What If...?
It was only a matter of time before Marvel tackled animation and it's first project lends itself well to an animated series. "What If..." is a famous Marvel comics series. It debuted in February 1977. This animated series transfers the plot of the comic series to this show. Uatu the Watcher, member of a cosmic race that... watches but never interferes, introduces us to a new universe. One that seems very familiar to the MCU but due to some changes looks very different. We've met the Watcher briefly in "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" in the Stan Lee cameo. "What If...?" has been renewed for a second season.
"What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "The Nazi army marches across Europe, leaving death and destruction. The Allied armies band together to create a new kind of soldier. A Super Soldier. At humanity's darkest hour, a skinny kid from Brooklyn became Captain America. After turning the tide World War II, he made the ultimate sacrifice, restoring peace and saving this universe. But in another universe, a single choice created a whole new hero."
The Watcher: [closing narration] "Her one choice gave birth to a whole new history and gave the multiverse a new hero. As for me, these are my stories. I observe all that transpires here, but I do not, cannot, will not interfere. For I am... the Watcher."
 |
| Captain Carter and the HYDRA Stomper |
I have to start off by praising Jeffrey Wright. He voices Uatu the Watcher and he's fantastic. You probably know Wright if you're a "Westworld" fan. He plays Bernard. He was also Commissioner Gordon in "The Batman." Wright brings just the right amount of gravitas to the role. When a character is narrating, the actor should have a voice that you don't tire of and you definitely will never tire of listening to Jeffrey Wright.
I think this is a great way to introduce audiences to the "What If...?" concept. Who doesn't love Peggy Carter. She's definitely one of my favorite ancillary characters in the MCU. I love any moment we get to spend with her. It's great to see her be a badass. All it takes for things in this universe to take a turn is for Peggy to decide to stay in the room while Steve Rogers gets Abraham Erskine's super soldier serum rather than watch from the observation deck. The Hydra spy attacks before Rogers gets the serum, clipping him with a stray bullet. Peggy jumps into action and takes Steve place becoming Captain Carter. As you can imagine, in the Forties, not a lot of people are happy about this. Our favorite misogynistic SSR agent, Flynn (voiced by Bradley Whitford) number one amongst them. His tune changes once Captain Carter starts whooping Nazi and HYDRA ass along with Steve Rogers in Howard Stark's HYDRA Stomper armor that is basically the Mach 1 Iron Man armor.
There's a lot of great things about this premiere episode. Hayley Atwell shines as Captain Carter, which comes as no surprise. I love the animation style. It reminds me of the animation style used in the film, "A Scanner Darkly," which counted Robert Downey, Jr. among its stars. The action is bone crunchingly awesome. It hits a little bit harder and there are a few more unbelievable stunts than you'd see in a live-action Marvel show or movie.
The climax of the episode is pretty dope. The Red Skull uses the Tesseract to open a portal to another dimension releasing a giant, multi-tentacled Cthulhu type creature. Captain Carter has to forcibly use her shield to push the creature back into the portal where it closes on not just the creature but her too. She reappears 70 years into the future confronted by Clint Barton and Nick Fury. This was probably my favorite part of the episode. It's a cool twist on what happened to Steve Rogers and it's exactly one of the major benefits of the "What If...?" concept.
That brings me to my main criticism of the episode. The best "What If...?" comics take a well known concept and then really turns it on the head, twisting it and sending it in new directions. This first episode hews a little too closely to the plot of "Captain America: The First Avenger," condensed as it may be. I would have liked to see it take a little more risks, change things up a little bit more than it does. Maybe being the first episode, they felt they needed to ease casual viewers into the concept?
The other issue is some of the voice acting. Marvel employed many of the actors in the MCU to voice their animated counterparts which is awesome, but voice acting isn't the same as live acting. And some of the actors don't shine like I would have liked them, too. Dominic Cooper is the glaring example of this in the first episode. His Howard Stark sounds like a '40's caricature, far from the suave, inventor ladies man of the live action films.
All in all though, a solid start to "What If...?"
Grade: B+
"What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "The galaxy, to your eyes, a hundred billion points of light. But where you see light, I see worlds and the countless stories that fill them. But in a Multiverse of infinite possibility, is your destiny determined by your nature or by the nature of your world?"
The Watcher: [closing narration] "And from one family reunion to another..."
Peter Quill: [as he is seen working as a janitor at Dairy Queen listening to his music when someone comes in] "Uh, sorry, we're closed."
Ego: "What, Peter?" Can't spare a little time for dear old Dad?"
The Watcher: "Too bad this might spell the end of the world. But that's a story for another day."
 |
| Thanos the Ravager? |
Now this is more like it. This episode begins in a very familiar way with Star-Lord traversing a planet to retrieve an orb that contains the Power Stone. In the temple, he comes face to face with Korath the Pursuer, but their meeting is very different from the one you probably remember. Korath is very familiar with this Star-Lord and he's also a really big fan. It's soon revealed that this Star-Lord isn't Peter Quill, it's T'Challa, prince of Wakanda. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that this episode is not going to be just a condensed re-tread of "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Black Panther." This episode really shows you the benefits of the "What If...?" concept and what it can offer when it's done right.
It turns out if you want something done right, you should do it yourself. In this universe, Yondu Udonta left the task of retrieving Peter Quill to his subordinates, Taserface and Kraglin. Instead of returning with Peter, they end up returning with T'Challa. T'Challa had left the protective barrier that hides Wakanda after an argument with his father, King T'Chaka, after they had argued about Wakanda not making itself known to the outside world. So, T'Challa is very receptive to going on an adventure with a band of space rogues.
And it turns out having a young Wakandan prince as part of their crew is a good influence on the Ravagers as they become an intergalactic Robin Hood and Merry Men. They are liberating planets, helping rebellions, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. T'Challa is an infinitely better Star-Lord than Peter Quill. He even talks Thanos out of his plan to wipe out half the galaxy and convinces him to join the Ravagers.
We all know that Chadwick Boseman passed away back in August of 2020. This is his last full performance as T'Challa and the entire episode acts as a love letter to the character and the actor that played him. Boseman is just as good in animation as he is in live action. He's incredibly charming and funny and affable. I can't imagine a time when I won't tearing up watching this. I'm interested to see where Marvel takes Wakanda in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," but I know for sure that Boseman will be forever missed.
This episode gives us so much. Drax as a bartender who's family is still alive because of T'Challa's Star-Lord. Nebula as a triple crossing, blonde wig wearing vamp. The Collector as the galaxy's biggest bad, having stepped into the power vacuum caused by Thanos joining the Ravagers. I think the most fun surprise though is Djimon Hounsou's Korath. Korath barely had much to do in "Guardians of the Galaxy" but he is a bubbly, blast of fresh air in this episode. From the moment he meets his idol, it's on. They become super fast BFF's even if T'Challa doesn't know it.
The episode finds a great way to connect "GotG" and "Black Panther." They are both rumination's on family, both the one you are born into and the one that you make for yourself. It's not surprising that Yondu lied about Wakanda being destroyed, but T'Challa doesn't abandon his adopted father nor does Yondu leave his boy high and dry. The team up and kick The Collector's ass before returning to Earth so the Ravagers can mingle with Wakandan royalty. We even get some father/daughter catharsis with Nebula and Thanos.
The episode ends with Ego finally finding Peter and I'm kind of hoping this universe is explored a bit more in season two.
Grade: A
"What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "Humanity, so eager, so willing to face the impossible, yet blind to the bigger picture. Inside one week, three strange and separate stories unfolded. A genius battled his demons both inside and out, while the world met the monster hiding in the man. And a godly prince fell to Earth. I am the Watcher. And where humans see chaos, I see the crucible that would transform this collection of individuals into a team of heroes. At least, that's how things played out in one universe. But in this one..."
The Watcher: [closing narration] "I believe that in this universe, as in every other, hope never dies. As long as someone keeps their good eye on the bigger picture."
Nick Fury: [in front of the ice that Captain America is frozen in] "Welcome back, Captain."
[pans over to Captain Marvel who just arrived.]
Carol Danvers: "So, where's the fight?"
 |
| This fucking guy... |
This episode takes us back to the beginning of the Avengers Initiative and the time of "Iron Man 2"and "The Incredible Hulk." Black Widow and Nick Fury retrieve Tony from the inside of the giant doughnut and are prepared to temporarily remedy of the arc reactor poisoning he's suffering from. When he uses the injector offered by Black Widow, he is killed. Soon after, the candidates for Fury's Avengers Initiative are murdered one by one. Thor is killed by an arrow in Oklahoma trying to retrieve Mjolnir, Clint Barton is murdered in his cell after being accused of killing Thor, Hulk explodes, Widow is murdered in a library after discerning the identity of the murderer. Long story short, there is a ton of killin' in this episode.
It was bound to happen. We have our first lackluster episode of "What If...?" Like I mentioned before, there is a lot death in this episode and it all adds up to very little. In fact, the episode ends just where you'd think it would be getting started. The thrust of the episode is supposed to be the murdering of the would-be Avengers by grieving father Hank Pym who has taken up the Yellowjacket mantle, but that is all kind of boring. It feels like the writers just really wanted to show the Avengers getting killed in increasingly gruesome way. Hulk exploding and showering everyone in green goo is... a lot.
There needs to be more than that to make something compelling and this episode just doesn't have it. You feel like there will be a momentum shift when Loki appears on the scene accompanied by Sif and an Asgardian army, but there's really nothing that happens. Loki conquers the Earth off screen. Cool, I guess. The "what if..." scenario in this case is super unclear. OK, the Avengers died, so how did that make this world different? Loki conquered it easier? If that's the case, then maybe they should have killed the Avengers quicker and then focused on what it was like under Loki's rule with no Avengers.
This has some of the weakest voice acting of the series so far. I will give it up for Lake Bell, who takes over for Scarlet Johansson voicing Natasha. She's great and really embodies Nat. It's no surprise since she voices Poison Ivy on the great "Harley Quinn" animated series. The actress who voices Betty Brant is really awful. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. I'm not sure if she was trying to do a Liv Tyler impression, but it wasn't working for her. Michael Douglas really doesn't acquit himself well here. I'm not sure what he was going for but it wasn't doing him or the episode any favors.
The great thing about a series like this is that it basically wipes the slate clean and we get a whole new scenario next time.
Grade: C
Next up, "what if..." scenarios with Doctor Strange, zombies and Killmonger.
What do you all think? Were you impressed with Marvel's first MCU foray into animation? What was your favorite episode of the three? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment