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What If...?, is an animated series within the Marvel Cinematic Universe released in 2021. This Disney+ show has 9 episodes running at around 35 minutes each. The show dives into the multiverse and focuses on different universes where events play out much differently from the ones we know in the main MCU timeline. The omniscient “Watcher” guides us from episode to episode exploring infinite realities and pondering the question, “What If.” I was very excited for What If when it was first announced, and have mixed feelings about the end result. While What If has some extraordinary highs, it also has some devastating lows.
One major positive of the show is its look. While it took me an episode or 2 to get used to the animation, I found myself liking it more and more as the show went on. The 3D animation uses a comic book like art style that creates some truly breathtaking visuals. However, it isn’t perfect. At times the facial movements of characters looked uncanny and unnatural, as did their movements. But as the show progressed these issues faded away. I’ve grown to love the art style of this show. It perfectly captures the striking graphic design of comics. The vibrant colors and excellent lighting create truly beautiful shots through excellent cinematography. The action scenes are really incredible as well. The animation for them is smooth and polished. Making each and every action sequence satisfying and fun to watch.
Although it didn’t blow me away, I enjoyed the score of the show. While sounding pretty standard for MCU movies and shows, it works for What If. During the show's best moments the score plays a key role in those high points. Going along with the sound of the show, the voice acting is pretty good overall. Many actors from the MCU return to reprise their roles, and for the most part it works well. Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, and Chadwick Boseman all standout in particular. However, there were some performances that were quite distracting. Mick Wingert’s Iron Man is the performance I have the most issue with. While it gets better as the show goes on, for most of the series it is not enjoyable. But aside from a select few, the performances in the show were good.
The story in each episode of What If is where the show truly excels and also where some of the cracks begin to show. The main premise of the show is to give us scenarios where the entire MCU timeline has been altered because of one small change. The quality of an episode lives and dies by that premise. If the episode delivers an uninteresting change, the episode falls flat. But if there is a very interesting and fun change, it makes the whole episode. I would say that luckily, 7 of the 9 episodes succeed in presenting an interesting and creative change to the universe. However, the 2 episodes that fail in this regard feel like wasted potential, and were not very enjoyable to me as a result. Especially when compared to how extraordinary some episodes are in terms of their concept. But for those 7 episodes I really enjoyed the alterations made, even if they weren’t always handled in the best way.
That brings me to my main issue with the show. A large part of What If is plagued by an overreliance on comedy, and an incredibly inconsistent tone. One of the MCU’s main criticisms is that it relies far too much on “quippy” humor and comedy in general. I personally think that this point is often exaggerated when talking about the movies. But in What If the comedy is truly unbearable at times, and ruins entire chunks of an episode. At the worst it ruins whole episodes. It comes across as trying way too hard to mimic the MCU’s typical brand of comedy. I believe the MCU is able to get away with a lot of this due to the charisma of its actors, and with good timing. In most MCU movies the comedy is inserted in a way that isn't oppressive, or too out of place. In What If the story is often dragged to a halt to tell a joke that can take up more than a minute of the episode. Humor is subjective, and while this may work just fine for some, I found it very distracting. In the later episodes the show does manage to improve in this area. Comedy is generally relied upon less, and it’s integrated into the episodes much better. I also think the jokes in the later episodes are much funnier and more natural. The comedy isn’t all bad. A lot of the jokes do work for me, and I did find the later episodes funny, with episode 7 being a standout. However in the case of an episode like episode 2, unfunny, forced comedy drags the entire episode down.
Another issue with the show is its tonal inconsistency. Several episodes try to establish a more serious tone, that is constantly going against the unnecessary jokes. The show is at its best when it just picks a consistent tone instead of trying to juggle several. Episode 7 for example fully embraces its silliness, and becomes a full absurdist comedy. It works really well in that episode because it fully commits to its humor. Unfortunately many episodes try to commit to a serious tone but keep going back to misplaced comedy, and it comes off as a crutch. The pacing of What If is another weird problem with the show. An issue that again, is mostly prevalent in the first half of the series. The show feels rushed, to an insane degree. Early episodes try to cram so much material into 35 minutes that it feels sped up. To the point that it legitimately sounds like some dialogue was put on 1.25x speed so it can all fit into the runtime. It makes it hard to become invested in what’s going on, when you can barely process what is happening and what is being said. This is most apparent in episodes 1 and 2. Episodes 1, 2, 5, and 6 are all severely hindered by issues with the comedy, tone and pace. Unfortunately that’s almost half of the show. Luckily by episode 7 the show has grown out of these issues for the most part.
Thankfully What If has some really great high points to offset a lot of these issues. When it’s at it’s best the show manages to get the tone, comedy, and pacing just right. And it ends up creating some really great short stories within its time frame. Episode 4 is a prime example of this. This episode isn’t just the best in the show, it’s one of the best pieces of content in the entire MCU. It tells a mature, serious, and dark story that I have never seen before in the MCU. It felt like Joker 2019, and completely floored me. Its serious and emotional story expertly uses the show's premise to create something incredible. This is the perfect episode, and I wish the show was able to reach this same level of quality more often. Aside from episode 4, episodes 3, 7, 8, and 9 are also good overall. These episodes succeed for the same reasons 4 does. They get the tone, comedy, and pace right. These episodes aren’t perfect but I enjoyed them for the most part.
At its best What If uses its premise to create unique, creative, and fun stories. With changes to the main timeline that are a joy to explore. It uses its animation, score, and storytelling to create new stories and experiment with new possibilities. Unfortunately the show is heavily dragged down at times due to its chaotic and rushed pace, an overreliance on forced comedy, and severe tonal whiplash. While I enjoyed several episodes of this show, and the overall story it ends up telling, these problems are very damaging to the overall product. What If will be getting a season 2. So I hope that they learn from these mistakes to consistently reach the levels of quality that it has already proved it is capable of.
Objective Score:
6/10
Personal Score:
7/10
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