Marvel's ‘What If..?’ Episode 2: “What if… T'Challa Became a Star Lord?” Recap and Review
In one of the late Chadwick Boseman’s final performances, the iconic T’Challa takes up the mantle of Star Lord and travels the universe with Yondu and the Ravagers.
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
After what many Marvel fans have described as an underwhelming start to the series last week, Marvel’s What If..? is back with another inventive premise. This time, what if T’Challa had been picked up by Yondu instead of Peter Quill?
Thankfully, this instalment goes way beyond merely a reconstruction of the original film with different characters, instead opting for a completely original story involving plenty of fan-favourite characters from across the universe. The episode does a great job of exploring this alternate universe, and the stories that come along with this character-switch are equally as touching as they are entertaining. But sadly, the episode does sometimes try to include too many characters and too many plot points in such a short span of time, which makes the narrative feel rushed and underdeveloped at times. Unlike the first episode, this really isn’t something that you can properly watch and understand without prior knowledge of both the Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther franchises.
The Recap
In an almost identical fashion to 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, this episode opens on a familiar scene on the planet Morag, home of the elusive Power Stone. Star Lord, who is soon revealed to be T’Challa, is interrupted by Korath the Pursuer as he attempts to steal the Power Stone from its current home. The scene plays out exactly as it does in the film, right up to the moment that Star Lord removes his mask - and Korath instantly recognises T’Challa as the famous galactic bandit. After a prolonged comedic fight sequence in which Korath attempts to stop T’Challa, the stone is eventually acquired, He steps outside to return to his ship, but is greeted instead by Korath’s entire army - which is easily defeated by a familiar flying arrow belonging to Yondu, Star Lord’s friend and mentor. The duo then fly away in Yondu’s ship, and we are quickly taken back in time to Wakanda several years prior.
The flashback takes us to Wakanda’s royal throne room, where we see a younger version of T’Challa talking with his father about his lust to go out and explore the world. King T’Chaka reminds his son that they have everything they could ever want here in Wakanda, and that it is his duty and destiny to remain here and lead the people when his time comes. Later that night, as T’Challa is running about the fields and exploring his homeland, this alternate branch of reality is created as Yondu’s ship lands in Wakanda and abducts the young royal. Yondu quickly takes a liking to young T’Challa and agrees to show him the universe - the quest to find Peter Quill can wait. It’s from here that the new Star Lord is born, and it’s clear that he’s been much more successful and efficient in the role than Star Lord ever was.
As we follow T’Challa to an intergalactic bar several years later, his encounters with the surprising locals tell us everything we need to know about how he’s been spending his time. First up is Thanos himself, who was convinced by T’Challa against his genocidal plan to eliminate half the universe, which we saw come to pass in Avengers: Infinity War. Now he spends his time with the Ravagers, and with his daughter Nebula - who leads a much happier life after her issues with her father were resolved. We then see Drax, who’s working as a bartender after T’Challa prevented the attack on his planet and saved the lives of his wife and children. There seems to be no task too large for T’Challa, which is confirmed when Nebula asks for a favour.
She tells T’Challa about the ‘embers of genesis’, a form of cosmic dust with extreme healing properties that could save whole civilisations from decay. After what seems like a promising pitch, she soon reveals where the embers are currently hidden - The Collector’s vault. Yondu and the Ravagers are immediately out, knowing of The Collector’s power and intelligence. However, after a quick talk with T’Challa, the team is on board. They fly to the planet Knowhere, posing as sellers who are offering up the Power Stone for purchase. They are greeted by The Collector’s assisstant Carina and taken to his private quarters, whilst T’Challa slips away and makes his way to the vault.
He makes his way through the vault in search for the embers, but instead finds himself faced with an old Wakandan ship. He makes his way inside and stumbles across abandoned uniforms, weapons and artifacts - but most importantly, a recorded message from his father calling for him to return home. However, before he even has time to reflect, the building is thrown into lockdown as The Collector’s personal security (Thanos’ Black Order, no less) realise that they’re being played. He quickly tries to search for the embers, but it’s too late. He runs into The Collector and Nebula, who he soon realises has double crossed him and offered up the Power Stone for real.
T’Challa and the Ravagers are taken prisoner, with the former being held in a tight glass cage for The Collector to observe before being added to his collection. However, after seeing T’Challa in the flesh and talking to him, The Collector is disappointed and orders instead that he simply be killed and stripped for parts. Meanwhile, Nebula finds the imprisoned Ravagers and reveals that everything is still on track, and that the double cross was merely a rouse (suggested by T’Challa) to gain The Collector’s trust so that she can settle a debt with him and steal the embers at the same time. The Ravagers are wary, but agree to the plan when Nebula shows them the embers that the managed to sneak away from The Collector.
Back in the vault, T’Challa uses his a concealed Wakandan weapon to break free of the cage and attack the Black order, but he’s quickly disarmed and attacked by Ebony Maw. Thankfully, the assistant Carina has grown tired of her master’s evil plans and shoots down Ebony Maw, helping T’Challa escape. A thrilling fight sequence ensues between The Collector and our new Star Lord, in which the former gathers several familiar weapons from his vault (Dark Elves’ dagger, Hela’s sword, etc), but none are enough to overpower T’Challa and Yondu, who slipped away to his rescue. The pair manage to trap The Collector in his own cage, and leave him to the judgment of his newly-freed ‘collections’.
The team escapes, and in a moment of silence T’Challa tells Yondu that he wishes to return to Wakanda after seeing the message from his father. He’s seen everything he needs to see, and it’s time to return home. The pair fly away and soon return to Earth to take T’Challa back home.
The Review
Episode 2 of What If...? is a lot of fun. It offers incredible visuals, stunning animation and an entertaining and engaging story that any fan of the MCU so far will decidedly enjoy. The character work here is much better, with a focus on T’Challa’s conflict between destiny and family being a driving force for his actions in the narrative. I’d also praise the episode’s diversion from it’s source material - where episode 1 felt like a retelling of Captain America: The First Avenger with a couple of characters changed, this feels like a completely original story that just happens to be set in the same universe. It also includes plenty of Easter Eggs and references to other movies that long-time fans of the MCU will definitely spot and appreciate, particularly relating to the two franchises on display here. The show’s action sequences and set pieces are just as impressive here as they were in the first episode. Everything feels perfectly animated and wonderfully directed, and it’s definitely the strongest element of the show so far.
But sadly, the show still suffers from many of the flaws that were present in the first instalment. Firstly, it’s incredibly rushed - even more so than episode 1. There are so many characters, so many subplots, so many double-crosses that it’s hard to keep up with the story as it’s playing out in front of you. It makes it difficult to connect to any of the characters, particularly as these aren’t the characters that we’re used to from the movies, but rather alternate versions of them that act completely differently. The ‘What If’ concepts offer so much potential, and it sometimes feels as though the writers are trying to cover every single possibility in the story rather than exploring and focusing on one particular idea.
It feels like a cheap criticism, but the show feels like it’s pulling its punches in regards to its position as an anthology of separated stories. Sure, the actual narratives themselves aren’t directly connected, but this one particularly feels like it’s relying on references and callbacks to make the story work. The entire final showdown between T’Challa and The Collector is based around callbacks to the MCU’s previous villains, which makes this story feel like it can’t survive on its own. It’s definitely not something that you can fully understand without having seen the majority of the movies, and whilst I never really like this criticism of the MCU in general, it seems fitting here because these are supposed to be separate stories with their own identities, and they’re not. This is still a really entertaining premise with a lot of potential, and this episode was definitely much more inventive and original than Episode 1, but there’s still a long way to go for What If..?