The premise of Marvel’s What If? is simple; We get lots of individual stories which show what if scenarios of alternative versions of events compared to what we have previously seen in the main MCU films. The show is also the first animated show that is officially part of the MCU and not just a separate cartoon series based on Marvel characters.
The choice to make the show animated was definitely a necessity otherwise this show would not have been possible. This first episode shows an alternate version of what happened in Captain America The First Avenger, and to have created the same story in live action would have cost a fortune to reassemble the cast from the original film as well as recreate all the sets and locations to be exact replicas of what came before. Most obviously this story comes over 10 years since the first Captain America film came out and to do a alternate version of these events at this stage would show the characters noticeably aged compared to what it would be trying to seamlessly divert from.
When this show was first announced it could be assumed that these were perhaps fun side stories that were fan service and would be totally skippable for people who watch the main MCU films, but that now no longer seems to be the case. Loki has opened up the world to the multiverse and this first episode shows an alternative reality which could directly play into the next films.
The idea of this first episode is that Peggy Carter ended up becoming a super soldier instead of Steve Rogers. A single different decision can lead to a Sliding Doors or Butterfly Effect style different turn of events. In this case Peggy not leaving the room whilst Steve was about to get the super soldier serum resulted in a chain of events which saw Steve Rogers shot and with the window of opportunity to use the serum closing Peggy Carter stepped into the machine.
From this point on the episode is closer to a remake of the original film rather than a radically different universe. The events play out mostly the same as they did in the movie even down to some recreations of shots and dialogue, but just reversed so that Peggy is the super soldier and not Steve.
Clearly the purpose of the show was to end was we saw things, with Peggy Carter arriving in modern times as Captain Carter, as obviously the character Peggy Carter has throughout the MCU been an aged character having lived through the normal passage of time from the 1940s to present day where as Steve Rogers and Bucky were kept younger and didn’t age due to super serums.
This isn’t to say there aren’t differences. Steve Rogers didn’t become Captain America, but was still became a hero as Howard Stark built a similar suit of armour to what Tony Stark would create in the main timeline (which we’ll refer to as the sacred timeline from this point on in our reviews). This turn of events would probably mean Tony Stark wouldn’t create Iron Man in the future, and the events on the train in this version see Bucky saved from falling so the events that would lead to him becoming the Winter Soldier don’t happen either.
Whilst these changes certainly deviate from what happened in the original film, there is enough the same such as Steve and Peggy’s missed romance and dance opportunity, and Peggy arriving in the present to be met by Nick Fury instead of Steve waking up from the ice, that it feels very familiar. The plot explanation for all this can simply be in the same vein as the book The Time Machine or the movie Final Destination, that somehow if destiny intended certain things to happen, then time itself would always see that these events occurred as was intended by some higher power.
It’s a bit like how in Doctor Who they introduced the concept of there being fixed points of time where certain things are always supposed to happen. In that show there is evidence that there can be slight changes or variations to the plan, but that things that were meant to be will still end up happening. In the case of What If? it may be that Peggy becoming Captain Carter instead of Steve becoming Captain America is an acceptable replacement for time and that as long as there is a heroic protector in that era then time will continue forwards.
The show does have a lot of fan service including the nod to Bucky almost losing his arm and referencing it as obviously as the Winter Soldier he did lose his arm. Also seeing that Howard Stark would create basically the same Iron Man concept complete with analogue heads up display was a nice touch.
The cast for the show is amazing and probably the best line up for an animated show across a series that have ever been assembled as most of the Hollywood a-lister cast that were in the MCU films are back to play their characters again. Of course a big exception comes in this episode in that Chris Evans doesn’t provide the voice for Steve Rogers although his likeness is still used. Haley Atwell is a fan favourite and it’s great to have her back in the MCU as Agent Carter who is now obviously Captain Carter.
The big rumour from this is that with the multiverse now in play that Haley Atwell could carry on in live action as Captain Carter, but whilst the incredible visuals did seem very recognisable it’ll be interesting to see how a live action Captain Carter matches up to the noticeably taller and hencher Captain Carter from this show. It’s not a massive or unrealistic difference, but will be interesting to see if this addressed should Captain Carter cross over to live action.
It was interesting timing wise that just after we got a big starfish monster in DC’s The Suicide Squad that there would be the tentacle monster as the final big bad of this story. This is something that obviously wasn’t part of the original plot and the Red Skull gets quickly taken out as the final boss here so it gave us this big difference and twist here, but with a limited 33 minute run time it was a shame that neither Red Skull or the tentacled creature got as much screen time as a Marvel villain should.
Conclusion
This was a great reimagining of one of the best early MCU movies and with an impressive art style and movie like scale to the action and story telling this was a brilliant introduction to the potential of this What If? series. If the plan is to tie this back into the live action side of the MCU this is a great origin story of Captain Carter joining The Avengers. It did feel perhaps a little too familiar to what came before, but was still a super enjoyable new take on it.
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