Marvel’s What If…? was nothing more than a bunch of missed opportunities

One of the oldest traditions of Marvel Comics is the What if title, a series that aims to take the Marvel Universe as we know it and think about what that universe would be like if something (be it a small, seemingly insignificant detail or the absence of entire super teams) were different was. So when Marvel Studios announced in 2019 that one of the key titles for the then-upcoming Disney Plus would be an animated series that resembled the classic comics, the possibilities seemed endless.

But five years and three seasons after that original announcement, it’s clear that Disney Plus’ What if…? was at best a series of missed opportunities – and at worst a complete waste of time. But how could things go so wrong? How did Marvel Studios looking at its giant sandbox and still only playing around the edges of its existing teams, universes and outcomes, stuck within the safety of the immediate radius of its theater and TV offerings? The answer is not just one threatening factor, but many moving pieces that made it happen What if…? would be nothing more than a Disney Plus catalog filler, when it could have been so much more. From the limitations of streaming to the begrudging fear of insinuating a misstep in the MCU’s complicated architecture, What if…? never really had a chance in Marvel’s current form.

On his initial announcement, What if…? had a clear, undeniably interesting selling point: “Each episode explores a pivotal moment from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and turns it on its head, leading audiences into uncharted territory.” But in practice, the series rarely used the existing “pivotal” moments from the long-winded cinematic universe as inspiration, instead swapping out super team leaders (“What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?”), leaving the Hulk’s power to pretty much everyone (“What if…Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”), or to have the birth of Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) literally become a duck’s egg for some reason (“What if…Howard the Duck Got Hitched?”), rather than engaged with are the actual, widely accepted cornerstones of the MCU.

Although I don’t believe it’s beneficial to retroactively complain about what a show is could have done while engaging in scathing criticism of the final product, What if…?‘s unwillingness to shake up moments that truly define the MCU (What if Clint had sacrificed himself to Vormir? What if the other half was taken away in Infinite war?) betrays the series’ unwillingness to insinuate that everything within the MCU was done poorly the first time around or that there was a better story hidden in both the MCU’s biggest successes and biggest flops.

Because we reshape that moment Endgamefor example, would change so much about Marvel’s trajectory since Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) sacrificed herself, but it would also provide plenty of ammunition for those who believe Marvel made the wrong choice by killing her off the first time. In an effort to avoid inadvertently criticizing the final product of the MCU, What if…? instead, he remains committed to playing in the safest worlds, with the heroes coming out on top every time. As friendship keeps Kaiju Hulk from destroying the world and The Watcher intervenes when he sees fit to prevent repeated tragedies, the series’ refusal to dabble in the MCU’s darkness and drama makes this supposed expansion of the universe feels small and limited in comparison. For a show that should have made the MCU feel all the more alive and unexplored, What if…? cringed as he was confronted with the untapped potential waiting just beyond his comfortable reach. That hesitation is the reason What if…? avoids anything remotely interesting or earth-shattering when dealing with its own past.

So when the series is actually brave enough to come up with an interesting idea, like the third episode of season 3, “What if… the Red Guardian stopped the Winter Soldier?” in which Alexi (David Harbour) stops Bucky (Sebastian Stan) from killing Tony Stark’s parents that fateful night – the episode never mentions how that one change changes the events of Civil war. Instead, it’s just another wacky, boring chase between an extremely communist Red Guardian and a surprisingly attractive Winter Soldier. What could have been a thoughtful reexamination of Tony and Bucky’s relationship is instead, as usual, played for laughs, a stark contrast to each episode’s deadly serious, Jeffrey Wright-voiced intro.

But even more, What if…? can’t engage in meaningful examinations of past events because the series is just as guilty of the MCU’s biggest pitfalls and overblown beats. In the final episode, the show’s serialized nature gets back into full swing, with the new Guardians of the Multiverse – Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Kahori (Devery Jacobs), Asgardian Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) and Byrdie the Duck ( Natasha Lyonne) – fights the Watchers council to free their friend Uatu (Wright). To save the multiverse, Peggy sacrifices herself and joins a long line of female characters who meet their end within the MCU. Of Agatha’s (Kathryn Hahn) recent sacrifice at the end of Agatha all the time After Natasha’s infamous jump, this beat becomes overplayed and tired, resulting in a plethora of dead female characters lost to the MCU’s apparent lack of creativity. How can What if…? claim to be a paragon of creativity and disruption within this cinematic universe when it remains tethered to the MCU’s most basic, most uninspired choices?

By being tied to the MCU, What if…? was immediately doomed to failure. Beyond the ways in which the series refuses to play in this expansive sandbox in any meaningful way, its status as a streaming show turned it into a kind of Frankenstein’s monster in progress. What if…? tries to deliver on its anthology promises and live up to the hyper-serialization expectations of the streaming era, but ultimately fails at both. When the series becomes laser-focused on a single concept, as in Season 3’s “What If… 1872?” the potential shines through, offering a Western romp filled with tangible stakes and wonderful reinterpretations of iconic characters. When the show returns fully to the serialized narrative, as in Season 3’s “What If… the Watcher Disappeared?” What if…? manages to keep the fun going while keeping the found-family superhero girl gang at the center of this ongoing story feeling whole and realized despite the lack of proper exploration. But it’s the things in between that cause the series as a whole to suffer. Season 3 in particular switches from wacky Hollywood adventures to deadly serious end-of-the-world stakes, failing to maintain any tone. The result is a season that feels split down the middle, with the crazier opening half delivering on the anthologies’ promises and the stiffer final four episodes returning to the serialization we’ve come to expect. By trying to live in both worlds, What if…? succeeds in neither tone nor form, succumbing to its own confused ambition.

In many ways What if…? as a concept it feels more suited to the Fox era of Marvel animation, true X-Men: The Animated Series received nearly twenty episodes per season, and the one-off episodic adventures could have thrived in a television landscape that didn’t look down on shows that favored a less interconnected format. Compared to its MCU peers – series that often feel more like movies broken up into messy parts than actual, real TV shows – What if…? also tried to live in that world, always returning to the often misplaced, continuous thread that ran through the three seasons. But while season 2 featured a heavy dose of Peggy every few episodes to maintain interest in its overarching storyline, season 3 treats it as an afterthought, with Peggy, the Guardians of the Multiverse, and the Watcher’s plight thrown in unbidden in the final two episodes. .

It’s that complete confusion and disconnect that caused it What if…? just as frustrating to watch as it has been in the past three seasons. By never delivering on the full MCU potential and refusing to stick to a clear path, What if…? had the nerve to be…boring. The faint sparks of life in the series’ few standout episodes are drowned out by the nonsensical and uninspired choices made along the way, ensuring that What if…?now complete and after eight days of being ‘unpacked’, it will disappear into the infinite ether of the MCU. Because you dare to be inconspicuous, What if…? will likely be quickly forgotten, with its truly ridiculous cast and broken promises retreating to the far reaches of Disney Plus like a failed MCU experiment never worth revisiting.