What if...?

[Shard of Reading he/him]

Okay. I really did not enjoy this episode at all. Reasons in the spoiler box  

Spoiler

It this episode just turned into a big game of guess who’s going to die next and I really didn’t like that. That being said, some parts that I did like were ant-man head, and Bucky using cap’s shield. Also Banner running into the zombie army talking to hulk was an awesome moment. But I just really couldn’t get over how creepy the zombies were.So this has really been my least Favorite episode to date.

 

[Modal Seoul he/him]

Episode 5 of What If...? was ok. It wasn't anything super special, though it could have been. The element that really drags this episode down is the comedy. It is just way too light-hearted for something as dour as this. Having the Wasp die a heroic death only to be followed by Paul Rudd cracking a pun every half-second was really dragging. (Ant-Man makes way too many jokes in this situation). Similarly, Happy yelling "Blam!" over and over again as he is dragged to his death does not work. Also the Watcher literally says, "Oof." ....what???

Now that's not to say every joke didn't land. They just should have toned it down. I particularly like Bucky's jab at Falcon after Okoye splits the zombified Sam in half. And Spider-Man receives better writing here than he does in his own movies. Marvel finally mentioned Uncle Ben. Good things do happen. I also really like that they upped the gore in this one, even if it's just zombies.

Now I'm also confused by some spoilery elements too.

Spoiler

- How did Iron Man turn into a zombie? He's protected by armor. Did the horde rip off his helmet or something?

- Bucky didn't have to stay behind to fight Wanda, he could have ran with the others and make it. Wanda was too distracted by Vision's corpse to care.

- Thanos turning into a zombie when he has five of the six Infinity Stones is the most unbelievable thing to happen.

 

[Philomath she/her]

I kind of agree with you guys about episode 5 not being the strongest. I feel like this was one What If that no one was really asking. They just did it to fit a pop culture zeitgeist of zombies/horror. The other episodes may not have been things people considered, but they were still interesting stories. This one just felt campy. There were some good parts. I think Peter Parker’s how to survive a zombie apocalypse video was great. Makes sense the Gen Z kid would survive. That generation has been planning for a zombie apocalypse their whole lives. The train station scene was fun. Zombie Wanda is terrifying. My other problem with the episode is it felt unfinished. Like yeah they made it to Wakanda, but will they actually cure everyone? And what is Zombie Thanos’ goal? It’s almost like it needs a follow-up but I don’t actually want it. 

Also I am now questioning the logic of zombies in general. Like, they eat humans, but also humans turn into zombies when bitten so do they actually get eaten? It seems like it just creates more mouths to feed. Do zombies actually need food or do they just have the urge to spread zombie-ism? If zombies do need food, will they eat other zombies? And if they did that, then I feel like it would be easier for humans to survive. I am not well versed in zombie lore… 

[Shard of Reading he/him]

I really liked this last episode. Really because the episodes where slowly getting darker, and that kind of peaked at the zombie episode. This one was so much better, plus the fact that I've been looking forward to this since the trailer came out. This didn't turn out the way I expected it to, and I really enjoyed that. My only complaint was that the big fight at the end seemed a bit anti-climactic. I mean really, it didn't seem like Kilmonger was even going that fast on the rhino.

[Philomath she/her]

9 hours ago, Shard of Reading said:

I really liked this last episode. Really because the episodes where slowly getting darker, and that kind of peaked at the zombie episode. This one was so much better, plus the fact that I've been looking forward to this since the trailer came out. This didn't turn out the way I expected it to, and I really enjoyed that. My only complaint was that the big fight at the end seemed a bit anti-climactic. I mean really, it didn't seem like Kilmonger was even going that fast on the rhino.

This episode was so much better than the zombie episode. I actually want a follow up to this one. Killmonger is a great villain in either story. 

Anyone else noticing how The Watcher is becoming more detailed and noticeable? I’m wondering if it is setting up for something big where something forced him to become involved somehow. 

[Shard of Reading he/him]

12 hours ago, Philomath said:

Anyone else noticing how The Watcher is becoming more detailed and noticeable? I’m wondering if it is setting up for something big where something forced him to become involved somehow. 

Oh he’s definitely getting involved. But I suspect that he’s not going to save the (a) world actively, but he’s going to bring in all the hero’s we’ve seen So far. 

[Modal Seoul he/him]

What If...? is beginning to frustrate me. I've really liked the premises and execution of Episodes 6-8, but (especially with the Killmonger and Thor episodes) it seems the show's favorite thing to pull is a cliffhanger and/or letdown. My prediction has turned out to be correct, nothing surpasses the Doctor Strange episode in my mind. And that's really disappointing.

I've enjoyed the episodes so far and I like a lot of the ideas in them, however the show has an odd way of building up those ideas. This is very much the case with the episode "What If...Thor Was An Only Child?". This story was goofy and kind of insane but I really enjoyed how different some characters were, and I really liked the development of Thor and Jane Foster's relationship. The episode decides to end with a tease of next week (now this week), with "What If...Ultron Won?" and this is where the flaws of the show really start to shine.

I knew that the show was building up to some kind of crossover climax, it's been hinted at. But when the teases for said climax contradict the story and ruin what could have been a standalone bottle episode, I'm gonna be a bit annoyed. To discuss this further, we're entering spoilers.

Spoiler

In "What If...Ultron Won?", we watch as Ultron destroys all life in the universe to be rid of chaos and then watch as he discovers the Watcher and the multiverses. It's really cool to see the Watcher actively involved in the plot (so much so that it undermines the main premise of Black Widow and Hawkeye using Zola to reprogram Ultron) and it works well to set up the climax that this show wants to tell. But the end of Episode 7 just makes no sense when held up to the timeline of this episode. At the end of "What If...Thor Was An Only Child?", Ultron begins his invasion of the multiverses, starting with the one with the only rusting happy ending. Thanks, Marvel.

But if that's the case, wouldn't the Watcher already be aware of the threat Ultron poses? That means Episode 8 takes place before Episode 7 right?? Well, What If...? has no interest at preserving continuity at this point, because it really wants you to see Evil Doctor Strange and Captain Carter teaming up with T'Challa the Star-Lord and Party Thor. Never mind that we shattered our own timeline of events to tease an episode. We couldn't leave well enough alone.

The reason that the Doctor Strange episode is so good is because it works as a standalone story. There is a beginning and there is a conclusion to this story. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 all conclude their conflicts but set up potential new stories to be told. Episodes 5 and 6 also try to do this but end leaving no resolution to the main plot, instead showing a bigger problem. And the enjoyable experience of Episode 7 is ruined simply because Marvel just had to get you hyped for the next episode. Never mind the fact that they didn't do that before. T'Challa didn't return to Earth, only to be killed by an evil Hank Pym. Doctor Strange wasn't attacked by zombies in his self-made prison. No, the show has rules set by the Watcher. These are separate universes, separate stories. But I guess if you made the rules, you can break them too, apparently.

So I ranted a bit more than I wanted but What If...? is unfortunately proving to be a letdown. It's not terrible and I really like the ideas we are shown. But it's not up to its true potential.

Things I liked in the past episodes:

Spoiler

- Killmonger liking anime

- T'Challa and N'Jadaka speak to each other on the ancestral plane

- Proving that Loki's life is much better if he wasn't raised by Odin, one of the worst MCU dads

- Captain Marvel getting beat down by Thor

- Zola

- Hawkeye's fake arm

- The apocalyptic Ultron world, I wish we spent more time there

 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Dude, each episode starts with the Watcher narrating to us. Why is he doing that? Or in (multi)universe, who is he talking to and why? Is Ultron not powerful enough to percieve the One the Watcher is talking to? 

 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Well, it's done! Maybe we'll never have to see Annoying Thor again! 

Overall, it was fine. Very much in the spirit of the comics it was based on: just cheap, sometimes enjoyable fanfiction. That's also technically canon.

[Shard of Reading he/him]

The ending was pretty good. I wanted it to be a bit longer, because I wanted to see more of how everyone interacted, but it was still pretty good. My favorite part was definitely Thor’s battle cry of Viva Las Vegas. 

[Philomath she/her]

Few thoughts on the last few episodes. 
 

On 10/6/2021 at 0:38 PM, Orlion Blight said:

Well, it's done! Maybe we'll never have to see Annoying Thor again! 

Very agreed on this. I do not love frat boy Thor. Though I did love Ice Giant Loki. 
 

What if Ultron Won was fine for me. My big problem with it was how easily Ultron took out Thanos. Actually the whole series made dealing with Thanos way too easy. I think they meant it to be funny. It isn’t that terrible, but feels slightly invalidating to just the scale and struggles faced in the movie timeline to deal with him.

I enjoyed the finale. Did Gamora just show up in that one or did I miss something? Impressive that they brought Killmonger in to the team. I liked the crossovers and callbacks to the previous episodes. Good way to end the season. 

Overall I will watch another season. It was mostly enjoyable. A little weird. I’m not one who needs darker stories really, but I appreciate that they could tell them here. This show allows more risk taking I think in some ways. Wasn’t always my favorite, but also not terrible. 

[Shard of Reading he/him]

@Philomath they were going to have another episode in this season, but it had to be pushed back because it was taking too long to animate or something. So I think we’ll get more stuff on that version of Gamora in the next season. 

[Ironwill2112 he/him]

I loved The whole Ultron thing! Ultron was always my favorite villian! (Or at least one of my favorites)

[cassiegoh]

What If...? was an alright series, some episodes were definitely a hit or miss but my favorite has got to be the second episode 

[antonetatum]

On 7/10/2021 at 4:10 PM, celinakeisha said:

What If...? was shown on Disney Plus APK Mod  and I watched it and in my opinion it was not as good as the original version.

yes i used it

Edited August 18, 2022 by antonetatum