What If…? S1 (2021) Review

 

What If…? S1 (2021)

What If…? follows Uatu the Watcher, who narrates and guides us along different outcomes within the Marvel multiverse. One alternate outcome however threatens to bring the entire multiverse to it’s knees, and it’s up to Uatu and a band of multiversal heroes to stop it. 

I’ll be honest, I never intended to review this show, as it seemed from the outset that it was going to be more on the anthology side and relatively unconnected, aside from a common narrator. Obviously I was wrong. What If, dating back to the comics run, has always been an interesting concept, what if this one thing went differently? How would it butterfly effect the rest of the known universe? Well for Marvel, we finally get answers to questions like that. Peggy becomes Captain America (or Britain), Zombies, T’Challa becomes Star Lord, Dr. Strange becomes an evil god, Ultron wins, the list goes on and on, all taking place within the vast multiverse.

Some obvious standout episodes were definitely Dr. Strange’s turn to darkness (without a doubt the best one actually), the true Age of Ultron, and the Marvel zombies, with the finale team up also garnering an honorable mention. That in itself was a shocker though, connecting the show and giving us the newest Marvel team, Guardians of the Multiverse, an amalgamation of everything we’ve seen this season.

We get a massive cast of Marvel regulars and newcomers, starring Jeremy Renner, Sebastian Stan, Michael B. Jordan, Ross Marquand, Alexandra Daniels, Lake Bell, Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jeffrey Wright. Wright, expectedly brought a wise brooding to his overarching narration but he really stood out when he got to break type and intervene. There was also some notable performances from Boseman (in his last ever role), Atwell, and Bell, but it was Cumberbatch he personally left the biggest impact, embodying different sides of Strange that made his character so fascinating to see and evolve on screen. 

What If…?, created by A.C. Bradley, was definitely an interesting step into the animated, multiversal side of the MCU but I found it to be lacking, with a few standouts and too many mediocre concepts that just don’t take enough risks to really give weight to the burning question of What If?

6.3/10