Season Review: Marvel’s What If…? Season One

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is still on top of its game regarding its captivating storytelling, memorable characters, and miraculous world-building. Heck, it even continues to make rising stars out of lesser-known actors like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, and Tom Holland, just to name a few. After the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience that was Avengers: Endgame, we assumed that Disney’s money-making franchise would go downhill beyond that point. Well, we thought wrong.

After taking a year-long break due to the pandemic, the MCU came back in full swing with its first foray into television, or in this case, streaming shows. From the sitcom world of Wandavision to the glorious, time-bending madness that was Loki, the MCU shows on Disney+ proved that there are more great stories to tell in the universe for both the small screen and the big screen. Its latest addition to this successful lineup takes the cinematic universe in a whole new direction, both in quality and storytelling. If you ever wonder what would happen if certain events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were to occur differently, then this show has you covered.

Marvel’s What If is the latest television series from Marvel Studios to be released on Disney+ and the first to be entirely animated, which was one of the reasons why I was excited to watch it. Created by Ashley C. Bradley (the writer/producer behind Trollhunters, 3Below, and the upcoming Ms. Marvel series), What If is an anthology series that takes place after the multiverse’s creation in Loki’s season one finale. The first season, which consists of nine episodes, explores the alternate timelines in which significant events from the MCU take a much different direction than the films. For example, what if T’Challa becomes Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill, or what if the Avengers are flesh-eating zombies? Those questions, along with many others, are answered in this Twilight Zone-inspired series of Marvel stories. The anthology formula was then interrupted in the last three episodes when Ultron (Ross Marquand) plots to take over the multiverse, forcing The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), the show’s narrator, to unite a new team of heroes to stop him.

I have been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2018’s Iron Man. While the franchise has its share of ups and downs regarding the films, especially the recently released Black Widow, it always finds a way to impress me with its stories and action set pieces. I even watched the recent MCU shows on Disney+ for good measure. So far, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is my favorite of the three, with Loki being my second favorite. So it’s no surprise that I was highly excited to see this new show, which is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. Especially after what happened in the season finale of Loki.

After watching its first episode, I already knew that I would not be disappointed with this show, and I was right. Marvel Studios has officially done it again with a unique and vibrant depiction of a series of alternate destinies in the multiverse. While it doesn’t top The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as my favorite Marvel Studios series, it does offer plenty of variety in its storytelling to impress many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The episodes in Marvel’s What If allowed writers A.C. Bradley and Matthew Chauncey to create stories that provide a unique perspective on our favorite heroes and villains while also putting the spotlight on the supporting characters. For example, the season premiere, titled “What If…Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?”, puts Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) in the role of Captain America instead of Steve Rogers (Josh Keaton). Its fifth episode, “What If…Zombies?!”, handed the spotlight to the surviving team of supporting characters like Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), and Okoye (Danai Gurira) after the Avengers got turned into brain-eating monsters.  

These stories successfully did these characters justice while delivering engaging scenarios with decent writing and superb action sequences. However, because they were 30 to 37 minutes long, they couldn’t flesh those storylines and characters out even further, resulting in a few rushed moments that lacked some stronger emotion. There were also a couple of episodes that follow the same footsteps as the movies they’re based on, such as the Captain Carter episode (inspired by Captain America: The First Avenger) and “Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark” (an alternate version of Killmonger’s plan in Black Panther). Despite those narrative issues, the show provided enough originality and enjoyment in the plots to impress both Marvel Cinematic Universe fanatics and comic book lovers alike.

Out of all of the episodes in season one, I would have to pick episode four, “What If…Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?”, as my favorite. It provided a distinctive, dark, and visually exciting take on Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) origin by killing off his love interest, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), instead of his hands. It is also an emotional and cautious portrayal of grief and how it drove Strange to end his universe. This episode further shows the MCU’s mature approach to its themes instead of some of its light-hearted elements regarding its television shows.  

The series also liked to play with our emotions regarding Tony Stark’s (Mick Wingert) death, especially after the heartbreaking finale in Avengers: Endgame. So far, Tony Stark has been killed off four times this season. After seeing him bite the dust again in “What If…Ultron Won?”, I was like, “Okay, we get it! We all feel bad for Stark! Can we move on, please?”. Hopefully, in its second season, the writers will focus less on killing Stark in different ways and more on him saving the day.  

The series also fumbled in its portrayal of Captain Marvel (Alexandra Daniels), who appeared three times this season. After seeing her full potential in her solo film and Avengers: Endgame, I was surprised that the show didn’t take advantage of that potential and wound up putting the character in disappointing situations. She made a brief appearance in “What If…the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?”, she was embarrassingly beaten by Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in “Thor Were an Only Child”, and she got blown up by Ultron in the second-to-last episode. In my opinion, the MCU team should find a way to do this character justice for the show’s second season and the upcoming The Marvels.

Marvel’s What If also did well in bringing back most of the actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films to reprise their respective roles. They range from Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter to Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. I was pretty disheartened that they couldn’t bring back all of the actors, such as Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Nonetheless, their replacements did a respectable job filling in those actors’ shoes. Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher was one of the best parts of the cast. His voice was perfect in capturing the mystery and curiosity of his character’s narration. My second favorite has to be the late Chadwick Boseman, who made his final appearance as T’Challa before he sadly passed away last year. His soothing voice and inspiring dialogue made me extremely happy that they got him to play this character again and sad that he was taken away from us too soon.

The series has a cel-shaded animation style that represents the films regarding the character designs and backgrounds. At first, it looked a little bit cartoony, but then it looked incredibly better by its second episode. The animation perfectly resembled a comic book coming to life onscreen with its stylized action scenes and some of the best-looking imagery that the MCU had to offer. These images alone look like they belong in an art museum. That’s how you can tell how fantastic the animation looks.

Overall, the first season of Marvel’s What If is a visually attractive and narratively brilliant anthology series for Marvel fans, young and old. Ranging from its well-written stories to its excellent use of animation, the series showcases the Marvel multiverse in more ways than one. It also proved to be a great start for Marvel Studios and the franchise in the animation department. Was it something that needs to be watched to make sense of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like the other Marvel/Disney+ shows? Not really. However, the show’s multiverse element should play an essential role in the upcoming MCU films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.  

I’m excited to see what other multiverse stories it’ll deliver next in its upcoming second season, especially with the recent introductions of new characters like Shang-Chi and the Eternals. The possibilities for this show are indeed endless. As long as A.C. Bradley and the crew maintain the elements that worked in this season, we could see the multiverse hanging around far longer than the other MCU shows on Disney+.