
Growing up as a rabid Marvel Comics fan, What If stories were always my favorite. Whether it was Spider-Man joining The Fantastic Four or Captain America never being frozen in ice, the What If stories always brought fun questions to the forefront. Now the popular comic is an animated series, the first to come from Marvel Studios, and firmly set within the MCU. This series takes aspects from the many MCU films and flips it around telling us new sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, sometimes even horrific stories.
All the while the one constant throughout the series is the alien being known as The Watcher. Voiced by actor Jeffrey Wright (Wesworld, The Batman) Wright brings the right kind of gravitas and bravado to the role of the near omnipotent being who overseas the vast timelines but never interferes.
The stories here introduces new heroes like Captain Carter, a power crazed Doctor Strange, a party obsessed Thor, and TChalla as Star Lord.
The animation is absolutely breathtaking. Blending 2-D and CGI animation, the series gives fans one the cleanest and visually pleasing animated series we have ever seen. Marvel might have finally caught up to DC animation in the cartoon department.
The voice acting here is also top notch. If the series isn’t enlisting the voice talents of Samuel L Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Jeremy Renner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Danai Gurira, Ross Marquand, Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, Jon Favreau, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Michael B. Jordan, Karen Gillan, Clark Gregg, Chris Hemsworth, Sebastian Stan, Michael Douglas, Rachel McAdams, Natalie Portman, and so on, they get voice actors that at least sound like their characters.
The stand out episodes here are the Captain Britain, Marvel Zombies, and Guardians of the Multiverse. Most episodes are one offs and don’t have to be watched in order except for the last two which serve as the Watchers having to call on the aide of heroes from various timelines to stop an Ultron who has acquired the Infinity Stones.
For Marvel Studios first foray into animation, they absolutely hit it out of the park and I for one can’t wait to see what they have in store for future seasons as the MCU continues to expand with new characters. Highly recommended viewing on Disney Plus.
HipsterZOMBIEJoint Experience wants more episodes of What If!