What If...? is worth the watch

How is your Marvel Cinematic Universe fatigue? Another month, another MCU series flies past. Loki who?

Speaking of the wily widow's peak, we left him opening up the inter-dimensional floodgate to the multiverse, allowing for a lot of what is to come for Marvel on both big and small screens.

And here we have What If...?, currently showing on Disney and based on the occasional comic book series that looked at alternative (usually downer) outcomes for the superheroes.

While the first episode, What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger, has a lot going for it - bright, breezy and with an animation style that manages to bridge actual likenesses with a cartoon style - it does suffer in one aspect.

It is very close to a cover version, in that it keeps to too many of the story beats from the first Captain America film, just with some characters swopped.

While the episode is fun, it does make you wonder if that is the format going ahead.

Thankfully, the second episode allays those fears.

CONCEPT

Asking what if T'Challa aka Black Panther became Star-Lord, this episode really runs with the concept rather than rejigging Guardians Of The Galaxy.

And it contains plenty of surprises.

In the film, Star-Lord was Peter Quill's name for himself. Nobody else had heard of him.

With T'Challa, he is renowned, and truly a Star Lord.

A beloved leader who does good like a galactic Robin Hood with the (previously piratical) Ravagers as his merry men. Even major villains have been brought under his wing and changed their ways.

Of course, this episode is bittersweet as it serves as a final farewell to the late Chadwick Boseman, but it leaves on a high.

The voice talent is impressive. Most of the original actors from the live-action movies return, and some could be covered by impressionists - the first episode covers Chris Evans' absence well.

But as we know from the trailers, they have scuffed it on finding a replacement for Robert Downey Jr. Will they have scrambled the Disney machine to find a better replacement before that episode airs?

Who knows how consequential What If...? will be.

Does it feed into the great scheme or just work as a sorbet until Marvel's big-screen offerings kick phase four into gear?

For now, enjoy the Easter egg diversion.

---

SERIES: What If...?

STARRING: Jeffrey Wright, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper, Chadwick Boseman, Josh Brolin, Karen Gillan

DIRECTOR: Bryan Andrews

THE SKINNY: Hosted by the mysterious Watcher (Wright), we are presented with different versions of familiar Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, where one simple action drastically changes the timelines we know.

RATING: PG

SHOWING ON: Disney+

Score : 3.5/5