What to Expect with Marvel's 'What If...?'

Marvel gives us a further peek into the ever-expanding multiverse with their new animated show. We break down the first three episodes and what they seemingly hold for the remainder of the Disney+ Series.

Marvel’s ‘WHAT IF’ hits Disney+ tomorrow, and like many lucky critics we at FilmSpeak got a sneak peek into the first three episodes of the series. The show appears as if it is destined to be a fan favorite, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe opens up even more of the multiverse and gives every diehard MCU lover some major twists and turns. It is by no coincidence that this also happens to be released during Phase 4, as this particular chapter in the Marvel universe is all about moving on to some strange and magical places (puns intended) inching further away from the safety the Marvel formula had provided up to this point with the entire Infinity Saga.

If you have never read the WHAT IF comics throughout Marvel’s history, there have been some exciting and intriguing concepts over the years such as “What if Spider-Man never gave up the Venom symbiote suit?”, or “What if Elektra had lived?”, which is seemingly a comment on how that Jennifer Garner film died at the box office.

So what can audiences expect from the first three episodes?

WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Episode One:

The concept for this particular episode has been seen prevalently through the trailer for the series. “What if Peggy Carter took the Super Soldier Serum?”. The concept is fairly straight forward, and truth be told, Marvel does not mess with the classic Captain America storyline all that much. The episode almost immediately jumps into action with skinny Rogers mere moments away from receiving the serum. The act of Hydra terrorism starts a little earlier in this universe, which creates chaos; we lose Doctor Erskine, we lose Col. Phillips, and Steve himself is wounded. Before the explosions surrounding the lab can claim Howard Stark’s work, Carter (Hayley Atwell) jumps into the pod taking the place of the injured Rogers.

As mentioned, the rest of the story is pretty much just as the original film. Peggy has to rescue Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Dum Dum Dugan (Neil MacDonough) and the rest of the Howling Comandos. Captain Carter becomes the symbol for the Alies, replacing the American Red, White and Blue with that of the Union Jack, all while fighting Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), the Red Skull (Russ Marquand reprising his role from Avengers: EndGame) and the Hydra forces. The romance between Steve and Peggy remains intact, with the diminutive soldier with the big heart surviving the attack, and is not only able to spend time with his beloved Peggy, but prove that he can become an iconic hero in any universe.

Episode Two:

The second episode (which will probably end up being a favorite of every fan) is “What If T’Challa was taken by Yondu and became Star Lord instead of Peter Quill?”. This concept is as simple as it sounds; Quill is never taken to space, he remains on Earth (and we only get a flash of his existence at the very end of the episode) while the young Prince T’challa grows up in the cosmos instead of inheriting the mantle of King and Black Panther.

One of the best aspects of this episode was how this small mistake by Yondu truly changes the entire Universe. T’Challa is infinitely better at being Star Lord than Quill ever was. T’Challa is so much more infamous, and not as a criminal, but a man who gets things done. He is loved by all (which is a perfect tribute to Chadwick Boseman who voiced the character before passing away) His diplomacy ends up completely reshaping some of the more villainous characters in the entire MCU, and some even want to join forces with he and his Ravagers.

Episode Three:

The third episode can best be described as “What If the Avengers never got off the ground?” basically following the events of that crazy time early in the MCU when Ironman, Thor and the Incredible Hulk were all recruited.

This episode is best left shrouded in secrecy, as it is predominantly a mystery. Sufficed to say, the Avengers as we know them never get a chance to form, and we see some of Earth’s mightiest heroes fall. The episode follows Director Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and Black Widow (Lake Bell) try to solve the mystery, and deal with impending forces that certainly spell doom for our little blue planet.

The greatest aspect of this particular episode is that Marvel revisits Phase One (much like the first episode) bringing back some classic scenarios, and even ret-conning some of the Hulk mythos with Mark Ruffalo voicing Hulk in situations that were originally performed by Ed Norton.

What worked (the ‘Disney Pluses’)

There were so many aspects which worked for all three episodes, most of all, the concepts were a lot of fun. More importantly, none of the episodes spend too much time setting up the concept, they jump right into it. The 20 minute run-time of these animated adventures works really well for the format. These are just smaller one-off episodes (although it’s been reported that they may connect somehow throughout the show) but with Marvel knowing that it’s audiences know these stories inside and out, they don’t waste any time with recap. It’s great to see these twisted versions of the stories we all know already, and how it creates ripples through this version of the universe.
Bringing back so many of the original actors to reprise their role. As previously mentioned, Chadwick was back, Hailey was back, but we also got Djimon Honsou, Tobey Jones, Michael Rooker, Sebastian Stan and Stanley Tucci… among others that shall remain un-spoiled. These tiny touches, where these actors unexpectedly return, created much of the excitement of this series.
Any Marvel fan should relish in the fact that a lot of fan-favorites who we won’t get to see again got another chance to shine. Hearing Hailey Atwell reprise her role as ‘Captain Carter’ this time, and, of course, most notably Chadwick Boseman recording his part means the world. That man was a hero to so many both on and off the screen, and that particular episode was such a great tribute for him.
Some of the voice actors who replaced the original actors were solid, most notably Ross Marquand who played Red Skull in Endgame when Hugo Weaving didn’t want to return does the greatest Hugo Weaving doing a German accent impression ever heard… It’s uncanny. Lake Bell, who’s a great voice actor, and if I can cross pollinate by mentioning DC’s ‘Harley Quinn’ animated show, and how great she is as Ivy was incredible as Black Widow in that one episode
On that note, most of the other characters this show resurrected, for the most part, got to be completely different. As previously mentioned, the show itself is all about flipping familiar concepts on its head, but what is truly enjoyable is seeing some MCU villains become heroes, and visa versa in the first three episodes. Pop culture has created some amazing movies or TV shows that can create these memorable alternate dimensions; the mirror verse in Star Trek, the paradox’s in DC, Age of Apocalypse in the X-Men comics, it’s just great to explore the darker nature of some of these characters.

What Needs More Work (the ‘Disney Minuses’)

Circling back to the voice acting cast, and who was able to return, sadly, audiences will not get some of the corner stones of this universe. Don’t expect Robert Downey Jr, Scarlet Johansson or Chris Evans, however, that may be expected considering contracts have ended.
More surprisingly, supporting roles in the MCU, like General Ross were not voiced by the original actor. So the juxtaposition of having some absolutely massive names return, but then other smaller parts inexplicably not returning, felt confusing and distracting.
There were even some issues getting everyone back; people such as Drax (Dave Bautista) were reportedly not even invited back… perhaps he was just standing incredibly still and Disney couldn’t find him?
Occasionally, some of these twisted versions of characters were a little too unbelievable. Not to mention anything or anyone too specifically, but there were some character flips at times felt infinitely distanced from the original cinematic version of the character. It may be personal taste, but when these What If versions lack anything resembling the original character audiences have come to know, it felt like the writers were taking too many chances.
More specifically, the tone was much lighter. That tone really affected certain characters negatively. In the T’Challa episode, there are a few characters that are just reduced to bright and shiny versions of themselves which didn’t have anything in common with the MCU version. Some absolutely iconic antagonists (and anti-heroes) who are known for being edgy, jaded or brooding are anything but.

This may be a Disney Plus MCU show, and it may be released during Phase 4, but is worth noting, this is not ‘WandaVision’, ‘Loki’ or ‘The Falcon & The Winter Soldier’. What If is seemingly catered more towards a a younger demographic. While dealing with dark subject matter, Disney has clearly gone to some lengths to make it family friendly. Granted, we know a Marvel Zombies episode seems to be around the corner, but it is certainly safe to say it will not be graphic or scary. They certainly put the ‘Disney’ in Disney Plus when it comes this show.