Marvel’s ‘What If…?’ Finds Its Footing in Season 2

What If…? season 1 was a mixed bag, with some raucously funny moments amidst a largely monotonous jumble of storylines. If you’re craving more Marvel stories but you’re feeling hesitant about season 2, you’ll be glad to hear that this time around, What If…? slows down, moves away from shuffling characters like playing cards, and focuses on telling some great stories.

The basic concept of What If…? is the same as last season. It’s an anthology series about familiar characters in alternate realities, exploring all the different paths each hero’s story could have taken if their reality had been altered. What if, for example, Peter Quill had been taken to his father Ego as a child, instead of growing up with the Ravagers? What if Tony Stark hadn’t made it back through the wormhole in The Avengers? The series is bursting with actors from the live action Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with Jeffrey Wright as Uatu the Watcher, who introduces each episode. However, the series also diverges from season 1 by introducing a completely new character, Kahhori (Devery Jacobs).

Although the episodes in the first half of the season are mostly self-contained, a longer storyline starts to come together in the second half—and that storyline is a continuation of the final episodes of season 1. Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) is as close to a main character as What If…? gets, and she’s just as fun and compelling as last season. It’s a treat to see her get the luxury of a longer story arc, especially after what happened to her variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Could live action Peggy come back again in Avengers: Secret Wars? A critic can dream.

Kahhori is also a fantastic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her episode, “What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?” is by far the standout of the season, and Jacobs (whom you’ll recognize as Elora Danan from Reservation Dogs) delivers a beautiful performance in both Mohawk and English.

Overall, most of the episodes are solid. Some of them tell intriguing self-contained stories. Others are just wild, goofy fun. Even the show’s pastiche comes from a place of love: there’s a Bladerunner episode and a Die Hard episode, plus nods to works as far flung as Hamlet and Robin Hood, but Marvel still makes each story its own. Even the show’s gags feel more grounded in character. (Well, most of them, anyway. Some of the comedy strains credulity, even in a multiverse.) The plots don’t always make a lot of sense—I mean, come on, it’s still a superhero show—but most of the episodes are coherent stories instead of just parades of variant characters. (Okay, we do get some parades of variants. Get ready to pause your screen a lot so you can squint at all of them.)

And that points to What If…?‘s true strength. Putting a familiar character in a slightly new role feels like a minor “what if.” The bigger and more interesting “what ifs” are the creation of whole new realities. What if an event 400 years ago changed the entire world? What if, in the multiverse, literally anything is possible?

The show still has its shortcomings, of course. The animation remains pretty lackluster. Despite Marvel’s Multiverse Saga, which is supposedly the whole point of What If…?, the show still doesn’t feel truly connected to all the reality-bending shenanigans happening elsewhere in the MCU. And the jokes don’t always land.

But What If…? has found its footing in season 2. It’s almost a shame that there’s only one season to go after this one. With Captain Carter, Strange Supreme, Kahhori, and other variants coming into their stride, I don’t want to say goodbye.

Marvel’s What If…? season 2 is dropping one episode a day on Disney+ from December 22 to December 30.

(featured image: Disney+)