The following episode contains spoilers for episode 3 of What If…?
Another episode of Marvel’s What If…? dropped this week and has left fans feeling sad, confused, and angry at the same time. As promised, this week’s episode also explores a tale from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but changes one very crucial detail that leads to a world very different from the one that Marvel fans have gotten used to. This week, the episode (spoiler alert) killed off most of the original Avengers, which makes it the most daring and darkest episode thus far.
Episode 3, “What If…? The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?” forces fans to think what would happen if Nick Fury failed to gather the team of strongest heroes, because they all dropped dead. From Iron Man to Thor, when some of the biggest names in the MCU are killed, fans are left shocked, to say the least. But, even though it is a powerful premise, the concept was rather poorly executed, with the onus falling mainly on the short runtime of the What If…? episodes.
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While the first two episodes of What If…? focused primarily on a single hero, episode 3 brought the Avengers into its fold. It was interesting to have Marvel explore different story lines in the first two episodes, as it highlighted smaller changes in the MCU based on changing one aspect from an existing story. But, episode 3 was quite adventurous in its story line, which was bound to get a stronger reaction from the viewers.
The first episode looked at a scenario where Peggy Carter took the super-soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, and went on to become Captain Carter. While fans enjoyed the concept, they weren’t too happy about Captain Carter replacing Captain America on the character’s official Twitter account. They weren’t ready to have America’s favorite hero be replaced, especially as the mantle now belongs to Sam Wilson, the MCU’s first Black Captain America.
Episode 2 of What If…? brought on a much more positive reaction from fans as they wholeheartedly accepted T’Challa as Star-Lord. His ways were quite different from those of Peter Quill, and his approach towards certain issues helped change the MCU’s sacred timeline. While Quill fought Thanos at the wrong place and time, T’Challa’s version of Star-Lord had a one-on-one conversation with the Mad Titan to make him understand how his genocide was not the right way to move forward. Seems like a simple solution, but it actually worked, with Thanos even joining Star-Lord’s team and fighting alongside the good guys. The episode was able to fix a huge mistake that Quill makes in Avengers: Infinity War.
Of course, it also helps that this was Chadwick Boseman’s last appearance as T’Challa. Fans had an emotional connection to the character and were more ready to accept any changes he brought to the sacred timeline. It has been confirmed that T’Challa will be appearing, albeit briefly, in future episodes of What If…? Those lines were recorded by Boseman over Zoom calls with the studio, while none of his colleagues were aware of his condition. The actor, unfortunately, died in August 2020, leaving a massive void in the MCU.
The latest episode of What If…? is a much bolder attempt at changing the events of the MCU. Over the course of a few days, the episode explores how the process of assembling the Avengers could go wrong. The events are quite shocking as one after the other the most popular Avengers are seen dying. It starts off when Fury, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson, and Black Widow, voiced by Lake Bell, go to meet Iron Man. After Iron Man is killed, and Natasha Romanoff arrested for the crime, things seem to go downhill very quickly.
Within the next few minutes, fans witness the deaths of Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and even Black Widow. The way they all die is also quite horrific, especially Black Widow, as viewers get to see her being thrown around a room and hear her screams. Hulk also faces a dreadful death, with his body expanding to the extent that it explodes. The Hulk splash was quite intricately created, which was definitely only possible in animation.
There are some great moments and Easter eggs in the episode that Marvel fans will instantly recognize. For instance, the first line that Fury says to Black Widow, “There was an idea to bring together a group of…,” is exactly what he says in The Avengers when trying to convince Tony Stark and Captain America to come on board. Fans also got an animated version of the iconic Iron Man donut moment. Additionally, there are direct nods to one of the MCU’s least spoken of projects, The Incredible Hulk.
The only tragedy is that all of these events in the episode had to be wrapped up within 30 minutes. It is an absolutely intriguing murder mystery, that seems so rushed due to the lack of time. None of the characters get any breathing space and the episode lacks any room for character development. While all the characters that appear are familiar ones, the short appearances seem to make them feel distant.
Romanoff is at the crux of the plot, as she is the only one able to help Fury solve the mystery. But, even her character seems to be lacking the same charm and flare as her MCU counterpart. While Bell does a great job at voicing the character, which Scarlett Johansson has successfully owned for many years, the short runtime of the episode prohibits her from shining. Perhaps the studio should have considered breaking the Avengers episode into two parts. Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic has already reduced the season's episode count, so dedicating two episodes to this plot wouldn't have been possible.
On the flip side, many would argue that the runtime allows for the shock factor to go up. Within a span of 30 minutes, the MCU lost some of its most powerful heroes, which wouldn’t have had the same impact had the episode been longer. Episode 3 of What If…? is definitely the series’ bravest one yet, managing to turn around the entire MCU by killing off a bunch of the original Avengers and offering fans a fantastic murder mystery, which was solved in record time. But, it could have been more powerful had it not been so rushed.
What If…? is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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