“What If The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier”
One of the strength of the What If show is taking characters who would not usually work together or you may not expect to be together. Episode one had Sam Wilson and Bruce Banner. Episode two was Agatha and Kingo. Now, we get Red Guardian and Winter Soldier.
David Harbour is a gem. His work as the Red Guardian is so silly and over the top that it works, especially when paired with the stoic, more quiet Winter Soldier. This is clearly a “buddy cop” style of episode with the two main protagonists being pursued by Bill Foster, aka Goliath, once again voiced by Laurence Fishburne.
The pairing kicks off when Red Guardian prevents the Winter Soldier from killing Howard Stark and his wife as we see in Captain America: Civil War, and then they wind up thrust together into Las Vegas.
This was the episode from where they dropped a clip after last year’s season two, hinting to us that season three was closer than we thought.
They had some nice moments between Red Guardian and Bucky too, as the episode was more than just a bunch of action strung together. The scene where Red Guardian helps Bucky remember about Coney Island was very sweet, and it was obviously important to Bucky.
I found it odd that Oscar nominated America Ferrara did a voice of a secondary side character, Ranger Morales who teamed up with Bill Foster to chase after Red Guardian and Winter Soldier. That seemed to be a huge casting for such a minor character who, as far as I know, has no connection in Marvel Comics (After some research, I discovered there was an Agent Morales who worked for SHIELD that perhaps this character was based upon).
I love how What If…? has been using different styles to tell their stories. First episode was a Kaiju/monster story, episode two was Old Hollywood and this is a buddy cop tale. It shows the variety that the show can present effectively.
Season Three Episodes So Far
E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?
E3 What If The Red Guardian Stopped The Winter Soldier
While I liked the previous What If…? episode of season three, I did not love it. Season two I ADORED just about everything about this one.
Agatha Harkness and Kingo? Who knew that I needed that in my life?
Golden Age of Hollywood with Agatha making a gigantic, cosmic blockbuster with Howard Stark (and the ever quippy Jarvis) is amazing, but to tie that into Agatha’s latest plot to grab power for herself by way of stealing the power of the growing Celestial inside the earth, Tiamut, is on another level.
There is a dance battle, literally, between Agatha and Kingo. All the while Howard Stark is shouting out some of the funniest dialogue you are ever going to hear.
“I want Busby Berkeley to see this and contemplate being a realtor“
“Will they dance? They will!“
“That chemistry was hotter than the Hindenburg.“
“Is that some kind of euphonism? Are you two a thing now?”
Howard Stark and Jarvis made the perfect Old Hollywood director behind the scenes for this What If…? episode. The quips delivered wonderfully by both Dominic Cooper and James D’Arcy. Jarvis’s initial dry wit fit beautifully in the insanity that was going on around him in this episode.
The fact is this… Kathryn Hahn is a master. She ahs taken this secondary (maybe even tertiary) character of Agatha Harkness and made her something special. Kathryn Hahn’s aura is all over this episode and she just dominated every minute, and she had amazing chemistry with Kumail Nanjiani. These two characters worked so well with one another and who saw that coming?
The dance routine was brilliant. I loved it. The design of Celestial Agatha was beautifully perfect. Her battle with Arishem the Judge was a great call back to WandaVision. The end speech from Kingo targeted what was missing inside Agatha all along.
This episode is very meta with several behind the scenes comments and a reference to Cecil B. DeMille. For me, this all worked so well that I just sat on my couch with a big smile on my face the entire time.
I would put this episode of What If…? right at the top of the series along with the season one Dr. Strange episode, the season two Christmas and 1602 episodes. Certainly the best of season three so far and potentially one of the best of the entire run.
With the recent conclusion of Marvel Television’s Agatha All Along on Disney +, I thought it was a good time to rank the Marvel projects on the streaming service.
I chose to include the two specials along with the series for this list. I also included the animated shows that appeared on the platform since the debut of WandaVision. I took the two series that had a second season, Loki and What If…?, and I kept them together instead of ranking Loki season one and Loki season two separately.
That gives me a total of fifteen shows.
Of course, these are my opinions and art is subjective. Perhaps you have a different list and that is fine. Everyone has a right to their thoughts.
So… here we go.
#15. Secret Invasion. This is easily the show in the last position on this list. I have never disliked an MCU project as much as I disliked Secret Invasion. This show started okay, but the story just did not work despite such a strong cast. The finale of this show was perhaps the worst finale of any Marvel show and I feel as if they just want to forget this ever happened. In what could have been so great, Secret Invasion was a colossal disappointment.
#14. I Am Groot. These little animated shorts actually also had two seasons and they were fun. They were slight and unimportant to the overall MCU, but they were fun to watch and Groot is always an enjoyable character to watch.
#13. Echo. Some people disliked this show, but I thought it was pretty decent. I definitely like Echo here more than I did in Hawkeye, as she was the weakest part of that show. However, some of the scene involving Kingpin were awesome and Echo brought a corner of the MCU into the light. This was the only MCU series to drop all episodes at once in a binge format.
#12. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Another show that has its share of haters, but I enjoyed it a great bit. I loved the weird finale where She-Hulk destroyed the fourth wall. The Daredevil episode was a highlight. The origin episode that kicked off the series was a lot of fun with cousin Bruce. Tatiana Maslany was excellent as Jen Walters, I don’t care what the internet says.
#11. Falcon & Winter Soldier. The second of the MCU Disney + series suffered from the pandemic as it caused a chunk of the story to be re-written. What we got was a lot of fun and kept us involved in Sam and Bucky’s bromance the whole time. There were some epic action scenes in this show and the moment when John Walker used the shield to decapitate a villain was a chill-inducing moment.
#10. Guardians Christmas Special. The first of the specials, which was the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special that was the bridge between the end of Endgame and Guardians Vol. 3. We learned Mantis was Peter’s sister. We learned the Guardians were the new owners of Knowhere. And we kidnapped Kevin Bacon. There were a lot of laughs and some truly warm moments between characters that we loved.
#9. What If…? Two seasons of some really great episodes. I personally loved the Doctor Strange episode from season one, the 1602 episode, the Guardians of the Multiverse crossover, the Christmas Die Hard episode with Happy, the Blade Runner-like Nebula episode, the new character Kahhori, and Zombies! The Watcher is an awesome narrator and gets involved at times too. Great animation and some wonderful writing.
#8. Werewolf by Night. The second special on the list is a wonderful tribute to the old time Universal Monsters movies as this episode is mostly in black and white. I actually have never watched the color version as I felt that was unneeded. Including Man-Thing, aka Ted, was a great use of a character we probably never expected we’d get in the MCU. The aura of the episode was so well done and the transformation of Jack Russell to the Werewolf by Night was cinematic. Excellent special.
#7. Hawkeye. This is a great series, bringing back Clint Barton while introducing Kate Bishop into the MCU. It also dealt with Natasha Romanoff’s death as her sister, Yelena came to kill Clint. The series focused on Clint’s background as Nomad and how that tied into the life of Echo. It reintroduced Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin to the MCU. While some disliked the way Fisk was brought in, I did not have that issue. Hawkeye was a wonderful Christmas series with some of the best action in all the MCU Disney + series.
#6. Moon Knight. I think Moon Knight episode 5 is one of the best episodes of Marvel television ever. It was as emotional as you are going to get. The finale was a bit of a step down with the giant slugfest going on, which brought this down a couple of steps. Oscar Isaac gave a thrilling and outstanding performances in this series as the multiple personalities of Moon Knight.
#5. Ms. Marvel. The super hero stuff of Ms. Marvel was the weakest part of the show (except the finale, which I loved). There is no doubt the strength of this series was Kamala Khan and the Khan family. The family dynamic of this series was unlike anything we had gotten before. It was emotional, caring, loving, funny and charming as could be. It was also some of the most creative imagery of any MCU show. If the villains were a little stronger, this could have been even higher. Plus, we have our first MCU mutant.
#4. X-Men ’97. Speaking of mutants, there is no way that a sequel to a series that ended in the mid-90s was going to be anything special. However, we could see immediately that this show was going to be more than we ever thought it would be. This show did Cyclops right (unlike any of the live action versions). And Remember It with Gambit was, arguably, the best single episode of MCU TV on Disney +, animation or live action.
#3. Agatha All Along. The latest MCU series was so great, but no one thought this was needed. It was a secondary character from WandaVision and a group of other characters that were unknown. And it was wonderful. It was full of twists and turns and some exceptional acting. Again, I would say episode seven of this series could be considered one of the best episodes of Marvel TV ever. Kathryn Hahn is amazing here and the introduction of “Teen” was unbelievable.
#2. Loki. Two seasons in, Loki was amazing. I love Tom Hiddleston and his chemistry with Owen Wilson, who played Morbius, was off the chart. The show was funny, dramatic and enjoyable. The writing was extra wonderful as things truly felt planned out over the years. Loki’s end as the God of Stories was something I never thought I would see. That finale and episode four of season two were some of the best episodes ever. I almost had Loki at number one, but it was just slightly behind.
#1. WandaVision. The first is still the best. One of the most original series ever. The whole sitcom stuff in the first few episodes made us all wonder what the heck was going on. Then, things became more sinister than you would expect. People were speculating week to week, bringing into question if our expectations were the real problem. Yes, there was no Mephisto. Or Reed Richards. And Pietro turned out to be Ralph Bohner. We all had our own theories, but the show was driven by the magnificent performances and chemistry of Elizabeth Olson and Paul Bettany, as well as Kathryn Hahn. Some complained about the finale, but I do think that this was about our own expectations. WandaVision has set the bar very high and no Disney + series have been able to reach it… yet.
Wow, what a finale. Two long episodes of Agatha All Along that brought some serious emotion and dropped all the answers.
Let’s start with episode 8. Holy crap… what a powerful episode. We discover so much and we get a massive showdown between Agatha and Rio. Billy flying in in his Wiccan outfit was so epic.
This entire time, I was never sure about what was going to happen, and that is a great thing. That confrontation ending with Agatha’s death, sacrificing herself for Billy (though she would later deny it).
Billy returned to William’s room and figured out that the Witches’ Road was created from his mind. This was a theory that I had heard, and it really was clear going back into William’s room.
Then, episode nine, Kathryn Hahn was just astounding. Her performance as a witch who would lose her child to death was heartbreaking. Seeing the origin of “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” was fun. We also meet Nicholas, Agatha’s son, and we learn that she did not trade him for the Darkholde, as the rumors indicated. It seemed as if Nicholas had something wrong with him and was going to die in childbirth, bit Rio gave her some time because of their relationship.
I’m not sure how I feel about Agatha the ghost at the very end, but I did like Billy and ghost Agatha heading off to search for Tommy.
It was great to see Jenn pull herself out of the ground just outside of Westview with her powers back. Agatha being the witch who bind her made sense. It was nice one of the coven survived.
This was one of my absolutely favorite Marvel series on Disney +. I do not think it reaches WandaVision or Loki levels but it very well may be #3. What an entertaining and well written and acted show.
This episode is my favorite one so far. It is so expertly written that I was absolutely enthralled with every minute of it.
I was so glad when Lilia and Jennifer turned up alive and not dead in the mud. I celebrated their life although I held my breath as the implications of the episode looked to see one of their ends. Sadly, Lilia was falling at the end.
I love a good use of tarot cards and this was spectacular.
Patti LuPone gave us an amazing performance in this episode as Lilia bounced around time and we learned where every one of her blurts over the first six episodes came from and to what they referred. The lay out was so perfect that it all fell into a beautiful place, like a puzzle piece in a jigsaw puzzle.
The episode also confirmed the identity of Rio, as played by Audrey Plaza. She is Death, the corporal form of death. In the comics, they call her Lady Death and she has had affairs with Thanos and Deadpool. Here, they look to be dropping the Lady part and just calling her Death. Agatha saying that she liked the “bad boys” was hilarious.
Kathryn Hahn was hilarious throughout the episode, from her bickering with Billy to her smart remarks directed to the others in the coven.
The whole Disney costuming, from the Wicked Witch of the West (whom Agatha claimed was based on her…LOL) to Maleficent (with Billy’s cheekbones) were spot on.
I am really going to miss Lilia and the grand diva, Patti LuPone on this show. Agatha All Along has one more week with a double episode and this could legitimately find its way into the top five Marvel Disney + series of all time. Who would have thought that?
After last week’s big reveal at the episode’s end, I figured this week would be the back story of Billy Maximoff. And I was right.
I loved this episode. We went back and discovered how Wanda’s mind reading son wound up in a teenager’s body.
I had heard this speculation before. How the car accident that was reported earlier in the series, and was the back drop to the credits when Joe Locke’s name was up, would be tied to Billy’s resurrection (or rebirth?).
That car crash they shot was spectacular.
The crash came because Billy Kaplan’s parents, from Eastview, were distracted by the Anomaly created by Wanda was disappearing. I felt bad for the Kaplans but their son was gone. When he died in that car crash, Bill Maximoff took over the body. This is a decent origin for the Teen in the MCU considering how messy Wiccan’s Marvel Comics origin is.
We also get a special guest star… everyone’s favorite… Ralph Boner! Ralph Boner was the albatross around the neck of WandaVision. When he turned out to NOT be Pietro Maximoff from the X-Men universe, that was universally hated. However, we all still love Evan Peters and having him back is always welcomed. Ralph’s appearance was a little inconsistent here. I wish they had chosen a tone and stuck with it instead of trying to do both the fearful/intense tone and the funny/silly tone. Still, it was great to see him.
The discussion between Agatha and Billy at the end was really some great writing. Interestingly, no Aubrey Plaza. Where was she? I also hope the others in the coven are not gone for good. I know they are involved in other aspects, but I hope it is not just in flashbacks.
Three more episodes. One next week and then two on Halloween eve.
This was a fairly short episode, but it was really impactful.
Alice, RIP. I think there is something more going on here though as Agatha’s trial turned deadly with the ghost of Agatha’s mother leading to Agatha draining the energy from Alice.
Dressed as a sleep over, this had a lot of the scenes from a trailer, specifically a possessed Agatha doing the backwards spider walk that you see in a lot of horror movies.
They were on the Ouija board and Kathryn Hahn dropped a fantastic Mrs. Hart/Sharon Davis imitation. That was hilarious. Maybe a little mean too…
After Agatha killed Alice (which Agatha certainly seemed shaken by), Teen was very angry and he reacted in a violent way. He seemingly tossed Agatha and the others into the mud and they sunk away.
Even more significant, Agatha said to Teen that he was just like his mother. Then, after he dispatched of the coven, we see Teen with a purple crown that resembled that of the Scarlet Witch.
We all suspected that Teen was somehow tied to Billy, Wanda’s created son from WandaVision, but the show has been tempting us by making Teen Agatha’s son Nicholas. Apparently, Nicholas was part of the Ouija board thing too. We are just past the halfway point of the series and this felt like a significant hint that he is Billy Maximoff.
And during this entire Teen-Agatha trouble, there was no sign of Rio. Aubrey Plaza has been rumored to be Death, which was mentioned in the Ouija session. What part is she playing in all this?
Lots of questions:
Is Alice really dead?
Who is Teen? Is he Billy, Wanda’s son?
What is Agatha’s responsibility in all this?
What happened when they were sucked into the mud?
Nicholas Scratch is doing what?
Is Aubrey Plaza Death?
I wish this episode was longer. It felt too short. What we got was great though.
The last live-action Marvel Television show was Secret Invasion. It was such a letdown that one has to wonder what was going on. The animated X-Men ’97 was brilliant, and that led us to the beginning of the spin-off of WandaVision, called Agatha All Along.
Agatha Harkness was the big bad in WandaVision and Wanda left her trapped in her Agnus character. That was three years ago and it seems that Agnus has found herself inside a police procedural.
The Agnus of Westview section of the first show was awesome, clearly a take on the Mare of Easttown series from HBO. However, the arrival of Aubrey Plaza and Joe Locke helped break Agatha out of the trance cast upon her by the now deceased (?) Wanda.
Agatha still has no power, but Joe Locke, who seems to be unable to say his name or any specifics about him, wants Agatha to lead him down the Witches’ Road.
The mystery of “Teen,” which is what Agatha begins calling Joe is one of the biggest of the early part of the show. We comic fans believe that we know who he is… Billy Kaplan, aka Wiccan. In the comics, Wiccan was one of Wanda Maximoff’s children (or so I think… this is a really convoluted piece of Marvel history). Could this be Billy from WandaVision? Who or what is preventing Agatha from hearing his name?
The second episode had Agatha and Teen recruiting other witches to put together a coven so they could open the door to the Witches’ Road. Patti LuPone, Ali Ahn, Sasheer Zamata are three of the witches that they recruited. Agatha also brought in Debra Jo Rupp, reprising her role from WandaVision in a brilliant piece of casting. Debra Jo played Mrs. Hart in WandaVision, but is actually named Sharon Davis and not a witch. Her part in the show was absolutely hilarious.
The group of them wound up singing “The Ballad of the Witches Road” in Agatha’s basement. This was an amazing song and it sounded awesome. Sharon’s line “Am I supposed to know this song” was just tremendous.
The cast is fantastic. I loved how this started off. Some may claim that it was too slow of a build, but I disagree. I was fully engaged from the first, as Agnus was investigating the death of a mysterious woman (sure being hinted as it being Wanda Maximoff).
The show had a very scary tone as the coven started to head down the road. In particular, the arrival of the Salem Seven was some of the creepiest moments of the first two episodes. I expect these are the witches we see Agatha betray and kill in WandaVision.
Agatha All Along has a vibe of The Wizard of Oz as well as plenty of Easter eggs from WandaVision. Several supporting cast members from that show appeared here.
I can’t wait to see where the Witches’ Road will lead us. Agatha All Along seemed to be a lot of fun and the perfect show to watch during the spooky season.
It hasn’t been 48 hours since the big Marvel Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and I am already tired of the discourse surrounding the massive announcement that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU, but not as Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man, but as Victor Von Doom, aka Doctor Doom.
While the announcement was an incredible, all-time SDCC moment, there have been so many negative comments from the internet about it, and I do not see it decreasing any time soon. Even the online sources that I trust to be fair and balanced like John Rocha, Kristian Harloff and John Campea, can’t help but address the issue. While I trust them to be fair and balanced, there are so many online sources on YouTube and elsewhere that will spend constant chatter telling everyone how the MCU is dead or how this reeks of desperation. I am afraid that this is going to be a non-stop bitch-fest for the next two years. That’s not good for anyone.
When I first heard the rumor of RDJ as Doom, I dismissed it as silliness. I was not sure how that would work out and there are plenty of unsubstantiated rumors on the internet abut the MCU. I understand that things are not confirmed until I hear it from the mouth of Kevin Feige himself.
However, with the reveal at SDCC, things are different. I found myself very excited to see what Marvel Studios plan on doing and how they intend to make this work. I am a Marvel fan and I am willing to give them leeway. I have liked most of the things they have put out and a mistake or two can be permitted.
However, I am already irritated by the clickbaits on YouTube that say things like “Marvel has Gone too Far” or “MCU is Dead.” It is ridiculous. You have no idea what they are going to do with Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars and they are two years + away. Can’t we just believe in Kevin Feige, RDJ, The Russo Brothers and the machine at Marvel Studios? Do we have to spend all our time complaining about it and creating toxicity in the fandom? This is not Star Wars, for goodness sake.
Don’t misunderstand me. If you go and see Avengers: Doomsday and you do not like it and you think Marvel ruined Doom and that RDJ was a terrible choice, then that is your right. But to spread the vitriol two years before the film is released is just silly. I understand that negative stories create more clicks on their videos, but that does not make it okay.
I just needed to vent a bit about this. I wish we could have a fandom that was more positive than it has been. I do believe that most of the negativity comes from the internet where as the typical movie goers do not have the same kind of anger.
I am excited to see what Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. can bring to the role of Doctor Doom and I am also excited about what the MCU team of Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers can bring to these Avengers movies, since they last collaborated with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. That is four of the best MCU movies of all time and I choose to trust in this team that was able to create them.
After people expecting the trailer to Captain America: Brave New World to drop yesterday, Marvel instead dropped it today, and it looks great.
What blew my mind was the glimpse of Red Hulk that we got at the very end of the trailer because I know there was a lot of speculation about the possibility of Red Hulk because Harrison Ford was now playing Thunderbolt Ross, replacing the late William Hurt, but I really did not think they were going to go there. But they did.
The trailer has a definite Winter Soldier type tone to it. The beating music keeping you on edge as you might be in a spy thriller of some kind. Isiah Bradley making a return from his role in Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney + series. Giancarlo Esposito popping up with his mystery character (which some are guessing to be G.W. Bridge).
There was just a load in the trailer and it definitely looks promising. Captain America: Brave New World comes out n February 2025.
Everybody thought this series was going to be an utter mess. They said that Disney was dropping the episodes all in one day because they just wanted to get it done with and past it. Echo was supposed to be a waste of time.
This turned out to be an excellent five episode show.
I was not a fan of the character of Echo in the Hawkeye series. She was probably the weakest point of that series and felt almost added in.
This show does a sensational job of taking some of the Maya scenes from the Hawkeye and blending them into the series, particularly the first episode. The tone of these scenes felt completely different and worked in the surrounding sections.
I liked the progression of Maya and her character. She was cold at the beginning and as she slowly accepted her Choctaw Nation generations. Alaqua Cox did a fabulous job as Maya Lopez, unable to speak, but still using facial features and body language to provide an understanding of the character.
The supporting characters in this show are very interesting and are some of the best written characters. Maya’s childhood friend Bonnie, her grandparents Skully (played by the wonderful Graham Greene) and Chula, her cousin Biscuits and his dog Billy Jack, her friend Henry and, of course, her ‘uncle’ Wilson Fisk.
Vincent D’Onofrio returned to form as Kingpin. He is always so great as this character. Lots of people hated his Wilson Fisk from the Hawkeye series, but I did not mind it. It was not as good as his appearances in the Daredevil Netflix series, but characters can be different. Here, he is closer to the way he was in that Netflix series. The connection of Kingpin and Maya was a major piece of the show.
The Echo series took a lot of criticism for dropping the shows all at once, but this feels as if the show was designed to be binged and it works that way.
This also makes the Netflix Daredevil series MCU cannon, which has been questionable over the years. They go right into the Wilson Fisk backstory with his father (how he bludgeoned him to death with a hammer). Oh and the first episode fight with Daredevil was spectacular.
I will say that I feel as if the final episode was a little rushed. I did like how the Maya-Fisk relationship ends up resolving. I’m not sure if I liked how the ‘Echo gives the others power too to fight’ because it seemed to be kind of add.
However, for the five episode series, I think Echo is an excellent series and was better than I thought it was going to be.
This season of What If…? has just been off the charts good. Every episode is just excellent, and then they come up with something that just transcends the rest of the season. ”What If… the Avengers Assembled in 1602″ has taken that spot at the very top of the list this season and might be threatening season 1’s Dr. Strange episode as the best of the series.
We had seen Captain Carter pulled into the universe of 1602 by Scarlet Witch at the end of episode five, leaving it on a cliffhanger. We pick up here with Peggy trapped in 1602 but trying to save the universe from being destroyed.
There are some blue rift that appears in the sky that sucks characters way, and Hela, the queen, gets pulled away. Captain Carter could not save her and Thor blames her.
Captain Carter runs from the new king, escaping from the castle. She stops to speak with the Watcher, whom she can hear narrating. She then perfectly describes, in layman’s terms, an incursion using a bubble gum analogy. Incursions are going to be important in the upcomng Multiverse saga, or at least that is what it seems.
We meet many of our favorite characters in new roles during this as we see Loki as a pretentious actor, Steve Rogers as a Robin Hood type character with Scott Lang and Bucky Barnes with him. Wanda Maximoff is the witch of the king. Nick Fury and Happy Hogan are with the king’s men. Bruce Banner is the man in the iron mask. Tony Stark as the mad scientist. Each one feels a perfect mix.
Once again, we get a Steve Rogers-Peggy Carter reunion that is both sweet and eventually tragic, as it seems as if it always is destined to be.
The voice acting includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olson, Jon Favreau, Hayley Atwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Rudd, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch along the regular voice actors covering Tony and Cap, Mick Wingert and Josh Keaton respectfully. You can tell they do a special job on this episode, bringing an amazing chemistry to the characters. It is just so joyous.
The action in this episode is just sensational and as clever as you are going to get. The writing is brilliant. The dialogue from Loki during the first scene was some of the funniest of the series. How many Shakespeare references are you going to have in a Marvel series? Poor Yorick, indeed!
Something that I have noticed in What If…? this season is that, in comparison, there is more hope in these alternate realities. Last season, characters died. Universes were destroyed. There was a dread in most every episode. Yet this year, no universes have died. A minimum amount of characters have died. Tony Stark has shown up several times and has not died yet, and it became a joke last year that Stark was killed off multiple times.
Using the 1602 concept, from the classic Marvel book by Neil Gaiman, is an excellent idea. This is so well planned out and it feels as if everything is working so perfectly. With Supreme Strange showing up at the end to talk with Peggy, (and a TO BE CONTINUED popping up on screen) will connect Captain Carter to Kahhori from episode 6 in some kind of finale.
Just a remarkable episode of TV.
Up to DateRunning Order:
E8 ”What If… the Avengers Assembled in 1602?”
E3 ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”
E1 “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
E5 ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”
E6 ”What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?”
E7 ”What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?”
E2 “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
E4 ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Gamemaster?”
Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is voicing a character in an animated TV show.
That is an amazing thing. It speaks to the MCU that there are so many of the actors who are willing to come back and provide lines for this project. Idris Elba was also back for just a few lines in this episode. It was really cool.
Of course, they did not get everybody back for their characters. Odin was in this episode and it was not Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Wenwu was not voiced by Tony Leung. Oh well.
Blending Hela and Wenwu (from the Shang Chi movies) was an interesting trick. Taking the whole Thor-banished-to-earth-until-worthy bit and making it work for Hela was a neat addition to the story. The set-up was strong and the execution was really solid too.
I found Hela’s character arc to be a very done one, reminding me of the Loki arc, and, of course, you give a strong character arc to one of the best actors working today, you get some great storytelling. Plus, Cate Blanchett has experience in the voice over world, which does have its benefits in performances.
It sounds like a skipping record, but I’ll say it again. The animation of this season of What If…? has been stellar. I love the parallels drawn between scenes from the MCU movies and what we see animated in What If..?. For example, the scene where Hela cannot budge the crown was very similar to the scene when Thor could not move Mjolnir in the first Thor movie. These echoes are throughout the series and show the cleverness of the writers and creative personnel working on What If…?.
There are only two more episodes to go on this daily release of season two. I have loved watching these episodes in this manner and I hope there will be other opportunities to follow this in future times.
Up to DateRunning Order:
E3 ”What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”
E1 “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
E5 ”What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper”
E6 ”What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?”
E7 ”What If…Hela Found the Ten Rings?”
E2 “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
E4 ”What If… Iron Man Crashed into the Gamemaster?”
There are so many TV shows! It is impossible to watch everything.
This is my list of 30 TV shows that I have watched this year from 30 to 1.
#30. Secret Invasion (Disney +). I wasn’t going to put this on the list, but there were enough moments in the show to be enough for this list. Much of the one on one scenes were decent. The rest of the story was lacking.
#29. Bonus Action Vol. 1 (YouTube). Jay and Adam play D&D with their friends and it was great. Surprisingly great characters with development. Watched on YouTube.
#28. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney +). I have only seen two episodes so far (waiting for #3 tonight). Good so far.
#27. Goosebumps (Disney +). RL Stein’s classics were reimagined for this Disney + series. Justin Long starred. This was okay, up and down.
#26. Whose Line is it Anyway (CW). I wish I could see this more, but it sneaks past me. Ihave to catch it on the app if I can. It is in its last season with the regular cast.
#25. American Horror Story: Delicate (FX). First half of the season aired near the end of 2023. Typically creepy horror show. Having to do with pregnancy.
#24. The Muppets Mayhem (Disney +). Muppet series featuring Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. This was fun and had some great music. Loved Janis’s version of True Colors.
#23. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV +). Godzilla has some cameos. Follows two groups of humans, one group in 2015 and one in 1954. The 1954 group is more interesting.
#22. Bodies (Netflix). Limited series on Netflix, based on a graphic novel. Four time periods, same body. Mystery on how this is possible.
#21. Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix). Amalgam of Edgar Allan Poe’s best stories in a new series that watches a group of men and women from the same family die and the patriarch confess.
#20. Invincible (Amazon Prime). One of the top animated shows on TV. It only had 4 episodes in 2023, with the rest of the season two in 2024. Violent and dramatic.
#19. Silo (Apple TV +). Futuristic, apocalyptic drama where humanity has taken up residence inside a giant silo to protect themselves from the environment. Or is there something else going on?
#18. Schmigadoon (Apple TV +). Musical. Season two used classic musicals such as Hair, Chicago, Sweeny Todd as inspiration. Darker. Very funny.
#17. The Mandalorian (Disney +). Season three was not as awesome as past seasons, but it still has Pedro Pascal and Grogu.
#16. Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix). Another series that I have recent started and have yet to finish. Amazing animation and a deep character. Love this.
#15. The Rookie (ABC). The ABC drama featuring Nathan Fillion continues to be entertaining after four seasons. Fillion shouldn’t be considered a rookie any more.
#14. The Bear (FX). Fantastic show that takes place inside a restaurant. At least, the rebuilding of a restaurant. Stars Jeremy Allen White.
#13. Shrinking (Apple TV +). Jason Segal and Harrison Ford star on this drama/comedy about psychiatrists and the troubles they face in life, specifically dealing with loss.
#12. Poker Face (Peacock). Natasha Lyonne stars as Charlie Cale who has a special power… she can tell if someone is lying. Case of the week style… from Rian Johnson.
#11. Fargo (FX). Season five of the series has been kicking some butt… particularly by Dorothy “Dot” Lyon, a housewife who is more than what she seems. Jon Hamm stars too.
#10. Monday Night RAW (USA). RAW has really improved this year. There was a time not too long ago that I was thinking about not watching RAW. It is now appointing viewing with CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes etc.
#9. Friday Night Smackdown (FOX). More WWE action with the show that rode the Bloodline storyline all year long. There were some moments in that storyline that could have been Emmy worthy. Acknowledge Smackdown.
#8. Ted Lasso (Apple TV +). The final (?) season of the show had its ups and downs, but usually was hilarious and it gave us a satisfying conclusion.
#7. What If…? (Disney +). The MCU telling stories about what might have happened. The What If.. Happy Hogan Saved Christmas? and What If…Nebula Joined the Nova Corps? are two of the best episodes of the whole series, let alone season 2.
#6. Gen V (Amazon Prime). The Boys spin-off, featuring as many shocks and gory moments as its parent show. There are some wonderful characters that are less corrupt as the Boys.
#5. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu). Third season brought both Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep to the show involving a mystery centered around Oliver’s Broadway show. Some great music coming from it too.
#4. Jury Duty (Freevee). One person on a jury is a real person and the rest are actors. The court case is not real. How will things go? This is exceptionally funny and engaging. James Marsden appears on the show.
#3. The Last of Us (Max). Maybe the best video game adaptation of all time. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey play Joel and Ellie, two people trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Emotionally devastating.
#2. One Piece (Netflix). Live action Manga with a group of characters that are the key to this show. The chemistry of this crew, led by Monkey D. Luffy, played by the charismatic Iñaki Godoy, is the most important part of the series. Creative, fun and thrilling.
#1. Loki (Disney +). The God of Mischief is back with more time traveling hijinks. Loki is desperately trying to save the TVA from being destroyed and, in the same way, save the multiverse. Tom Hiddleston has mastered this character after all these years of playing Loki and his chemistry with Owen Wilson’s Mobius is amazing. Their friendship takes this series to a different level. The end of episode four may be the most shocking cliffhanger ever.
“What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”
Episode two is a bit of a step back from the excellent first episode of season two.
Peter Quill gets taken by Yondu and given to Ego. They go about on the Expanse and Peter comes back to earth, leading Peggy Carter to bring together the best heroes the earth could muster at the time.
It was sort of a different style Avengers formation, including Bill Foster, King T’Chaka, The Winter Soldier, Hank Pym, and Dr. Wendy Lawson (Mar-Vell). Things picked up when Thor arrived too.
As with all of the What If…? episodes, one of the cool things is that the most actors who played these characters in the MCU films reprise their roles on the animated show. That led to an astounding cast for an animated show including Chris Hemsworth, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Kurt Russell, John Slattery, Sebastian Stan and Hayley Atwell all on the call list for episode two.
There were some good things that happened in the episode. It is not as if I hated this one. It just felt too rushed in some places. I did not love some of the character choices and a lot of what could have made the episode stronger was left out.
The animation continues to be a highlight of the show so far. Everything looked awesome and feels like a step up from season one.
Running Order:
Definitely…
E1 “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
E2 “What If… Peter Quill Fought Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 