Entertainment Earth

What If Season 3 Review

Marvel Studios has officially released What If season 3 in time for the holidays so its time to do our very own What If Season 3 review. The series is still available to stream on Disney+.

Watch the trailer below:

Jeffrey Wright returns to the series as the voice of Uatu the Watcher and does act with a number of celebrities who will also be reprising their role in the series.

S3E1 – “What If… the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?”

This is on the top of my list. I loved the concept of the Avengers in their mechs fighting gamma powered kaiju and then we do a time skip and when the new Gamma War breaksout its a new set of Avengers protecting the world in their giant mechs which also combines just like the classic Super Sentain films or Super Robot subgenre of anime. But the main moral point of the story is sacrifice and the sense of belonging and how that can be weaponized. It’s also the story of friendship and trust as seen between the friendship between this reality’s Captain America / Sam Wilson and Bruce Banner / Hulk still voiced by Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Mackie respectively.

GRADE: A+

S3E2: “What If… Agatha Went to Hollywood?”

 

Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled with this episode but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. The additional context here is that Agatha wanted to get the power of the sleeping Celestial in the Earth’s core but tampering with magic summons the infant’s “Daddy” and fellow Celestial, Arishem who promises to destroy Agatha. Meanwhile Agatha enlists the aid of Kingo of The Eternals together with her collaborator Howard Stark and Edwin Jarvis. The ending for this episode was pretty exciting and if we ever get to see a What If season 4, I really wish they visit this beat.

The episode also works on a technical aspect because it pays homage to Bollywood and Hollywood aesthetics of old (well for Hollywood anyway). The production team knew the shots and the colors that works and then mastefully worked in the banter between Kingo (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn).

Grade: B+

S3E3: “What If… the Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier?”

(L-R): Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in Marvel Animation’s WHAT IF…? Season 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL. All Rights Reserved.

This episode was already heavily teased as early as last year and it felt like a feel good buddy cop story which turns out to be the case. The Red Guardian foils the Winter Soldier’s attempts to murder Howard and Maria Stark which we already saw happen in “Captain America: Civil War” and end up on the run together. As they go on a roadtrip to their extraction point, the two learn more about each other and about life while being pursued by SHIELD’s Bill Foster aka Goliath. I love how this is sort of a teaser for Thunderbolts and that it works naturally but did not happen in the main timeline.

I love the action sequences from the car chase to that fight in Las Vegas but was slightly bummed out that they did not flesh out the final fight in that building in Las Vegas. For me, the impact of the ending was a little tarnished with how goofy Red Guardian ended up in although I kinda admit that he’s like that to begin with. Kinda dropped at the end but totally fun episode.

Grade: B

S3E4 – What If… Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

The problem with this episode is that they titled it wrong. They should have focused on the fact that these two had a kid together and that kid might just be the most powerful kid that’s been born in the multiverse. This one follows the classic trope of parents trying to rescue their kid because every bad guy is after them. The episode was fun especially with the witty banter between Howard the Duck (Seth Green) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings). It’s also a nice roll call of the bad guys in the MCU with guys like Yondu and the Ravagers to the Grandmaster and more. But ultimately this episode sets up the almighty duck-human hybrid offspring of Howard and Darcy who will play a pivotal later in the season; something that has become a nominal part of the What If series, having a left-field episode that introduces a new character that plays a big hand at the end of the season. Remember last year and last season we had Kahhori? Same thing for this one. Not saying it was a waste especially since it gave us a very quick roll call of the bad guys in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it could have been better.

Grade B

S3E5 – What If… The Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

“In a Universe where The Eternals never stopped The Emergence, the birth of an incubating Celestial shatters the Earth. Civilization endures on the rocky remnants of our planet, where Quentin Beck leads an authoritarian regime until freedom fighters recruit Riri Williams on a deadly mission to take him down.”

This one was surprisingly interesting for me but needs some backlogs namely the following Marvel Studios projects – The Eternals, Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Wandavision and more. It’s nice because it examines what could have been if Quintin Beck aka Mysterio won and how he could have used the Stark technology to take over the world while connecting it with a world where The Eternals failed with their plan and the Celestial being was born. This also gives us an idea of how deadly the Vision is when he’s a bad guy and thank goodness he’s always been a good guy. The White Vision – Riri Williams armor looked OK but I think I already saw something like that in DC’s White Lantern book from a few years ago, the design anyway.

I’m not a fan of these tragic last-ditch post-apocalyptic but this was OK.

This episode might be weaker than the rest but its crucial to set up the big climax for the succeeding episode, the Watcher intervenes and now he must face the consequences of his actions. And that would come sooner down the season. Also if you’re big on comic books, you’ll know that this episode will also be the turning point in the story and that Uatu will have to deal with the ramifications like what happened in Fantastic Four and other event books from Marvel.

Grade: B-

S3E6 – What If… 1872?

“In a universe where the heroes of the MCU live in the Old West, Shang-Chi and his pistol-packing partner, Kate Bishop, traverse the frontier, saving the innocent from the evils of The Hood.”

This also had a fun western style opening which easily makes it stand out from the “regular” episodes. Not a fan of Westerns but I’ll bite. The Shang-Chi and Hawkeye pairing is definitely interesting with that opening fight scene captivating with a special appearance of John Walker aka US Agent. The plot might also be a little controversial since the US wasn’t exactly spiffy clean back then. The plot’s pretty standard and we also see The Watcher meddling instead of you know, watching. Something that will bite him in the ass again later.

The episode is also an avenue for Marvel Studios to showcase the Hood who will be appearing in this year’s Ironheart series playing the antagonist to Riri Williams’ Ironheart character. Here however, he’s a crime boss that abducts Chinese immigrants and makes them work on the rails and other construction projects.

And yes, the plot twist was pretty obvious at the end. Won’t spoil this but I’ll just say its pretty obvious and very much in line with what happened at the end of the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

I also have to mention Walton Goggins’ character, Sonny Burch, is also such a thrill to watch here always the devilishly charming criminal, he takes that character from Ant-Man and the Wasp and owns it even in a western setting. In fact, it works twice as well.

Two references for this episode that I just can’t resist but mention, one is the kid being referenced as being an “Iron Fist” which is another martial arts based Marvel hero who has worked frequently with Shang-Chi as well as Luke Cage and the phrase “suns getting low” which was that famous line Black Widow used on the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Grade: B-

S3E7 – What If… The Watcher Disappeared?

This one is where things really heat up with the overall story. The ending of episode 6 showed a group of Watchers apprehending OUR watcher Uatu for constantly meddling with the worlds he was just supposed to watch or observe. So The Emminence played by Jason Isaacs (Lucuis Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies) takes over including the show’s opening spiel. This episode is just lore building with some nice action scenes.

When the hype and fun clears out, you will notice that the involvement of Infinity Ultron here was a mini What If episode if you think about it. You can actually title “What If Infinity Ultron grew a conscience?”. The few action scenes here were super satisfying and the Exiles really kicked ass particularly Asgardian Storm and Birdy the Duck who is the grown up daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy.

I really wanted more but I guess they’ll put all that action in Episode 8. But still some noteworthy stuff:

  • introducing Storm and the Exiles
  • Bringing back Infinity Ultron with a tease of how much good he could have accomplished
  • More of Peggy Carter as a leader
  • A reality where the Nova Corps are led by Nebula rather than leading the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Grade:

S3, E8 – What If… What If?

Following the cliffhanger ending of Episode 7, episode 8 gives us a brief history of Uatu the Watcher before he became a Watcher and working under The Eminence. And yes this episode also officially gives OUR watcher the name “Uatu”. It’s been a long time coming but here we are. I didn’t like, to be honest, the whole idea of just reciting an oath and you get to have the Watchers’ abilities. It’s such a lazy idea. It could have worked if they laid it out properly but not like this.

I did enjoy the action scenes in this one particularly Storm or Stormbreaker doing another freefall with her Asgardian hammer and Watcher powers in place.

I think she kind of did this same move in X-Men 97 but I might be wrong.

Anyway.

I guess my main gripe with this season finale is the fact that it doesn’t follow past season finales for What If. While it felt like a big and fun mess the past two, they had a structure. This one was oversimplified. There’s the good guys and the bad guys. But we don’t really get any GOOD treats like what we saw in Season 2’s finale with all sorts of variants running around the place. Here for season 3 episode 8, it’s just one reference after another and those cool “what if” scenarios? Relegated to the end as concept artworks.

I’m also not sure whether I should be happy with the closure they gave Peggy Carter aka Captain Carter. I can feel some fans groaning over her fate in this episode and this series in general and I can commiserate however, I also understand from a writing standpoint why they chose to give this type of ending for her. Can’t say I’m happy but it makes sense. At least the Exiles team continues and could even come back in some way or form down the line.

Grade B+

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