Marvel’s What If? episode 1 introduced the Champion of Hydra, a seemingly new villain summoned by Red Skull who then promptly murders the head of Hydra. This giant octopus monster hasn’t been referenced in either the Marvel comics or MCU, so viewers are questioning where it has come from and if there’s a chance it’ll eventually reappear in live-action form. So who is the Champion of Hydra?
Who is the Champion of Hydra in What If?
The Champion of Hydra is an interdimensional octopus monster summoned by Red Skull using the power of the Tesseract, the containment vessel for the Space Stone. The Champion of Hydra is seemingly destroyed by Captain Carter, the episode’s alternate reality version of Captain America assumed by Peggy Carter, who disappears into the wormhole created by Red Skull and reappears in front of Nick Fury and Hawkeye in the modern-day.
The origins of the Champion of Hydra are unclear; it has almost a Cthulhu-like influence over Hydra, being summoned by the terrorist organization before it promptly reaks havoc. This would make it similar to Hive, another villain that has appeared in the comics and most notably in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where it was also worshipped by Hydra though took the form of a parasitic Inhuman rather than a giant octopus.
Inhumans are a race of altered humans in the Marvel universe, who are the rest of experimentations by the Kree. This is certainly not the case for the Champion of Hydra, which is very much not a human and presumably has never been one, so there is little chance that it is an alternate reality version of the Hive.
Uncharacteristically for the MCU, then, it seems that the Champion of Hydra is a brand new creation, depicting another “big bad” in the episode’s alternate reality. With What If? continuing to explore the possibilities of the multiverse, there’s a chance that the Champion of Hydra could appear in the live-action MCU at some point, though considering it’s handily beaten by Captain Carter it seems likely that this will be a one-off appearance for this new, tentaced villain.
For more What If? coverage, check out our review and explanation of the first episode’s ending, and whether or not episode one has a hidden post-credits scene.
