The below review contains discussion of certain plot points of the premiere of What If…?, but no major spoilers. What If…? will start streaming on Disney+ on Aug. 11.
For a cinematic universe as tightly plotted as the MCU, Marvel’s What If…? presents some pretty exciting possibilities. With Disney+’s new streaming anthology, years and years of canon, character development, and interconnected stories can be totally ignored in favor of pondering what MCU history would look like if things changed ever so slightly. What If’s premiere episode may delight in proving the only rules of the show are that there are no rules, but there are some cracks in the foundation that could hurt the series going forward.
The showrunners chose a smart story to introduce viewers to What If’s conceit: how would history have been different if Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), not Steve Rogers (Josh Keaton), received Dr. Erskine’s super soldier serum? The birth of Captain America is as fundamental to the MCU as Tony Stark’s kidnapping, so it’s a good setting to demonstrate the ripple effects the smallest change can have (not that Endgame didn’t do the same thing.) This first episode doesn’t go as far afield as future episodes promise to, but that’s a strength here. Thirty minutes isn’t a lot of time to wrap your head around all the temporal tomfoolery inherent in an alt-history MCU story, so better to ease viewers in rather than pushing the limits right out of the gate. That means that while there are seismic changes happening in the story’s real-time, there’s not so much change that the deviations are distracting for more casual viewers.
One of the big draws of What If is that MCU actors are (mostly) expected to reprise their roles from the movies. But as any fan of animation will tell you, acting and voice acting are two very different things, so the quality of the performances is all over the place. On the one hand, you’ve got a very enthusiastic Hayley Atwell, who revels in Peggy’s newfound power and conveys plenty of depth in her scenes with star-crossed lover Steve Rogers. Likewise, it’s great to hear Ross Marquand get a crack at Red Skull before his gig as a disincorporated exposition ghost on Vormir. Jeffrey Wright feels well-cast in his MCU debut as The Watcher, What If’s narrator. Wright’s performance is delightfully Serlingesque and The Watcher’s oath to observe only and never interfere with cosmic proceedings presents an intriguing question to track through future episodes: what if The Watcher does get involved in how these stories play out?
But then, there’s MCU veterans like Sebastian Stan and Dominic Cooper, who seem unsure what they signed up for. Stan’s delivery borders on disinterested, Cooper’s on zaniness, and the tonal shifts happening based on who’s speaking in any given scene become distracting. Agent Carter fans will be delighted to know that Bradley Whitford returns to reprise his role as John Flynn, and there’s no love lost between him and Peggy. While there’s nothing egregiously wrong with Whitford’s performance, Flynn’s scenes with Peggy are really the only ones expressly written to hammer home the equality morality play that this first episode of What If presents. Flynn’s casual sexism comes off as over-the-top, even for the time period, and undercuts crucial moments of thematic groundlaying for the rest of the episode.
This all represents a gamble What If? is taking by preferring MCU vets to voice actors. A voice actor may have been able to give that character, and that dialogue, just enough nuance to help make the point. For proof, look no further than voice acting veteran Josh Keaton's take on Steve Rogers. Chris Evans is synonymous with Cap, and a decade of inspiring speeches and battlecries have cemented what his voice should sound like, so it’s especially impressive that Keaton’s performance as Steve feels totally cohesive with that expectation. With no super soldier serum, Steve remains the puny runt we meet at the beginning of The First Avenger, but Keaton is able to get all of Rogers’ multiverse-renowned heart across no problem, reminding us that the serum was never the source of Rogers' true power. It’s no easy balance to strike and it’ll be interesting to see how future episodes of What If handle the task.
Just as uneven voice acting holds the show back, What If’s animation style doesn’t always serve Peggy’s story. Over the years, Marvel Studios has been criticized for their films’ samey cinematography, more geared towards keeping the cinematic universe visually consistent rather than letting filmmakers go wild with their own styles. In the age of a multiversal MCU, that dynamic is baked into the animation, which feels like a 75/25 mix of MCU cinematography and modern 3D Disney animation more in line with their home releases than their theatrical ones, quality-wise. This look wholeheartedly favors the action beats over the plot ones. While What If’s first episode wastes no time getting Peggy super soldiered up, the dialogue scenes, which make up the bulk of the first half of the episode, feel stagnant, soft light pouring through windows be damned! Granted, this is a superhero show; it should be calibrated for action, but in an animated series where literally anything is possible, there are only so many traditionally blocked dialogue scenes that’ll hold your attention.
The adherence to MCU-style cinematography does provide some utility, though. Scenes which represent divergences from established canon are usually peppered with recreations of shots from their cinematic counterpart. Sure, you’ve got the hero shot of Peggy emerging from Erskine’s machine, but the less-significant moments, like Howard Stark removing his goggles as the machine winds down, do more to remind you of where you’re at in the grander MCU filmography than you may imagine. Though I flatout disliked What If’s look at first, Captain Carter’s first big fight — when the camera careens into the air with Peggy as she obliterates HYDRA soldiers — is a great showcase for the action potential of the show. Everything looks better during these high-octane action moments, and watching Peggy rush from aircraft to aircraft, with no sound other than some jaunty period jazz to serve as counterpoint, ends up being far more thrilling than a similar scene in the premiere of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
