- "New York, December 1991. The night the Winter Soldier came to assassinate Howard and Maria Stark. But in this universe, how could a night so pivotal in the lives of the Avengers, an event whose ramifications would be felt for decades, how could it have gone so differently?"
- ―Watcher
What If... The Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier? is the third episode of the third season of What If...?
Synopsis[]
The Red Guardian interferes with the Winter Soldier's mission to kill Howard Stark.
Plot[]
Red Guardian gets his mission
Red Guardian gets assigned to an undercover Red Room mission in Ohio and voices his frustration to Dreykov that the organization does not appreciate his skills. Red Guardian says that he knows what was actually happening, as Rook, a sleeper agent in the United States has sent new intel on a high-value target. Dreykov denies any knowledge of the Rook and contacts Vasily Karpov to defrost Winter Soldier for a mission. Red Guardian voices his anger that Dreykov would rather trust Winter Soldier with important missions and vows to prove his worth by any means necessary.
Red Guardian and Winter Soldier fight
HYDRA reactivates Winter Soldier and Karpov prepares him for a mission, while Red Guardian uses the Rook intel file he stole to get to the same place. Winter Soldier attacks Howard and Maria Stark, stealing the Super Soldier Serum, but Red Guardian suddenly shows up and stops him from killing the Starks. Winter Soldier is determined to leave no witnesses and fights Red Guardian, although both of them have to retreat when the authorities arrive on the scene. Winter Soldier then reports to Karpov about what happened, to which Karpov claims that he failed the mission and has to handle the extraction on his own, to Winter Soldier's disbelief as he never failed a mission before.
Bill Foster arrives at the crime scene
S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the injured Starks to get them medical aid, while Bill Foster arrives to take over the investigation. Morales tells Foster that Howard Stark witnessed two men fighting after their car crush and suggested that it might be a carjacking gone wrong, but Foster denies that it would be that simple. When Morales points at traces of the Super Soldier Serum on the world, Foster tells her that it could change the course of history and orders all agents and rangers to bring all resources to intercept the culprits, stating that they are dealing with extremely dangerous super soldiers.
Red Guardian and Winter Soldier enter a check point
Winter Soldier and Red Guardian regroup at a dinery and the latter claims that the Rook can help them, showing Winter Soldier an intel file he stole from Dreykov that says that the Rook will be in Las Vegas. They steal a car to reach Nevada but run into a lockdown set by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the local police, and Foster approaches their car. Foster does not buy Red Guardian's story and demands both of them to step out of the car, spotting Red Guardian's shield at the backseat. Winter Soldier pulls a gun at Foster and Red Guardian immediately drives away through the lockdown, while Foster and Morales pursue them on the road. Winter Soldier open fire at the police and Foster, while Red Guardian tries to stop him from killing somebody by swerving the car.
The super soldiers escape
While Winter Soldier and Red Guardian manage to get away, Foster decides to put on his Goliath Suit and enlarge to follow them on foot, as Winter Soldier unsuccessfully tries to shoot him down. Red Guardian then grabs his shield and manages to subdue Goliath by attacking him directly, but as they find out that they are driving towards a cliff, Winter Soldier charges forward. Later, Foster and Morales find a crashed car with Barnes and Red Guardian missing and Morales states that she is staying on the case to bring both of them to justice. Foster checks on the car and finds a Thomas Guide with one page missing, concluding that the super soldiers are heading to Las Vegas.
Winter Soldier getting patched up
Taking shelter at a veterinary hospital, Red Guardian notices that Winter Soldier caught a few bullets and kept quiet about it, so he helps Winter Soldier to treat his wounds. Red Guardian says that he came from a family of nobodies who failed to become someone, so he became the protector of his homeland. Winter Soldier opens up that he does not remember anything, even his own name, so Red Guardian suggests him to look into himself and find the fragments of his memory. With his help, Winter Soldier manages to recall the faint memories of Coney Island to Red Guardian's delight and the two bond a little more. While he goes to find them another ride, Winter Soldier receives a call from Dreykov who orders him to dispose of Red Guardian who became too much of a liability.
Rook meets the super soldiers
Winter Soldier and Red Guardian arrive to Las Vegas and follow the intel file to find Rook, and as they arrive to a hotel room, they meet with Rook, revealed to be Obadiah Stane. Red Guardian is ecstatic that he finally met Rook, certain that his goal is to undermine America's capitalist society, and Winter Soldier informs Stane that the mission has been compromised, requesting transport to Russia. Stane then reveals that he was not a Soviet Spy and simply traded an info on the serum, so Red Room would eliminate the Starks and allow him to take over Stark Industries. Red Guardian is distraught to realize that he and Red Room were working with an American capitalist all along, while Stane taunts him them both that their superiors never cared about them or their principles.
Red Guardian and Winter Soldier see Rook killed
As Stane confirms that they were the only ones who knew about the failed mission, he attempts to kill them, but Winter Soldier protects Red Guardian and kills Stane. Red Guardian feels lost that the people he trusted the most betrayed him, to which Winter Soldier assures him that he is a good man and should forget about Dreykov. At that moment, Red Room task force raids the hotel to kill then, so Winter Soldier and Red Guardian fight back and flee from the scene. Foster and Morales discover Stane's body and conclude that it does not add up that he got killed but the Starks were spared, before seeing the super soldiers running into the casino.
Red Guardian and Winter Soldier leap towards danger
They keep running away from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the police through Las Vegas strip, and Red Guardian gets caught by Goliath, before Winter Soldier rescues him and two bring Goliath down. Being pinned down by Red Room, Winter Soldier reveals that Dreykov put a kill order on Red Guardian but he refused to comply, before giving Red Guardian the last package of the Super Soldier Serum and telling him to run, while Winter Soldier would buy him some time. Red Guardian refuses to abandon him and destroys the serum, but Karpov then arrives to activate Winter Soldier's programming and get him under HYDRA control again. Winter Soldier asks Red Guardian to save himself but he refuses to leave a friend behind and as Karpov recites the codewords, Winter Soldier manages to resist the programming. Goliath, Morales and the authorities then move in to confront Karpov and the Red Room soldiers, before Winter Soldier and Red Guardian join the fight as well.
Red Guardian on the Avengers
Winter Soldier gets captured and delivered to HYDRA Siberian Facility, being strapped to Memory Suppressing Machine, while Dreykov demands to know where Red Guardian is. Winter Soldier claims that he died as a Russian hero, but Dreykov is dissatisfied and orders to purge his memories once again. Meanwhile, Red Guardian stays in the United States and works as a gym teacher, while Foster approaches him and hands him the shield that his agents recovered. Red Guardian asks why Foster would not just arrest him, to which he explains that S.H.I.E.L.D. wants Red Guardian to help them, getting him to join the Avengers during the Battle of New York.
Cast[]
Starring Cast
- Jeffrey Wright as Uatu/Watcher
- David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
- Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster/Goliath
- America Ferrera as Ranger Morales
- Piotr Michael as Dreykov
- Gene Farber as Vasily Karpov
- Kiff VandenHeuvel as Obadiah Stane/Rook
Guest Stars:
- Tanya Wheelock as Lucy[1]
- Robin Atkin Downes as Additional Voices
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
- Melanie Minichino as Additional Voices
- Dave B. Mitchell as Additional Voices
- Toby Larsen as Additional Voices
- Luke Lowe as Additional Voices
- Lucy Lowe as Additional Voices
- Maggie Lowe as Additional Voices
- Zeno Robinson as Additional Voices
- Kaitlyn Robrock as Additional Voices
- Matthew Wood as Additional Voices
- Secunda Wood as Additional Voices
Non-Speaking Characters
- Howard Stark
- Maria Stark
- Tony Stark/Iron Man
- Bruce Banner/Hulk
- Clint Barton/Hawkeye
- Thor
- Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
- Steve Rogers/Captain America
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- Earth
- Soviet Union
- Long Island, New York
- Ohio
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- New York City, New York
- Stark Tower
- Grand Central Terminal
- Coney Island (flashback)
Events[]
- Attack on Howard and Maria Stark
- Soviet Super Soldiers Manhunt
- Battle of New York
- Assassination of Howard and Maria Stark (mentioned)
- World War II (mentioned)
Items[]
- Winter Soldier's Prosthetic Arm
- Red Guardian's Uniform
- Red Guardian's Shield
- Super Soldier Serum
- Goliath Suit
- Pym Particles
- Winter Soldier Book
- Cryostasis Chamber
- Memory Suppressing Machine
- Vibranium
- Captain America's Uniform
- Iron Man Armor: Mark VII
- Arc Reactor
- Uru
- Asgardian Armor
- Hawkeye's Bow and Quiver
- Black Widow's Bite
- Thomas Guide
- GameBoy
- Tetris
Concepts[]
Vehicles[]
Sentient Species[]
- Watchers
- Humans
- Asgardians
- Bigfoots (mentioned)
Creatures[]
Organizations[]
- Red Room
- HYDRA
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Stark Industries
- National Park Service
- Soviet Armed Forces
- Avengers
- Order of the Watchers
Mentioned[]
- Winter Soldier
- Howard Stark
- Maria Stark
- Antonia Dreykov (photo)
- Bill Foster's Wife
- Vladimir Lenin
- Karl Marx
- Cookie Monster
- Monopoly
- The Communist Manifesto
- Uncle Sam
- Siegfried & Roy
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Moonlight on the Volga | BMG Production Music | |
| On the Road | Red Army Choir | |
| The Winter Soldier's Theme | Henry Jackman | |
| Please Don't Cry | Timothy William Oliver | |
| Come Out with Me | Extreme Music | |
| Meadowland from Symphony No. 4 | Red Army Choir | |
| Kukushka (The Cuckoo) | Ural Cossacks Choir | |
| My Time to Shine | BMG Production Music | |
| The Avengers Theme | Alan Silvestri |
Videos[]
Clips[]
Trivia[]
- The scene containing soldiers smashing open the door at around the 21:15 mark is reused, albeit flipped, in the episode What If... The Emergence Destroyed the Earth? at around the 9:20 mark.
Behind the Scenes[]
- This episode was written and animated to be released as part of the second season of What If...?, although it ended up being released for the third season.[2]
References[]
External Links[]
What If... The Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier? on IMDb- What If... The Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier? on Disney+
.png){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
