Let's be real here, the mechs are probably gonna be toys and the individual stories from each episode are just basic setups to have it all culminate in the end
I'm pretty sure there are already Mech Avengers toys for little kids; maybe they were in another cartoon or something, but this felt like a familiar concept adapted for 'WI?'
It’s literally going to be all Hollywood movie genre tropes this ENTIRE season. I wanted What If “a different choice within a previous plot” type of a show. Like, What If Spiderman never met Ironman.
You can't deny that Bruce and Sam's dynamic and conversations were the highlight of that episode. On top of that, it's nice to see more phase 4 and 5 characters in this alternate universe where basically the MCU quickly got these "newcomers" assembled as our new avengers.
Episode 1 annoyed me. It reminded me how great Sam Wilson is as Cap and as a counsellor and it really annoyed me that it’s been nearly four years since he’s made an appearance in anything. Such a wasted opportunity
I think episodes like the first episode need more time. the beats they want to hit in the pace it’s going doesn’t fit. This is why “What if the other half got snapped” would never be executed as a 9-10/10, because simply the scope requires time.
Honestly the issue with what if the other half got snapped is that that would include thanos so it would just be a whole episode on figuring out how to do the snap since they don’t really need to get the guantlet
I’m not sure if it’s because of X-Men 97, but three episodes in, and I feel like the quality of these episodes just feels so poor in contrast to previous seasons? I hope the later half of the season is more exciting/better written, but I understand why the show is ending now. What If to me is the best example of wasted potential
What If...? as a boring pseudo anthology (NO anthology (animated OR live-action) with 26 episodes should have less than 12 directors. The actual director count on What If...? is 2. LOL.) has 3 seasons. Ms. Marvel, the Marvel show that COULD get a second season that most warrants it, is still stuck at one.
It kinda annoyed me how the show marketed itself as exploring alternate timelines and the effects differently made choices would have had on the mcu but then it's mostly stuff like *what if black panther was someone else* and *what if killmonger and iron man were best buds*
SOME of the concepts are neat but they are never given the time or animation to be fully realized. I think the only episode I’ve liked was that really sad Doctor Strange one.
Episode 1 was definitely a bomb. Everyone gets robots because they couldn’t think of a better way to fight Hulk gremlins? At least make each the equivalent of when they Voltroned together. All they really needed to do was use Pym particles to shrink tanks and sprinkle in their food, then expand inside them.
6:28 seeing Kingo and Agatha together felt so goood their chemistry together felt like a no duh sort of thing like they were made for each other with all their energy, I LOVED IT!
"the dancing is kind of stiff, but thats really hard to do in this medium" You say that like 3d animated models dancing isn't a massive industry in japan
Lol agreed what a cope Art style in these shows is abysmal and they just can’t be bothered to make the animations better or character models not look bloody horrifying
There are so many what if stories this show could’ve done. Like obviously the most requested one has been “What if the other half blipped” and that could’ve easily been a two parter finale to a season and fans would’ve been so happy. I personally would’ve also loved to see “What if Ego settled down on Earth” “What if The Starks lived?” (This one we’ve kind of gotten, but we only focused on Red Guardian and Bucky) “What if Captain Carter retired” I know a lot of people are annoyed with how much Peggy we’ve gotten lately, but I personally would’ve also like to see an episode that shows her story end nicely like we saw Steve’s story end in endgame “What if Tony Stark was Sorcerer Supreme?” “What if Peter Parker was never bitten by the spider?” “What if Jake Lockley took control?” “What if Shang Chi was the Winter Soldier?” And lastly “What if Kang Won”
Me: I think you're being too harsh! The episodes have been fun and interesting imo Also me: ...okay I legitimately need to see every single one of the episodes you just suggested 😅
@@317cmrogers there are so many what if concepts that connect to the MCU as it stands right now so many people would love to see. “What if the Eternals intervened” “What if Wanda watched Musicals instead of Sitcoms” “What if Ultron never failed?” “What if Loki Beat the Avengers?” “What if Thor grew up with Hela?” “What if The Eternals learned the Mystic Arts?” “What if Gorr completed his mission?”
Because it's not like he actually meets Sam Wilson first(he meets a lot of other people before Sam in both this timeline and the original one) and the Hulk isn't actually destroyed.When the Gamma Apex splits from his body, he's still the Hulk
Episode 2 was honestly a good watch because of the Eternals, I just wish that Agatha didn't change her personality so quickly, I was totally expecting it to end on a bad note and she'd destroy the planet or take it over
Present day Agatha for sure would do that,but this is an past Agatha that instead of doing magic in London,she goes to America to try to become a star(probably because of this,she never meets lady Death)
Thought Ep1 was kind of boring. Ep2 was fun with Kathryn Hahn hamming it up. One complaint was that the backup dancers was so copy pasted, not only was it just one model, but they very perfectly synched as well. Ep3 was fun with David Harbour hamming it up. Though the ending was very rushed.
I had to adjust my brain to deal with such a cartoonish Red Guardian. I mostly like the animation style, but this was definitely an episode that could have benefited from a less "realistic" approach. I'd accept Red Guardian's cartoonish portrayal more if the visuals felt more cartoonish.
The prime eternal is always in the know. As Agatha kidnapped more and more of them the mantle was passed down repeatedly to all of of them which is why he knows. Or at least that was my assumption
thats every season of what if. each ep is a different theme, character and tone (?) (all mcu products have the same tone lets keep it real; they just lean more in one direction to make it fit whatever genre they are pretending to be (doc strange 2 with horror. the marvels with musicals. etc but they never FULLY commit to the thing)
The second episode would have been better if Kingo gave his speech, then Agatha just conqueres The Earth anyway. The Agatha from All Along would not have turned face that easily. Episode Three, with Red Guardian and The Winter Soldier was fun. I feel like it suffered the same pacing issues every episode suffers from though. Edit: I still can't believe one of the important characters from episode three was that random forest ranger Bill Foster meets. Just some random unnamed character.
She was named Morales though, no? Am I imagining things, I'm pretty sure she said her name was sheriff Morales. Given the timeframe she's probably Miles' grandma or something, given that we know Aaron Davis is already a canon character from Homecoming.
Except this Agatha isn't the one from Agatha all Along.This Agatha had probably never meet Lady Death and She doesn't really have a reason to conquer earth.Like conquering Earth won't give her more power than she already has and she really enjoyed being an actress
@@petrenicolae3282 I mean, we can all have our own head canon. For me, that doesn't really work because her whole reason for being in Hollywood was to do grand rituals and gain power. But if it works for you, that's great.
Thinking of interesting no one had trough about them what if's and making them good is harder.Like the The Doctor Strange one where the divergence is him and Cristine still being together,instead of the original timeline where they are not together anymore or The Star Lord T'challa is basically Yondu taking the wrong child(a child who didn't fear him) and the 80's Avengers one is Yondu actually delivering Peter Quill tonEgo. He'll, even the Captain Carter what if has its own big differences(we get them in a sequel episode in season 2,sure but it still had big differences)Wasp being one of the original Avengers, HYDRA never infiltrating SHIELD,Bucky living a decent-ish life,The Red Room being destroyed earlier than in the original timeline.
To add to the whole rushed vibe of the mech episode, a couple of years ago when What If season 2 was in development, a three-four minute storyboard leaked of one of the episodes for said season, that featured the Avengers in mechs, but whats interesting here is that none of the characters featured in the end product are in that storyboard. The line-up of Avengers with mechs consisted of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Iron Heart, (and Scarlet Witch is also there and seems to be important but it is unclear if she had a mech or not), but what this has in common with the end product is that it also featured Hulk becoming giant and fighting the big monster, which was not the Apex, but actually Surtur, and the fight ended with the mechs forming around giant Hulk like an armor and the fight going to space, where Hulk sacrifices himself to save everyone, again, like in the end product. Season 2 of What If famously had a troubled production, and it is speculated (basically confirmed now) that many episodes were planned but they didn't finish them in time, and one of them was the mech episode. This is why, the day the final episode of season 2 aired, they also released a clip of the Bucky/Red Guardian episode of Season 3, fully animated and voice acted. A full year away from it releasing. Snippets from that episode can be seen in the shards of glass from the intro to season 2, which is, again, confirmation that it was supposed to be in Season 2, but they just didn't have it in time, or they did had it, but felt it best to just wait on it? Point is, this mech episode clearly was not like this and was reworked completely from the original idea, which is why the line-up we ended up with is so lame in comparison to the other one. Marvel probably just wanted to give these phase 4 characters a boost, logic be damned. That storyboard is still up on YT, so you should go see it if you haven't already. It's way cooler than what we got.
My favourite thing about this season so far is that it puts the Agent Carter show back into the canon. Gives me hope that they'll maybe make season 3 one day.
I really did not care for episode 1 at all, but episode 2 really worked for me. It leans into the shows strengths and even weaknesses in a way that suits that premise. But man I *hated* episode 3.
I kinda watch What If for the actual what if idea normally, and The whole...reallly tame toku reference stuff was boring, but i'll say Episode 3 really hellped me a lot. Red Guardian is a utter delight. Ive always loved him as a character, and Thunderbolts* looks really great due to his inclusion, but the What If really cemented why he's such a goofy idea in the MCU in a way im actually okay with. I kinda don't mind the weirdness of tone and scale of the season, because so far it's felt a lot more interesting with what we have.
In episode 1 Sam Wilsons character found its emotional center again, and in retrospect that is what has been missing since Civil War. After Cap aged out in end game and Falcon and Winter Soldier felt hollow until Isiah Bradley was introduced Sam’s character still didn’t feel fully fleshed out. Episode 1 did give me hope that that emotional center will return to his character arc. Episode 2 was fantastic in showing the possible and unending power taking capabilities of Agatha and hinted at the eventual showdown between Agatha and Death.
I really had the same thoughts about the first episode, didn’t love it at all, all those mechs and most characters didn’t have any character at all. It feels like Shang Chi and Moon Knight, who are two of my favorite additions from phase 4, only have lines that could have been said by anyone else except that one Konshu reference, and they weirdly looked much less like Simu Liu and Oscar Isaac than Monica Rambeau, so there was almost no recognition value for them
thank you for echoing my thoughts back at me! I couldn't figure out who all was in the mech Avengers roster until way too late (when Moon Knight said "Khonshu..." and Shang-Chi used his rings in the big battle), probably because they weren't named and had different costumes than we've seen them in. Trying to pull Eternals lore from the depths it had sunk into was tough, and yeah it seems like this is a very different universe if they knew about the celestial egg that early - and were actively protecting it. The dancing was stiff and poses were awkward, like they didn't have anyone with knowledge of dance to correct wonky animations. Arishem really reminded me of Eva Unit 02; Agatha's celestial look will be great for a Marvel Rivals skin.
Merry Christmas - Episode 3 sparked an idea for a MCU movie: The Red Guardian & The Winter Soldier. Shot in black and white with a Logan-esque tone and set in the year before the events of Cap 2, Alexei and Bucky are sent on a mission by the Russian government to America (I’ll leave it up to you to decide what). Movie ends with Bucky being brainwashed again, similar to the end of the What If episode, and sent on the mission to confront Cap. An interesting corner of the MCU not yet explored!
My understanding of the Eternals thing was that Kingo became the Prime Eternal after Agatha took the powers from the other Eternals, in which case Arishem would have told him the plan
Ep 1: Pacific Voltron and Hulkzilla vs. Generic kaiju. Why is it so difficult to animate Sebastian Stan? Anthony Mackie still kills it as the best councilor in the MCU. Ep. 2: why is the Witch using other characters powers? Why is there dancing but no singing when you have Kathryn Hahn? What does alien robots have to do with the witch Agatha Harkness?
6:54 My biggest disappointment with Eternals was they didn't take the chance to insert them into MCU prehistoric moments. A scene of Gilgamesh helping Thor protect the hidden Tesseract. A scene of Makkari trying to get the 10 Rings but withdraw when they see it is too late. A different perspective that shows Phastos was one of Dr Erskines lab assistant on the day Captain America was made. Don't derail the story but choose different things to spend time on than they did.
I was super excited for episode 1 of this season for one reason and one reason only: Moon Knight. I was SO excited to see him more here!! I wanted to know how he met the team, how he met the avengers, what the others thought of his relationship with Konshu, the interactions with Steven, stuff like that. I was there for the character interactions, and I was disappointed- there wasn't a lot of that. but from what I saw, I feel like it wasn't the writer's fault. I think what if could be/have been really good if the episodes were longer and had more time to develop their concepts. I like the idea of just letting the writers write what they want to write.- that's how you get good stuff. Luckily, as a Fnaf and Pokemon fan, I am no stranger to filling in the gaps myself. I spent a solid hour after watching imagining how Marc and Konshu got involved and I very much enjoyed it. And his mech was SO COOL. So cool.
Problem with the mech episode is I feel it would have benefit far better outsourcing the episode to an animation studio in Japan, hell I feel What If would been better if it was more akin to Love Death Robots and Star Wars Visions when it’s different animation styles each episodes
The premises of the what if comic books were so good. Sad there not doing crazier concepts. Also sad COVID made them cut the episodes down from an hour each:(
Honestly, they should've just made this series straight up anthologies without any real connections to each other. Random stories without crossing over. More time to be more creative and not needing to end the series with a big final battle or whatever.
0:59 Why didn't they call him the Titan or the Devil Hulk? Is it so hard to make a comic book reference to darker Hulk personalities? Do the writers simply not read comics?
Because then people would complain about how it's not exactly like the comic book character so just embracing it as an original concept is easier. They already made a reference with the Island Bruce was on being from the comics I don't think they just don't care.
I feel like the dialogue this season so far has been non-stop quips and jokes. I imagine this is what people that hate the MCU think the MCU is written. "Oh he's behind me isn't it", "Well that just happened" type of dialogue. Also this show is visually is way too glossy for me, it looks like the 'camera' is smeared in vaseline, the bloom and glare is out of this world it looks like The Hobbit movies with its shininess. I dunno maybe seasons 1 and 2 were like this I forget but so far this season hasn't been for me and I'm an MCU die-hard. It doesn't feel like these guys are making the most of the premise.
I feel like we're overthinking the concept of putting the Avengers in mechs to punch giant monsters here? I don't know, the mech episode was a blast and had a real "just go with it" vibe for me.
Somehow a CGI animated show that has the budget from Disney/Marvel themselves can’t execute mecha as hard as a random weekly mecha anime show in the 90s
My biggest gripe with episode 1 is that they're obviously taking heavy inspiration from Gundam (the fusion + show vibes are more voltron etc. but the red chin on the "main" mechs is very much a Gundam reference, Bucky's mech has Zaku elements even) and Godzilla (Banner even does the atomic laser at some point) and the big deus ex that turns the battle is.... a nuclear bomb. Taking into account the history/context/message of both of the series' it's beyond tone deaf
I still wish they'd just rework this show's concept and do animated what if movies kinda like DC does. Besides the season 1 stuff with Ultron I just don't like the format of it being a show with short episodes that try to have some form of continuity for no reason. They could also pick better scenarios too. What if has a lot of potential but I don't think it works well in its current format.
Yeah that first episode was rough. I'm a fan of Power Rangers and Godzilla even when it's campy and terrible (which the former often is) but it just didn't work here. The split hulk thing was just too weird and the writing was very "and then" instead of "therefore" or "because". And yeah the mechs looked very samey the whole time and I felt like the slide show exposition had better mech designs that captured the character of the pilots more than the fully modeled and animated ones did. The cut and paste mole men hulks also just felt like Rita's putties, but big and less fun.
I find it kind of hilarious that they straight-up gave at least one of the mechs a Gundam face, sometimes I wonder if Disney forgets they don't own literally everything.
There are a billion CCP funded Chinese mech toys looks almost exactly like some worse version of Gundam, if those are OK then this one is absolutely fine.
the first episode, just made me want a hulk mini series. I mean we have seen so much of his characeter developement and advenures occur off screen. why not do it on screen, in an animiated series.?
Was I the only one who found the what if episode 1 to be just disturbing? I mean if you don’t think about the mecha and monsters but focus on the characters , you realized just how big of an ego they have and are just completely badly written. Like Bruce separated himself from the hulk then what? Leave to live in an island alone while forgetting the thousands of people died due to the hulk monster he caused? Then when Sam comes to recruit him to help him, what does he do? Just gives him a hard drive that apparently he was just waiting for someone to come and get it? Also like Bruce didn’t want to help cause he was just so petty that he focused on himself feeling bad and not the hundreds of people that died due to his stupidity, like gut over yourself, Spider-Man doesn’t take a day off and the writers literally put him through hell yet that doesn’t stop him from being a hero.
i thought the Sam being a conselor to Bruce was a good idea and made sense i loved the talk they had together i liked the idea of the mechs and the Hulk making other monsters i think i still liked the episode, but not really as much, I'm still glad they made it i think you made a good point about mech personalities and the utility of what each one does you could be right about maybe not having enough time to plan out what each did also it slipped my mind that both Shang-Chi and Thor fought giant monsters but i don't think it would've looked as cool visually if they didn't have mechs
The animation in Episode 2 really held it back. Watching a bunch of stiff 3D models get copy-pasted into a dance routine is really unpleasant to watch.
1 is not my cup of tea but good enough, I always love a dive into Banners' fractured psyche. Love that and we dont get nearly enough. Ep 2 was absolutely wasted energy on every single artists and actors part. Episode 3 I quite enjoyed. But as much as I LOVED Agatha, that was a terrible idea for a story. To me, of course
Banner just wouldn't have given up against Hulks. That part was just bad. Yeah he came around, but his years-long pity party, as his friends died to his monster, would never happen.
Bra,, it’s call What If,, why are you critiquing this that much,,it’s supposed to be off base,, y’all just looking for something to complain about,, real clown shit.
The singing dancing “broadway” episode of shows is a bit overdone now. It’s been 20 years. I know it makes the theater kid and gay community happy, but it’s becoming a kind of cliche.
As somebody who absolutely hated season 2 and didn’t like most of season 1, season 3 is not doing anything to redeem the show for me lmao. Cannot wait for it to finally be over
"As someone who hates things I cant wait to stop hating things" Sad existence bro. Just don't watch it if you don't like. Takes a really weird kind of person to force themselves to watch TV they hate.
Please do a review for SECRET LEVEL in Amazon Prime Video, it's also an anthology series with each episode based on different games but the animation is far better than What If
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like this season has been off so far especially compared to season 2. I would normally enjoy Agatha but the whole 1940/50’s Hollywood vibe is just bleh. I thought the mechs would be more interesting but I felt nothing. Maybe it’s just me but so far I couldn’t get into the episodes. Hopefully the rest are better.
Let's be real here, the mechs are probably gonna be toys and the individual stories from each episode are just basic setups to have it all culminate in the end
I'm pretty sure there are already Mech Avengers toys for little kids; maybe they were in another cartoon or something, but this felt like a familiar concept adapted for 'WI?'
Haven't seen the episode but did they give Spiderman his mech leopards? If not that is some wasted potential right their.
You mean like every other show in existence?
It’s literally going to be all Hollywood movie genre tropes this ENTIRE season. I wanted What If “a different choice within a previous plot” type of a show. Like, What If Spiderman never met Ironman.
You can't deny that Bruce and Sam's dynamic and conversations were the highlight of that episode. On top of that, it's nice to see more phase 4 and 5 characters in this alternate universe where basically the MCU quickly got these "newcomers" assembled as our new avengers.
I loved their dynamic too, but it feels off that the episode billed as "Gundam but Marvel" really ignores the gundams.
@@vincentmatamoros1757Voltron, Gundam, Godzilla, and introducing new Avengers is allot to cram into 30 minutes.
Episode 1 annoyed me. It reminded me how great Sam Wilson is as Cap and as a counsellor and it really annoyed me that it’s been nearly four years since he’s made an appearance in anything. Such a wasted opportunity
True they should've made it more focused on him this had many things
agree
Though Anthony Mackie has been working, but yeah, I would like to see Sam again. He's cool.
Okay what the hell. You just got me to look up the release date of Falcon and the Winter Soldier.... Early 2021. The hell did that time go.
I think episodes like the first episode need more time. the beats they want to hit in the pace it’s going doesn’t fit.
This is why “What if the other half got snapped” would never be executed as a 9-10/10, because simply the scope requires time.
@@ItsGalex they could do a three episode parts
Exactly it should've have two or three episodes because a lot was supposed to be answered
Honestly the issue with what if the other half got snapped is that that would include thanos so it would just be a whole episode on figuring out how to do the snap since they don’t really need to get the guantlet
I’m not sure if it’s because of X-Men 97, but three episodes in, and I feel like the quality of these episodes just feels so poor in contrast to previous seasons? I hope the later half of the season is more exciting/better written, but I understand why the show is ending now. What If to me is the best example of wasted potential
What If...? as a boring pseudo anthology (NO anthology (animated OR live-action) with 26 episodes should have less than 12 directors. The actual director count on What If...? is 2. LOL.) has 3 seasons. Ms. Marvel, the Marvel show that COULD get a second season that most warrants it, is still stuck at one.
POOR HOW?
The what if episodes still looks great.I guess that X-Men 97 just made you spoiled,that's all.
@@petrenicolae3282 They look ok.
For a “What if?” Show, it’s weird how unimaginative the episodes are. Like, hardly of them are interesting. 😒
Seriously i dont get it.
It kinda annoyed me how the show marketed itself as exploring alternate timelines and the effects differently made choices would have had on the mcu but then it's mostly stuff like *what if black panther was someone else* and *what if killmonger and iron man were best buds*
SOME of the concepts are neat but they are never given the time or animation to be fully realized. I think the only episode I’ve liked was that really sad Doctor Strange one.
@sapphicgal3245 Right, I understand the movies are kinda limited, but this shouldn't be. Maybe I'm wrong, idk
@sapphicgal3245 the killmonger with iron man makes sense bcuz it showed how he planned everything to destroy wakanda
Episode 1 was definitely a bomb. Everyone gets robots because they couldn’t think of a better way to fight Hulk gremlins? At least make each the equivalent of when they Voltroned together. All they really needed to do was use Pym particles to shrink tanks and sprinkle in their food, then expand inside them.
6:28
Howard Stark reminded me of Varrick from Legend of Korra
i just loved his enthusiastic energy ❤
6:28
seeing Kingo and Agatha together felt so goood
their chemistry together felt like a no duh sort of thing like they were made for each other with all their energy, I LOVED IT!
Two larger than life characters bouncing pff of each other is always amazing.
I just felt that such a musical number is WASTED on animation. Imagine a Bollywood directed dance scene in a live action MCU!
"the dancing is kind of stiff, but thats really hard to do in this medium"
You say that like 3d animated models dancing isn't a massive industry in japan
Lol agreed what a cope
Art style in these shows is abysmal and they just can’t be bothered to make the animations better or character models not look bloody horrifying
There are so many what if stories this show could’ve done. Like obviously the most requested one has been “What if the other half blipped” and that could’ve easily been a two parter finale to a season and fans would’ve been so happy. I personally would’ve also loved to see
“What if Ego settled down on Earth”
“What if The Starks lived?” (This one we’ve kind of gotten, but we only focused on Red Guardian and Bucky)
“What if Captain Carter retired” I know a lot of people are annoyed with how much Peggy we’ve gotten lately, but I personally would’ve also like to see an episode that shows her story end nicely like we saw Steve’s story end in endgame
“What if Tony Stark was Sorcerer Supreme?”
“What if Peter Parker was never bitten by the spider?”
“What if Jake Lockley took control?”
“What if Shang Chi was the Winter Soldier?”
And lastly “What if Kang Won”
Just thought of another one, “What if The Ancient One had the Ten Rings?”
Me: I think you're being too harsh! The episodes have been fun and interesting imo
Also me: ...okay I legitimately need to see every single one of the episodes you just suggested 😅
@@317cmrogers there are so many what if concepts that connect to the MCU as it stands right now so many people would love to see. “What if the Eternals intervened” “What if Wanda watched Musicals instead of Sitcoms” “What if Ultron never failed?” “What if Loki Beat the Avengers?” “What if Thor grew up with Hela?” “What if The Eternals learned the Mystic Arts?” “What if Gorr completed his mission?”
Loved this Agatha Harkness episode felt so natural
and it was super fun
Why wasn't the first episode just called "What if Bruce Banner met Sam Wilson first" or "What if Bruce Banner destroyed the Hulk"
Because it's not like he actually meets Sam Wilson first(he meets a lot of other people before Sam in both this timeline and the original one) and the Hulk isn't actually destroyed.When the Gamma Apex splits from his body, he's still the Hulk
Or what if the hulk became Godzilla?
I geninely just thought that the only reason the mech episode existed was so LEGO could have more marvel mechs to sell on mass
Can we agree episode 3 is great
Yes. My word David Harbour LOVES that role!
Episode 3 came out today, and all things considered, without spoiling anything, I had a lot of fun with it. More so than 1.
"What if" should be called "These stories have no stakes."
welcome to modern marvel
That's how most What If? Comics are, though
You didn't see the Happy Die Hard ep?
> The threat of a war with 1000 godzillas
> The celestial awakening
@@fantasticbirdblue > And none of them matter after 22 minutes
Episode 2 was honestly a good watch because of the Eternals, I just wish that Agatha didn't change her personality so quickly, I was totally expecting it to end on a bad note and she'd destroy the planet or take it over
Present day Agatha for sure would do that,but this is an past Agatha that instead of doing magic in London,she goes to America to try to become a star(probably because of this,she never meets lady Death)
Thought Ep1 was kind of boring.
Ep2 was fun with Kathryn Hahn hamming it up. One complaint was that the backup dancers was so copy pasted, not only was it just one model, but they very perfectly synched as well.
Ep3 was fun with David Harbour hamming it up. Though the ending was very rushed.
I had to adjust my brain to deal with such a cartoonish Red Guardian. I mostly like the animation style, but this was definitely an episode that could have benefited from a less "realistic" approach. I'd accept Red Guardian's cartoonish portrayal more if the visuals felt more cartoonish.
The prime eternal is always in the know. As Agatha kidnapped more and more of them the mantle was passed down repeatedly to all of of them which is why he knows. Or at least that was my assumption
thats every season of what if. each ep is a different theme, character and tone (?) (all mcu products have the same tone lets keep it real; they just lean more in one direction to make it fit whatever genre they are pretending to be (doc strange 2 with horror. the marvels with musicals. etc but they never FULLY commit to the thing)
The second episode would have been better if Kingo gave his speech, then Agatha just conqueres The Earth anyway. The Agatha from All Along would not have turned face that easily.
Episode Three, with Red Guardian and The Winter Soldier was fun. I feel like it suffered the same pacing issues every episode suffers from though.
Edit: I still can't believe one of the important characters from episode three was that random forest ranger Bill Foster meets. Just some random unnamed character.
Yeah, I had a lot of trouble buying the feel-good ending for 2. It's too bad, because I enjoyed myself a lot otherwise.
She was named Morales though, no? Am I imagining things, I'm pretty sure she said her name was sheriff Morales. Given the timeframe she's probably Miles' grandma or something, given that we know Aaron Davis is already a canon character from Homecoming.
Except this Agatha isn't the one from Agatha all Along.This Agatha had probably never meet Lady Death and She doesn't really have a reason to conquer earth.Like conquering Earth won't give her more power than she already has and she really enjoyed being an actress
@@petrenicolae3282
I mean, we can all have our own head canon. For me, that doesn't really work because her whole reason for being in Hollywood was to do grand rituals and gain power.
But if it works for you, that's great.
Guys, it's not that hard to think of what if events. Like What if Cap was found earlier or something.
Thinking of interesting no one had trough about them what if's and making them good is harder.Like the
The Doctor Strange one where the divergence is him and Cristine still being together,instead of the original timeline where they are not together anymore or The Star Lord T'challa is basically Yondu taking the wrong child(a child who didn't fear him) and the 80's Avengers one is Yondu actually delivering Peter Quill tonEgo.
He'll, even the Captain Carter what if has its own big differences(we get them in a sequel episode in season 2,sure but it still had big differences)Wasp being one of the original Avengers, HYDRA never infiltrating SHIELD,Bucky living a decent-ish life,The Red Room being destroyed earlier than in the original timeline.
First few episodes are popcorn faire. I hope they finish on a good note. Merry Christmas, Nando.
Kingo and Agatha the only two characters with egos that could rival a stark
To add to the whole rushed vibe of the mech episode, a couple of years ago when What If season 2 was in development, a three-four minute storyboard leaked of one of the episodes for said season, that featured the Avengers in mechs, but whats interesting here is that none of the characters featured in the end product are in that storyboard.
The line-up of Avengers with mechs consisted of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Iron Heart, (and Scarlet Witch is also there and seems to be important but it is unclear if she had a mech or not), but what this has in common with the end product is that it also featured Hulk becoming giant and fighting the big monster, which was not the Apex, but actually Surtur, and the fight ended with the mechs forming around giant Hulk like an armor and the fight going to space, where Hulk sacrifices himself to save everyone, again, like in the end product.
Season 2 of What If famously had a troubled production, and it is speculated (basically confirmed now) that many episodes were planned but they didn't finish them in time, and one of them was the mech episode. This is why, the day the final episode of season 2 aired, they also released a clip of the Bucky/Red Guardian episode of Season 3, fully animated and voice acted. A full year away from it releasing.
Snippets from that episode can be seen in the shards of glass from the intro to season 2, which is, again, confirmation that it was supposed to be in Season 2, but they just didn't have it in time, or they did had it, but felt it best to just wait on it?
Point is, this mech episode clearly was not like this and was reworked completely from the original idea, which is why the line-up we ended up with is so lame in comparison to the other one. Marvel probably just wanted to give these phase 4 characters a boost, logic be damned.
That storyboard is still up on YT, so you should go see it if you haven't already. It's way cooler than what we got.
My favourite thing about this season so far is that it puts the Agent Carter show back into the canon. Gives me hope that they'll maybe make season 3 one day.
I’ve been surprised by all the episodes so far. Really enjoyed each of them
Episode 1: we have ONE shot to make the Avengers assemble another way. I know... VOLTRON!
I really did not care for episode 1 at all, but episode 2 really worked for me. It leans into the shows strengths and even weaknesses in a way that suits that premise.
But man I *hated* episode 3.
I seriously thought episode 3 was by and far the weakest of any of the episodes, and this season has been disappointing overall so far.
Celestial Agatha looked like a Final Fantasy boss. Loved it!
so was the first episode a Pacific Rim rip off or Gundam/Voltron
Yes 🤣
It was a reference to me and your mom in the sheets😮😊
Yes
Yes
I kinda watch What If for the actual what if idea normally, and The whole...reallly tame toku reference stuff was boring, but i'll say Episode 3 really hellped me a lot. Red Guardian is a utter delight. Ive always loved him as a character, and Thunderbolts* looks really great due to his inclusion, but the What If really cemented why he's such a goofy idea in the MCU in a way im actually okay with. I kinda don't mind the weirdness of tone and scale of the season, because so far it's felt a lot more interesting with what we have.
why does monica need a mech is a better question. she is a light god.
Prolly not in that timeline
You may have not noticed the lack of Wanda in the episode
In episode 1 Sam Wilsons character found its emotional center again, and in retrospect that is what has been missing since Civil War. After Cap aged out in end game and Falcon and Winter Soldier felt hollow until Isiah Bradley was introduced Sam’s character still didn’t feel fully fleshed out. Episode 1 did give me hope that that emotional center will return to his character arc.
Episode 2 was fantastic in showing the possible and unending power taking capabilities of Agatha and hinted at the eventual showdown between Agatha and Death.
I always thought of What if as Marvel's way of test driving MCU concepts like "Evil Doctor Strange" or "Captain Carter".
they should’ve made the avengers into talking transformers robots. It would’ve actually been interesting for their characters
I really had the same thoughts about the first episode, didn’t love it at all, all those mechs and most characters didn’t have any character at all. It feels like Shang Chi and Moon Knight, who are two of my favorite additions from phase 4, only have lines that could have been said by anyone else except that one Konshu reference, and they weirdly looked much less like Simu Liu and Oscar Isaac than Monica Rambeau, so there was almost no recognition value for them
thank you for echoing my thoughts back at me!
I couldn't figure out who all was in the mech Avengers roster until way too late (when Moon Knight said "Khonshu..." and Shang-Chi used his rings in the big battle), probably because they weren't named and had different costumes than we've seen them in.
Trying to pull Eternals lore from the depths it had sunk into was tough, and yeah it seems like this is a very different universe if they knew about the celestial egg that early - and were actively protecting it. The dancing was stiff and poses were awkward, like they didn't have anyone with knowledge of dance to correct wonky animations. Arishem really reminded me of Eva Unit 02; Agatha's celestial look will be great for a Marvel Rivals skin.
Merry Christmas - Episode 3 sparked an idea for a MCU movie: The Red Guardian & The Winter Soldier. Shot in black and white with a Logan-esque tone and set in the year before the events of Cap 2, Alexei and Bucky are sent on a mission by the Russian government to America (I’ll leave it up to you to decide what). Movie ends with Bucky being brainwashed again, similar to the end of the What If episode, and sent on the mission to confront Cap. An interesting corner of the MCU not yet explored!
My understanding of the Eternals thing was that Kingo became the Prime Eternal after Agatha took the powers from the other Eternals, in which case Arishem would have told him the plan
Lowkey for what if, some of ideas sounds lame on paper and then the episode plays and the plot is great like Episode 2
I've said since What If? was announced that it could have been Marvel's Love, Death, and Robots.
Ep 1: Pacific Voltron and Hulkzilla vs. Generic kaiju. Why is it so difficult to animate Sebastian Stan? Anthony Mackie still kills it as the best councilor in the MCU.
Ep. 2: why is the Witch using other characters powers? Why is there dancing but no singing when you have Kathryn Hahn? What does alien robots have to do with the witch Agatha Harkness?
It would have been cool if we saw how each of the mechs used the characters abilities in some way.
The first episode felt like it was something nobody asked for and yet they couldn’t even do the bare minimum of delivering
Muppets Christmas Carol is the goat
6:54 My biggest disappointment with Eternals was they didn't take the chance to insert them into MCU prehistoric moments. A scene of Gilgamesh helping Thor protect the hidden Tesseract. A scene of Makkari trying to get the 10 Rings but withdraw when they see it is too late. A different perspective that shows Phastos was one of Dr Erskines lab assistant on the day Captain America was made. Don't derail the story but choose different things to spend time on than they did.
I was super excited for episode 1 of this season for one reason and one reason only: Moon Knight. I was SO excited to see him more here!! I wanted to know how he met the team, how he met the avengers, what the others thought of his relationship with Konshu, the interactions with Steven, stuff like that. I was there for the character interactions, and I was disappointed- there wasn't a lot of that. but from what I saw, I feel like it wasn't the writer's fault. I think what if could be/have been really good if the episodes were longer and had more time to develop their concepts. I like the idea of just letting the writers write what they want to write.- that's how you get good stuff.
Luckily, as a Fnaf and Pokemon fan, I am no stranger to filling in the gaps myself. I spent a solid hour after watching imagining how Marc and Konshu got involved and I very much enjoyed it. And his mech was SO COOL. So cool.
Problem with the mech episode is I feel it would have benefit far better outsourcing the episode to an animation studio in Japan, hell I feel What If would been better if it was more akin to Love Death Robots and Star Wars Visions when it’s different animation styles each episodes
I hated both of these episodes, but on the bright side episode 3 was a wild ride and I loved every minute.
Episode 3 is pretty much the best of the season by default
The premises of the what if comic books were so good. Sad there not doing crazier concepts. Also sad COVID made them cut the episodes down from an hour each:(
Honestly, they should've just made this series straight up anthologies without any real connections to each other. Random stories without crossing over. More time to be more creative and not needing to end the series with a big final battle or whatever.
0:59 Why didn't they call him the Titan or the Devil Hulk? Is it so hard to make a comic book reference to darker Hulk personalities? Do the writers simply not read comics?
I imagine it's to not have to pay comic writers anything that would lead to them asking for a cut for using characters they invented
Because then people would complain about how it's not exactly like the comic book character so just embracing it as an original concept is easier. They already made a reference with the Island Bruce was on being from the comics I don't think they just don't care.
I loved both episodes i understand why the first episode may annoy you but if you look at it as a Pacific rim avengers you'll see it entertaining
Season 3 has been dumb fun. I love it!
Did anyone else think that every Mark Ruffalo line was really wooden and bad? Maybe he's just not used to voice acting, they're two different animals
Agatha being able to take Eternal power is silly, not What If...?
I feel like the dialogue this season so far has been non-stop quips and jokes. I imagine this is what people that hate the MCU think the MCU is written. "Oh he's behind me isn't it", "Well that just happened" type of dialogue. Also this show is visually is way too glossy for me, it looks like the 'camera' is smeared in vaseline, the bloom and glare is out of this world it looks like The Hobbit movies with its shininess. I dunno maybe seasons 1 and 2 were like this I forget but so far this season hasn't been for me and I'm an MCU die-hard. It doesn't feel like these guys are making the most of the premise.
I feel like we're overthinking the concept of putting the Avengers in mechs to punch giant monsters here? I don't know, the mech episode was a blast and had a real "just go with it" vibe for me.
Somehow a CGI animated show that has the budget from Disney/Marvel themselves can’t execute mecha as hard as a random weekly mecha anime show in the 90s
My biggest gripe with episode 1 is that they're obviously taking heavy inspiration from Gundam (the fusion + show vibes are more voltron etc. but the red chin on the "main" mechs is very much a Gundam reference, Bucky's mech has Zaku elements even) and Godzilla (Banner even does the atomic laser at some point) and the big deus ex that turns the battle is.... a nuclear bomb. Taking into account the history/context/message of both of the series' it's beyond tone deaf
did anyone felt like it was on 2x speed cause i definitely wanted each episode to have more time for pacing.
I like this season so far
I did not like episode 2 of some reason. I thought episode 1 was really good
I still wish they'd just rework this show's concept and do animated what if movies kinda like DC does.
Besides the season 1 stuff with Ultron I just don't like the format of it being a show with short episodes that try to have some form of continuity for no reason. They could also pick better scenarios too.
What if has a lot of potential but I don't think it works well in its current format.
Why would they *open* with the episode hurt most from budget problems?
Yeah that first episode was rough. I'm a fan of Power Rangers and Godzilla even when it's campy and terrible (which the former often is) but it just didn't work here. The split hulk thing was just too weird and the writing was very "and then" instead of "therefore" or "because". And yeah the mechs looked very samey the whole time and I felt like the slide show exposition had better mech designs that captured the character of the pilots more than the fully modeled and animated ones did. The cut and paste mole men hulks also just felt like Rita's putties, but big and less fun.
I find it kind of hilarious that they straight-up gave at least one of the mechs a Gundam face, sometimes I wonder if Disney forgets they don't own literally everything.
There are a billion CCP funded Chinese mech toys looks almost exactly like some worse version of Gundam, if those are OK then this one is absolutely fine.
Also youre 💯 correct. Sams walking was RIDICULOUSLY STIFF AND WEIRD, so fkng weird
the first episode, just made me want a hulk mini series. I mean we have seen so much of his characeter developement and advenures occur off screen. why not do it on screen, in an animiated series.?
Was I the only one who found the what if episode 1 to be just disturbing? I mean if you don’t think about the mecha and monsters but focus on the characters , you realized just how big of an ego they have and are just completely badly written. Like Bruce separated himself from the hulk then what? Leave to live in an island alone while forgetting the thousands of people died due to the hulk monster he caused? Then when Sam comes to recruit him to help him, what does he do? Just gives him a hard drive that apparently he was just waiting for someone to come and get it? Also like Bruce didn’t want to help cause he was just so petty that he focused on himself feeling bad and not the hundreds of people that died due to his stupidity, like gut over yourself, Spider-Man doesn’t take a day off and the writers literally put him through hell yet that doesn’t stop him from being a hero.
I'm more intrested in finishing creature commandos rn🤷♂️
i thought the Sam being a conselor to Bruce was a good idea and made sense
i loved the talk they had together
i liked the idea of the mechs and the Hulk making other monsters
i think i still liked the episode, but not really as much, I'm still glad they made it
i think you made a good point about mech personalities and the utility of what each one does
you could be right about maybe not having enough time to plan out what each did
also it slipped my mind that both Shang-Chi and Thor fought giant monsters
but i don't think it would've looked as cool visually if they didn't have mechs
Episode 1 made me want a leopardon and japanese spiderman toy.
Still waiting for the "What if Galactus needed quick cash?" episode.
Probably after Secret Wars if the show continues after the 2 Avengers movies.
The animation in Episode 2 really held it back. Watching a bunch of stiff 3D models get copy-pasted into a dance routine is really unpleasant to watch.
1 is not my cup of tea but good enough, I always love a dive into Banners' fractured psyche. Love that and we dont get nearly enough. Ep 2 was absolutely wasted energy on every single artists and actors part. Episode 3 I quite enjoyed. But as much as I LOVED Agatha, that was a terrible idea for a story. To me, of course
Banner just wouldn't have given up against Hulks. That part was just bad.
Yeah he came around, but his years-long pity party, as his friends died to his monster, would never happen.
How useful is Moon Knight at figting a big giant monster? I don't know, maybe ask the finale of Moon Knight? 😅
“You gotta do better Hulk” 🤭
Even from the first season this series feels like a TV show with duzens of series where the writers are getting out of good ideas
So far I’m bored with season 3 but it can turn itself around
How does Marvel have near limitless possibilities, tons of what jf source material, and somehow manage to pick the most boring concepts?
Does anybody else go to reaction channels and see people in the comment section acting like this is peak television?
Bra,, it’s call What If,, why are you critiquing this that much,,it’s supposed to be off base,, y’all just looking for something to complain about,, real clown shit.
So far EP 2 is the best. 3 is good too. Wasn't feeling 1
Didn't Moon Knight (the series) literally end with a big dumb Kaiju fight?
The singing dancing “broadway” episode of shows is a bit overdone now. It’s been 20 years. I know it makes the theater kid and gay community happy, but it’s becoming a kind of cliche.
What If?!?! We bored you to death
As somebody who absolutely hated season 2 and didn’t like most of season 1, season 3 is not doing anything to redeem the show for me lmao. Cannot wait for it to finally be over
Just don’t watch the show if you don’t enjoy it, nothing wrong with that
"As someone who hates things I cant wait to stop hating things"
Sad existence bro.
Just don't watch it if you don't like.
Takes a really weird kind of person to force themselves to watch TV they hate.
@@haydoniawatches199 "I can't wait for a show that I don't watch to be over" is where we're at with discourse lately.
@@haydoniawatches199yeah and then you'll complain when it gets bad ratings.
@@haydoniawatches199because I’d like to keep up with the MCU
Please do a review for SECRET LEVEL in Amazon Prime Video, it's also an anthology series with each episode based on different games but the animation is far better than What If
Why do they refuse to use pre-MCU characters? I mean it is the Multiverse. I know Storm is coming but it isn't even Halle Berry's version..
Can’t believe they made mecha avengers and made it lame
Sam wilson needs yo be bitten by a vampire bird or whatever already
So far ranked
2, 3, and. 1
Like who is in these writer rooms 😂
I think the same about the 2 episodes.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels like this season has been off so far especially compared to season 2. I would normally enjoy Agatha but the whole 1940/50’s Hollywood vibe is just bleh. I thought the mechs would be more interesting but I felt nothing. Maybe it’s just me but so far I couldn’t get into the episodes. Hopefully the rest are better.