Thor, God of Thunder, but in this alternative version of what would have happened in the first Thor movie, he is more like Thor, Naughty Child.
OK I’ll get straight to the point. This episode had some things to enjoy, but I think it was a really bad show. Like embarrassingly bad.
I get that this What If show is by its definition supposed to show us alternative and different versions of the beloved Avengers characters, but after weeks and weeks of these episodes I’m starting to think that the people making it have little to no respect for the characters or for the fans who have loved the characters for the last decade.
I’ve spoken before in reviews about how I felt it was cheapening character’s deaths when every week they just seem to kill off Iron Man like he’s Kenny in South Park, and that we are seeing heroes become villains over and over. But this week hit a new low in that it made almost every character unlikeable and made Thor look like a complete moron, and Captain Marvel like an annoying big sister when both characters should be heroes.
What happened?
This episode proposes what if Thor was an only child. So Odin didn’t raise Loki…no mention of Hela but we already knew that Thor and his sister didn’t know of each other until the events of Thor Ragnorok.
This would have us believe that if there was no Loki that somehow Thor, not as a teenager, although they actually seem to reference him as such (even though he’d be the same age as in the first Thor) is a party loving douche bag with zero honour or compassion for other planets or beings.
That for some reason Thor would pick Midgard (Earth) for a party and have connections for tons of MCU characters which he wouldn’t have met during the timeline shown in the movies. Drax, Howard the Duck, The Grandmaster, Nebula, Mantis and tons of other characters are featured or make cameos and this is just like the writers couldn’t care less about how this would make sense.
I mean, even if Thor was an uncaring moron are all the others? And they’d just destroy planets for parties?
Captain Marvel shows up as although Loki and Ultron weren’t reasons to call her in the movies, this party is….And as Thor refers to her, Captain Marvel is a party pooper. Thor behaves in an unlikable way and Captain Marvel is the party pooper – it’s impossible to take sides and both come off as…unlikeable.
I was hoping something exciting would happen, and it literally didn’t until the last 10 seconds of the episode, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Highlights
There were a few brighter moments but these didn’t save the episode. Howard the Duck got a bit more screen time than usual and perhaps in a reference to the 80s movie, he gets it on with an Earth woman. In this instance a Las Vegas Elvis marries Howard and Darcy, and whilst this was fun, it was also a call back to the often mocked fact that the 80s film had a Duck and a human relationship. It wasn’t palatable then and isn’t now. This may have been a cartoon, but this is an extension of the live action MCU…so yeah humans and animals get married now.
Also I realise I started the last paragraph saying this was a highlight…I was wrong.
It was cool to see Loki as an Ice Giant, and it was good that the Grandmaster was back – I almost feel he should have been the one to take advantage of Thor and make it all a party. At least that way we would have had an actual villain for Thor and Captain Marvel to deal with.
Instead the episode sees Jane Foster, after sleeping with Thor on the day she meets him, calls his mother who tells him off like a naughty boy. This was just lame. Made Thor and all the other characters present look dumb. Like this episode probably cost millions to make and there were zero stakes. Thor had a party and had to clean up before his mum told him off. This would have been lame if it were an episode of Saved by the Bell or the Fresh Prince of Belair.
Hammer Time?
And whilst just a bit of fun we saw Captain Marvel defeated by Thor pinning her down with his hammer. Couldn’t she have blasted through the Earth and spun off away from it? Or zoomed off horizontally if she could raise it up? This was just a moment in the show but made Captain Marvel look easily defeatable considering she’s the strongest of them all. Also couldn’t Thanos, or Ultron or Kang likewise just be defeated by placing the hammer on them?
Some may enjoy this, and in one sense the episode was harmless in that you’ll just forget it quickly – as it had no consequences for anything, but if they’re going to do a What If show, why make a What If we made the Avengers Unwatchable episode???
But of course let’s address the last 10 seconds of the episode. Thor takes Jane Foster some flowers and they agree to go on a date, then suddenly someone appears! I’m not sure if some of the teases we get will ever pay off, or if it’s just that these episodes like to end with a often grim end, but a Vision/Ultron being appears with all the infinity Stones!
How? And how did Loki not growing up with Thor lead to this? The whole point of What If is to show how a single change can lead to different realities but there was so much here where they didn’t show the connections between any decision and how it lead to what happened.
Will we get a pay off for this? Or the hint tentacle monster at the end of Captain Peggy? Or Ego catching up with Starlord? Are these episodes leading to any cross overs or are these grim endings just for the sake of it?
Conclusion
Look, I know some people will live this episode, but I didn’t. And I like most of the MCU, so this isn’t criticism for the sake of it. But making all characters somewhat unlikeable and having no real enemy or stakes just made this feel pointless. And I just see that week after week having so many characters killed or made to look bad is bad for the MCU overall. As variants did we need annoying jock Thor? Or will this just be something we’re left with in the back of our minds.
Marvel please, stop cheapening the characters and use What If to show some big ideas or character changes that you couldn’t otherwise fit into the movies!
