The concept is awesome. Take stories you know so well, change one element, and see where the butterfly effect takes you. Sometimes they ask something obvious, like in the first episode where Peggy Carter gets the super soldier serum. Then we have the second episode asking what if Black Panther had been Star-Lord - something no Marvel fan had ever wondered. And yet both episodes are brilliant. In fact, several times I've been dubious when I saw the title of an episode, but the episode itself turned out to be great.
I also love that they're sticking to the MCU films here. It gives all viewers a common ground, so that nobody has to have read "Sub-Mariner vs She-Hulk issue 143" to understand where the plot deviates. I hear they're already working on season 2, and planning to add new seasons annually. This surprises me. You'd think they'd want to wait for another decade of movies they can draw from, instead of mining the same films for ideas over and over.
As of this blog, there's 25 MCU films to draw from. But that pales in comparison to the thousands of stories the "What If...?" comic series had to draw from. Season 2 is probably already too far along to include elements from Shang-Chi or The Eternals, so it will be another season of stories from the same characters that were in season 1. That's fine, as long as they pick good stories, but I can't wait for new blood. Just think what resources they'll have once the MCU has some X-Men and Fantastic Four movies under its belt.
I'm just afraid we're going to get too many variations of "What if (Hero A) had the powers of (Hero B)?" or "What if (Hero) became evil?" with the occasional "What if (Villain) got the Infinity Stones?" Not that it wouldn't be entertaining, but it could get tedious after a while. But hopefully my worries are groundless.
The animation is beautiful. I love the style. I saw someone on YouTube complaining about the animation the other day, and frankly I'm starting to think some people shouldn't be allowed to have opinions.
Anyway, here's my ranking of the first Season of Marvel's "What If...?"
1. S01E01 "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?"
There's a good reason they made this the first episode. Agent Carter as Cap is iconic. You can slap her on the front of a DVD cover and instantly understand what the series is about. Plus I love female versions of male heroes. Rumor has it they're planning on continuing her story, putting one Captain Carter episode in each season. Personally I'd rather she just got a spin-off.
2. S01E03 "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?"
So it's a bit dark, but I found this murder mystery very compelling. I also loved how it kept showing iconic scenes from the movies, but from other characters' perspectives, giving us another view of the universe.
3. S01E02 "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?"
Crazy idea, fun episode. I loved how charming T'Challa's was, and seeing Thanos as a hero was great. It took an army of heroes to defeat Thanos in Endgame, but T'Challa could have prevented the whole mess if he'd had the chance to give Thanos a good talking to.
4. S01E05 "What If... Zombies?!"
I wasn't expecting to like this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. Zombie stories are a dime-a-dozen these days. The humor really saved it.
5. S01E07 "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?"
This light-hearted romp was a nice change of pace after multiple downer episodes. I'm glad they let loose and did a comedy episode, and I'm also glad they didn't do it often.
6. E09 "What If... the Watcher broke is Oath?"
I liked the epicness of this episode, and the way it tied up a lot of loose ends from earlier episodes. I liked how it made its own version of the Avengers using alternate versions of existing characters. Unfortunately, certain parts of the episode dragged on a bit. Even some of the fights were kind of boring.
7. S01E04 "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"
An interesting episode, but dark and depressing.
8. S01E08 "What If... Ultron Won?"
Actually letting Uatu be a major part of the story was a nice twist, but I hope they don't do it often. It bugs me a little that they're giving these continuity, I prefer anthology shows to be unconnected. The absolute worst episodes of "The Outer Limits" were the clip shows that tried to shoehorn several previous episodes into having a connected plot. I don't want "The Adventures of Uatu", I just want to see cool alternate realities.
9. S01E06 "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?"
Easily the most forgettable episode so far, but not bad.
And while I'm here... Ranking the Disney / Marvel Studios shows:
1. What If... ?2. WandaVision
3. Loki
4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
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