Support Us
Sign Up
In this current, let’s admit it, confused and messy state of the Marvel Cinematic Universes’ Mutlitverse saga, the only area that mines solid substance lies within the animation realm overseen by Jefferey Wright’s The Watcher. When the first season of What If dropped well into the overstuffed 2021, the Marvel mashup series took acceptable advantage of the sometimes silly, sometimes inspired concepts it had. Scenarios such as Thor being an only child was a fun ride, and Doctor Strange losing Christine in every universe was more emotionally impactful than all of Multiverse of Madness. Plus, how can I not like a show that provided one last rodeo for Chadwick Boseman’s passing with a fantastic episode where T’Challa was Star-Lord, and EVERYONE across the MCU Galaxy contributed to reprising their voice roles because of its significance?
Please note that the following will contain spoilers for ‘What If’ Season 2. Now streaming on Disney+.
What If Season 2 Review
Continuing the basis of its premise, The Watcher, still wonderfully voiced by Jeffrey Wright, guides the viewer through “vast realities” where a familiar character from an MCU flick is thrown into an entirely separate scenario apart from the features we’ve seen them in an attempt to give them a fluent arc under thirty minutes or less. It’s like those Disney Infinity playbox toy sets from the 2010s but make it solely Marvel, and each season installment adds stories from the recently concluded Phase 4 (i.e., Black Widow and Shang Chi) and mash-em-up with ingredients from other movies (i.e., The Winter Soldier but with Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) as the lead or the first Thor but with Hela as the lead).
Also, most of the cast from the features reprise their roles. So, it’s less attention towards which wacky blender scenario stands out to the best and more so an ongoing case of “Can these MCU actors do voice work well? Who returned? Who did they convince to star? Who will stand out as Earth’s Mightiest Voice Actor?” To paraphrase Jenko from 22 Jump Street, “I’m surprised they were able to get Cate Blanchett with the budget.”
With season two, What If stands confident in its anthology-set identity and the stories it focuses on. There’s an overall balance of playfulness and seriousness it focuses on, to its strength and detriment. Like deja vu, the first slew within its nine-episode count is hit and miss. Nebula being part of a galactic noir plot with the Nova Corps is inspiring but needs to be more desired, especially as a season opener. Then, a 1988 Avengers formation with Peter Quill as their first big bad was mighty solid, given its detailed components and character writing.
Then a Happy Hogan-centric riff on Die Hard ––finally, a Marvel/Fox via Disney synergy product arrived without Ryan Reynolds rearing his head in ––was genuinely fun thanks to its commitment to the bit, a spirited Sam Rockwell returning as Justin Hammer in a Hans Gruber role but is often undermined by its quippy meta referencing. See where I’m getting at? It’s the MCU being its mostly decent albeit scattershot self like its early days. Somehow, it makes me nostalgic for its fun when it acts self-contained to its concepts, retaining the familiar writing the feature counterparts had.
The see-saw of strengths and weaknesses also lies in the animation quality. Returning director Bryan Andrew’s remarkably exhilarating action direction bears much range and style, reminiscent of early 2000s Saturday Morning Cartoon flair. He was a storyboard artist on every Genndy Tartaosky project and many MCU flicks. The animation is better-paced when action sequences are enacted, and the shot composition adds much-needed weight and adrenaline to the story. Even its well-animated, flashy finale gets a pass because said animated flashiness has popped. Please let the animators be more expressive with the character rigging next season. It’ll make all the emotional beats effective.
What If’s ambitions are set much higher when it reaches the latter episode, What If Kahhori Reshaped the World, introducing viewers to Mohawk tribe superhero Kahhori (passionately voiced by Canadian-Indigenous actress Devery Jacobs from the Mohawk tribe), who tesseract-based abilities and strong-willed determination led her to fight the Spanish Conquistadors during the late 15th century.
That episode, penned by Ryan Little, is the pinnacle of the entire series’ quality in tonal control, writing, and worldbuilding, actually utilizing its concept to tell a poignant and impactful historical tale, strong enough to make you infuriated over the fact this Indigenous hero is regulated to animation and not also live-action form. That episode is the best work of art produced by the MCU this year.
As the season progresses, it intends to continue the opened-up threads introduced from its first season, specifically regarding Captain Carter, Doctor Strange, and even The Watcher himself. To its benefit, the writers follow through on their character focus with Hayley Atwell, the best to retain her MCU check for over a decade, pouring her soul as a fleshed-out Carter.
After an eventful, excruciating time with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s wavering quality across their film and television projects this year ––shoutout to the time I had an existential crisis during Quantumania––it only seemed fitting for them to drop the second season of their sole animated series What If in time for the holidays when no one is looking nor excited about it. It’s a sizable improvement across its predecessor while retaining its familiar flair.
Rating: B-
Watch What If Season 2 on Disney+
