What If...?

Dedicated to Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020) What If...? is an American animated anthology series created by A.C. Bradley for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It is the fourth television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, and the studio's first animated series.

The first season, consisting of nine episodes, premiered on August 11, 2021 and concluded on October 6. A second nine-episode season has been confirmed to be premiering as early as 2022.

Season 1
What if instead of Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) actually became the first Super Soldier? That creative brainstorming exercise is the heart of What If...?, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first animated series. The anthology reimagines numerous major events from the movies in game-changing ways, and also features Chadwick Boseman, who was able to reprise T'Challa via voice work before his death.

Season 2
After enlisting the Guardians of the Multiverse to stop Infinity Ultron, The Watcher returns in Season 2 of What If...? to meet new heroes and explore more strange new worlds in the MCU's ever-expanding Multiverse.

Why It Changes Everything

 * 1) Absolutely beautiful and vibrant cel-shaded 3D CGI animation courtesy of Squeeze Studios (the same studio that animated the comedy-slapstick Cracké), which feels a lot like a comic book brought to life and is similar in some regards to mh:greatestmovies:Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
 * 2) The idea of an anthology exploring different timelines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe derived from major events happening differently is very original and well-executed.
 * 3) Glorious over-the-top spectacle battle sequences, with beautiful fight choreography and godlike visuals to match. It makes the animation even better than it already is, and catches up with the usual amazing fare of the battle sequences in the MCU films.
 * 4) Solid writing and great storytelling, with interesting and compelling protagonists and thrilling plots regarding its stories.
 * 5) Stunning sound design, which gives an even greater impact to the storylines.
 * 6) Gorgeous art-style and scenery.
 * 7) Awesome soundtrack.
 * 8) The entire mh:greatcharacter:The Guardians of the Multiverse is a very cool superhero teamup.
 * 9) Lots of creative ideas regarding the stories, including Peggy Carter taking up Steve Rogers' mantle, T'Challa becoming Star-Lord, Gamora donning Thanos' armor and double-bladed sword from mh:greatestmovies:Avengers: Endgame, Peter Parker becoming a zombie hunter, etc.
 * 10) Awesome voice acting, with most of the MCU cast reprising their roles with some exceptions, and Jeffrey Wright doing a great job as Uatu the Watcher.
 * 11) *The replacement voice actors give solid impressions of the original actors.
 * 12) Like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the series brings some fresh new changes to the MCU formula without ever altering it drastically.
 * 13) It introduces some clever twists into the plot, including Peggy Carter getting the super-soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers due to him getting wounded and T'Challa convincing Thanos to abandon his quest of collecting the Infinity Stones and join the Ravagers, as well as him reforming the latter from brutal space pirates to Robin Hood-like mercenaries helping those in need.
 * 14) Plenty of entertaining and awesome moments like the rest of the MCU films.
 * 15) There are some emotional and intense moments here and there as well, such as Peggy being sent 67 years into the future in episode 1, T'Challa finding out that Yondu lied to him in episode 2, the Avengers' deaths in episode 3, the ending of episode 4, T'Challa and Rhodey's deaths in episode 6, etc.
 * 16) Despite focusing on alternate timelines, the series still holds some subtle nods at the MCU's main continuity.
 * 17) It features a tribute to Chadwick Boseman at the end of episode 2, which is a touching way to wrap up his career as a whole.
 * 18) Like WandaVision and Loki, the show perfectly tackles the concept of the multiverse in the MCU.
 * 19) The scene when Captain Marvel was defeated by Party Thor in Episode 7, He called her "Party Pooper" and the unison chant and taunt her that, meaning that after the backlash of the film "Captain Marvel", the creator and the writers make a joke about Carol being a loser, meaning that they can handle criticism from the fans and the critics who hated the film.
 * 20) Every episode has different genres like:
 * 21) * Episodes 1 and 2 are your typical Action-Adventure Comedy episodes.
 * 22) * Episode 3 is the "Murder Mystery" episode.
 * 23) * Episode 4 is the "Shakespearean Tragedy" episode.
 * 24) * Episode 5 is the "Zombie Apocalypse" episode.
 * 25) * Episode 6 is the "Political Thriller" episode.
 * 26) * Episode 7 is the "Romantic Comedy" episode.
 * 27) * Episode 8 is the "A.I. Apocalypse" episode.
 * 28) * Episode 9 is the Avengers-style episode.
 * 29) Plenty of memorable quotes, such as:
 * 30) * "A Ravager never flies solo!"
 * 31) * "Not crazy... Mad."
 * 32) * "Hello, trickster god, hi!"
 * 33) * "Just pretend I'm not here!"
 * 34) * "You son of a... security!"
 * 35) * "Brothers forever!"
 * 36) * "Viva Las... VEGAAAAAAAAAS!"
 * 37) * "I can destroy galaxies with a thought... WHY. WON'T. YOU.  DIE?! "
 * 38) "What If... the Watcher Broke His Oath?" is a great episode to end Season 1 on.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some viewers might get confused by the tone.
 * 2) The animation, while still amazing, has a few errors, resulting in it looking uncanny and off at times.
 * 3) The first episode, while mostly good, suffers from a few problems, including some hit-or-miss voice performances, a bit of corny dialogue, a few elements of the animation and being a little too similar to mh:greatestmovies:Captain America: The First Avenger. Thankfully, this is rectified by the following episodes.
 * 4) * Also, it can sometimes retcon elements from previous films.
 * 5) Some of the MCU actors don't reprise their iconic roles, such as Mick Wingert voicing Tony Stark as opposed to Robert Downey Jr., which may feel a bit misleading.
 * 6) They seem to kill off Tony Stark every other episode, which gets pretty predictable and repetitive. Thankfully, this will be avoided in the season 2 premiere.
 * 7) *Plot Hole: In episode 5, why would Tony Stark turned into a zombie even though he suited up his armor? Unless if a zombified Hank Pym might have shrunk down and went inside his suit, but even then, he could have just flew away and recruited to the team. This couldn't be possible, however, since after Civil War, Tony made sure his suit couldn't be infiltrated by Ant-Man so after knowing that, it's hard to figure out how he was infected.
 * 8) ** Tony was perfectly fine after Thanos threw a moon at him in mh:greatestmovies:Avengers: Infinity War, so there was no reason into turning him undead.
 * 9) Unfortunately, the first season only lasted 9 episodes which caused the Gamora donning Thanos' armor and double-bladed sword episode to be dropped and her appearance in the season finale feel rushed. It wasn't actually the show's fault, however, since the COVID-19 pandemic heavily interfered with production. Thankfully, this will be rectified in the first episode of season 2.
 * 10) Hulk’s death in Episode 3 could be a bit disturbing to viewers.

Reception
What If...? has garnered a highly positive reception from critics, audiences and MCU fans alike, with praise for the voice acting, animation, creative storylines, and scenarios, although the episode length and writing received some criticism. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 93% approval rating with an average rating of 7.40/10, based on 78 reviews for the first season. The site's critical consensus reads: "What If...? may not add much to the larger MCU narrative, but surprising takes on beloved characters and some of the best action sequences in the entire franchise make for engaging viewing.". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the first season a score of 69 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". It also has an overall 7.6/10 rating on IMDb.

Episodes With Their Own Pages

 * What If... the Watcher Broke His Oath?