Another year and another season of Marvel’s What If…? , the series that throws familiar characters into unfamiliar situations and asks… Well, what if?
This is the final season of the animated show (for the foreseeable future at least) and unfortunately goes out with not so much a whimper, and more of a “meh”.
One of the issues facing this series is the lack of classic Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) characters. Aside from Mark Ruffalo’s Banner/Hulk, none of the original Avengers are here outside of archive footage, not even the sound-alikes make appearances. Instead, we get B and C tier offerings making the bulk of the cast. This in itself isn’t a problem as shining a light on minor characters could have lent to some exciting and experimental takes, but the stories just play it safe and seemed to try and promote some of the newer MCU projects.
The animation style remains the same as in previous seasons, though they do mix it up with more classic styles for unique scenes. One stand out was a flashback in the first episode which replicated the 80’s cartoon style and made me feel nostalgic. However, the same problems still occurred with me having to Google some characters as I didn’t recognise them and wasn’t entirely sure who they were.
The eight episodes kick off with a “What if Hulk but Godzilla?” story where the Hulk has spawned an army of kaiju and to deal with this threat, the Avengers build giant mech versions of themselves ala Pacific Rim. The original team has fallen and several years later Sam Wilson as the new Captain America leads the new team against the returning threat.
While this is the type of experimentation I like to see, the team selection is… odd, to say the least. Sure Winter Soldier and Red Guardian are solid and logical choices but Shang Chi? A martial artist with mystical powers doesn’t really lend itself to mech combat and let’s not think how Khonshu is spinning with Marc Spector’s Moon Knight inclusion onto the team.
The second episode sees Agatha Darkness in the 1930s using the guise of a Hollywood production to cast a spell and steal the god-like power. This episode does little more than remind us that “oh yeah, The Eternals was a thing wasn’t it?”.
I can see what they were going for, trying to fuse dance numbers of Bollywood and 30s Hollywood, but the dances come off stiff and robotic (seriously look at the backup dancers). The musical numbers were nice in the series in general, but they really pushed the boat out with this one.
Next up we get an 80’s road trip with Red Guardian and Winter Soldier. While we do get a nice antagonist in Laurence Fishburne’s Goliath, Red Guardian is played as comic relief, again, and the joke is starting to wear a little thin.
Remember season one’s party Thor episode? We get a kind of sequel to that in episode four with an exploration of Darcy and Howard the Duck’s relationship from that universe as the couple find themselves chasing after their er…unhatched offspring as it becomes the valued prize of seemingly every major power in the MCU. From the Grandmaster, Thanos, the Cult of Dormammu and even Zeus, everyone wants them. This one was my personal favourite of the season but even this devolves into a “magic space thing” fixes everything.
MCU newbie Ironheart is the focus in the next episode as we explore a shattered Earth ruled over by Mysterio, which was a *bit* of an odd choice. She has to team up with Wong, Ying Nan and the resistance to take on Mysterio’s top enforcer, a reprogrammed Vision.
In the last of the original stories, we get the team up everyone (i.e. no one) expected and asked for. Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye in the Wild West. They are both tracking down the mysterious “Hood” for their own reasons, but there is a third act reveal that you can see coming a mile away. I will admit, it was nice to see Walter Goggins’ character from Antman and the Wasp return, even though this was one of the ones I had to Google.
The last episodes are a two-parter to wrap up the story of our multiverse adventures. It seems the controlling body didn’t take too kindly to the Watcher interfering and now it’s up to Captain Carter and her team of universe-jumping guardians to help him out. On the team this time around is Kahhori from last season; Byrdie, the grown-up child of Howard; Darci From episode four; and finally a Mjolnir welding Storm, voiced by the VA from X-Men 97!
While this reveal was spoiled in the trailer it was a joy to hear the Storm I grew up with again, but this did little to elevate the two-parter from becoming a Kirby, sparkle-filled, slugfest in the second half.
And this was the problem with this season of What If…? It was more style over substance and you were left unsatisfied with the end result. It was like the writing team were only allowed to play with the newer toys in the MCU box (apart from the ones that fell out of favour *cough* Kang *cough* She-hulk) and they struggled to come up with anything meaningful for our heroes to do.
I can’t fault the actors though as everyone does a good job even though a lot of the cast don’t reprise their roles. The sound-alikes do a fantastic job replicating their big-screen counterparts. Music as well has been adapted from the MCU to fit with the contemporary settings the series offers.
What If…? series three comes across as bad fan fiction which is a shame because there are over forty years of comic stories the writers could have drawn from and easily could have been adapted into the cinematic setting.
If like me you’ve been struggling with “MCU fatigue”, 2024 was a mixed year. Both X-Men 97 and Deadpool and Wolverine proved there is potential left in the franchise, What If…? series three, however, squanders any goodwill that was built up and comes off as beating a dead horse.
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