What If...?
We wrap up our trek though the multiverse with the last three episodes of season one. If you guessed that the Watcher was eventually going to intervene, well, give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Who would've thought all it would take was Ultron getting the Infinity Gauntlet? But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's get right into it.
"What If... Thor Were an Only Child?"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "More than battles won or lost, it's relationships that truly define a hero. The people who shape them, their stories. Thor and Loki, a brotherhood so strong and pivotal, it would change the fate of a universe. Their childhood taught Thor many lessons. But in another universe, instead of raising the Jotunheim prince Loki as his own son, Odin returned him to his people. Without his trickster brother to keep things, let's say, lively, Thor grew into a very different prince."
The Watcher: "A world restored, love blossoming. As children, both human and Asgardian, say together they lived happily ever after. Wait, what?"
Thor: "Huh?"
[an army of androids suddenly appear in front of Thor]
The Watcher: "oh, dear. Perhaps I spoke too soon."
[an Ultron-like being with the Infinity Stones on his chest appears, revealing himself to be Vision]
It turns out without Loki, Thor is basically a teenager just waiting for his father to be in Odinsleep and his mother to be away so he can throw raucous parties on backwater planets. The next backwater that he chooses is Midgard aka Earth. His arrival comes to the attention of astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster and her assistant, Darcy Lewis. It also comes to the attention of SHIELD who calls in Captain Marvel to convince the Prince of Asgard to take his party elsewhere or get nuked.
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| The blondes of the MCU. |
When I first read the description for this episode, I thought, "Huh, this feels like a slight plot for a full episode," and you know what? I was right.
This episode was made solely so that Chris Hemsworth could live his party boy Thor fantasy and for the most part, I'm not really mad at it. It's a lot of fun. The idea of Thor coming to Earth to throw a rager and that rager spreading unchecked across the planet to the point that S.H.I.E.L.D. has to get involved. Hemsworth's voice acting is really top notch. He brings all the passion and charm that he brings to his live action performance to this voice acting performance. Thor is great in Vegas and he's brought all your interstellar favorites along with him like Drax, Nebula, the Grandmaster and Howard the Duck.
Natalie Portman returns to the MCU for the first time since "Thor: The Dark World" with her voice work as Jane Foster. It's great to have Jane back before her live-action reprisal in "Thor: Love & Thunder." I'm not sure Jane is portrayed the best here. She's not so much an in charge astrophysicist as she is a lovestruck teenage girl that pretty easily gets swept up in the fun chaos of Thor's party. We get more Tom Hiddleston Loki this time as full frost giant, which I'm sure has inspired some pretty raunchy slash. And Kat Dennings' Darcy Lewis is her delightful snarky self.
There's a lot of fun stuff in this episode that will bring a smile to your face. The montage of the Vegas party was delightful. The Grandmaster DJ'ing a foam party. Thor and Jane getting matching tattoos. Darcy marrying Howard the Duck. It's good stuff and is another way the series is getting the most out of the "what if...?" concept.
The majority of the episode is taken up by a fight between Captain Marvel and Thor which is awesome. The two super powered heavy hitters let looks on each other and nothing is safe, including Stonehenge. I would love to see a fight like this in live-action. Since this phase is all about the Multiverse, maybe I'll get my wish. Though, I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of the voice actor who voices Captain Marvel. It's very flat overall.
But honestly, there is about ten whole minutes of plot stretched to about thirty minutes. With only three episodes left in the first season, I'm not sure if we needed this? The resolution to all this, Jane calling Thor's mommy on him gave me a slight grin, but I don't think it's as hilarious as the writers seem to think it is. The cliffhanger of Vision dressed like Ultron with the Infinity Stones on his chest is great and I kind of wish he had shown up a little sooner.
Grade: B-
"What If... Ultron Won?"
The Watcher: [opening narration] "We've seen this before, a universe in the final days of destruction. But this particular story... this, this one breaks my heart."
The Watcher: "I'm out of options. That thing has left me no choice."
Strange Supreme: [chuckles] "Been there. Been living the dream alone in a prison of my own making ever since. Are you ready to break your oath?"
The Watcher: "You want me to say it?"
Strange Supreme: "Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I wanna hear you say it."
The Watcher: "Okay. I can't believe I'm about to say this... [to Strange] I need your help."
In this world, Ultron was able to reach the crater and merge with the Vision's body. With this body, he was unstoppable. He gathered all of the Infinity Stones and destroyed most of the life on Earth and then took his reign of terror across multiple galaxies. While on this mission, he hears the Watcher talking about other universes and becomes obsessed with finding them and doing to them what he's done to his own. This leads to a battle royal between Ultron and the Watcher that leads to the Watcher deciding to intervene. Meanwhile, on Ultron's Earth, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff search for a way to stop him for good.
This is a pretty great penultimate episode. It ups the stakes way high and sets things up for a pretty dramatic action packed finale, which is exactly what penultimate episodes should be doing.
The thing that I really liked about this episode it it upped the threat level of Ultron to where it should be. I think "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is kind of ragged on unfairly. And I enjoyed James Spader's portrayal of Ultron for what it was. But if you're a comics reader, you know that they sort of nerfed Ultron a little bit. Ultron is one of the Avengers most powerful foes. He has came close to defeating them pretty much each time they've gone up against him. He's malevolent and psychotic. I'm not sure that the movie really showed that. This episode lets you know that Ultron is not to be fucked with. Once he gets the Infinity Stones he is wrecking everyone. Even the Watcher.
Once Ultron becomes aware of the Watcher, he becomes almost like Michael Myers. He's stalking the Watcher from universe to universe, never too far behind him. Their fight is one of my favorites of the entire series. First off, off the top of my head, I don't ever recall the Watcher ever engaging in any sort of physical combat, so to see him going toe to toe with Ultron is pretty dope. Each punch to the Watcher sends them from one universe to the next and it's really fun to kind of pause and see what you can learn from these other universes in the brief moments you're in them. They are watched by horrified Wakandans one minute and then in the next they are in a universe where Steve Rogers is being sworn in as President.
While all this is going on, Black Widow and Hawkeye are doing whatever they can to stop Ultron being the last Avengers left standing. I sort of love that the two non-powered Avengers are the ones that are left to try and turn the tide. There's a lot of great action here. Hawkeye proves that just because he may only be a guy with a bow and arrow, he is still more than skilled enough to lay waste to an army of Ultron's sentries. The Clint/Natasha dynamic is really fun and for all the talk of ledgers, it really isn't explored a lot in the live-action MCU, so I welcome it here.
I am pretty hard on Jeremy Renner. Hawkeye is my least favorite Avenger, but I have to (begrudgingly) admit that he does some great voice work here. He really injects this world weariness in everything Clint says. When he says that he's done, you believe him, so when he sacrifices himself so Nat can get away with the Zola virus, it's believable and also pretty heart wrenching. But, I won't lie. I did kind of a sick thrill seeing Clint FINALLY sacrifice himself to save Natasha.
Even though this episode is pretty heavy, they do find some time for lighter moments, particularly when Nat and Clint meet up with the computer Zola. Clint threatening to dump water on the computer was a nice little moment. And at the end, we get the Watcher asking Strange Supreme for help, guaranteeing we are in for one hell of a finale.
Grade: A
"What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?"
The Watcher: "That's it, isn't it? All creatures searching for a place to belong. To call home. As for me, I am the Watcher. The Multiverse, every single world, every story is my home, and I will protect it to the end."
The Watcher gathers heroes from across the Multiverse: Captain Carter, Star-Lord T'Challa, Gamora of Sakaar, Killmonger, Thor and Strange Supreme. He tasks these Guardians of the Multiverse to stop Ultron. Can these disparate heroes band together and stop Ultron from doing to their worlds what he did to his own?
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| Guardians of the Multiverse. |
It's all come down to this. Ever since we met the Watcher, learned of his oath and we started visiting these different worlds, we all should have known what was going to happen. The Watcher would break his oath of non interference and these characters would all come together to take down a greater threat. Marvel may have billed this series as one-off episodes but they just can't help themselves. They can't do something that isn't interconnected. I will admit that when I initially watched the first season of "What If...?" it kind of annoyed me that they couldn't just tell these separate stories but upon this re-watch it bothered me a lot less. Honestly, it's kind of fun to watch these Multiversal guardians get together and do what they do best.
This episode is very in line with most Marvel properties. It stays true to the formula. It's much like the finale of the other Marvel shows or the third act of a Marvel movie. It's basically all action all the time. From the time that Thor accidentally draws Ultron to the lifeless universe they are hiding in to the moment that Ultron/Zola and Killmonger are trapped in the pocket dimension things really don't let up.
There are some nice little moments mixed in. I particularly enjoyed them tweaking the Captain America/Black Widow relationship that was nurtured in the Rogers Cap trilogy with Captain Carter. The episode opens with an homage to the Winter Soldier and it's a delight. When Captain Carter meets up with the Widow from Ultron's universe, the way that Carter speaks to Nat immediately identifies her as a friend. It's a great little moment in this mostly action episode.
Honestly, there's not a ton to say here. The chemistry between the GotM is great. It isn't a shock that Killmonger betrays them. I love that Widow kind of deals the fatal blow to Ultron by uploading the Zola virus. She gets a nice reward from the Watcher. He deposits her in the universe where the Avengers were mostly killed by Hank Pym, announcing her arrival by landing a killer kick to the jaw to Loki.
The elephant in the room is the inclusion of Gamora. There was supposed to be a "What If...?" episode that focused on Gamora killing Thanos, I believe, but it was pushed due to production issues caused by the pandemic. I'm not sure why they decided to include her here because it led to a "WTF" moment for viewers. It's pretty distracting. Not distracting enough to make the episode itself less enjoyable, but kind of baffling overall.
The mid credits scene shows Captain Carter arriving back to her universe the moment that she left. She's met by Nat who informs them that they found the Hydra Stomper, with Steve Rogers still inside.
Grade: B+
Next up, the newest Marvel hero makes his MCU debut in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings."
What did you all think of this first season and the MCU's first foray into animation? Are you ready for season two next year? Let me know in the comments.
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