This is how I sat down and went through all three seasons of Marvel's What If...?, and I have thoughts, plenty of them.
For the people who haven't touched this one, the whole concept is simple but genius, every episode takes a major moment from the MCU we already know and completely flips it, showing us how differently things could have gone with just one small change, It is narrated by this cosmic being called The Watcher, voiced by Jeffrey Wright, who basically exists to observe every possible timeline without interfering, until, well, that promise doesn't exactly hold up as the seasons go on.
Season one is where they really set the tone, and honestly it is still my favorite batch of episodes, you get things like Peggy Carter becoming the Super Soldier instead of Steve Rogers, T'Challa getting abducted by the Ravagers instead of Peter Quill and becoming this smooth, diplomatic version of Star Lord, and one where basically all the usual Avengers candidates start getting killed off one by one, forcing Nick Fury to scramble for a team from scratch, then there's the zombie episode, which honestly might be one of the darkest, most unhinged things Marvel has ever put out, no exaggeration, and the season finale, where the Watcher actually breaks his own rule and starts pulling heroes from different universes together to fight Ultron, that is when you realize this show isn't just going to stay a cute "what if" gimmick, it is going to have actual consequences.
Season two took a bit to find its footing for me, it still had strong episodes, Nebula joining the Nova Corps was fun, and the one where Peter Quill and a young Ego attack earth forcing Howard Stark and Peggy Carter to team up was a nice throwback, but some episodes in this batch felt like they were reaching a little, like they were trying to hit a certain number of episodes rather than every single idea being a must tell story, it didn't ruin the season for me, but it definitely didn't hit as hard as season one did emotionally or narratively.
Then season three came in acting like the true final chapter of this whole trilogy, and it leaned into that heavily. Storm showing up wielding Mjolnir alone had people talking before the season even dropped.... This season felt more connected overall, like they were finally building toward wrapping up the Watcher's arc properly instead of just doing random standalone stories, and knowing this was intentionally meant to close out the show as the completion of a trilogy made watching it hit a little different, there is a sense of finality running through it that season two didn't really have.
What I really respect about the whole series is how it doesn't just play it safe with alternate universes for the fun of it, some episodes are genuinely emotionally heavy, some are just pure fun and chaos, and some completely reshape how you look at characters you thought you already understood, Killmonger rescuing Tony Stark instead of him going through his usual origin story is such a good example, small change, massive ripple effect on everything that follows.
The animation style also deserves credit, it is got this distinct look that separates it from live action MCU stuff while still feeling connected to that universe, and the fact that so many of the original actors came back to voice their characters adds this weird sense of authenticity, even in an animated multiverse story, it still feels like canon adjacent MCU material instead of some random spinoff nobody asked for.
So tbh , not every episode across all 26 is a home run, some clearly land harder than others, and season two in particular has a bit of filler energy at times, but overall, as a full package, three seasons in, this show does something most Marvel projects don't even attempt, it takes risks with characters we already know and isn't afraid to let things go completely off the rails.
if you have never given What If...? a real chance, all three seasons together make for one of the more creative corners of the whole MCU, It's messy in alot of places, but it is ambitious messy, and that's worth respecting.
Rating: 90/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
