Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

A fun start to the second run of What If adventures

Spoiler Warning

The second season of Marvel’s animated What If… series has kicked off with the first three episodes airing over the last three days, and the final six to come in the next.  This is the first review of three that I plan to do across the season.

I was a fan of the first season which aired in 2021 even if the series didn’t seem to win plaudits from anyone but a niche group of hardcore MCU fans.  It was an interesting peek into a number of ‘what ifs’ with animation allowing for imaginations to run wild. 

I was happy to see a second season scheduled to coincide with the 2023 holiday period and the first three episodes have certainly provided a pre-Christmas treat.

What If…Nebula joined the Nova Corps?

From a fairly small part in The Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 tale, Nebula has become a core character of the MCU and of the Guardians franchise.  She’s played to perfection in live action by Karen Gillian and it’s great to see her return to voice the part of Nebula here.  It’s a nice familiarity in a very different story setting for the character.

There is a great Noir twist on the tale with Nebula playing the detective to Novus Prime’s back-stabbing not-quite femme fatale.  The character gets to be a badass, both in physicality and in showing her smarts, even if the way she works out she’s being played by Novus Prime is a little flimsy, but, hey, it does the job.

While I would say Nebula is a popular character, I still think it’s a brave first episode to focus on her rather than one of the other big-name Avengers such as Black Widow.  Braver still when the supporting cast of characters are all just that: supporting cast who generally have minor roles in the main MCU.  Even Howard the Duck is nothing but a side character in the MCU despite having a cult film to his name. 

Arguably Yondu and Yon-Rogg, played by a returning Michael Rooker and Jude Law respectfully, are the exceptions with Yondu playing a substantial part in GoTG vol2., and Yon-Rogg being the villain of Captain Marvel.  But Yondu’s role here is minor and I would say Yon-Rogg is really not that well-known – I had to look up the character to place him.

The result though is that Nebula gets to really shine in her own story and that’s not a bad thing.  The story is just strong enough to carry it off and helped by Gillian’s accomplished and comfortable rendition of Nebula as a righteous cop.          

The animation is great throughout from the shield going over Xander to the rain coming down in the dark city to the fight sequences throughout.  Visually it’s captivating and while it’s not live action, there isn’t a moment of feeling like you’re watching a cartoon.

It’s a good beginning.

What if…Peter Quill attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?

It could be argued that the theme of secondary or side characters taking centre stage is continued in the second episode despite the title.

While Peter Quill is the lead character of The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise (although arguably this was overtaken by Rocket there at the end), here the twist of having the character be a child and the potential villain rather than superhero adult Peter reduces that sense of giving pride of place to a big-name character.  Similarly Hope Van Dyne is not yet Wasp and so it doesn’t feel like a lead taking centre stage even when she’s the one who works out what’s going on with Peter and helps him.

Yes, Thor does turn up and he does have a significant role to play in providing the intelligence on Ego and the seedling, and news of the destruction of other worlds (Asgard being one).  Yes, Bucky/the Winter Soldier is included with a great tense moment when he almost shoots Peter but in the end makes the right decision.  But neither character is really given precedence outside of the ensemble.

Instead, the alternative ‘80s Avengers team that is put together by Howard Stark and Peggy Carter takes centre stage with Hank Pym, Captain Wendy Lawson, T’Chaka and Bill Foster all getting to be Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.  It’s a great take on an alternative team and there are plenty of nice easter eggs (I loved Goose turning up at the end) including many of the live actors providing the voices for their characters from Michael Douglas to Hayley Atwell, from Chris Hemsworth to Sebastian Stan.

Again, the visuals are fantastic, the story is solid, and it feels like the very best Saturday morning animation with a team of heroes fighting against an evil alien and winning: a real ensemble story.

What if…Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?

Die Hard is a Christmas movie – and clearly writers A.C Bradley and Matthew Chauncey and Marvel producers all agree.  The alternative title here definitely could have been ‘What if…the MCU did a version of Die Hard?’

But this is a great light-hearted tale of Happy getting to be the hero while nodding at all the fanon of the Avengers living happily at Avengers Tower as one big happy family that happened in the wake of the first Avengers movie.

Again, the theme of side characters getting centre stage is played out again by having Happy as the hero and Darcy and Hill as the sidekicks who help him.  The actual Avengers turning up at the very last minute to actually win the day (with a single press of a button from Tony which I found very amusing) doesn’t detract from that.

Jon Favreau seems to have enormous fun voicing Happy’s shenanigans and Kat Dennings return as Darcy provides a great comic turn.  Cobie Smulders plays it straight with her Maria Hill as always and is therefore a fantastic foil to the crazy antics of the others.

It is a shame that Tony, Steve and Natasha do not have their live action actors providing their voices, even if the voice cast does do a credible job of stepping in, when so many of the rest do turn up.  That and the slightly too 2D cartoon feel to Happy’s Hulk variant are my only complaints here.  Oh, and maybe the cheesy Christmas song at the end.

Otherwise, this was a nice Christmas Eve present.

In conclusion

It will be interesting to see if the theme of the secondary characters and ensemble teams continues through the rest of the season (titles suggest that it might not). So far, this has been a great first three episodes – fun with interesting enough storylines and with good voice acting and animation visuals to hold the attention.  I’m looking forward to the rest.