What If...? Season 2 Review: A Zany, Refreshing Addition To The Marvel Cinematic Universe
There's been much talk of late about how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is on the decline, that superhero movies have become oversaturated, and that the general public has been fed at least one multiverse too many.
There's truth to that statement if box office numbers are any indication. And I'd argue that some of that decline is in the over-bloated plotlines that fans got tired of keeping straight. But there's an upside to the multiverse phenomenon: Setting stories in different worlds with different rules opens the door to fresh storytelling. Even more so, telling a tale in one of these alternative realities unshackles the writer from being beholden to the machinations of the overarching sagas the MCU likes to tell.
That's been the appeal of Marvel's animated series, "What If...?" The show takes the multiverse premise and is given the freedom to create fantastical situations that would never occur on Earth-616, the designation given to the Scared Timeline that the movies are built around.
Season 2 of the show is set to premiere on December 22, with one episode dropping over nightly over the holidays. I had the chance to see the first and third episodes of the season, and if the other episodes fare as well as these do, "What If...?" season 2 will be a zany, refreshing mix of stories.
What If... you could watch something and enjoy it as a standalone?
The creative team behind "What If...?" hasn't been afraid to push the bounty that is the multiverse into new areas. The two episodes I saw lean hard into the genres or films they're riffing on — "What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" dives deep into the noir/"Blade Runner" vibe, and "What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?" is essentially an ode to "Die Hard."
There are cameos aplenty in those two episodes, and there's one in Nebula's story that will make fans cackle with glee. While that cameo is perfection (I'm not going to spoil it here, sorry!) some of the others feel a bit shoehorned in, but not to the extent it takes away from the overall enjoyment of watching. The animation style, inspired by J. C. Leyendecker (who also inspired Norman Rockwell, to give you a sense of his work) also provides some stunning imagery, especially in Nebula's tale.
What these two episodes have largely done, however, is make me eager to see the ones we know only inklings about — the introduction of a Mohawk superhero told entirely in the Mohawk language, the one based on the 1602 comic run they teased way back in 2022, seeing Cate Blanchett reprise her role as Hela.
At a press conference I attended, writer and executive producer on the show, A.C. Bradley, also teased that we'll see the return of characters from season 1 of "What If...?" specifically the Watcher (of course) but also Captain Carter and the Doctor Supreme. I like those characters and am interested to see how that dynamic plays out. But at the same time, I also wish that the series was a pure anthology, a sandbox where writers can build the craziest tales without being beholden to any overarching plotlines, and one where viewers can tune in to any episode without having to read or watch a refresher summarizing what happened previously. "What If...?" is as close as the MCU gets to that, and it's better for it.
Season 2 of "What If...?" drops its first episode on December 22, 2023 on Disney+, with one of the remaining eight episodes dropping nightly until December 30.