After a very successful first season of ‘’What If…?’’, a second season was announced just a month after its premiere in late 2021. The first episode of season two hit Disney+ on Dec. 22 and episodes were released daily until Dec. 30.
‘’What if…?’’ is based on the Marvel comics but explores alternate timelines which are different from what you see on the movie screen. With the recent coming of a brand new season, we are flourished with new characters, stories and callbacks to the first season.
In the events of season one, a new fan favorite, ‘’The Watcher’’ (Jeffrey Wright) has risen on the scene and has established himself as the main character. The Watcher is an interdimensional being within the Marvel universe who can see through time and space and all the different realities that occur. The Watcher swore to an oath to never interfere with the realities he observes, but this is broken in the events at the end of season one. The Watchers’ actions have led to the events that occur in season two.
In the first episode of season 2 ‘’What if… Nebula joined the Nova Corps?’’, we are brought to a universe in which Ronan the Accuser succeeds against Thanos unlike in the main timeline where Thanos prevails. Nebula (Karen Gillan) was recruited by Nova Prime to join the Nova Corps in their fight against Ronan the Accuser. Five years later, after the planet Xandar is sealed off from the universe, Nebula was tasked in investigating the death of Yondu Udonta. Yondu had the codes to open up the planet’s defense system which would lead to havoc.
After discovering the existence of the codes, Nebula called on a certified criminal in Yon-Rogg to infiltrate the Xandarian system so they could delete the code file. Yon-Rogg would then turn on Nebula in the midst of the breach, and it would be revealed that Nova Prime was planning on giving the planet to Ronan the Accuser. Nebula would survive execution from Nova Prime, and would go on to create a team to stop her and her followers. After fighting back, Nebula and her team would defeat Nova Prime as well as destroy Ronan the Accusers fleet, which would restore life back on Xandar.
This episode was a compelling season opener setting a solid foundation for what is to come in the rest of the season.
Episode 3 (‘’What if… Happy Hogan saved Christmas’’) takes place on Christmas Eve within Stark Tower. Happy Hogan is Tony Stark’s head of security and he is tasked with organizing a holiday party as well as overseeing security. This would take a turn as Justin Hammer and his henchmen enter the Tower after breaking out from prison. In search of Bruce Banner’s blood, Hammer and his henchmen searched the tower until they came across Hogan protecting the last sample. During this act of heroism, Hogan would be injected with the blood sample causing him to turn into a purple version of the Hulk.
Hogan did his best to fight back, but he would be no match with the security systems down. Hogan quickly contacted Darcy Lewis who would try to reboot the tower’s systems, but she was then captured by Hammer’s men. It was now up to Hogan to take on the Hammer army, and he would end up victorious after defeating Hammer while he was using the Hulk-Buster Army. The Avengers would finally show up and praised Hogan for his efforts.
Overall, this was an enjoyable and diverting episode combining the factors of comedy and action.
The final episode follows the actions of Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch) who appeared in the first season. Strange destroyed his Universe in season 1 and is trying to resurrect it within this episode. Strange recruits Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) to help him restore his universe. Strange has been capturing ‘’Universe Killers’’ to add to his ‘’forge’’ which could help him bring back his universe and love Christine Palmer.
Carter was then sent on a mission by Strange to capture a variant named Kahhori. Kahhori revealed to Carter that Strange wa
s also trying to capture heroes, which would change Carter’s view and his following actions. Carter and Kahhori return to the forge and free all the captives before Strange could stop them. Carter and Strange would duke it out with the Universe on the line, and Carter took him down while sending every captive back to their home universe while restoring Strange’s universe even though he has died.
In the post-credits, Carter asked The Watcher if she could see the multiverse before she went home. The Watcher granted this request revealing Yggdrasil to Carter and the fans. Yggdrasil was shown at the end of Loki season two after Loki saved the Multiverse.
Overall, this season of ‘’What if…?’’ was a massive success. It does a great job mashing up Marvel plotlines to create their own stories. It also does a fantastic job representing our favorite Marvel characters in different scenarios we wouldn’t expect to see them in.
4.4/5
