Ranking the First Season of Marvel’s What If…?

With the first season of Marvel’s animate series, What If…?, having wrapped up we’re looking at which episodes are the best so far!

What If…? was the multiversal look at alternate takes of the Marvel movies we know so well. It took us into unique looks at pre-established characters and turned them into whole new fan favorites. I reviewed a lot of the episodes over the past several weeks, but I wanted to take a look again now that the show has wrapped up.  

If you’ve read my reviews, this might differ at times. Opinions change and being fresh out of a watch compared to having weeks to think about it, brings a lot of rethinking and an overall better formation of opinion more often than not for me. So, without further ado let’s get to it. 

9. What If Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?

Captain Carter was the face of What If in the earlier marketing and I was excited to revisit Peggy in this new light. But this episode offered little in interesting changes to me, Captain Carter is a great addition to the many MCU heroes and I would love to see further returns for the character. But the plot of the episode overall felt like a Captain America: The First Avenger character swap and not much else. It featured some great super soldier action that was fantastic for a Cap fan like me, but the episode overall felt like a weaker display of the storytelling potential What If had to offer. 

8. What If Zombies?

I do not doubt that this episode drew more viewers than any other, and rightfully so. The concept is a lot of fun and Marvel Zombies is a fantastic comic. The episode was entertaining, it offered some gore I wasn’t expecting, fight scenes that hit hard and genuine tension at the perfect moments.

But it also had a lot of jokes, and don’t get me wrong, that can work well. Look at Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead, a wonderful balance of existential terror and levity. This zombie take on the MCU, however, struggled with that balance leading to a bit of a tonal struggle. It was an overall fun watch and seeing some of our favorite heroes as undead monsters was chilling and entertaining. The balance of tone made this a tad underwhelming for what was my most anticipated episode.

7. What If Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?

This episode brought two people, who I felt had zero chance of ever crossing paths, into the mix together. In a crossover between two films separated by a decade, we saw a brand-new dynamic that spelt disaster for a lot of big characters. The massive issue I had with this episode was the intro, it bases the entire premise around the idea that Tony Stark never became Iron Man. While it’s an accurate description it feels like it doesn’t quite set up the episode for what it is.

A universe without Iron Man would lose in a lot of scenarios we’ve seen through the MCU, but at the center of this episode is Killmonger’s alternate plan to seize power in Wakanda, a great premise in itself. This episode was a great revisit to the Black Panther villain and echoed one of the MCU’s best entries in some wonderful ways. 

6. What If Thor was an Only Child?

Much like the Killmonger episode, I felt the intro could’ve been written differently. While this reality is one where Loki wasn’t adopted, I didn’t feel like that was central to this episode. I expected an exploration of the importance of that relationship and the detriment that would ensue without it.

What we got was a buffoon Thor in what can only be described as the closest the MCU has come to Looney Tunes…and it’s great. This straight-up cartoon comedy is the most fun the series ever gets and one of the funniest things Marvel Studios has put out since Thor: Ragnarok, it brings every corner of the cosmic Marvel Cinematic Universe together for a worldwide party of catastrophic potential.

The highlight is Captain Marvel, the battle between her and Thor is one that I’d only imagined before and felt ripped straight out of an anime at times. Discussing how favorite heroes might fair in a one on one is fun but seeing it realized is crazy, that scene was a big highlight of the series for me. Overall, the episode was just fun and goofy, and exactly what I needed after some of the dark cliff-hangers the show had given us before. 

5. What If the World Lost its Mightiest Heroes?

This murder mystery, centered around the MCU’s earliest entries, was a super fun play with the timeline of the Universe. A busy week for Nick Fury becomes a desperate attempt to protect earth’s best defenders.

The standout here was Lake Bell’s Black Widow. While she plays the role again pretty majorly in the final two episodes of the series, I want to mention I specifically in the first episode we get with her. She encapsulates the character so well and was a huge standout in the series despite not being a returning cast member. The reveal of Hank Pym as the culprit felt like a fun comic book call-back, where he is just a lunatic a lot of the time, and Michael Douglas gave it his all playing an unhinged version of his Ant-Man. This episode was one of the strongest cast wise and gave something I never thought I’d see and enjoy so much, an MCU whodunnit. 

4. What If the Watcher Broke his Oath? 

The inevitable team-up of the various heroes we met throughout the show was an exciting premise that a lot of people didn’t seem to see coming, though it was featured heavily in teasers, and it delivered exactly what I was hoping for. What the series finale may lack in-universe shaking premise, it more than makes up for in an incredibly entertaining series of superhero battles that rank among the MCU’s most interesting.

From an onslaught of shield throws from Captain Carter and Black Widow to the unleashing of fire breathing Dragons from Doctor Strange Supreme; it was a massively fun episode packed full of fun, tense and exciting moments. Each character got their action spotlight and the dynamics between several of them made for interesting and emotional moments. It was a great cap off to the show and an exciting revisit to the stories we’d enjoyed over the last two months.

3. What If T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?

When this premise was first revealed it was a hell of a curveball. While a lot of people grew concerned over a potential trend of simple character swapping, I looked forward to this as an exploration of the strength of T’Challa’s character in any scenario, and it delivered.

The episode presented a universe made better by the would-be Black Panther and showed how the confidence and morals of the Wakandan Prince were invaluable in any reality. This episode was made all the more powerful with the knowledge this would be one of the last performances we would ever get from Chadwick Boseman, and what a performance it was.

Once again, he put his heart and soul into the role and embodied the character wonderfully as always, it was a tearjerker but a wonderful display of T’Challa’s character and Chadwick’s performance.

2. What If Ultron Won?

I had never been more excited for a film than I was for Avengers: Age of Ultron, I was 15 and had been growingly obsessed with superhero movies over the past 4 years since seeing Thor with my dad. While that film might be a more middling Marvel movie for me now, it still holds a special place and I have a lot of fond nostalgia for it.

Going into this episode was exciting and what we got was a dark and desperate survival story coupled with a terrifying villain who seemed unbeatable. Lake Bell was again the standout of the episode, and her dynamic with Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was great to watch. That two characters dynamic has always been something I’ve enjoyed so it was nice to revisit despite the events of Avengers: Endgame. 

The big aspect of the episode was the confrontation between Ultron and The Watcher, a jaw-dropping sequence that crashed through the multiverse in a spectacular display of cosmic abilities. The animation was particularly stunning in the fight, the Kirby crackle is an effect I’d really like to see in live-action. 

1. What If Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? 

The third episode of What If was a massive deviation from what we’ve come to expect from the MCU. It is a miserable, depressing and gripping story of absolute desperation in the face of tragic loss. I liked the first Doctor Strange film, but even for those who didn’t it seemed this hit hard and was the episode that solidified the quality What If can produce.

Benedict Cumberbatch gives a great performance of a tragically crushed version of Strange who just can’t give up on the unbearable loss he has suffered. It’s a level of arrogance and power hungriness that I’ve seen in some comics and something I think might be interesting to be explored in the future. From the craziness of the magical battles and the tragic end to the already sad episode, it’s one of my favorite episodes throughout everything we’ve seen in the Marvel Disney+ releases.

What If was a fantastic look across all aspects of the MCU and delivered some of the darkest, wackiest and funniest moments the franchise has delivered. The show has endless potential and with the crazy amount of content Marvel Studios is sending our way, I don’t see an end in sight for the show for a long time. Everything can run its course and creators should know when to bring a project to its conclusion, but I do feel that What If…? could surpass the MCU movies in the long term.