendary Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop search for the Hood in the Old Wild West.
Plot[]
Ten Rings fights John Walker
Shang-Chi takes it upon himself to find his missing sister Xu Xialing who disappeared after a showdown with Hood. He partners with Kate Bishop who also has a score to settle with Hood, and the two become fabled heroes on the American frontier, known as Ten Rings and Hawkeye. During their quest, John Walker and his gang attempt to ambush Shang-Chi, but he and Bishop take them out easily and Shang-Chi forces Walker to give up what he knew about Hood as he had been abducting Chinese immigrants who worked on railroads.
The group waits for the Ghost Train
Shang-Chi and Bishop head over to Point Pegasus to check on Walker's tip, but find the whole place in shambles with Hood long gone. Bishop mentions that Hood ransacked her homestead the same way and killed her family, so she vowed to get her revenge, to which Shang-Chi reminds her that he must get him to say where his sister was first. The two find Kwai Jun-Fan, the son of one of the workers and the only one who escaped Hood's Gang, and he tells them that the workers were taken on a Ghost Train that drives with no tracks. Jun-Fan begs Shang-Chi to save his father, so he and Bishop take the boy with them and follow Hood's trail.
Kwai Jun-Fan on the Ghost Train
Shang-Chi, Bishop and Jun-Fan manage to catch up with the train and get aboard, where they find out that Hood had been amassing an arsenal big enough to take on the whole West. In the next car, they find the abducted workers sitting motionless in a strange trance, completely unresponsive, and suggest that Hood is building an army. They encounter Sonny Burch and Hood's gang, who tells them that the workers had been conscripted into a force that will change the world, but Shang-Chi says that they have been enslaved. Shang-Chi tells Jun-Fan to run and prepares for a fight, but Burch then tells him that Hood is waiting for a meeting with him. As the train heads to Hood's location, Burch orders his men to find and kill Jun-Fan, but Watcher intervenes and rescues him.
Hawkeye gets threatened
The train reaches its destination and while Shang-Chi goes to confront Hood, Burch stops Bishop from joining him and says that Hood only wants to meet him. Hood tells Shang-Chi that he proved himself as a worthy adversary and offers to join his cause, but Shang-Chi refuses and demands to know where Xialing was. As the two start fighting, Burch uses his pocket watch to hypnotize Bishop like he did with the workers and taunts her that he was the one who killed Bishop's parents, while preparing to kill her. Hood's martial arts skills and cloaking powers give him an advantage, but Shang-Chi manages to land a hit and see Hood's true face.
Hood reveals herself
To his shock, Shang-Chi discovers that Xialing was Hood all along, as she defeated the original Hood and stole his powers, taking over his gang. Xialing claims that she had been preparing an army to liberate the Asian immigrant workers from being exploited, but Shang-Chi insists that she is stealing people's free will and he cannot let her do this. Xialing replies that she cannot let her brother live in that case and overpowers him, ready to kill him. As both heroes are about to meet their demise, Jun-Fan rings the train's bell, which causes Bishop to snap out of he trance and take Burch down, as she vows to make him suffer for his crimes. Meanwhile, Shang-Chi manages to get up and resumes the fight with his sister, but ultimately decides that he cannot do this and surrenders himself to her mercy.
Xialing is shocked and demands Shang-Chi to keep fighting, but he says that he will not play her game, being certain that his sister would never leave him. He tells Xialing that she always was his hero and that he loves her, before getting on his knees and awaiting his fate. Xialing hesitates but eventually moves in with a fatal strike, but Bishop shoots her down and saves Shang-Chi, before realizing what she had done. Shang-Chi is heartbroken to see his sister dying, while Xialing has a last moment of clarity before succumbing to her wounds. Bishop is remorseful that she killed Shang-Chi's sister, but he says that she should not be as the Xialing he knew was killed by Hood long ago.
The Order of the Watchers confront Uatu
With Hood's captives saved, Shang-Chi and Bishop remark that Jun-Fan has a great future ahead of him and might become a hero one day. Shang-Chi says that Hood was far from the only evil haunting the frontier and he owes it to Xialing to continue fighting for justice, and Bishop joins him for another adventure. As Watcher concludes his observation, Eminence, Incarnate and Executioner break into the Observational Plane and confront Watcher about his repeating offenses. They claim that Watcher broke his oath of not interfering too many times and the Order of the Watchers cannot let it go unanswered any longer, attacking Watcher.
Cast[]
Starring Cast
- Jeffrey Wright as Uatu/Watcher
- Simu Liu as Shang-Chi/Ten Rings
- Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop/Hawkeye
- Wyatt Russell as John Walker
- Meng'er Zhang as Xu Xialing/Hood
- Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch
- Allen Deng as Kwai Jun-Fan
- Jason Isaacs as Eminence
Guest Stars
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
- Matt Yang King as Additional Voices
- Dave B. Mitchell as Additional Voices
- Andrew Morgado as Additional Voices
- Fred Tatasciore as Additional Voices
- Debra Wilson as Additional Voices
- Matthew Wood as Additional Voices
- Shelby Young as Additional Voices
Non-Speaking Characters
- Parker Robbins/Hood
- Throg
- Alligator Loki
- Brock Rumlow/Crossbones
- Ultron
- Kwai Jun-Fan's Father
- Executioner
- Incarnate
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- Earth
- United States
- Mojave Desert
- Point Pegasus
- Fury Flats
- Bishop Homestead (mentioned)
- Mojave Desert
- Russia (mentioned)
- China (mentioned)
- United States
- Multiverse
Events[]
Items[]
- Sonny Burch's Pocket Watch
- Xu Xialing's Rope Dart
- Uru
- Asgardian Armor
- Winged Helmet
- Horned Helmet
- Crossbones' Battlefield Suit
Concepts[]
Vehicles[]
Sentient Species[]
Creatures[]
- Horses
- Alligators
- Frogs
- Wasps (mentioned)
Organizations[]
- Hood's Gang
- Asgardian Royal Family
- Order of the Watchers
- Stark Munitions (mentioned)
- Hammer Steel (mentioned)
- Cross Manufacturing (mentioned)
Mentioned[]
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Shang-Chi Main Theme | Joel P. West |
Videos[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- This is the third What If...? episode where all of the returning characters are voiced by their live-action actors, after What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? and What If... Agatha Went to Hollywood?
- Sonny Burch got his hypnotic watch on a mission in Russia. In both the comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Faustus is a Russian hypnosis doctor who uses objects during his enthrallments.
Behind the Scenes[]
To be added
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