What if... Marvel did an animated show that sets the tone for the rest of Phase 4?
Honestly,
it's a 'hit or mis' show. Not every episode is born equal and there are ones
that will get your blood pumping while others will feel like nothing more but
filler.
In Marvel's
What If...? We follow the mysterious and all-powerful yet non-interfering being
called 'The Watcher'. The Watcher guides us, the audience, through the
Multiverse. A realm of endless possibilities where everything goes. Where new
heroes can rise while familiar ones might have never had the chance to become
one. In practice, this means that each episode shows us how events within the
MCU could've played out if one or sometimes multiple events happened
differently.
Take the
first episode, "What If... Captain Carter Was the First Avenger?",
for example. Using the events of Captain America: The First Avenger as a
jumping point to give us Peggy Carter becoming a super-soldier. To become the
hero that the character never was given the chance to in the movies. It's a
good episode to start the series with. To show the audience what the show is
all about and start off by easing the audience into the show with an easy to
understand outing. The episode is just a retelling of The First Avenger, but
with Carter filling Caps role and some small deviations here and there.
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| The shot by shot recreation of The First Avenger with Peggy instead of Steve is neat but also a weakness of the episode in my eyes. It holds Captain Carter's character back. |
And that,
ladies and gentlemen, is this show's biggest problem as well. Some episodes are
wildly entertaining while others will fall flat for you depending on your
tastes. The quality of the episode and the general enjoyment one can find in
them very greatly. Like Zombies? Then episode5 will probably keep you at the
edge of your seat. Don't like Zombies (like yours truly)? Well, you're out of
luck. Even within the episode themselves some moments are more interesting, are
better written and executed, than others. Ultron/Vision is awesome to look at
and his episode is one of the best but I can't say he's a well-written
character.
Binge-watching the show can help alleviate these problems but when you watch it week to week as they were released it's not outside of the realm for you to lose interest in the show. I myself skipped over the Zombie episode initially due to my distaste for the genre only watching it (very begrudgingly) at the very end for this very review.
It's good then that What If...? does tie together each standalone episode in some fashion. The Watcher narrates each and every episode, some imagery is shared are the small connection. The big one comes in the season finale. This episode, without spoiling the surprise completely, has ties to every single episode of season 1. Even the episode(s) that got cut due to Covid is represented. That did result in some elements of the final essentially coming out of nowhere but that's forgivable even if it's pretty noticeable.
The
animation style of What If...? is a cell-shaded 3D type of affair. A bit bland
if you ask me. Even if I'm not that fond of the animation style the animation
itself, the movement and the visuals, are top-notch. In live-action, fight
sequences are expensive, require a lot of prep work and are just much more
hindered by, you know, the laws of physics. For animation, no such restraints
exist. A big action sequence isn't that more difficult to make than just two
characters talking to each other.
Because of
this What If...? can go much wilder and more spectacular with their visuals and
they certainly know-how. Even if a certain episode disappoints overall there
are still some very impressive visuals or a cool fight sequence in it.
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| A quite beautiful shot, no? |
The voice
acting of What If...? is interesting. As it's canon to the MCU the producers
have invited back many of the actors to reprise their roles. Not all of them
do, however. Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner are here to voice their parts but
Robert Downey Jr. and Brie Larson aren't. It´s a bit jarring hearing the
traditional and the new cast interact, I won´t lie.
Doesn't
take away from the performances themselves, luckily. These are good, haven´t
heard a bad performance in any of the episodes. The only one I really have
problems with is Mick Winger as Tony Stark. I always thought that he´s too high
pitched and, well, whiney sounding to fit the character and that problem is
only more pronounced when you have RDJ´s Stark in the back of your head. That
said, Lake Bell does a really good job with Black Widow and Benedict
Cumberbatch gives an excellent vocal performance as well.
The music
and sound effects fall into a similar category for me. The sounds, think Cap's
Shield and Thor's Hammer, are straight out of the movies and still sound
excellent. There are also tracks from the MCU here as well. The new tracks
aren't that interesting sadly enough, not very memorable. When mixed with these
traditional sounds and tracks it once again becomes rather jarring. To me at
least. The opening theme though? That one is quite excellent.
Conclusion
Marvel
Studio's first attempt at animation is a mixed bag. Its anthology approach
results in a very hit or miss season. Some episodes land and some don't. The
writing is that uneven, I'm afraid. The animation style isn't anything special
but does lend itself well to some impressive action, visuals and shots. The
performance of the voice cast is good but the combination of MCU actors and
replacements actors is jarring.
For the more diehard Marvel fans, it'll be an enjoyable watch but I won't blame anyone if they decide to skip certain episodes of the season or just the show in its entirety.
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