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Right when I thought that unless the events unfolding in What If..? have serious impacts on the live-action MCU, chances of it gaining any significance among fans are non-existent, the second episode of season 2 went ahead and introduced Bill Foster.
Now, the animated Marvel series is known for portraying alternate versions of various prominent MCU characters and weaving their story a little or a lot differently than what we are familiar with. Peggy Carter went on to be Captain Britain, T’Challa ended up as Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill, Ultron did become the Big Bad, and so on. So, normally, their appearance does little to stir any major excitement, but this time, a forgotten character is back in the field… needless to say, spoilers ahead, peeps!
It is when the lesser-known or long-forgotten characters make an appearance that the show piques our interest. And this time, it was in the form of Bill Foster aka the Goliath who joins the alternate team of Avengers in 1988 when a young Peter Quill, manipulated by Ego, arrives on Earth and starts destroying it.
So, is What If…? season 2 Bill Foster’s first foray into the MCU? Those of you who instantly recognized his voice or still remember the barely there grey-shaded Marvel character played by a phenomenal actor, then you know the answer.
Who is Bill Foster in the original MCU timeline?
Before we saw the giant version of the Goliath saving lives as part of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in What If…? we met him in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. Played by Laurence Fishburne, Bill turned out to be the one supporting Ava Starr aka Ghost and actively trying to protect her. He is Hank Pym’s estranged partner and used to work with him on Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H. (wherein they worked on increasing their body mass). But after some initial success, where Bill managed to attain the impressive height of 21 feet, the two had an argument that ended with him leaving the project. And once Pym left S.H.I.E.L.D., in the wake of Janet’s disappearance, G.O.L.I.A.T.H. became a shelved project.
On Earth-616, Bill is now a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent after the organization collapsed (during Captain America and the Winter Soldier) in the wake of the revelation that it had been systematically infiltrated by HYDRA for years. Since then, he had been helping Ava control her powers.
In the alternate reality we see in What If..?, where the story takes place in 1988, Bill never stopped working on Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H., even though his argument with Pym and the latter leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. still happened. On this Earth, Bill has even enhanced the suit Pym built, thus allowing him to reach an even greater height and mass. And seeing as Pym returns to save New York and ends up joining this alternate version of the Avengers, it is safe to say that this Bill will never go astray like the OG character and will have his friend by his side, instead of the resentment he harbored against Pym for years.
As for the OG Bill, the last we saw him, he was on the run with the somewhat stable Ava. Expectations are high that he will return along with Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost in Thunderbolts, but conflicting reports claiming that she has been removed from the film have considerably dampened the hope.
What If…? season 2 episodes are set to air every day, until Dec. 30, 2023, on Disney Plus.