When we think of What Ifan animated series inspired by the comic of the same name and introduced in 2021 in the MCU, we can’t help but think of the incredible stories and characters that this product has highlighted from its beginnings: Captain Carter, Dark Strange, Infinity Ultron, Ant-Man as a silent assassin of the Avengers or a world in which the most powerful heroes on Earth, contaminated by a virus, became zombies, offering us the beginnings of the future series Marvel Zombiesscheduled for October 2025 and divided into four episodes.
Questionable visual quality
There was some good in the first season of What If, less good too, ditto for season 2, with uneven pace and interest, depending on the scenarios proposed, the heroes or villains put forward and inevitably, we could expect that the third and final season of the series embraces the same destiny. On the other hand, we did not anticipate that the batch in question – 8 episodes in total – would be the worst of the three and leave us with a little regret and indifference, as the basic concept seems to have been abandoned gradually. and as the series became heavier with issues that were not necessarily so important after all.
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In short, we take the same ones and start again. And when we say the same, we are talking about the animation team already at work on previous seasons, namely Stellar Creative Lab, Blue Spirit but with the reinforcement of the Squeeze and Flying Bark studios, and always Bryan Andrews at the helm. directing and AC Bradley writing, supported by Stephen Franck for the first and Matthew Chauncey for the second. No notable visual change in this season – so if you didn’t like the artistic direction before, that won’t get better now – apart from more stylized introductions to each episode… but also a fairly random rendering of the proposed heroes.
We do not recognize Bucky Barnes for example, it is difficult to do the same with Nakia in the first episode or even Moon Knight (thanks to Oscar Isaac for lending his voice eh) and this will be a constant throughout the season, with faces not very in sync with their cinematographic, television or paper versions. As for the vocal casting, same observation as in previous seasons, all the stars of the MCU did not respond to the call and it is always so strange to hear this or that person overtaken by a voice that is not theirs. Fortunately, on the whole, it works.
Stories not enough What If
On the other hand, this is much less relevant to the overall point. When season 2 ends, Peggy Carter (Captain Carter) joins the Guardian to explore with him the other facets of the Multiverse. And not all the facets proposed in this season 3 are equal. We go from one atmosphere to the Pacific Rim with Captain America/Sam Wilson in Idriss Elba version, to a musical show carried by Agatha Harknessthen to a road movie piloted by the improbable duo between the Red Guardian et the Winter Soldiernot counting the Christmas story told by Howard the Duck and Darcyparents of an egg coveted by the entire Multiverse and by far one of the best episodes of the current season, that is to say… We oscillate between a dark and funny universe, with relatively debatable issues in themselves.
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Incoming: The Mighty Avenger Protocol 👀
Assemble for Episode 1 of #WhatIf S3, streaming tonight at midnight PT on @DisneyPlus! pic.twitter.com/r1Km92hCpI
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) December 22, 2024
What emerges above all from these eight episodes is the desire this time to impose on us figures that we have seen very recently or that we will soon have to see again in the future projects of the MCUas if to remind us of their existence, their potential and ultimately sell them to us for the future. The relationship between Bucky Barnes and Alexei Shostakov reminds us to what extent the second has unbearable potential especially and that we will certainly be treated to moments of this kind next April in Thunderbolts. All with David Harbour’s Russian accent, the effectiveness of which we will let you judge in the long term.
A little too specific to the MCU
Same for Riri Williamsintroduced in Black Panther Wakanda Forever and which will be entitled this year to its own series, IronHeart. The Hood, who will be the main villain, as well. Both are present in alternative histories which have no other justification than their presence. It’s seen, it’s felt, it’s very (or too) specific and above all it takes the viewer out of the initial proposition: what if? with the development that follows. However, there are good ideas in this final season. Full. Like the Gamma War and the consequences of Bruce Banner’s failed experiments to defeat the Hulk. The retro side and the rewriting of the origin of Shang-Chi in 1872. The consequences of the absence of Eternals and the Convergence, with the emergence of Tiamut on Earth.
But here again, we are sailing between two waters: the impression that we are being rehashed elements already known, so that we are in phase with the rest (well, by the way Tiamut, his head and his hand always protrude somewhere on Earth eh), and on the other, the feeling of never taking the time to develop at any time certain aspects of what if, such as the presence of a Tornado in possession of Mjölnir. Why the hammer? When ? How ? We won’t have the answer to this question but we will remember that Storm will eventually land in the MCU in the coming years.
Uatu superstar
Ultimately and the conclusion of this third season demonstrates it: it is more about the story ofUatuthe Guardian than that of the Multiverse and that, ultimately, has always been, with an acceleration of the process in this last act. The main focus is on him, these choices and these actions, he who is supposed to just observe and tell, without ever interfering in the course of things.
We enjoyed learning more about him, the nature of the Guardians or even the Eminence, as well as a sample of their powers but that wasn’t the basic proposition, was it? The regrets accumulate at the end of the credits, when we see a Wasp with Miss Marvel’s braceletsand Ghost Rider on horseback in ancient times, a Thanos with adamantium clawsa black version of Moon Knight and so on. As if to remind us in the end, that What If, originally, was that.
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