Did Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ ever truly know what it wanted to be?

After that jam-packed What If…? series finale, I think it’s safe to say this is no longer an anthology show—if it ever really was. We might have been given (often all too brief) glimpses of our favorite multiversal variant heroes in action, but the Watcher, now finally officially named Uatu, was always there, well … watching.

Spoilers ahead for What If…? season 3, including the finale.

Of course, Uata has been a major part of What If…? since its first episode, as he was the principal narrator, and yes, he even interfered in the multiverse for the first time in season 1 when he brought together an unlikely group of heroes to prevent the demise of humanity. Now, however, after the season 3 finale, it’s clear that What If…? has been Uata’s story of growth all along; the multiversal narratives we witnessed along the way were just a bonus.

The thing is, while I very much appreciated seeing more of Uatu’s personal history and his conflict with the Eminence—essentially, his boss and mentor—this shift in perspective has made me all the more hesitant to embrace What If…? fully.

There were times when I thought it was Marvel’s most daring and imaginative project and people were treating it too harshly; there were moments when I sincerely questioned what the writers were on when creating stories like season 3’s Darcy Lewis and Howard the Duck episode, and there were times when I thought, “Did anybody ask for this?” There are so many things to love about What If…? (I’m a particular fan of the episodes involving Stephen Strange), but now that it’s over, I get the sense that it never truly knew what it wanted to be, even if the writers did, seemingly, have a three-season arc in mind.

At first, it felt like this was simply meant to be an anthology show, but as soon as Captain Carter’s narrative stretched across multiple episodes, it became clear that was no longer the case. Then it felt like this might be her story—there was no universe she couldn’t travel to, no hero she couldn’t meet. Eventually, it seemed to become her story alongside Uatu’s, as they grew and changed together. Now, having seen the series finale, What If…? was clearly meant to be the Watcher’s story all along, as his affinity for humanity and its heroes grew to such an extent he couldn’t stop himself from intervening.

The problem with that is that What If…? didn’t truly feel like Uatu’s story until around the last 3 episodes of the show. Before that, he was always simply a guiding light in the darkness, a watchful presence in the background. This led to both the multiversal stories feeling incomplete—the short episode runtimes certainly didn’t help—and Uatu’s character arc feeling rushed and oddly sudden. Instead of choosing one or the other, Marvel opted to include both types of storytelling, and neither ever reached its true potential. I wanted more from the multiversal stories and the characters they introduced and I wanted more for Uatu’s development, too. His claiming a name would have felt so much more powerful if it had been made clear from the start that he originally considered himself to be “no one” and how much that lack of identity affected him.

Now that What If…? has officially come to an end, I think I would have preferred it if the series made it clear that this was Uatu’s story from the beginning; if his inner conflict, turmoil, the importance of his oath, and his history with the Watchers had been a focal point from the start, rather than being explained at the end. The Watcher may have always been a part of What If…? but he didn’t truly become the main character until the very end. By then, it was too late, which is a shame, because the questions Uatu asks himself are incredibly compelling. Why does a being with such power feel so connected to humanity?

I’m guessing this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Uatu the Watcher; this is the start of a new part of his life, and he’ll likely show up in Avengers: Secret Wars or another major Multiverse Saga movie at some point, but until then, we’ll have to make do with what we were given. What If…? did plenty of things right, but I do feel it stumbled along the way, too.