Courtesy of Marvel Studios
Marvel has had a year of “what ifs,” thanks to two of its three theatrical blockbusters (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels) falling flat, its centerpiece Disney+ efforts (Secret Invasion, Loki) fizzling out, and the actor positioned to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Big Bad, Jonathan Majors, being convicted of assault and harassment, compelling the studio to drop him. Ironically, then, the Hollywood juggernaut ends its terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad 2023 on a somewhat upbeat note via the second season of What If…?, an animated anthology of alternate-reality MCU tales that underline the franchise’s greatest strengths—if also its persistent weaknesses.
What If…? (Dec. 22, Disney+) enlists an enormous roster of Marvel veterans for its nine half-hour stories of multiversal mayhem, all of them narrated by the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), a cosmic being who observes (but rarely intervenes in) the comings and goings of the MCU’s many extraordinary inhabitants. Save for Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Hopkins, Zoe Saldana, and Tony Leung, virtually every one of the series’ numerous notable characters is voiced by their original actors, lending the proceedings a creative consistency with their live-action predecessors. With the additional enhancements of sharp writing and dynamic visuals, the show’s feel is of a piece (stylistically and tonally) with what’s come before.
Spearheaded by showrunner A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews, What If…? continues to boast dexterous and fleet animation that’s just the right side of cartoony, and the same can be said about its scripts, which are primarily notable for capturing the distinctive and vibrant personalities of the MCU’s various famous (and lesser known) faces. Whether it’s taking a lighthearted or grim approach, the series feels comic-book-y in the best sense of the term. That’s never truer than in a fourth installment set on the homeworld of the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum); Tony Stark (Mick Wingert, doing an excellent Downey, Jr. impression) winds up in the aftermath of the Battle of New York (as seen in 2012’s The Avengers), and has to fight to escape by participating in a chariot race that involves both Gamora (Cynthia McWilliams) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Also featuring the participation of Taika Waititi’s Korg and Rachel House’s Topaz, it’s a standout episode which recognizes that sarcastic and ridiculous comedy is central to Iron Man and company’s appeal.