Spoilers for Marvel’s What If…? Episode 2, which is now streaming on Disney Plus, ahead. Read our review of Episode 1 here.
This is more like it. After a surprisingly average premiere, Marvel’s What If…? finds much more success as it leaves 1940s Earth for the cosmos. While the alterations to the Sacred Timeline made in the premiere felt a little more nuanced, Episode 2 goes for broke in the ways it plays with our understanding of integral MCU players. That leaves us with a rollicking 30 minutes of TV which, through no fault of its own, is tinged with the unavoidable melancholy that comes with hearing the late Chadwick Boseman perform T’Challa for the first time since his passing.
This episode posits a world in which Yondu (Michael Rooker) outsourced Peter Quill’s abduction to Kraglin (Sean Gunn) who, instead of snatching Quill, accidentally grabs the Prince of Wakanda instead. The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) bridges the gap between the abduction and the present day by detailing the influence T’Challa’s unimpeachable moral compass had on a universal scale as he grows into the renowned Star-Lord that Quill had deluded himself into thinking he was at the time in his career. That means Korath’s (Djimon Hounsou) not asking “WHO!?” on Morag, it’s more like “HOOOWEEE!”
While I still have significant reservations about What If casting MCU actors to reprise their roles in this animated series, where experienced voice actors might work better, Boseman’s performance is an absolute joy. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and with that mantle lightyears away, this T’Challa is a flirty, gregarious badass. Boseman sinks his teeth into this new characterization and brings refreshing lightness to T’Challa. It’s going to be very hard for some fans to watch this episode knowing it marks the beginning of the end of our time with the character, but Boseman’s enthusiasm and commitment (especially in the face of what he was going through) are a huge source of comfort. The other MCU vets voicing their characters have mixed success, though the quality of the performances is better overall this week.
I gave What If’s premiere credit for its restraint in diverging too far from MCU history out of the gate, for the sake of warming casual viewers up to the multiverse. This episode sits at the other end of that spectrum and feels like a better fit for the show’s format and style. T’Challa has reformed the Ravagers into a much less dysfunctional group of galaxy guardians who are all more or less on the same page about their benevolent missions. That’s especially shocking, given who T’Challa’s got working as his Draxian muscle. Credit where it’s due: having Josh Brolin stop by to voice a redeemed Thanos in just the second episode is bold. And this Thanos has got some Big Dad Energy, cracking jokes and showing genuine affection for his crewmates and (adopted, as they’ll remind you) daughter, Nebula (Karen Gillan).
This is all made especially bizarre by just how seamless Brolin’s performance feels in animation. We’re already used to a certain level of unreality when it comes to the CG-created Thanos, so after a couple lines of dialogue, I found myself forgetting this wasn’t actually Sacred Timeline Thanos. Oh, and do the Ravagers crack a joke about Thanos’ original plan to save the galaxy with genocide? No, they don’t! Do they crack multiple jokes about it? Sure do! Yeah, the first one had that hallmark bite of caustic humor which define the Guardians as we know them, but it’s a tired bit by the third mention.
Nebula enlists T’Challa’s help in tracking down the Embers of Genesis, a world-engine Macguffin currently in the hands of the man who filled the power vacuum Thanos left behind: The Collector (Benicio del Toro), who’s shredded now. With an even more flamboyant personality and an arsenal of famous MCU weapons to defend himself, The Collector’s a fun foe for T’Challa and the Ravagers to battle, and those moments of action again prove to be a highlight of What If’s execution. The cosmic setting really works better for What If’s art style than the drab WWII-era Earth we got last week, with the vibrant colors of James Gunn’s Guardians films popping nicely across both action and exposition. That, coupled with the story’s breakneck pace, give this episode a great momentum that it carries through to the end.
What If is still playing its cards close to the chest when it comes to what degree these new pocket universes will interact with each other. Just like last week, this episode’s final scene hints towards a grander play, with a pair of cameos resulting in a new power dynamic to keep an eye on as these disparate timelines inevitably start to drift closer to one another. Uato’s repeated insistence that he can’t (or, won’t,) interfere with the events unfolding sounds more and more unlikely. Methinks The Watcher doth protest too much.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/2W7xaoz
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