What If... Iron Man Crashed Into the Grandmaster?

What If... Iron Man Crashed Into the Grandmaster? is the fourth episode of the second season of What If...?.
==Synopsis==
After his gambit to destroy the Chitauri fleet during the Battle of New York strands him on the planet of Sakaar, Tony Stark's efforts to overthrow the Grandmaster lead to a ceremonial, grand prix-turned-demolition-derby-a death match that could land Tony on the Sakaarian throne.
==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. After Stark realizes where he is and being shown reports about the Avengers' victory over the Chitauri and Pepper being acting CEO of Stark Industries, he asked the Grandmaster if he can return him to Earth and the Grandmaster said that he can get Tony on a zoom, but he must stay and celebrate his supposedly twenty-first birthday and after Stark refused by saying that he put his party days behind him, he is forced to stay. 
Tony attends the Sakaar Grand Prix, a death race where numerous racers compete for the Grandmaster's entertainment. After the Grandmaster surpised Tony, he told Stark that on Earth (which he pronounced it incorrectly), it would be a chariot race and Tony said that it's like intergalactic NASCAR. After a Snuffy appears and destroys racers' chariots, Stark interferes in the race to save Korg from it, but encounters Gamora, who was sent by Thanos to kill Stark as retaliation for stopping the Chitauri Invasion. Just when Gamora was about to kill Tony, the Grandmaster's chief enforcer, Topaz, captures both Gamora and Stark, and imprisons them. Stark later escapes, but upon learning of Gamora's purpose, he decides to stay and 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 with the help of an energy boost to his race car from Stark's Arc Reactor. The Grandmaster said to Tony that supposedly, it was a tie and after stating the rule that the choice of winner comes down to him, he chose himself, which the audience disagrees. After Tony said that he won fair and square, the grandmaster ordered Topaz 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, leaving Korg to say that he smelled like bad life choices. 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. 
At the Sanctuary, Thanos praised Gamora for capturing Tony and told him that he expected more. 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 with Stark's help. In a post-credits scene, the still alive Grandmaster begs Topaz to collect his puddle form.
==Cast==
Starring Cast
*Jeffrey Wright as Uatu/The Watcher
*Mick Wingert as Tony Stark/Iron Man
*Jeff Goldblum as En Dwi Gast/Grandmaster
*Tessa Thompson as Brunnhilde/Valkyrie
*Taika Waititi as Korg
*Rachel House as Topaz
*Josh Brolin as Thanos
*Cynthia McWilliams as Gamora
Guest Stars
*Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
*Robin Atkin Downes as Additional Voices
*Melanie Minichino as Additional Voices
*Dave B. Mitchell as Additional Voices
*Michael Ralph as Additional Voices
*Helen Sadler as Additional Voices
*Matthew Wood as Additional Voices
*Secunda Wood as Additional Voices
Non-Speaking Characters:
*Pepper Potts
*Roscoe
*Biff
*Tasba
*N'Jadaka/Erik Killmonger (recap)
*Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (recap)
*Peggy Carter/Captain Carter (recap)
*Thor (recap)
*T'Challa/Star-Lord (recap)
*Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange (recap)
*Ultron (recap)
==Appearances==
===Locations===
*Earth, Solar System
**New York City, New York
**Mount Rushmore National Memorial (mentioned)
*Sakaar, Tayo System
**Sakaar City
***Grandmaster Palace
***Grand Arena
*Sanctuary
*Nidavellir (flashback)
*Zen-Whoberi (flashback)
===Events===
*Chitauri Invasion
**Battle of New York
*Sakaar Grand Prix 
*Assassination of Thanos
*Ultron Offensive (flashback & recap)
**Battle for the Multiverse (flashback & recap)
===Items===
*Iron Man Armors
**Mark VII Iron Man Armor
**Sakaarian Armor
*Atomic Bomb
*Arc Reactor
**Tony Stark's New Element
*Melt Stick
*Colantotte Bracelets
*Godslayer
*Obedience Disk
*Demon Rum
*Thanos' Armor
*Space Throne
*Double-Edged Sword (flashback)
*Infinity Armor (flashback)
*Infinity Stones (flashback)
**Space Stone (flashback)
**Mind Stone (flashback)
**Reality Stone (flashback)
**Power Stone (flashback)
**Time Stone (flashback)
**Soul Stone (flashback)
*Captain America's Shield (depiction)
*Vibranium (recap)
**Panther Habit (recap)
*Black Widow's Batons (recap)
*Black Widow's Bite (recap)
*Captain Carter's Uniform (recap)
*Asgardian Armor (recap)
*Uru (recap)
**Mjølnir (recap)
*Star-Lord's Helmet (recap)
*Quad Blasters (recap)
*Cloak of Levitation (recap)
*Yaro Root (mentioned)
===Vehicles===
*Chitauri Command Center
*Sakaaran Race Chariots
===Sentient Species===
*Watchers
*Humans
*Zehoberei
*Kronans
*Asgardians
*Sakaarans
*Titans
*Korbinites (sculpture)
*Olympians (sculpture)
*Chitauri (mentioned)
*Demons (mentioned)
===Creatures===
*Leviathans
*SnuffysA.C. Bradley on Twitter - December 25, 2023
**Snuffy
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**Nikos
*Rabbits (mentioned)
* (mentioned)
===Organizations===
*Avengers
*Sakaaran Guards
*Stark Industries
*Guardians of the Multiverse (recap)
* (mentioned)
===Mentioned===
*Phil Coulson
*Loki
*Maria Stark
*Jeffrey
*Howard Stark
*Hulk (sculpture)
*Dark-Crawler (sculpture)
*Ares (sculpture)
*Bi-Beast (sculpture)
*Beta Ray Bill (sculpture)
*Man-Thing (sculpture)
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==Music==
Song title 	Artist 	Location(s)
Themes from "Thor: Ragnarok"	Mark Mothersbaugh 	
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Strut Your Stuff 	Aleksi Glick and Adam Ahuja	
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==Videos==
===Clips===
What If…Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?
"My Champion" Official Clip - Marvel Studios' What if... ? - Disney+
==Trivia==
To be added
==Behind the Scenes==
*The episode was written in Spring 2019 and was originally intended to be a part of the first season, but was pushed back to the second season due to production delays related to the . According to head writer A.C. Bradley: "However, due to COVID and production delays, one of our amazing, amazing animation houses around the globe got hit pretty hard by the pandemic. And we were left with two choices: push the entire season to later this year, or push this one episode to Season 2. We made the choice to push that episode to Season 2, and hoped that seeing Gamora in the finale serves as a teaser for what is to come. In season two, it'll almost be like a little bit of a prequel, we'll see how Tony and Gamora became friends, because those two don't even interact in the main MCU universe."What If...? Head Writer Teases Gamora "Prequel" Episode in Season 2
*The original plot revolved around a love story for Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, as well as Stark meeting Peter Quill; however, the episode was rewritten once it was pushed into the second season.A.C. Bradley on Twitter - December 25, 2023 At that point in development, it shifted to put focus on Gamora out of interest in exploring why she left Thanos.What If..? Season 2 Live Q&A With Creative Team (A.C. Bradley, Matthew Chauncey, Bryan Andrews)
==References==
==External Links==
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