Marvel's 'What If...?' Episode 7 Ending Explained

The latest episode of Marvel's What If...? proved to be a laugh-a-minute as it examined what Thor (Chris Hemsworth) would have been like without Loki (Tom Hiddleston) as his adopted brother.

Titled "What If Thor Were an Only Child?", it saw the God of Thunder party his way across Earth when he is left to his own devices.

Rather than study, Thor lands on Las Vegas with all of his friends, including the Guardians of the Galaxy and a frost-giant Loki, for the party of their lives.

He meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and they develop a romantic connection, and he also clashes with Captain Marvel (Alexandra Daniels) over his partying.

But it is the final moments of the episode that proved to be the most interesting for its completely unexpected twist.

What happened at the end of What If...? episode 7?

After managing to convince his mother Frigga that he was studying on Earth rather than living it up, Thor visits Jane to ask if they can see each other again.

The astronomer agrees to go on a date with him and all seems well, even The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) declares that they were about to live "happily ever after".

But, just as he said this, a portal opens up and an army of Ultron-like robots step out into the desert to face Thor and The Watcher claims he "spoke too soon".

At the head of the group is Ultron, who has the infinity stones embedded into his robotic body, and it is revealed that it is in fact Vision underneath.

What does the ending of What If...? episode 7 mean?

In the original version of Age of Ultron, Vision was created by Ultron using the Mind Stone but rather than join forces with the robot he sided with the Avengers, but this obviously didn't happen in this version of Earth.

Given Vision has all six infinity stones at his disposal it seems that he is the main antagonist in this universe, rather than Thanos.

Vision has also attacked Earth early, The Avengers hadn't formed when Thor first arrived on the planet so it's not clear whether the superheroes would even be able to fight off the villain.

The episode, however, is left on a cliffhanger, so fans can only guess what that means for the heroes they know and love.

How did fans react to the episode?

Marvel fans were, understandably, surprised by the plot twist, and took to Twitter to share their reactions.

One viewer joked: "I was like 'oh yay a fun episode w nothing bad happening yay!' then evil vision ultron showed up."

While another declared passionately: "WHAT!! ULTRON?? VISION?? INFINITY STONES?? HOW?? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED NEXT."

One fan pointed out that Vision had to kill a loved one for the Soul Stone: "anyone else wondering who ultron vision sacrificed to get the soul stone... it's been on my mind since i watched the episode."

Marvel's What If...? continues on Disney+ on September 29.