Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Featuring the Voices of MCU veterans Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter / Captain Carter), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier) Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola), Ross Marquand (Johann Schmidt / The Red Skull … and ULTRON), Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa / Star-Lord), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Benicio del Toro (The Collector), Kurt Russell (Ego), Carrie Coon (Proxima Midnight), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (The Ebony Maw), Karen Gillan (Nebula), John Kani (T’Chaka), Chris Sullivan (Taserface), Seth Green (Howard the Duck), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / The Hulk), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Clark Gregg / Phil Coulson), Jaimie Alexander (the Lady Sif), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym / Yellow Jacket), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Steven Strange / Strange Supreme), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer), Benedict Wong (Wong), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One), Paul Bettany (The VISION / JARVIS), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne / The Wasp), Paul Rud (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan / Zombie Happy) Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Michael B. Jordan (N’Jadaka / Erik Stevens / Killmonger / The Black Panther), Angela Bassett (Ramonda), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster), Taika Waititi (Korg), with Jeffrey Wright as the Voice of The Watcher and additional voices provided by Lake Bell (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Mick Wingert (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Hudson Thames (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Alexandra Daniels (Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel), and Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers / Captain America)
WHAT IF …? SEASON ONE
Directed by Bryan Andrews
Produced by Kevin Feige, Victoria Alonso, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, A.C. Bradley, Bryan Andrews, and Carrie Wassenaar
Animator: Stephan Franck
Music By Laura Karpman
Distributed by Disney Platform Distribution
Number of Episodes: 9
Initial Streaming: August 11, 2021 – October 6, 2021
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun What If …? Season One Facts
What If …? debuted as a Marvel Comics concept in February of 1977, revolving around Uatu The Watcher and his viewing of various Alternate Realities throughout the MCU Multiverse. Uatu debuted in 1963’s Fantastic Four # 13 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
In December-2017, Bob Iger dropped the news on Marvel Studios President Feige that The Walt Disney Company was entering the Streaming Platform business, with a target launch date of 2019. Iger proposed the idea of a series of streaming television shows that would be set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that more importantly, would be produced by Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios team. Excited by the prospect, Feige encouraged his creative team to begin brainstorming ideas for potential shows, and the foundation for the show that would eventually become What If …? Season One was laid.
On April 11, 2019, during a direct-to-consumer presentation for investors, Kevin Feige confirmed Marvel Studios’ first-ever animated production: Feige furthermore announced that the first episode of What If …? Season One would revolve around an alternate version of Peggy Carter, who received the Super Soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers. The launch date for Disney+ was confirmed by Disney as November 12, 2019.
On July 20, 2019, Marvel Studios’ landmark tenth San Diego Comic Con appearance took place following previous appearances in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. Kevin Feige announced that Marvel Studios’ What If …? Season One would release in the Summer of 2021, and Jeffrey Wright was introduced in the role of providing the voice for The Watcher.
On August 25, 2019, even more details were revealed concerning What If …? Season One at the D23 Expo, complete with footage showing Peggy Carter after being injected with Doctor Erskine’s Super Soldier Serum, The Winter Soldier battling a zombie version of Captain America / Steve Rogers, T’Challa as Star-Lord, and a skinny Steve Rogers in what appeared to be a massive Iron Man-like suit (later revealed to be the Hydra Stomper armor).
On November 12, 2019, The Walt Disney Company launched its Disney+ streaming service in the United States of America. A special feature titled Marvel Studios: Expanding the Universe was included for viewing upon the launch. The special featured footage from the 2019 San Diego Comic Con and D23 conventions along with some new concept art for the upcoming What If …? Season One animated series. The new streaming service drew a reported 10-million customers on its first day.
R.I.P. Chadwick Boseman
On August 28, 2020, MCU star Chadwick Boseman (Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame) died at the age of 43 following a grueling battle against colon cancer. Boseman had already recorded his voice work for Marvel Studios’ upcoming What If …? Season One series, in a reprisal of his MCU role as T’Challa. What If …? Season One would mark Boseman’s final MCU performance.
On December 10, 2020, The Walt Disney Company hosted a conference call that was dubbed “Investor’s Day” in an effort to generate revenue in what had been the most challenging year in company history with the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic shutting down film and television productions, closing theaters, canceling cons and conventions and closing theme parks. With no San Diego Comic Con and no D23, there had been no formal announcements from Marvel Studios over the course of 2020 concerning future releases aside from multiple delays. At Investor’s Day, the first teaser trailer for What If …? Season One dropped, with a confirmation that the animated series was still on pace for a Summer-2021 release.
On June 2, 2021, Marvel Studios confirmed What If …? Season One for an August release on Disney+.
On July 8, 2021, Marvel Studios released a full trailer for the upcoming What If …? Season One animated series on Disney+, along with a release date of August 11, 2021. The trailer (among many other things) teased an Eric Killmonger / Tony Stark team-up, a Yondu / T’Challa friendship, Peggy Carter as Captain Carter, Marvel Zombies, and The Guardians of the Multiverse.
On September 3, 2022, the late Chadwick Boseman won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for his role as T’Challa / Star-Lord in Marvel Studios’ What If …? Season One series.
According to the 2023 book Marvel Studios – The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, the alternate worlds that are explored in What If …? Season One each take place on a Branched Timeline that extended room off the Sacred Timeline at various points through time whenever a Nexus Event (an act in which someone takes an action that goes against their predestined path) occurred. The foundation for the rules of the MCU Multiverse were laid in Marvel Studios’ Loki : Season One on Disney+ which aired in 2021 and Loki: Season Two in 2023. In terms of chronological viewing, it has been suggested that What If …? Season One should be viewed following the end of Loki: Season One, as most of the events that transpire in Loki: Season One do so before the Branched Timelines that are explored in this series spawned from off the Sacred Timeline following the death of He Who Remains at the hands of the Loki Variant known as Sylvie. In a nutshell, Loki revealed that the films and shows that comprised the Marvel Cinematic Universe (beginning with 2008’s Iron Man) all take place upon the Sacred Timeline; a controlled Flow of Time that was policed by the Time Variance Authority and created by an entity known as He Who Remains following a cataclysmic Multiversal War that resulted due to the actions of His own Multiversal Variants. While the First Season of Loki introduces viewers to the TVA and He Who Remains and the Sacred Timeline, the Second Season sees everything turned upside down due to the actions of a Variant of the God of Mischief Loki (the Loki that escaped Avengers custody with the Tesseract during the Time Heist, as seen in Avengers: Endgame). In Season Two, Loki ensures that the all-important Temporal Loom that made the Sacred Timeline possible is destroyed, leaving the Sacred Timeline exposed and vulnerable to Multiversal War. With He Who Remains dead and the Loom no longer functioning, the TVA stops pruning Branched Timelines and allows them to grow as they will, restoring free will to a previously restrained Multiverse. Therefore, chronologically speaking, What If …? Season One is the first MCU project that takes place on a vulnerable (616) Sacred Timeline while What If …? Season Two takes place within an MCU 616-Multiverse that is now held together by the aforementioned Loki Variant, who has at long last ascended to Godhood.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My What If …? Season One Review
What If … Captain Carter Were the First Avenger? Written by A.C. Bradley.
On Wednesday, August 11, 2021, the first episode of What If …? Season One staring Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Ross Marquand, and Neal McDonough with Jeffrey Wright premiered on Disney+. This premier episode introduces a new Reality where Peggy Carter becomes “Captain Carter” as opposed to Steve Rogers becoming Captain America, after receiving Doctor Abraham Erskine’s Super Soldier serum. Rogers is still prominently featured in the series however, becoming this Reality’s first Iron Man, suiting up in the Hydra Stomper suit of armor made for him by Howard Stark. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and instantly fell in love with the Captain Carter character.
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
What If … T’Challa Became a Star-Lord? Written by Matthew Chauncey.
On Wednesday, August 18, 2021, the second episode of What If …? Season One starring Michael Rooker, Karen Gillen, Josh Brolin, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Gunn, Chris Sullivan, Seth Green, Carrie Coon, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, and Benicio Del Toro with Jeffrey Wright and the late Chadwick Boseman was released on Disney+. The episode sees The Ravagers pick up Prince T’Challa from Earth instead of Peter Quill and boasts a unique cast of characters with some interesting new twists including a blonde and playful Nebula and a kind Thanos who has abandoned his quest to Balance the Universe. The episode also sees The Ravagers take on a jacked-up Collector. This episode features the best version of Korath we have ever gotten in my opinion, and a Howard the Duck cameo that was a hit with me. It was Chadwick Boseman who most shined however, and his death the previous year made this episode far more emotional than it would have otherwise been.
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and BLACK PANTHER
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
What If … The World Lost its Mightiest Heroes? Written by A.C. Bradley and Matthew Chauncey.
On August 25, 2021, the third episode of What If …? Season One starring Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Douglas, and Jaimie Alexander with Jeffrey Wright and introducing Mick Wingert, Lake Bell, and Alexandra Daniels was released on Disney+. The episode revisits the events of Fury’s Big Week (as seen in The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Thor) with a HUGE twist of the candidates for Nick Fury’s Avenger Initiative being targeted by a mysterious assailant that manages to murder five of Fury’s candidates for The Avengers beginning with Tony Stark and including Thor, Clint Barton, and Bruce Banner, and then culminating with Natasha Romanoff.
A desperate Fury unites with Loki after the God of Mischief leads Asgard’s armies to Midgard to avenge the murder of Thor, and Loki and Fury together deduce that an embittered Hank Pym / Yellow Jacket is the one carrying out the murders, doing so as part of a quest for vengeance following the death of his daughter Hope while she was working as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Loki and Fury ultimately conquer Pym and take him into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. Loki however, decides to take over Earth, prompting Fury to turn to the yet to be unfrozen Captain America, and intergalactic hero Carol Danvers to combat Loki’s Army.
This was my favorite of the first three What If …? Season One episodes. Pym’s murders of The Avengers were pretty brutal. especially The Hulk’s, and it was fun to revisit some of these classic MCU scenes with select little twists, like Romanoff meeting Banner at Culver University. I also (of course) loved all of the Loki stuff and Clark Gregg was awesome (as always) as Agent Coulson. On top of all of that, I got an evil Hank Pym that I was encouraged to hate and that was a huge plus for me and having Michael Douglas back to voice Pym made it all the more fun!
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, IRON MAN 2, THOR, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, and THE AVENGERS
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
What If … Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? Written by A.C Bradley.
On September 1, 2001, the fourth episode of What If …? Season One starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Tilda Swinton, and Leslie Bibb with Jeffrey Wright was released on Disney+. The episode revisits 2016’s Doctor Strange film in some very exciting ways, beginning with Christine Palmer accepting Stephen Strange’s invitation to attend the speaking engagement with him; the same speaking engagement that en route to which, Strange crashes his car and suffers the debilitating injuries that end his medical career. Consequently, Christine is killed during the crash; an event that this Reality’s Stephen Strange is unable to live with. Just as he did in the 2016 film, Strange hits rock-bottom following the crash and is driven to the Far East where he meets The Ancient One and begins studying the Mystic Arts. Strange masters those arts all the same, but ultimately decides to try and reverse time via the Eye of Agamotto in an effort to reverse Christine’s death. Sadly, for Strange, this only manages to make him all the more desperate, as he discovers that her death is an “Absolute Point” that cannot be reversed. Who it is exactly that decides what is and isn’t an Absolute Point in each Reality is never disclosed, but it is made out to be a very big deal in this episode.
Refusing to take no for an answer, Strange vigorously studies the Book of Cagliostro and begins the lengthy and dangerous quest of absorbing the spiritual energy of a variety of metaphysical monstrosities, increasing his power astoundingly. Strange becomes “Strange Supreme”; a dark, powerful, and monstrous ultimate version of himself. Along the way, Strange discovers that The Ancient One used the power of the Dark Dimension to split Strange into two physical versions of himself; the dark and powerful “Strange Supreme” and a more timid and more careful version that decides against trying to resurrect Christine. This leads to a huge mystical battle pitting the two versions of Doctor Strange against each other, which shockingly ends with “Strange Supreme” conquering his more timid and more careful counterpart, and then reabsorbing his essence to reunify himself. Strange then successfully casts his forbidden spell and brings Christine Palmer back to life! Christine is horrified by the monstrosity that Stephen has become however, and she flees from his advances in terror! From there, the warnings Strange received prove true after all, as the Reality that he inhabits begins to cave in on itself. Christine is soon erased from existence right before Stephen’s eyes, and as his Universe unravels, Strange Supreme becomes the first character in the MCU that we see actually interact with Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher, begging The Watcher to assist him, only for The Watcher to stubbornly refuse. In the end, Strange is left alone within a barren void to presumably grieve in solitude for all eternity.
For me, this was the best episode of What If …? Season One yet, really elevating the series in scope, heart, and animation. I actually cried during this episode and Benedict Cumberbatch was incredible throughout it. This episode actually increased my love and appreciation for Doctor Strange as a character even more, as I found him far more relatable beyond just his disability.
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: DOCTOR STRANGE
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
What If … Zombies? Written by Matthew Chauncey.
On Wednesday, September 8, 2021, the fifth episode of Marvel Studios’ What If …? Season One starring Mark Ruffalo, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Evangeline Lilly, Jon Favreau, Danai Gurira, Emily VanCamp, David Dastmalchian, Paul Rudd, and Sebastian Stan, with Jeffrey Wright and introducing Hudson Thames as Peter Parker / Spider-Man was released on Disney+. The episode sees Hank Pym venture to the Quantum Realm to retrieve his beloved wife Janet Van Dyne, only to discover that Janet has been infected with a Quantum Virus that transformed her into a zombie. Janet infects Hank and then the two return from the Quantum Realm and unleashed the Zombie Virus upon the world. After being sent to Earth by Heimdall via the Bifrost during Thanos’ attack upon what was left of Asgard, Bruce Banner discovers that the world has been overrun by zombies, ultimately uniting with a small band of remaining human survivors comprised of Peter Parker, Hope Van Dyne, Happy Hogan, Sharon Carter, Bucky Barnes, Okoye, and Scott Lang’s friend Kurt. Banner joins the group in a war against various zombie versions of Earth’s Heroes on an adventure that sees several of the survivors be transformed into zombies en route to the discovery of The VISION and a zombie version of Wanda Maximoff that The VISION has been feeding pieces of T’Challa’s flesh to. A war with Wanda and the suicide of The VISION results in only Peter Parker, T’Challa, and the head of Scott Lang remaining and returning to Wakanda where it is revealed that a zombie version of Thanos is awaiting them, in possession of five Infinity Stones.
This episode was surprisingly gross and extremely bleak and dark. It was, for the purpose of history, Marvel Studios’ first official foray into the horror genre (aside from 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, in which a vision cast by the villainous Mysterio features a zombie version of Iron Man), a move I’d been looking forward to for some time. Zombies aren’t really my thing however, so this was a weird watch for me. I have read a lot of Marvel Zombies stories in the comics and find some to be okay, and others to be pretty awful. This episode did stay true to some of those better stories in a lot of ways, with the highlight for me being the zombie Scarlet Witch. She looked pretty evil and pretty awesome, and her showdowns with Bucky Barnes and The Hulk were pretty great. On the downside, there was a lot of humor that didn’t quite hit with me, given the magnitude of the situation and all, but overall, this was a fast-moving and entertaining watch, and while not the worst of this series, it wasn’t the best either.
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: IRON MAN, THE AVENGERS, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, ANT-MAN, BLACK PANTHER, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, and ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
What If … Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark? Written by Matthew Chauncey.
On Wednesday, September 15, 2021, the sixth episode of Marvel Studios’ What If …? Season aired on Disney+ starring Michael B. Jordan, Angela Bassett, Andy Serkis, and Don Cheadle, with Jeffrey Wright. The episode sees Erik Killmonger rescue Tony Stark from the ambush in Afghanistan that led to his three-month incarceration and the birth of Iron Man. Killmonger’s intervention leads to Stark never becoming the Armored Avenger nor finding his true heroic side, as Tony instead appoints Killmonger as his new Head of Security after Killmonger reveals the sinister betrayal of Obadiah Stane as the person who hired the hit on Tony’s life. Stark bonds with Killmonger and the two work together to create a revolutionary drone fueled by Vibranium that they hope can be replicated into a powerful robotic army.
Needing more Vibranium, Stark and Killmonger arrange a meeting with notorious arms dealer (and enemy of Wakanda) Ulysses Klaue to obtain their needed resources. Prince T’Challa / The Black Panther raids the meeting however, prompting Killmonger to reveal his true motives and his alliance with Klaue. Killmonger kills Colonel James Rhodes and then actually kills Price T’Challa, covering the murders up as being caused by each of his victims. Tony Stark soon deduces Killmonger’s treachery and confronts his friend, unleashing the very robot of Killmonger’s design upon the Prince of Wakanda. Killmonger bests the robot however, and murders Stark, arranging it so that Stark appears to be a victim of Wakanda. This prompts General Thaddeus Ross to seize Stark Industries as the United States declares war on Wakanda. Killmonger then murders Klaue in yet another act of betrayal, then takes Klaue’s corpse to Wakanda as a peace offering. There, Killmonger reveals his Wakandan heritage to the Wakandan people, and is embraced and accepted by Price T’Chaka. Killmonger then aligns with Wakanda against the invading United States army of robotic attack drones, valiantly fighting alongside his people and leading Wakanda to victory. For his exploits during the battle, the mantle of The Black Panther is passed on to Killmonger, overseen by King T’Chaka. Killmonger is confronted by the Spirit of T’Challa on the Ancestral Plane but returns to the land of the living empowered as the new Protector of Wakanda, ready, willing, and able to expand the Nation’s Empire. It is then revealed that Shuri had caught on to Killmonger’s true deceitful motives and horrific actions, and the Princess of Wakanda forms an alliance with Pepper Potts, aimed at exposing Killmonger for who and what he truly is.
I enjoyed this episode much more than I enjoyed the previous week’s zombie episode. The story was cohesive and well-thought-out, and the ramifications of Killmonger’s choices were logical, intriguing, and well-explained.
One of the coolest parts of this episode was getting to experience interactions between Michael B. Jordan and the late Chadwick Boseman again; something that seemed unlikely even before Chadwick’s death due to how the plot of the first Black Panther film played out. Boseman was as great as Boseman always was as T’Challa, and the emotion hit me pretty hard when Marvel Studios killed his character off in this Universe. It was also pretty emotional to see him in the Ancestral Plane as a spirit; easily my favorite scene in this episode, which isn’t surprising, as those Ancestral Plane scenes remain some of my favorite from that first Black Panther film.
In the end, Michael B. Jordan is the star here, though. He shined throughout this episode, and I’m so happy he agreed to provide the voice for Killmonger. If there is one constant knock to be made against the What If …? Season One, it is the recasting of select characters, as it is something that is just impossible to not notice, and it’s unfortunate because the times when character roles have been reprised, it has often been really special, as was this case here with Michael B. Jordan.
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: BLACK PANTHER
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
What If … Thor Were an Only Child? Written by A.C. Bradley.
On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, the seventh episode of Marvel Studios’ What If …? Season One aired on Disney+ starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders, Jeff Goldblum, Taika Waititi, Rachel House, Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson, and Clancy Brown, with Jeffrey Wright. The episode takes a look at the type of Prince that Thor would have turned out to be had Odin not adopted Loki. As it turns out, Thor becomes an immature, irresponsible, and careless Prince, who has been affectionately labeled “Party Thor” by Marvel Studios. With his father falling into the Odinsleep, Thor ventures to Midgard to throw the party of a lifetime, landing in Las Vegas as well as upon the radar of S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor ends up injuring Nick Fury, meeting Jane Foster, and inviting countless extraterrestrial entities from throughout the Nine Realms and beyond to join in on his party, including The Grandmaster and Topaz, Howard the Duck, Korg, Drax the Destroyer, a band of Skrulls, Loki (the King of the Frost Giants in this Reality), and Surtur (the King of the Fire Demons). With Thor and his friends nonchalantly destroying everything in their path, all in the name of having fun, Maria Hill pages Carol Danvers to assist in the situation, leading to Thor vs Captain Marvel!
Ultimately, Jane Foster enlists the services of Queen Frigga to reel the God of Thunder in, which she does, but before Thor returns to Asgard, a mysterious portal opens on Midgard out of which ULTRON (with all six of the Infinity Stones and with the face we’ve come to associate with The VISION) emerges to declare war on this Reality!
This was one of my favorite episodes of What If …? Season One; an episode that was all about being fun and ridiculous, and I had a really good time with it! I adore the mythology of Asgard in both the comics and the MCU, so this was one that fired on all kinds of cylinders for me. First and foremost, having Chris Hemsworth come back to voice Thor made this episode all the more awesome! Stars like Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Holland had been missed throughout this series, despite some solid performances by replacements, but this was Thor, our Thor, and he was amazing!
Like the previous week with the Killmonger episode, most of the supporting Thor cast returned here, including Jane and D’Arcy, and Loki, along with Fury and Hill, so it made this episode feel special and like a true extension of the previously established live-action Universe. I also want to mention how great the animation style was here! It was very traditional Disney, and it was something that I appreciated and enjoyed the look of. Thor was essentially transformed into a Disney Prince, and Jane Foster was his Princess, and I loved how all of that was executed! On top of that, there was a lot of ridiculousness that was just comic book goodness! A giant blue Loki that is “Thor’s brother from another mother” … awesome! D’Arcy marrying Howard the Duck … weird, but awesome! Rocket Raccoon being passed out in a sink drunk … SO awesome! Surtur romancing the Statue of Liberty … awesome!
Then, there was the arrival of Captain Marvel, which was maybe the most awesome part of the show. Marvel Studios had a blast showcasing what a fight between Carol and Thor might be like and again, the illustrators executed all of this brilliantly! This was some of the most beautiful and most jaw-dropping animation I’ve ever seen, and I was all-in, laughing often, and thoroughly enjoying the ride!
The culmination of the episode was also jaw-dropping. ULTRON looked incredible! ULTRON had evolved into its best self, armed with all six Infinity Stones, cloaked in splendid armor, and boasting a synthetic Vibranium body underneath. It was pretty clear to me that this ULTRON came from another Reality, as ULTRON had breached the perimeter between worlds!
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: THOR, THE AVENGERS, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and THOR: RAGNAROK
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
What If … Ultron Won? Written by Matthew Chauncey.
On Wednesday, September 29, 2021, the eighth episode of Marvel Studios’ What If …? series aired on Disney+ starring Jeffrey Wright, Jeremy Renner, and Toby Jones with Benedict Cumberbatch. The episode showed us what could have happened had the ULTRON A.I. that was created by Tony Stark fulfilled its mission to transfer its consciousness into the synthetic body composed of Vibranium that The VISION ultimately inhabited. And the answer to that question was beyond horrifying!
With the face of The VISION and the Mind Stone under his complete control, ULTRON launches a nuclear war that decimates Planet Earth, eradicating most of humanity and The Avengers along with it, sans Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. With Earth conquered, ULTRON is surprised to encounter Thanos, who arrives at the decimated Planet in search of the Mind Stone, having previously obtained the five other Infinity Stones. Thanos shockingly proves to be no match for ULTRON however, as ULTRON casually uses the Mind Stone to slice Thanos in half from head-to-toe (perfectly balanced, as all things should be) en route to seizing the other five Infinity Stones and obtaining godlike power in the process. Now the most powerful being in this Reality, ULTRON wields the Infinity Stones to create a massive army of drones, which Hawkeye and Black Widow attempt to counter by uploading the remaining consciousness of Arnim Zola (which they discovered to be still lingering in Siberia) into an ULTRON drone in an effort to destroy the drone’s hive mind. Barton sacrifices his life in the process, leaving Romanoff in a bleak world of hopelessness. And, the reason the plan involving Zola did not work, was because in the meantime, ULTRON left the Universe in which he was created, having detected the presence of The Watcher, who had been in the midst of a tremendous struggle with himself as he tried to resist interfering on behalf of the Reality that ULTRON was destroying.
The Watcher had been forced to watch in disbelief as ULTRON easily destroyed everything in its path (including Captain Marvel). And, that disbelief soon turns to horror when ULTRON confronts The Watcher, discovering the extent of the Multiverse and engaging The Watcher in combat. In a fierce battle that literally rages throughout portions of the 616-Multiverse, shattering countless barriers between Timelines, The Watcher finds himself outmatched against this INFINITE ULTRON, sending him to desperately flee and seek out the Supreme version of Doctor Strange that had encased himself in isolation within a prism of all that remained of the Reality that he had destroyed.
Breaking his solemn vow, The Watcher requests the services of Strange Supreme, who is thrilled that the omnipresent being now needs him, prompting Strange to agree to assist in whatever way that he can. This means The Watcher would remove Strange from his prism cell to confront ULTRON, who has now positioned itself at the Station of The Watcher where it is able to view the entirety of the Multiverse, which appears to be ULTRON’s for the taking.
Obviously, this episode would lead into the next week’s Season Finale, and this was a well-done and very strong episode of What If …? Season One that finally brought some things together and allowed viewers to begin to understand the overarching story. INFINITE ULTRON (who looked VERY badass by the way) would stand against a team of characters that The Watcher would assemble from amongst the various worlds we had explored over the course of the series: The Guardians of the Multiverse!
Everything done with ULTRON here was pretty shocking, as his destructive power was absolutely surreal! ULTRON’s casual killing of Thanos was mind-blowing, and Jeffrey Wright shined here in a big way as well, frequently selling the threat that ULTRON was, and showing true fear for the first time in this series. I will say that yes, I terribly missed James Spader as ULTRON here. I loved Spader’s ULTRON and have wanted to see more for years, so this was an opportunity missed for me, but overall, this episode was bat-shit crazy in all the right ways!
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
What If … The Watcher Broke His Oath? Written by A.C. Bradley.
On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, the Season Finale of Marvel Studios’ What If …? series aired on Disney+ starring Jeffrey Wright, Hayley Atwell, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Michael B. Jordan with Toby Jones, Cynthia McWilliams, Lake Bell, Ross Marquand, and Samuel L. Jackson. The finale of Marvel Studios’ first animated venture sees The Watcher bring together Captain Carter, T’Challa / Star-Lord, Party Thor, Doctor Strange Supreme, Erik Killmonger / The Black Panther, Gamora, and Natasha Romanoff / The Black Widow to form The Guardians of the Multiverse for an epic showdown against INFINITY ULTRON! The Guardians emerge victorious, but not before Killmonger betrays the team, prompting Strange to entrap Killmonger and INFINITY ULTRON within a Pocket Universe where they would be locked in eternal combat. Everyone is then returned to their home Realities; sans Black Widow, whose world was decimated by ULTRON, prompting The Watcher to send Natasha to the Reality in which Hank Pym murdered The Avengers where she could stand alongside Nick Fury, Captain Marvel, and Captain America against Loki’s Asgardian Army! The post-credits scene (the only one of the series) then sees Captain Carter learn that the Hydra Stomper (and the preserved body of Steve Rogers with it) had been recovered by S.H.I.E.L.D.
I had a lot of fun with the Season Finale of What If …? and especially appreciated how everything was brought together and the way all of the stories we’d seen be told over the course of the series were given resolutions, at least to some degree. It will be interesting to see if any of these worlds will be revisited in the future.
What If …? Season One was overall a mixed bag for me, but I came out of the show mostly on the positive side. I pretty much love everything that Marvel Studios does, and in What If …? Season One, I found things to appreciate, as again, I love these characters so very much. Though animation was a tough sell for me initially, I ended up thinking that the animation was one of this series’ greatest strengths. There were several scenes that were outright gorgeous to behold and dozens of satisfying action sequences. Thor vs Captain Marvel comes to mind as probably my favorite animated battle, but there were a lot to choose from. I also enjoyed the designs of many of these characters. Captain Marvel always popped off the screen whenever she appeared, but the looks of INFINITY ULTRON, Doctor Strange Supreme, and especially Captain Carter stole the show for me!
Beyond the animation, it was cool to see the various characters be brought together by The Watcher to form The Guardians of the Multiverse, and the Finale allowed viewers to understand why so many episodes ended on cliffhangers. However, it was in those individual stories where this show fell apart at times. I get the whole idea that anything can happen in these worlds, but I wasn’t a fan of seeing some of these MCU characters depicted as they were. I think Thanos tops that list for me.
The showrunners seemed to sort of go out of their way to make the Big Bad of the Infinity Saga a joke throughout this series. We saw Thanos join The Ravagers, turn into a Zombie, and get sliced in-half by ULTRON; all of that, and we missed out on seeing Gamora kill her adopted father as well in an episode that was left on the cutting room floor. I mean, I am an ULTRON fan, and I completely understand the idea behind having the new Big Bad kill-off the old one as we saw with Thanos killing Loki in Infinity War, but Thanos beat The Avengers in 14,000,605 possible futures that Doctor Strange peered into in Infinity War, so you would think he would be a bit more formidable than he was here. There were other things as well that I didn’t care for, such as the King and Queen of Wakanda being so easily fooled by Killmonger, King Laufey’s acceptance of his son Loki, and all kinds of little things in the zombie episode that just didn’t register with me as good creative decisions.
And that brings me to the humor. Obviously, this series is not meant to be taken as seriously as a lot of fans anticipated taking it, but the moment that it was decided that this series would be MCU canon, it should have been. I get that the zombie show for instance was supposed to be played off for laughs, but with so many deaths and turns both seen and unseen in that episode, the characters should have been a lot more emotional than they were. I mean, Peter Parker is making goofy zombie videos and Bucky Barnes is delivering one-liners while killing his friends … that just didn’t work for me at all. There were times the comedy was good though. I laughed a lot during the Party Thor episode for instance, and the T’Challa / Star-Lord episode had some good laughs as well.
I felt the series was at its best however when it strayed away from dark humor and let the emotion of the story breathe, which was the case with the Strange Supreme episode; my favorite episode of the series.
My other criticism comes down to the voice acting. It’s just something that I could not ignore. For over a decade, what has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe so unique and so special has been the thrill of seeing characters from different franchises mingling with one another, portrayed by the same actors. How cool was it to see Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange argue with Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, or Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord interact with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor? Hell, it’s what made the first Avengers film so magical! With What If …? Season One, even though we got a cool team-up at the end, we were robbed of a lot of these little moments due to recasting. I do not mean this as a knock on the talented voice actors that were cast in these roles. Lake Bell (Black Widow), Josh Keaton (Steve Rogers), and Alexandra Daniels (Captain Marvel) were especially good, but I couldn’t help but wish that Robert Downey Jr was sharing dialogue with Erik Killmonger or that James Spader was back as ULTRON. This is a personal complaint that may not have bothered others like it bothered me, but I couldn’t help but be taken out of the moment a few times due to the absences of some of the voices that define these characters both on-screen and in my head.
Wrapping this review up, What If …? Season One was just okay for me. I loved what I loved and didn’t like what I didn’t like. I think a little more attention to detail and more emotional stakes should have gone on during the production of this series, but it was still an action-packed and beautifully animated production that took us to some really cool and some really weird places while introducing us to some really good and some not-so-good incarnations of our beloved MCU characters; the best of which for me were Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Strange Supreme.
RECOMMENDED MCU VIEWING: ALL PREVIOUS EPISODESOF WHAT IF …? SEASON ONE
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of What If …? Season One:
Captain Carter
Doctor Strange Supreme
Zombie Wanda
Party Thor
INFINITY ULTRON
Party Thor vs Captain Marvel
The Watcher vs INFINITY ULTRON
The Emotional Impact of What If … Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?
The Humor and Disney-like Animation in What If … Thor Were an Only Child?
The Awesome Action in What If … Captain Carter Were the First Avenger
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
The Watcher (Multiversal Version). Captain Carter. The Hydra Stomper. The Champion of Hydra. T’Challa / Star-Lord. Doctor Strange Supreme. Actual Marvel Zombies. Erik Killmonger, the Savior of Tony Stark and Protector of Wakanda. Party Thor. Gamora, the Daughter and Slayer of Thanos. INFINTY ULTRON. The Guardians of the Multiverse.
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