If you’ve ever wondered how certain events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe played out, look no further than “What If…?” In this show, the audience is guided by a cosmic being known simply as The Watcher, who shows many different universes and timelines. Whether it’s Peggy Carter gaining the super soldier serum, or Dr. Strange losing the woman he loves most, the possibilities and rippling effects are endless. However, while this show started off very strong, it crashed and burned so spectacularly that it’s not even funny. 

Pro/Con #1: The Story

When this series first released on Disney+, one thing that immediately hooked me was the way they told all these new stories. In Season 1, each story had just the right amount of length, detail, and depth that could quickly capture anyone’s attention. For example, in the aforementioned episode where Dr. Strange loses his girlfriend, we don’t get a rushed plot or a dumbed down recap for the sake of convenience. Instead, the episode begins by showing us the context of Stephen’s relationship with Christine, and gives us enough time to digest the information before truly kicking the story off. There is a brief time jump where The Watcher basically summarizes the events of the in-universe movie, but only because most of the people watching this episode have already seen the movie, so it’s more for the sake of time. From then on, though, we see an evenly-spaced-out progression of Strange’s downward spiral as he allows his grief to consume him. By the end, we see all of Strange’s efforts come to fruition, but in the darkest and heartbreaking way possible. Episodes like this are what this show should be, because it ties nicely into the characters and the MCU as a whole. After all, Strange was already egotistical in the main timeline, so it’s not implausible to believe he could’ve turned out like this if things had been different. Furthermore, the rest of Season 1 not only accomplishes this, but each episode feels like its own mini-movie! As short as they were, they sure as heck didn’t feel that way when you get drawn into them. 

However, that is why the next two seasons make this viewpoint so heartbreaking. Now, before I get too deep into this, I just want to say that I actually enjoyed half of the episodes from Season 2. But at the same time, I have to acknowledge that they’re just not as good as Season 1. For instance, while seeing different versions of the Avengers in 1988 or 1602 was fun, it felt more like fan service than an actual story. Within the context of the MCU timeline, can you confidently say that the king of Wakanda, completely obsessed with security and isolation, would suddenly decide to team up with a bunch of outsiders? Even though Peter Quill was somewhat of a threat, I doubt T’Chaka would be so chummy with everyone else. Also, I have a very hard time believing that they would’ve found the Winter Soldier so early on, and especially before Steve was found in ice. Unfortunately, though, Disney did not learn from these mistakes with their brain rot final season. The stories from Season 3 had rushed plots, forced drama, and were so random even for a show about the multiverse. As an example, take Agatha going to Hollywood. The premise already sounded way out there, but even with the provided context in the episode, it still felt extremely random. Even if it was to obtain godlike power, going to Hollywood and making your own movie is a pretty big stretch. The mini-movie magic from the first season completely disappeared, which made watching the rest of this series feel more like a chore than a fun experience. 

Pro/Con #2: The Focus

Say what you will about “What If…?” these days, but I would argue that they (at first) did a great job focusing on crucial MCU moments. In Season 1 alone, we get small changes in big films like “Captain America: The First Avenger” or “Doctor Strange,” which soon lead to drastic consequences in the timeline. No better example could be found than in “What If . . . Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark,” an episode centered around the very birth of the MCU itself. Instead of the humbling experience that made Tony a hero, we see Killmonger save Tony before he could be kidnapped. However, the story gets deeper than the premise suggests, as we see Killmonger weasel his way into Tony’s circle of trust and manipulate him right from the jump. With access to Tony’s tech and resources, Killmonger would eventually wreak havoc on both America and Wakanda, significantly altering the futures of both nations. I absolutely love stories like this, because it not only shows us mind-blowing futures if things had turned out differently, but it’s also plausible and aligns with the main timeline. After all, with Killonger’s high ranks and privileges in the military by this time, it’s not unreasonable to say he wouldn’t have been part of the squad that protected a high-priority target like Tony. In addition, Killmonger already manipulated the characters and events in “Black Panther” to meet his own goals. If he decided to save Tony in the main timeline, the results would undoubtedly stay the same. If this series had continued to stay true to the cores of the MCU’s events and characters, it would’ve been a smashing hit.

But alas, like most other shows out there, it starts off strong but falls apart as time goes on. Now, I actually like Season 2, definitely not as much as the first season, but it was still pretty decent. However, what the second—and especially the third—season failed to do was keep the aforementioned focus on stories that actually matter. While we got a few important stories like a “Winter Soldier”-like sequel to Captain Carter, as well as Iron Man stranded on Sakaar after the Battle of New York, the rest of the stories have barely anything to do with the MCU. For example, take the episode with the introduction of Kahhori. I’m not sure if she’s a Marvel character, and I highly doubt anyone else did either. The story itself was great and inspiring, but since none of the previous movies or shows have made the slightest connection to her story, why throw in something that most people won’t even recognize? As for Season 3, it was very clear that Marvel was acting on the first impulsive thought that popped in their head. I mean, giant mech suits battling gamma monsters? Agatha going to Hollywood? The Old West? Where was any of this supposed to go? In addition to these headaches, there’s also the fact that the creators’ main focus is on playing catch-up instead of the overall story. What I mean is that, with all the new characters introduced lately, they’re just throwing all these newbies in with little to no context or even a large role. For instance, Moon Knight and Shang-Chi in the Mech Avengers served as nothing more than cameos. Or when Mysterio took over a destroyed world: even though the guy is a master manipulator, him conquering the world doesn’t feel realistic to me. 

Pro/Con #3: The Potential

Another one of this show’s greatest strengths is also its greatest weaknesses: the insane potential was right there! Now, what exactly do I mean by “potential?” Well, as mentioned previously, this show started off strong because it covered significant MCU moments and characters. However, it’s because of that focus that promises unlimited possibilities. After all, we got to see how one man could change a whole galaxy for the better when T’Challa got abducted into space. The guy made The Ravagers into a team of noble heroes, prevented Drax and Nebula’s suffering, and even made Thanos of all people into a chill dude! If that wasn’t enough, we got to see what Dr. Strange is capable of, had he taken his power to a whole new level. After absorbing so many creatures, he gained the power to literally destroy his whole universe! However, this show’s potential goes far deeper than changed outcomes. Again, we see small changes in most characters’ histories that lead to said outcomes, but that’s what makes it so fascinating! For instance, we couldn’t imagine anyone other than Steve Rogers as Captain America. Yet, because Peggy took it instead, we get to see her become Captain Carter and a founding member of the Guardians of the Multiverse. Not only that, but that event would lead to Bucky becoming a secretary, and Steve Rogers basically becoming a Winter Soldier-like character! But the greatest example, in terms of character histories, is in Ultron himself. Of course, we would suspect that Ultron would destroy the world if he succeeded in his plan, but none of us accounted for Thanos’ early arrival. It was surprising to see Thanos get sliced in half even when possessing five Infinity Stones, but ten times as surprising to see Ultron literally annihilate the whole universe. A simple AI made by Tony Stark, designed for peace, transcended into a murderous cosmic deity that was capable of traveling between universes! If Marvel could present such powerful characters and epic finales, who knows what else they could’ve done with other characters?

Sadly, we’ll never know because Marvel completely botched that potential after Season 1. For starters, just like we established in the previous section, the stories eventually stray from important MCU history. Instead, they transform into the wildest, most random, harebrained ideas even for a multiverse-centered show. We could’ve gotten stories like “what if the other half got snapped” or “what if Loki found the Darkhold?” Instead, we get an extremely wacky and unnecessary story about Darcy and Howard the Duck having a baby. That’s already wrong on so many levels, and I don’t even wanna know how Darcy could literally lay an egg. But do you seriously expect me to believe that an egg can obliterate guys like Thanos or Zeus in five seconds flat? Oh, but it gets worse, as Marvel ultimately decided not to build on multiversal threats like Infinity Ultron. They did try to with the showdown between The Watcher’s crew against his own race, but it was so sloppily handled. Admittedly, the fight was pretty awesome, and Strange Supreme being able to end the fight by stripping the other Watchers of their powers was pretty cool. However, one issue I have is seeing how pretty much anyone can be a Watcher if they just say “I accept.” That’s it. That’s all you need to do to achieve god-level powers to even have a small chance against these powerful beings. There’s no buildup, no proper connection to the lore, just a simple “zero to hero” for the sake of plot (and the sake of Captain Carter’s popularity). But the ultimate slap-in-the-face is when they showed different variants in the last few seconds of the show. We got to see Weapon X Thanos, War Machine Punisher, and even a Ghost Rider samurai! Though these might’ve seemed a bit random, and unknown how they’d keep the MCU focus I talked about, fans are still outraged about how robbed they were. From seeing how awesome the variants look, I can’t say I blame them. 

Conclusion

Overall, “What If…?” is a great watch . . . if you pretend the last season doesn’t exist. Season 2 is arguably decent, but I would argue that Season 1 is the only true version of this animated series. It’s really a shame to write about how bad the show ended, not only because I was a huge fan, but also because I don’t even know how it all went wrong.