What If...?
A couple of weekends ago, Marvel had their big Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con and made a lot of announcements. There had been a lot of hemming and hawing from some fans about how Phase 4 had somehow seemed directionless when compared to the Infinity Saga. I don't agree, but MCU mastermind announced that Phases 4-6 will be cumulatively referred to as the Multiverse Saga, to which I said, Duh. But let's head back into the multiverse to find out what if...?
"What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "We have watched how one moment, one choice, can ripple across space and time, giving brith to new stories, heroes, whole new universes. But what if it's the wrong choice? What if the best of intentions has very strange consequences?"
The Watcher: [closing narration] "One life, one choice, one moment can destroy the entire universe."
On the way to a dinner where he's expected to win an award, famed surgeon Dr. Stephen Strange and his girlfriend, Dr. Christine Palmer, are in a car crash and Christine is killed. In his grief, Strange travels the world and eventually becomes Master of the Mystic Arts, training under the Ancient One and eventually besting the dread Dormammu. Even after becoming, Sorcerer Supreme, Strange can't stop thinking about Christine and uses the Time Stone to try to save her. It turns out Christine's death is a fixed point called an Absolute Point and can't be changed. Strange will not give up his quest to save Christine, which may have cataclysmic consequences for his world.
 |
| Strange vs Strange |
The last episode of "What If...?" was pretty ho hum, but the great thing about an anthology series is that if you don't love one episode, you just have to start the next and that may change. That's definitely what happens here.
This episode is fantastic. I loved it the first time I watched it, but I think I liked it even more the second time. Big ups to Benedict Cumberbatch who plays Doctor Strange in the MCU and here. He does great work. It's nice to see him bring this new version of Strange to life and with only his vocal prowess. We hear the anguish when Christine dies over and over again. Or when he realizes that his action have not only doomed Christine but every person on his planet. He still gets to play Strange's arrogance and cockiness. And you can tell he kind of relishes the episodes few, very few, light moments. I've mentioned how some MCU actors can't make the jump to voice acting, but Cumberbatch makes it look easy.
I love how the episode keeps you guessing. It takes the viewer places that you don't always see coming. I certainly didn't think that Doctor Strange would get a power up by absorbing these mystical creatures into. him. It's super creepy and disconcerting. Also, is the final tentacle creature that Strange absorbs the same tentacle creature from the Captain Carter episode?
Like I mentioned in the Star-Lord episode, I think, animation sometimes make the MCU shine even brighter, like in space, or when two Sorcerers are doing mystic battle. I don't want to take anything away from the amazing VFX artists who work on the live-action MCU films, but there are just somethings that you can do in animation that you can't do in live-action. The battle between Strange Supreme and his double, created by the Ancient One when she tried to stop him, is really breathtaking. It's a feast for the eyes and you just want to rewind and watch it all over again once it's completed. There are great little nuances like the capes fighting while their masters fight. It's super cool.
The Watcher breaks the fourth wall for the first time this episode. As Strange becomes more powerful, he senses that someone is there and at the end of the episode when he has broken the world, he finally sees and addresses the Watcher, begging him to do something. The Watcher refuses to break his oath... this time. But this could be a bit of foreshadowing? Maybe?
There are a couple of things that keep this episode from being a 10/10. First off, poor Christine Palmer. It feels like Rachel McAdams is new MCU Natalie Portman pre-"Thor: Love & Thunder." All Christine has to do in this episode is die over and over again and provide motivation for Strange's journey. No agency of her own which is kind of a bummer. Then, when Strange is devouring these seemingly powerful, mystical creatures, none of them fight back. Wouldn't it have been a little more difficult? All that said, this is still a top-tier episode of "What If...?"
Grade: A-
"What If... Zombies?!"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "Dr Bruce Banner, the human hiding within the Hulk, fell from the stars to warn humanity of imminent danger. But the world he found was not one he recognized."
The Watcher: [closing narration] "Heroes are never really gone. They live forever. As do the ones they inspire to carry on the fight."
Bruce Banner returns from space to warn everyone that Thanos is coming. He's followed by members of the Black Order. The Black Order is dispatched by Iron Man, Stephen Strange and Wong who are... zombies? It turns out when Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne went to the Quantum Realm to rescue Janet Van Dyne she brought a zombie virus back with her. Banner is saved by the Wasp and joins her band of survivors which includes Spider-Man, Bucky, Kurt (one of Scott's X-Con buddies from "Ant-Man"), Sharon Carter, Okoye and Happy Hogan. The heroes receive a signal from Camp Lehigh in New Jersey talking about a cure, so they must cross the zombie scape to possibly get help.
 |
| Goddamn it, Wanda. |
Marvel introduced the "Marvel Zombies" brand in "Ultimate Fantastic Four" #21-23. This alternate universe visited by the FF was so popular that Marvel gave them their own spin off and the first miniseries was written by Robert Kirkman, who created "The Walking Dead," and illustrated by Sean Phillips. The concept was ridiculously popular and when I heard that one of the "What If...?" episodes was going to revive the concept I was pretty excited to see what they were going to do and how it would translate to the MCU. I hate to report that overall, I was pretty disappointed.
When I watched this episode the first time and came away underwhelmed, I wondered if maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe I wanted too much. So, I tried to watch it this second time with fresh eyes. Maybe I'd come away with a different opinion. Sadly, I didn't. The episode begins in an interesting way. Banner returns to Earth after Thanos murders a lot of Asgardians. The Hulk is still refusing to make an appearance. The Black Order shows up. But so do Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Wong. Too bad they are all zombies. The beginning is pretty thrilling. I'll give it that. It's a great action scene that flips the script on the opening scene of "Avengers: Infinity War."
Tonally this episode is very strange. I'm the first to say that I love the more upbeat tone of the MCU. I don't mind the jokes, because I think it knows when to get serious when needed. And serious doesn't mean dark and gritty *ahem* Murderverse *ahem.* That being said, I think that one of the benefits of these "What If...?" episodes is that they can explore tones that maybe don't usually work in the regular MCU. This would have been a great time for them to really have like a legit horror moment. There could have been some dark humor sprinkled in, but it would have been nice for this to feel like an actual zombie movie set in the MCU. That's not what we get. It's too funny. The episode almost has a light hearted tone, which is weird. Look at when Happy is shot with an arrow and dragged to be eaten by Hawkeye. The whole time he's saying "blam" when he's dragged away. Like do they want me to be laughing now? Spider-Man is a huge part of this episode, so that lends itself to humor, plus Scott Lang's head in a jar.
I also wanted to see more Marvel zombies. We get a few but I wanted more. I felt like this should have been like wall to wall MCU hero zombies. Thirty straight minutes of seeing your favorites attacking and thirsting for brains. But we don't get that much. Snippets. And they are taken out pretty easily, all things considered. The most menacing Marvel Zombie is Captain America, which feels legit. But even Zombie Cap with the Super Soldier serum is dispatched pretty easily.
The reveal that Vision is luring people to feed to zombie Wanda is again, kind of a letdown. And when this final climactic battle comes, you are ready, but nothing happens. I would have loved to see a brawl between Hulk and the zombie Scarlet Witch, but we get a few seconds. OK, that was a bust. But there is still the Wasp out there in giant form. I bet we are going to get some cool scenes with her! Oh, that's it. She grabs at the plane, but she gets away. Cool, I guess.
It's just very odd. It's difficult to explain but it feels like there aren't super high stakes, all things considered. The episode ends with them heading for Wakanda, not knowing that Zombie Thanos is there and has infected the populace. Lots of questions there. Okoye didn't check in with Wakanda once this whole time? It feels like the episode ends where it should be starting. And don't get me started about how all the women in the episode are taken out one right after the other.
I might be in the minority about this episode because it's getting it's own spin-off series. Hopefully, they are able to really capitalize on all the potential this concept has.
Grade: C-
"What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "Every journey has a beginning, but change one step along the way, and you could end up at a very different destination."
The Watcher: [closing narration] "Heroes are never really gone. They live forever. As do the ones they inspire to carry on the fight."
When he's in the Middle East, Tony Stark's military convoy is attacked. But instead of being kidnapped, he's saved by Erik "Killmonger" Stevens. Stark never becomes Iron Man and Killmonger becomes his closest confidante. Killmonger convinces Tony to build drones powered by vibranium. Stark enlists Ulysses Klaue to help acquire it but T'Challa interrupts the buy. He and Rhodey are murdered by Killmonger who makes it look like they killed each other. When Stark figures things out, he attacks Killmonger with the drone but Killmonger defeats it and kills Tony framing the Wakandans. This is all a ploy so Killmonger can start a war between the US and Wakanda and Killmonger can take the Wakandan throne he believes is his own.
 |
| Animated thirst. |
Man, I really should have thought about how I was dividing these up when I did it. Because with this post we get one really great episode and two duds. And this probably the biggest dud of the bunch.
First off, I want to say that I love that "What If...?" has a lot of references to Black Panther and to Wakanda. It's awesome. And it's always great to hear Chadwick Boseman, even briefly. It's great to get a visit from Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger, even in animated form. I still say he's the best MCU villain and I'm never sad to have him back on the scene. Mick Wingert who voices Tony Stark is amazing. He is Robert Downey, Jr.'s voice double. I love Queen Ramonda as a general, kicking drone ass. I hope we get to see more of that side of her in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." Speaking of, did you see that trailer? It gave me goosebumps and made me tear up. Marvel knows how to cut a trailer, for sure.
You can probably tell I'm stalling. I've basically listed everything I liked about this episode. I don't really want to spend a ton of time dragging it, because it's not like it is really terrible. It's just so meh. Like aggressively meh. It is just difficult to care about this. Plus, the plot feels like it is needlessly convoluted. Like, they would have needed a second episode to actually tell the full story they wanted to tell.
A lot of what happens is predicated on Killmonger, for all intents and purposes, being the smartest man in the room. Now, Killmonger is manipulative and very intelligent. But it is a little difficult to believe that he pulled the wool over Stark's eyes for so long. Even with Stark's extreme arrogance. We are really suspending disbelief a lot here. Plus, the whole war thing. I can buy that Ross would be gung ho about this. He's a war monger for sure. But the Wakandans? They accept Killmonger so readily. They don't question him at all. Only Pepper and Shuri can sniff this guy out and it just feels super unrealistic.
Here's hoping that Killmonger makes a return in season 2 and everything is just... better.
Grade: D+
Next up, we are wrapping up season one with Thor as an only child, Ultron taking over and the Watcher intervening. Gasp.
What do you guys think? Did you enjoy Zombies and the Killmonger episodes? Am I being too harsh? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment