The night before Disney+ sent out screener links for What If…? Season 2, FXX aired a rerun of Futurama that used the same conceit — three stories about what might happen in alternate realities of the show. One of them, in which Philip Fry wishes the world worked more like video games, proved so memorable that when the movie Pixels came out, viewers noted its similarity to that episode. Another, in which the robot Bender becomes human, features the character becoming morbidly obese and dying after becoming a terrible role model for hedonists. Crucially, they were all funny, using the premise to get away with jokes that could never fly in regular continuity.
In theory, What If…? could be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Verse, using different comic art styles every time and making huge leaps, like, say, Howard the Duck becoming the Punisher. Instead, the show has a unified animation style (one that is admittedly quite good), and insists on story connectivity, with a running storyline about the Guardians of the Multiverse. At one point in the new season, The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) says he rarely does sequels because there are so many original stories to tell. And then he proceeds to do exactly what he just said he wouldn’t, continuing the adventures of Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) across multiple episodes. To be clear, it’s the Captain Carter from last season and not the one who died gruesomely in Doctor Strange’s Multiverse of Madness.
Trading Spaces Works
Season 2 is not without its high points, working best when it resembles the old comics by substituting characters in familiar stories. Episode 2 offers a 1988 take on the Avengers, with T’Chaka, Hank Pym, Mar-Vell, Goliath…and Thor being ageless. In episode 4, we see Thor: Ragnarok if it had starred Tony Stark instead. Mick Wingert’s Robert Downey Jr. impersonation is solidly entertaining, and while the Grandmaster may initially seem over the top, it is in fact Jeff Goldblum, cranking the Goldblum-meter up to about a million. Episode 7 imagines Odin banishing Hela to Earth rather than Thor, finding herself meeting Wenwu in feudal China. If Cate Blanchett wasn’t given a ton of freedom to improvise, well, she certainly owns the lines in a way that makes them sound like her own creation.
Ironically, while Marvel cultivated a fanbase with the appearance of irreverence — Downey’s reputation surely enhanced that — What If…? plays things too safe. The Christmas episode, a sort of Die Hard parody starring Happy Hogan, is worse at its referential humor than the average Family Guy episode. It’s the sort of story that gives Happy an injection of Hulk blood just so another character can address him as Hulk Hogan. The season opener, “What If…Nebula joined the Nova Corps?” prompts a simple answer: Who cares? Especially if you’re going to rip off Highlander 2 in order to tell us.
Same Old…
An alt-reality episode set in 1602 ought to be more interesting than it is, but rather than getting into the different origins of its familiar characters, it focuses too much on Captain Carter entering the timeline and her insistence on fixing it. Strange Supreme returns, of course, and let’s just say that when his domain breaks and all sorts of variants run free, it’s a less creative lineup than the assembly of gods in Thor: Love and Thunder. Again, they’re all drawn in the same style, and mainly look like action figures who switched accessories. At its best, as in the Hela episode, the animation fools the eye and looks like mild rotoscoping. At its worst, it darkens all the characters so their hero costumes don’t pop like they could.
If Season 2 is remembered for anything, it will likely be the creation of Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), a Mohawk Indian woman with super-speed and levitation powers, whose origin story strongly suggests a mash-up of Prey and Avatar. There’s more potential to the character than there is realization; she could be utilized far better in a standalone series or book. Nevertheless, her solo episode is more creative than many of the rest.
The Botcher?
The Watcher becomes a more involved character as the season progresses, which feels like an obligatory way to give Wright more to do rather than anything essential to the character. Granted, he deserves better in the MCU than to be a glorified narrator, but sorry…that’s what The Watcher is. Meanwhile, Lake Bell continues to make a pretty decent Scarlett Johansson impersonator, and most of the other roles are voiced by their live actors. Surprisingly, Sam Rockwell and Jon Favreau seem to struggle the most with the change in medium.
For a show that could be anything, What If…? remains shoehorned into formula. There’s nothing wrong with Captain Carter, but if Marvel wants to give her her own show, just do that. If they want Kahhori to be a thing, why not root her in the main universe before showing an alternate reality version? As for the Guardians of the Multiverse, Chadwick Boseman’s Star-Lord T’Challa presents a problem — one season 2 utterly ignores by simply never having the character speak.
Four decent episodes out of five is not a great ratio, and in the end, merits…
Grade: 2/5
What If…? Season 2 airs new episodes daily, beginning Dec. 23.
