Draft:What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?

"What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?" is the fourth episode of the second season and thirteenth episode overall of the American animated television series What If...?, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores what would happen if Tony Stark ended up on the planet Sakaar and had to compete in a race against the Grandmaster to get home. The episode was written by head writer A. C. Bradley and directed by Bryan Andrews.

Jeffrey Wright narrates the series as the Watcher, with this episode also starring the voices of Mick Wingert (Stark), Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster), Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, Rachel House, Josh Brolin and Cynthia McWilliams. This episode was originally intended as a tenth episode of the first season, but was pushed to the second season due to COVID-19-related production delays. Work on a second season of What If...? had begun by December 2019, with Andrews and Bradley returning from the first season. Animation was provided by SDFX Studios, with Stephan Franck and Scott Wright serving as head of animation..

"What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?" was released on Disney+ on December 25, 2023.

Plot
In 2012, Tony Stark redirects a nuclear missile towards the Chitauri mothership, saving New York. But the wormhole closes before he can return to Earth, instead pulling Stark to other reaches of space, causing him to crash-land on Sakaar.

Stark is forced to stay by Sakaar's ruler, the Grandmaster. The former attends the Sakaar Grand Prix, a death race where numerous racers compete for the Grandmaster's entertainment. Stark interferes in the race to save one of the racers, Korg, but encounters Gamora, who was sent by Thanos to kill Stark as retaliation for stopping the Chitauri invasion. The Grandmaster's chief enforcer, Topaz, captures both Gamora and Stark, and imprisons them. Stark later escapes, but upon learning from Gamora that Thanos sent the Chitauri to attack Earth, he decides to stay to save Sakaar from the Grandmaster.

Stark recruits Korg and Valkyrie, builds a new Iron Man suit, and challenges the Grandmaster to a race for the title of Sakaar's ruler. The Grandmaster uses numerous cheating methods, but Stark ultimately wins the race. Topaz attempts to kill Stark, but Valkyrie crashes her car with Topaz's, causing the former's staff to hit the Grandmaster and melt him into a puddle. Valkyrie is crowned the new ruler of Sakaar by its people, and Stark leaves after celebrating with her and Korg. However, Gamora takes Stark to Thanos. Having been convinced by Stark earlier to forge her own path rather than living in her father's shadow, Gamora uses Topaz's staff to kill Thanos.

In a post-credits scene, the still alive Grandmaster begs Topaz to collect his puddle form.

Development
In December 2019, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that work had already begun on a second season of the animated anthology series What If...?, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores how the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films would be altered if certain events occurred differently. A. C. Bradley and Bryan Andrews returned from the first season as head writer and lead director, and they executive produce alongside Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Bradley wrote the fourth episode, titled "What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?". It was originally intended as a tenth episode of the first season, but was pushed to the second season because it would not have been completed in time due to COVID-19-related production delays. Andrews believed it was a good decision not to rush the episode, calling it "insane" and able to "[fire] on all cylinders" with the extra production time. "What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?" was released on Disney+ on December 24, 2023.

Writing
The episode explores if Tony Stark / Iron Man was sent to the planet Sakaar instead of returning to Earth after defeating the Chitauri, centering on versions of Stark and Gamora first introduced in the first-season finale. Bradley felt it would be surprising to explore how Gamora received Thanos' armor along with how she became good friends with Stark, as well as what made her leave Thanos. The episode was meant to be an Odyssey homage, mixing in racing elements from the films Death Race 2000 (1975) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). During development, it was originally envisioned to retain the gladiator games element from Thor: Ragnarok (2017) before the Marvel Studios Parliament suggested another kind of game, which led to Bradley recommending racing. Bradley originally wrote the episode in 2019.

The episode was originally conceived as a Stark and Pepper Potts episode. Bradley chose to write the episode because she is a fan of Stark and was fascinated by Stark's relationship with Pepper Potts, saying, "He's not a James Bond lothario. He has this relationship with Pepper and she always comes across as a woman of agency, of her own power. I always love the fact that the driving force behind Tony is the need to fix everything, but it's also her." Bradley had previously considered some different Tony Stark-focused storylines for the series that were eventually abandoned, including a story about the relationship between a young Tony and his father Howard that was inspired by the relationship between young Indiana Jones and his father in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) as well as its spin-off ABC series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–93); and also a "romantic space-opera" episode where Tony Stark and Pepper Potts travel through space on an Odyssey-style adventure. The latter idea ended up being "too big of a story" for a single episode of the series, and there were other aspects of Tony Stark that Bradley wanted to explore instead. While the idea was still in development, Bradley had asked, mostly jokingly, if Star Wars characters like Luke Skywalker could appear.

Casting
Jeffrey Wright narrates the episode as the Watcher, with Marvel planning to have other characters in the series voiced by the actors who portrayed them in the MCU films. The episode stars Mick Wingert as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Taika Waititi as Korg, Rachel House as Topaz, Josh Brolin as Thanos, and Cynthia McWilliams as Gamora. Goldblum and Waititi improvised much of their lines in the episode.

Animation
Animation for the episode was provided by SDFX Studios, with Stephan Franck and Scott Wright serving as head of animation. Andrews developed the series' cel-shaded animation style with Ryan Meinerding, the head of visual development at Marvel Studios. Though the series has a consistent art style, elements such as the camera and color palette differ between episodes.