After three seasons, the MCU’s first animated series What If…? has ended. The series marked Marvel’s first serious dive into the multiverse and its “endless stories”. What If…? acted mainly as an anthology series, giving the audience a small peek into the many different alternate realities throughout the multiverse. Marvel managed to use the expansion into the multiverse as a way to adapt the popular What If….? comic run that debuted in 1977. After some shaky reviews and mixed audience reactions, the decision was made to end What If…? after only three seasons. The question is: Does the final season of the series live up to the hype?
[Warning: spoilers for What If…? Season 3 are discussed below]
The third season of What If…? has a few redeeming qualities
With only an eight-episode final season, the series did not have a ton of time to wrap things up. Surprisingly, the show continues its trend of being an anthology series by dedicating the first six episodes to stand-alone stories. What If…Agatha went to Hollywood? gave the audience another chance to see an Eternal show up, as Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) co-stars in the episode with the popular character Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn). The pairing of Agatha and Kingo is the kind of odd combination the series needed more of, as Hahn and Nanjiani manage to find some minor chemistry together with such a short runtime.
What If…The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier? is by far one of the main highlights of the season. Right away, it feels as if these characters were made to share the screen, and gives fans a fun appetizer for 2025’s pairing of the Red Guardian and the Winter soldier in Thunderbolts. The episode also sees America Ferrera’s debut in the MCU, as she plays an original character who helps out Bill Foster (Lawrence Fishburne) in his hunt for the Red Guardian and the Winter Soldier. While this episode was fun and well written, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good if it weren’t for the chemistry between David Harbour and Sebastian Stan.
What If…Howard the Duck Got Hitched? Is, somehow, an enjoyable episode too. The premise behind the episode is absolutely ridiculous, but dare I say it delivers some of the chaos that the series probably needs. Darcy (Kat Dennings) and Howard the Duck (Seth Green) are now married and have a child, who happens to be in the process of hatching inside of an egg throughout the episode.
The main premise of the episode revolves around the parents trying to rescue their child/egg from almost every group of villains we’ve seen so far in the MCU. We see Loki and the ice giants, the Dark Elves, Thanos and the Black order, Zeus, The Grandmaster, Skrulls, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., and more. While the episode certainly won’t be for everyone, it undoubtedly features some of the chaos that fans wanted from What If…?
The final two episodes of the series felt like a somewhat fitting conclusion to the story. The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) features heavily in these final two episodes, along with the return of Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Kahorri (Devery Jacobs). These two episodes also debut the newest original character, Byrdie (Natasha Lyonne) who just so happens to be the daughter of Darcy and Howard the Duck from earlier in the season.
We also get what feels like Storm’s (Alison Sealy-Smith) first real appearance in the MCU. While Storm appeared heavily in X-Men 97, that series feels entirely self-contained and separate from the MCU. The Eminence (Jason Isaacs), who happens to be the leader of the Order of Watchers, makes an appearance as the antagonist of the season. The final two episodes revolve around the defeat of the Eminence and the salvation of the Watcher, who is imprisoned for interfering with realities. Overall, the series ends on somewhat of a high note and can at least be remembered for having a decent ending.
What If…? season 3 continues the series trend of below-average episodes
What If…The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers? was an incredibly boring episode of the series and mostly wastes some good appearances from Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Oscar Isaacs, and Simu Liu. The story feels like a really bland ripoff of Pacific Rim, seeing the Avengers fight in giant mech suits against giant gamma monsters. Overall, the episode just didn’t do it for me and goes on the list of very forgettable episodes from this series.
What If…The Emergence Destroyed the Earth? is also a bit of a let-down. While the public’s reaction to that episode has been decent, the writing in the episode felt slow and bland once again. It’s cool to see Mysterio return in the MCU, but the lack of Jake Gyllenhaal voicing the character sometimes makes Quentin Beck feel unrecognizable. Riri Williams'(Dominique Thorne) character arc is really the only redeemable aspect of the episode. Overall, the episode should have focused more on the Emergence itself and less on what comes after.
Most of the issues with What If…? revolve around poor writing, unfortunately. It’s also hard to get hooked on a series that is predominantly an episodic anthology series. While the show does have some plot lines that continue through the series, like Captain Carter, Supreme Strange and others, it would have been nice to see these characters getting involved in these episodic anthology episodes in a sort of “case of the week” type format. The Guardians of the Multiverse team had potential, but they mostly let go of that idea after season one. Overall, What If…? will likely be remembered as a mixed bag and somewhat of a letdown to most of the fandom.
What If…? is now streaming on Disney+. Did you enjoy this season? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus and @TheCosmicCircus.com on Bluesky!
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