What If: Cast: Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeffrey Wright, Lake Bell, Hayley Atwell, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Samuel L. Jackson
The author is A.C. Bradley
Bryan Andrews, director
Accessible via Disney+
Disney+ language
Nine episodes, lasting roughly thirty minutes apiece.
What It Concerns:
What Happens If? What If…? is continued in Season 2. a spin-off of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that was created at the beginning of Phase 4, featuring the multiverse as a central plot device. Marvel rewrites a large portion of the canon of the movie universe in this series, offering different perspectives on characters, situations, and conclusions. As a result, every episode is unexpected because you never know what will be combined with what to create various “What if” scenarios.
Examining the script:
What Happens If? Season 2’s tales push the well-known Marvel characters in new ways while maintaining the same presentation and logic as Season 1’s. As one might anticipate from an anthology series, some of these pieces are better than others. It would be dishonest, though, to deny that this degree of inconsistency detracts from the enjoyment of the series, since the highs are never maintained for very long before the lows set everything on hold for a while.
Another fantastic thing about Episode 3 is that it pays tribute to Happy Hogan, played by John Favreau, who was a key creative behind the Marvel brand’s box office success. It’s wonderful to see him in the spotlight again after spending the majority of the MCU’s existence as a supporting role. The sixth episode, which centers on a brand-new character named Kahhori and how she rewrites history using the Tesseract—the most used artifact in the MCU—feels extremely different from previous ones.
What If…? is the central storyline of Season One’s Doctor Strange and his devastated reality, which is connected to Episodes Six, Eight, and Nine. The anthology series seems to be coming to a close with Season 2. However, the fact that a third season is planned raises the question of how they plan to introduce a new storyline similar to this one or if they would simply start over from scratch. Because of their independent stories, the remaining episodes suffer from being completely forgettable.
Star Performance:
What Happens If? In order to bring in a large number of characters for Season 2, a large number of performers must be cast in these parts. Actors from live-action movies like Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, and What If…? end up mixed together as a result. Actors who are exclusively assigned to voice roles that don’t return, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson, are making every effort to maintain continuity.
For their efforts, Lake Bell, Josh Keaton, and Mick Wingert are deserving of high appreciation. Even though they are mimicking the original actors’ voices, it feels like a success that they are able to do so and yet deliver fantastic performances in these new stories. Yes, there are those who would adore having Robert Downey Jr. back, but these actors prove that these original actors are not needed in animation.
Music & Direction:
Animation offers a great deal of advantages when it comes to presenting superhuman creatures engaged in amazing environments in combat. What Happens If? Some of the MCU’s best action scenes can be found in the second season, continuing the tradition. Given that Bryan Andrews, the majority of this season’s episode directors, has experience with animation and storyboarding, it is to be expected that he understands the value of striking keyframes that capture the action in all of its splendor.
This season, Nora Kroll-Rosabaum takes over as head of the musical department, and she and her group excel in evoking the sense of heroism that each score for these films ought to have. In the moments that are the most intense, serene, and atmospheric, the score excels. She might advance to write a score for a live-action movie after establishing herself with her roles in Ms. Marvel and this one.
Final Thoughts:
What Happens If? Even if Season 2 is uneven, has a few truly boring episodes, and doesn’t significantly advance the Marvel Cinematic Universe mythology, it nevertheless accomplishes enough well to seem like the series’ conclusion. Because of how excellent Season 2 is, a lot of people will be interested in seeing where Season 3 will go. Since the most compelling episodes of Season 2 were those that seemed constant and connected, let’s hope that Season 3 can do the same.
