“What if…?” is a Marvel animated TV series with two current seasons out and a third coming December 22, 2024.
On August 11, 2021, Marvel released season 1 episode 1 of “What If…?”, “What If… Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?” This first episode follows a world in which Steve Rogers is injured in the Super Soldiering process and Peggy Carter must take his place. Following this, a new episode would be released weekly until the 10 episode series completed. This series follows the stories of righteous heroes who at the end of the season are chosen to fight a multiverse killer: Ultron Supreme after the narrator of the series, The Watcher, is unable to stop him . The Guardians of the Multiverse stop Ultron by separating the infinity stones from the nanosuit worn by Ultron and trapping him in a magic containment unit.
Season 2 released December 22, 2023, this time being a nine episode series continuing the theme of an episode a week. The story has seemingly one story with disconnected episodes in between. However, this is shown to actually be two simultaneous stories that connect in the final episode of the season, “What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?” Which reveals all the seeming unrelated stories were actually the tales of righteous heroes and universe killers being removed from their universes by Strange Supreme, the back bone of the Guardians of the Multiverse, to use to fuel a forge that will rebuild his universe.
The third and final season is set to release on December 22, 2024, changing the formula of release by having an episode be released every day until the end of the series releases on December 30. Based on trailer footage, a possible story for this season will be a new threat stronger than any seen before, which will require new, stronger individuals to form a team, which will most likely use mech suits as seen in the trailer. Along with the return of some fan-favorite faces not yet seen in the animated realm.
Of the first two seasons, I think the second is better, and it explores more cultures and ideas. As a whole I’d rate the series as one of my favorites released by Marvel in the recent years.
