Marvel’s WHAT IF Season 2: High expectations, disappointing realities

Marvel’s WHAT IF Season 2: High expectations, disappointing realities – I wrote about the first season of the Marvel animated series over two years ago.

By Megan Sauer

So the verdict for this series can only be this: Marvel promised a lot, delivered more – and then went one better.

No wonder I was excited to see nine new episodes streaming for the New Year. The even better rating on Metacritic also contributed to the anticipation.

Based on this, I have to assume that most fans are more than happy with the new season.

Not me.

I think the second season is a debacle that is not immediately noticeable because the technical aspects (drawing style, action, voice acting) are still of an extremely high level. WHAT IF…? looks great, is staged smoothly, and everyone involved clearly had fun.

This time, however, the content of the series is completely out of control.

Let’s go through the individual episodes as far as I can remember them (and that’s not meant to be sarcastic).

What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps? A kind of BLADE RUNNER or ALTERED CARBON.

Good to look at, tastefully directed, but Nebula was always one of the most underdeveloped characters in the Guardians and honestly – do we care about the Nova Corps?

But props to Howard the Duck, who would have been a better protagonist in my opinion.

What If… Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?

A thin alternative premise to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2 that never builds the young Peter Quill into a credible antagonist.

Props here for the alternate Avengers I’d like to see again.

What If…Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?

The Christmas episode revolves around Hogan and Darcy and is absolutely suitable as an action comedy, also because you don’t have to question the logic too much.

What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster? WHAT IF…?! attempts a mixture of Speed Racer and the pod racing from STAR WARS I.

Lots of intense video game-style action, but completely meaningless and ultimately boring. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

What If…Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?

The MCU continues to try to recast Peggy Carter as the “real” Captain America, which didn’t work in the last Dr. STRANGE.

The character is neither interesting nor do we believe her abilities. And her “undying love” for Steve Rogers has now become as embarrassing as Wonder Woman whining about Steve Trevor.

What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World? Oh boy – of course Marvel had to squeeze another “indigenous episode” into the season to show respect for the indigenous peoples and to cater to the self-hatred of white Western civilizations.

For this purpose, a completely new superheroine was created who corresponds entirely to the cliché of the “noble savage”:

Pocahontas saves the world! As expected, she and Peggy Carter soon become besties and the central characters of this season’s overarching story arc.

I shit you not.

What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?

I found SHANG-CHI very mediocre and the “ten rings” as the most sophisticated super weapon completely banal.

Hela remains a more theoretically interesting character, but she can’t be taken out of it here either.

What If… The Avengers Assembled in 1602? A very good premise in itself.

Moving superheroes to earlier times has been a convenient and exciting way to reinterpret the characters and measure their morals by different standards, not just since “Gotham by gaslight”.

But not here. This is just confusing and unsatisfactory.

What If… Strange Supreme Intervened? As with Season 1, the final episode picks up a few plot threads to reach a grand finale.

I already mentioned it above – the focus on Peggy Carter and the newcomer Kahhori quickly reduces interest, especially since we are only dealing with an alternative universe anyway, the events of which do not influence the regular MCU.

Compared to the finale of the first season, it’s a complete failure.

This is all too… thin. The premises are not nearly as exciting as in season 1, and the stakes are usually significantly lower.

Characters are served that we never really wanted to know more about. The opportunity to integrate characters who have now officially arrived in the MCU is lost.

Where is Spider-Man? Where are the Fantastic Four? Where are the X-Men? Wouldn’t a WHAT IF… ? series be the perfect playground for new and exciting constellations? Infinite diversity in infinite combinations?

Instead of having more confidence after the success of the season, the ambitions were reduced and the narrative demands were curtailed.

This makes me foreboding for season 3, which is already in production.

PS: What I still find remarkable is the amount of original speakers that were able to be dragged into the studio.

Apart from the stars who have now officially left the MCU (Downey Jr., Evans, Johansson), everyone is actually there.