Marvel Studios' What If...? (Disney+) - All S2 Eps now out! S3 teased!

[Adami]

That was a really cool and fun episode.

Also I think the least amount of movie actors in it, right? Just Jeremy and the dude who plays Zola.


A lot of this feels really similar to an Exiles story line, which I would love Marvel to do live action. Someone (I think possibly even the Watcher in one of them, but I may be wrong) gathers various heroes from various universes and makes them a multiversal team. It's a fantastic series if anyone wants to read it.

[lonestar]

It had Benedict at the end too.


Great episode, great lead into season 2.

[Adami]

It had Benedict at the end too.


Great episode, great lead into season 2.

True! Honestly didn't expect evil Strange at the end.

[jingle.boy]

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

[Adami]

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.

[jingle.boy]

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.

And Thanos with 5 stones.

[Adami]

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.

And Thanos with 5 stones.

Yea, that was a little problematic. Cause Vision lost to 5 stone Thanos, while Visulton (who was no more powerful than Vision) cut him in half in a second.

[ZirconBlue]

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.

And Thanos with 5 stones.

Yea, that was a little problematic. Cause Vision lost to 5 stone Thanos, while Visulton (who was no more powerful than Vision) cut him in half in a second.

Wasn't Vision wounded and partially depowered in Infinity War?

[Adami]

You're right he was wounded, but I don't think he was depowered at all. But I forgot he got wounded, good call.

[lonestar]

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

Oh, is it a ten episode season? Thought it was eight. Very cool.

[bosk1]

This was actually a really good episode.  MUCH better than party Thor.

[jingle.boy]

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

Oh, is it a ten episode season? Thought it was eight. Very cool.

Pretty sure it was disclosed to be 10 episodes, but the Iron Man/Sakaar episode got pushed to S2.  Therefore, finale is next week.  Though, I'm seeing some articles suggest yesterday's episode was the finale.

I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar.

[jingle.boy]

On IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63432044

28 September 2021
What If...? Season Finale Will Reveal The 'Bigger Plan' Behind The Series
There are just two episodes left in the first season of Marvel's "What If...?" animated series.

So, I'm thinking there's an episode 9 next week to wrap things up.

"The penultimate episode of Marvel's "What If...?" this week tells its own story, but it sounds likely to have a major cliffhanger of a tag. Bradley teased, "You can watch 8 as a standalone, but 9 is — for once we actually answer the end tag." The question is whether this big conclusion will be worth the wait."

[The Letter M]

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

Oh, is it a ten episode season? Thought it was eight. Very cool.

It's actually nine. This week's episode was eight, so we've got one more. Season One was originally ten episodes, but they shuffled an episode out of the season (presumably one revolving around Tony Stark, who probably would have lived through that episode).

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.
Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.

And Thanos with 5 stones.

Yea, that was a little problematic. Cause Vision lost to 5 stone Thanos, while Visulton (who was no more powerful than Vision) cut him in half in a second.

Wasn't Vision wounded and partially depowered in Infinity War?

You're right he was wounded, but I don't think he was depowered at all. But I forgot he got wounded, good call.

Yeah, and if you think about it. Vision had to deal with having his beloved kill him to save the universe, while also being weakened. Vision evolved to become more human and compassionate, and even if he had been at 100% strength and didn't fall in love with Wanda, I'm not sure he would have thought to slice Thanos in half as soon as he appeared. Ultron was/is cold and calculating. As soon as he noticed the other Infinity Stones, he knew he wanted/needed them. He probably knew what the Mind Stone was and how it worked way more than Vision did, which if you recall by the beginning of Infinity War (three years after Vision had been made), he still didn't quite understand what the Mind Stone was. Ultron, in this episode, has had it less than a year (presumably), and he's already mastered it, and once he killed Thanos, mastered the other five Stones as well.

It had Benedict at the end too.


Great episode, great lead into season 2.

True! Honestly didn't expect evil Strange at the end.

That was a pleasant surprise, and it makes for a great "cliffhanger" into the finale, though if you've been paying attention to promotional artwork or trailers, you already know what's going to happen in the finale. I do really like that this season is basically a Multiversal Phase One, with each hero getting their own origin story, and now we get a team-up, with The Watcher filling in the role for Nick Fury/SHIELD. And speaking of that team...

Best episode of the series so far, imo.  Everything clicked.  Though, I'm wondering why Ultron distroyed so many other worlds completely, but left Earth intact?  I can't fathom that Nate/Clint would be the last 2 humans on the planet.  It was very cool indeed to see The Watcher do more than watch.  I wasn't quite sold on the omnipotence of Ultron (over the power of a Watcher), but understand why they needed to do it that way.  Curious to see how this plays out next week - if The Watcher alone can't stop Ultron, how does this smashup version of 'Guardians' pull it off.

Tune in next week! Same Watcher-time; same Watcher-channel.

It's a good point. If he easily takes out Captain Marvel, I can't imagine T'Challah Star Lord doing much good.

I'm willing to bet that T'Challa is able to talk some reason into Ultron. How amazing would it be to see him do to Ultron what he did to Thanos in his timeline, and reason with him? If anything, I hope he at least lives. I don't know if I could handle seeing another version of T'Challa die on screen, even if it's animated. Seeing that in Episode 6 was enough for me!

-Marc.

[ariich]

I also read something else earlier in the week before this episode aired about how if Ultron got his hands on the stones, he would be more dangerous than Thanos was. Thanos was mortal/biological, and so using the gauntlet caused him harm, as it did to Hulk and Tony, meaning a limit on how much he could use it. Not so for Ultron who if his body is destroyed can just transfer his consciousness/programming to another machine. Also, Thanos was clearly mad but at least only wanted to wipe out half of humanity, Ultron wants to eliminate it.

Can't wait for the finale.

[hefdaddy42]

Finally caught the most recent episode last night.

Wow!  One of the best episodes of the season!  Can't wait for the finale this week!

[faizoff]

Fantastic finale. I'm glad it all together in the end. That was very entertaining and I think had the best payoff among all the Marvel Disney+ shows so far.

[The Letter M]

Just finished the finale before heading out for an 11-hour shift at work today. HOLY COW what a finale! I love how everything came together with the various Guardians of the Multiverse, and the fight scenes were spectacular. I kind of wish there was more interaction between T'Challa and Killmonger, but I do like they at least acknowledged each other. I think Chris Hemsworth had the most fun recording his lines.

There were moments I wish were just a *bit* longer (as I've said with pretty much every episode), but I'm happy with what they had time for. I do like every episode's world was revisited by the end of the episode! I really hope we get the Stark/Gamora on Sakaar episode at some point (just so we can finally get an episode where Stark doesn't die).

Given how short the episodes are, I have a feeling I will rewatch this series again sometime soon, or at very least, this finale!

-Marc.

[faizoff]

Same here, I wished the episodes were longer and some of these episodes can go on several episodes on their own.

[Orbert]

Well shit, it seems like I might have to finish this series after all.  I bailed after the "all the Avengers die lol" episode and the next one was all zombies, which I'm sick to death of.  The series seemed to have no continuity or actual point.  Now it turns out it does?

[faizoff]

Right, they start off as each individual self contained episode that just show alternative timelines to the main movie counterpart, the last two episodes of the show tie those loose episodes together and make for a neat conclusion with what I thought were very intriguing story beats.

[Zook]

I only watched the last 2 episodes, but they were pretty good. I may watch the other ones. Is there a voice Ross Marquand can't do? Also, who did Chuck Billy voice?

[The Letter M]

Well shit, it seems like I might have to finish this series after all.  I bailed after the "all the Avengers die lol" episode and the next one was all zombies, which I'm sick to death of.  The series seemed to have no continuity or actual point.  Now it turns out it does?

The pre-season trailers teased a moment between Strange Supreme and Captain Carter, so there was always speculation that the protagonists of the individual episodes would come together to fight a greater threat. Then later trailers showed off more heroes in the Avengers-style circle-pan shot, so it seemed inevitable that the finale would feature the Guardians Of The Multiverse.

Considering how short the episodes are, you could binge all the episodes in just over four hours if you skip the intro and credits.

-Marc.

[Orbert]

Well, I watched the first four originally.  I misremembered the order.  I remember being very unimpressed by the "all the Avengers die lol" episode, but forgot that I'd stuck around and watched the Dr. Strange episode.  It was okay.  Since it's basically impossible to avoid spoilers about anything these days, I heard about "Zombies!" and just checked out.  I've never understood the fascination with zombies.  I figured I could live without "everyone turns into a zombie lol" and whatever comes after that.

Anyway, I've seen four of the nine, so yeah, a couple hours and I'm caught up.  As with WandaVision, I think there's a real problem with the series taking far too long to start making any kind of sense, which leads to people bailing out before the "big payoff".  Even knowing that there's a "big payoff" coming only makes me slightly more interested in watching five more episodes.

[The Letter M]

Well, I watched the first four originally.  I misremembered the order.  I remember being very unimpressed by the "all the Avengers die lol" episode, but forgot that I'd stuck around and watched the Dr. Strange episode.  It was okay.  Since it's basically impossible to avoid spoilers about anything these days, I heard about "Zombies!" and just checked out.  I've never understood the fascination with zombies.  I figured I could live without "everyone turns into a zombie lol" and whatever comes after that.

Anyway, I've seen four of the nine, so yeah, a couple hours and I'm caught up.  As with WandaVision, I think there's a real problem with the series taking far too long to start making any kind of sense, which leads to people bailing out before the "big payoff".  Even knowing that there's a "big payoff" coming only makes me slightly more interested in watching five more episodes.

I think the difference with What If...? and WandaVision was that, the latter was a single story, albeit with a unique way of telling that story (especially with the first three episodes), where as What If...? is more like MCU Phase 1, with a lot of individual origin stories, but later culminating in a team-up, so there's less of a reason to keep watching if you aren't interested in the idea of multiverses or the basic premise of each episode, since for the most part, they're all pretty different in terms of who they focus on, and what the difference is from the main MCU timeline. Rather than being invested in a core cast like with Wanda, Vision, Darcy, Woo, Monica, etc., What If...? is a bit more challenging in that it asks the viewer to know enough about the MCU proper to distinguish the differences enough to keep the episode entertaining.

As far as checking out from the Zombies episode, it's definitely a love-letter to fans of the Marvel Zombies comic, with some cheeky easter eggs thrown in from that storyline, but the reason behind the zombies being there is interesting enough in the first place (if a bit hand-waved). I think that one episode is probably the most throw-away one, especially with regards to the finale (that and the "All The Avengers Die" episode), so it doesn't surprise me if you weren't too invested in those episodes. Honestly, one could probably watch the other 6 episodes and watch the finale and mostly understand it.

-Marc.

[Orbert]

Interesting parallel there.  I think the Phase 1 movies were individually pretty good, both as origin stories and stories in general, with the added bonus that they clearly were building up to something.  I was never a big comic-book guy, but one of my best friends growing up was a huge Iron Man fan, and once we saw the first Iron Man movie, we were hooked.  Our entire household has seen every MCU movie.

The What If...? stories don't really have that allure.  True, they're basically unrelated stories which apparently will come together in some way, but they suffer IMO from the basic premise.  What if Peggy Carter got the serum instead of Steve Rogers?  Well, I know she didn't, so this is all hypothetical.  What if T'Challa was Star Lord instead of Peter Quill.  Well, again, he wasn't, so it kinda doesn't matter.  What if all the Avengers were killed?  Okay, now this is just stupid.  What if Spider-Man and Tony Stark were secret lovers?  What if The Incredible Hulk was allergic to cheese?  What if Captain Marvel was a redhead?  Why should I care about any of this?

If the stories themselves were at least moderately interesting, maybe I would've watched more.  I do remember being somewhat intrigued when Dr. Strange actually interacted with The Watcher, which seemed to promise something more interesting to come, but next was Zombies! so fuck that.

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm bitching, and repeating myself, and I'm sure I'll eventually watch them all anyway.

[ariich]

The What If...? stories don't really have that allure.  True, they're basically unrelated stories which apparently will come together in some way, but they suffer IMO from the basic premise.  What if Peggy Carter got the serum instead of Steve Rogers?  Well, I know she didn't, so this is all hypothetical.  What if T'Challa was Star Lord instead of Peter Quill.  Well, again, he wasn't, so it kinda doesn't matter.  What if all the Avengers were killed?  Okay, now this is just stupid.  What if Spider-Man and Tony Stark were secret lovers?  What if The Incredible Hulk was allergic to cheese?  What if Captain Marvel was a redhead?  Why should I care about any of this?

Except that those things did happen, just in different universes, and given the MCU is introducing the multiverse now, all of this does actually become relevant to the wider MCU.

However I completely understand not finding some of the episodes/stories that interesting in and of themselves. I mostly enjoyed them a lot but a couple were merely ok and all them were a little on the rushed side.

[jingle.boy]

Marc nailed it in that All Avengers Die and Zombies aren't quite essential.  Even though there are (brief) callbacks to those episodes in the finale, they aren't integral to the story.  The other 6 are pretty necessary to understand the background of how/why the Watcher assembled the Guardians.

Loved the final, and echo pretty much everything Marc said.  I am very much looking forward to the Sakaar episode next season - not sure why they didn't release it for S1... I'm unclear of the need/decision to shorten it to 9 episodes?

[faizoff]

From what I read the Sakaar episode with Tony Stark/Iron Man had a much different vibe and tone than the rest of the episodes especially the last two.

[ZirconBlue]

I am very much looking forward to the Sakaar episode next season - not sure why they didn't release it for S1... I'm unclear of the need/decision to shorten it to 9 episodes?

They said it was delayed due to covid.  I guess finishing that episode likely would have delayed release of the whole season, so they just pushed it back to S2.

[Adami]

Very fun final episode. Didn't make a TON of sense but I was pretty easily able to not care and just enjoy the fun. I think it being a cartoon that is slightly silly in general was helpful in the amount of suspension of disbelief that this show required.

[hefdaddy42]

We caught it last night.

Fun conclusion to a fun season.  Not every episode was a hit in our house, but overall it was very enjoyable.

[bosk1]

Interesting parallel there.  I think the Phase 1 movies were individually pretty good, both as origin stories and stories in general, with the added bonus that they clearly were building up to something.  I was never a big comic-book guy, but one of my best friends growing up was a huge Iron Man fan, and once we saw the first Iron Man movie, we were hooked.  Our entire household has seen every MCU movie.

The What If...? stories don't really have that allure.  True, they're basically unrelated stories which apparently will come together in some way, but they suffer IMO from the basic premise.  What if Peggy Carter got the serum instead of Steve Rogers?  Well, I know she didn't, so this is all hypothetical.  What if T'Challa was Star Lord instead of Peter Quill.  Well, again, he wasn't, so it kinda doesn't matter.  What if all the Avengers were killed?  Okay, now this is just stupid.  What if Spider-Man and Tony Stark were secret lovers?  What if The Incredible Hulk was allergic to cheese?  What if Captain Marvel was a redhead?  Why should I care about any of this?

If the stories themselves were at least moderately interesting, maybe I would've watched more.  I do remember being somewhat intrigued when Dr. Strange actually interacted with The Watcher, which seemed to promise something more interesting to come, but next was Zombies! so fuck that.

Yeah yeah yeah, I'm bitching, and repeating myself, and I'm sure I'll eventually watch them all anyway.

Yeah, that isn't far off from how I feel about the series overall.  And, yeah, I get the whole "but it did happen, just in a different universe" premise.  But the concept of a multiverse is just where the storyline gets a hard eyeroll from me and I lose interest.  It's just too far over the "suspension of belief" line for me to take it seriously and emotionally invest (says that guy that fully bought into time travel, different dimensions, etc., etc.--yeah, I know!).  Combine that with the fact that some of the individual episode premises were so ridiculous, and the fact that there was just weak storytelling and presentation, and this amounts to just "Eh, OK, this was a fun past-time while waiting on something that has more meat" for me. 

As for this episode specifically, it was "ok."  I thought Captain Carter and the prior episode were the two best.  This one is probably just behind those. 

[lonestar]

Caught the finale last night, good stuff, but I'm gonna have to do a rewatch cause I was a bit sleepy and it was quite fast paced.

[Adami]

The multiverse....all of reality as we could possibly know it.....is at risk of complete annihilation by a sentient robot with unlimited god like power. I need to assemble a team that will be able to stop him. How about....

...a Thor that has no sense of responsibility or seriousness at all
...a T'Challa who is a really nice and sweet guy
...a black panther that is happy to watch the world burn
...a very strong British woman.
...and one sorcerer supreme who actually might be able to help.

Yes...that is the perfect team. Definitely not a fleet of Captain Marvel's. Definitely not a Vision or Thanos from another reality. This is the right team.