Warning: This review contains spoilers. 

Marvel Studios announced it would produce its first animated show “What If…?” on Disney+ in April 2019. The show’s first season premiered on Aug. 11, 2021, with nine episodes. Season two came out on Dec. 22, 2023, with nine episodes; season three, the final season, premiered a year later with eight episodes.

The series intended to explore the vast multiverse created by the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and its spin-offs (Netflix and Disney+) to answer the pressing question: What if everything that happened in the Infinity Saga had gone differently? 

After watching the final season, I only have one question: What if Marvel Studios made a good multiversal story?

Season one was a valuable asset to the MCU’s continuity. The show explored thought-provoking alternatives to the Infinity Saga, making the live actions all the more commendable since these fan-favorite characters could’ve suffered far worse fates. 

For example, season one explored the ramifications of Peggy Carter getting the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, Stephen Strange losing his heart instead of his hands and T’Challa taking Peter Quill’s place in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The show took creativity to the next level by exploring outcomes I never thought of: if Thor and Loki weren’t brothers, if zombies plagued the Avengers’ world and — my personal favorite — a world without the Avengers, throwing the entire MCU off course and one where Ultron succeeds in the termination of the Avengers. 

This season had many enjoyable and fascinating choices. Seeing HYDRA kidnap Steve Rogers instead of Bucky Barnes, who has to save Rogers with Peggy, was an interesting role reversal. Thor and Loki’s brotherly relationship is one of the most iconic and angstiest relationships in the MCU, hence making them not have a traditional brotherly relationship was an exciting dynamic to explore in different mediums. It was also interesting to see how, brother or not, Loki would always be responsible for the Avengers’ assembling.

The world where Hank Pym killed the Avengers was like a comic book coming to life. It was intense, captivating and a novel idea for many fans. I kept debating whether HYDRA had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. earlier in the MCU or if Loki brutally killed the Avengers and outsmarted his live-action counterpart. The episode also organically presented a very different Avengers lineup.

I enjoyed the zombie and Ultron premises as they defended the MCU Avengers. Fans and characters in the films tend to criticize the Avengers whenever they make mistakes and the borderline destruction that comes with saving the world. But, when looking at the multiverse throughout the season, I find that other versions of fan-favorite characters endured much worse than what Marvel Studios did to them. Plus, they were interesting and directly applicable to the MCU.

The heart of season one is its feature of characters from the Infinity Saga — characters that fans have grown up with and cherished. Season one not only reunites characters I had missed from the inevitable “Avengers: Endgame,” with many actors reprising their roles, but it also features several callbacks to the Infinity Saga. It also brings together characters who have never interacted on screen. The action scenes are interesting, and the animation is smooth considering the characters’ varying activities. 

Season one is a 10/10 for its storytelling, visual art and personal intrigue. Season two is a five out of 10, and season three is drastically underwhelming, especially for the finale of a show whose premise preaches endless possibilities.

Season two’s exploration was far less interesting. I would’ve preferred to see more episodes about the Avengers and Spider-Man, exploring concepts such as if Pietro had survived “Avengers: Age of Ultron” or giving one of the movies a twist, as all of season one did. I would’ve been fine seeing an episode about the events of the other Disney+ shows, particularly “Wandavision” (2021), “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021), “Hawkeye” (2021) and “Ms. Marvel” (2022).

Instead, the only episode to feature all of the original Avengers wasn’t even about them. Instead, the episode was about whether Happy Hogan was turned into a monster and had to stop Justin Hammer from infiltrating the tower. There was barely any meaningful presence of the Avengers or the Guardians. No offense, but it’s boring. 

Give me action, vivid colors, fight scenes and characters I actually care about. That’s the heart of the MCU. 

Instead, the show brought the return of Super Soldier Peggy Carter and Native American hero Kahori to take down Supreme Strange, who had turned evil after saving the world and making up for his mistakes in season one. This rushed subarc suddenly discarded the series’ potential and didn’t make sense for the characters. I have no idea why Strange turned bad and why “What If…?” chose to continue Captain Carter’s storyline when there are so many other interesting storylines to explore. 

Season three’s final score is a two out of 10. Fan-favorite characters were underutilized and characters that respectfully, no one cares about, were front and center. I only enjoyed episodes one and three, “What If … The Hulk fought the Mech Avengers?” and “What If … The Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier?” 

These were the only two episodes that were meaningful to the multiverse and had consequences for the characters. Episode one allowed the newer characters of phase five to shine. Episode three brought back fan-favorite Bucky Barnes (voiced by his live-action actor Sebastian Stan) and finally gave a glimpse into the layered life of the Winter Soldier. It was nice to see the Red Guardian, the Winter Soldier, HYDRA and the Red Room explored more from the bits and pieces scattered throughout the MCU. 

As for the other episodes, they were either uninteresting or useless. 

Episode two had Agatha (“Wandavision” (2021) and “Agatha All Along” (2024)) in Hollywood, using show business (which for some strange reason Howard Stark is the leader of) to steal the Eternals’ power and defeat the Celestials, essentially a take on “Eternals” (2021). The only thing is that it makes zero sense. 

There’s no way Agatha would know about the Eternals or Celestials even if she lived long enough as a witch. On the off chance she did, there was no way she was able to beat them all and take their power. And, not only does she defeat Arishem, an actual Celestial, but all it takes for her to not take over the rest of the world is a speech from Kingo? The guy whose powers she was planning on stealing all episode long? I’m all for the impossibility of Marvel and superheroes, but there’s a limit. 

I tried to care about episodes five and six, “What If…The Emergence Destroyed the Earth?” and “What If…1872?” but I couldn’t. While the events were all logical, I had a hard time finishing the episodes. I didn’t really care for the characters, and the concepts seemed too out of touch for day-one MCU fans.

Episode five had numerous plot holes. In one episode, Mysterio from “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019) becomes a super tech genius amid the unexplained destruction of the world and controls what’s left of humanity. His ascension to power makes zero sense. He’s a Spider-Man villain, for crying out loud.

Furthermore, secondary characters from the Infinity Saga appeared, but there was no mention of the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. It just didn’t make sense to me that Riri Williams/Ironheart would be the one to lead a rebellion when we know nothing about her. Perhaps this was Marvel’s way of introducing it, but it was ineffective. I can name at least 10 MCU characters, primary and secondary, who would have been more fitting leads than her. 

Episode six was more enjoyable than five; however, it was still plain boring. It brought back Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop and made an argument about Chinese immigration in America but fell flat with many unanswered questions. I still do not understand what was up with the train used to hold the hostages and what the Hood’s (the episode’s villain) intention was. Plus, the episode’s initial introduction to Shang-Chi’s sister, Xu Xialing, as a victim is contradictory to her MCU counterpart who has an advanced fighting background. Later, it is revealed that she easily killed the Hood and took over the mantle. 

I’d much rather have “What If” deliver nine stand-alone episodes or fuse storylines neatly like season one instead of abrupt storyline shifts that take away from the whole point of the show: exploration. In one episode, Howard the Duck marries Darcy; I just don’t know who thought this was a worthwhile episode. They have a child together, Birdie, who aids in saving the Watcher from the other Watchers who want to remove him from interfering and helping the heroes in the many realities survive. Don’t ask me how any of that makes sense. I’m all for creative visions, but borderline bestiality is an odd choice. Then again, the possibilities are endless so who am I to judge? 

Season three’s sub-arc had potential, but it failed. It would have been interesting for the Watcher to prove how important these stories and characters were, referencing his speech in the finale of season one, but instead, Captain Carter returns (again, sigh). So does Kahhori from season two (again, sigh — nothing against her, but my season two hot take is the writers gave her a lot of power in the season two finale which was a rushed victory), Birdie (triple sigh), and for some reason, Storm who wielded Thor’s hammer to save the Watcher. The show ends with the four becoming Watchers, but Captain Carter sacrifices herself to defeat the Watchers. 

For a character who is overbearingly used, Captain Carter’s powers and fight scenes were too overpowered compared to the actual characters who had powers and struggled in the same fights. It felt rushed and didn’t make sense. There was no closure to the multiverse, and not that I needed a hint of what would come next, it would have been nice to allude to the multiverses previously explored, or at the very least, the mainstream Earth-616 one. I spent most of the episode wondering about Storm’s character, if anything. 

I would’ve much rather the Watcher’s “choice” of eight episodes be more valuable and insightful as in season one. In his overseeing, he explains why he chooses to intervene on occasion and expresses how he wants his heroes to succeed, which allows the viewer to have a more intimate feeling with both “What If…” and the live-action films. The season had so much potential for exploration; the X-Men, Avengers, SONY and Netflix characters could have been explored and crossed over. It’s a shame how quickly “What If…?” fell in quality and storytelling because it could’ve been a show that ran for years, taking viewers through various movies and phases of the MCU and answering the ultimate question: what if?

Final Score: 4.5/10