Marvel Studios' WHAT IF...? (2021)

[Frontier]

Killmonger is right the episode. Needlessly to say I loved this episode. Black Panther went down far too easy but I enjoyed seeing Killmonger succeed. It confirmed he was an anime fan.

I think it was less "Killmonger is right: The Episode" and more: "Here's why Killmonger is a bad guy: The Episode."

[CosmiComic]

I think it was less "Killmonger is right: The Episode" and more: "Here's why Killmonger is a bad guy: The Episode."

Kinda puts a hole in the whole "alt-universe Killmonger will succeed T'Challa" theory

[Frontier]

Kinda puts a hole in the whole "alt-universe Killmonger will succeed T'Challa" theory

Well, there's probably one variant of Killmonger that's a good guy...

[Vic Vega]

I'm not sure why fans are surprised by the bleakness of some of these stories.

It would kind of cheapen the core MCU heroes acts if everything was, "Well if they hadn't saved the day, someone else would have, no biggie."

It's not shocking to me that the MCU is a actively worse place without Iron Man in it. Even if you hate the character that is kind of a given. Or should be.

[Frontier]

I'm not sure why fans are surprised by the bleakness of some of these stories.

It would kind of cheapen the core MCU heroes acts if everything was, "Well if they hadn't saved the day, someone else would have, no biggie."

It's not shocking to me that the MCU is a actively worse place without Iron Man in it. Even if you hate the character that is kind of a given. Or should be.

That's why I had some issue with the Captain Carter episode where it seems like everything was hunky-dory if Peggy became a Super Soldier instead of Steve.

I mean, she still needed Steve, but was there nothing significant to him becoming Captain America instead? Though we just might not have seen the wider implications of the divergence in that universe yet.

[Jokerz79]

That's why I had some issue with the Captain Carter episode where it seems like everything was hunky-dory if Peggy became a Super Soldier instead of Steve.

I mean, she still needed Steve, but was there nothing significant to him becoming Captain America instead? Though we just might not have seen the wider implications of the divergence in that universe yet.

It would be interesting to see an MCU Shield without her moral guidance. Would it just truly be Hydra under a new name?

[CosmiComic]

Well, there's probably one variant of Killmonger that's a good guy...

Yeah, but will we see him though? I mean, we did see good Thanos and he's even more evil

[Frontier]

Who knew Tony Stark not getting his character development would doom both Wakanda and himself? All because Killmonger became his new best friend.

It must be so surreal for Mick Wingert to have started out being a recasting for Adrian Pasdar as Iron Man on Avengers Assemble because he can do a decent RDJ impression only to get to actually play the proper RDJ Iron Man in this cartoon and get to actually voice scenes RDJ was in and even do the "I. Am. Iron Man." moment from Endgame animated here. I also think his Tony voice has grown considerably from when he started.

I'm glad this episode didn't make any apologies for Killmonger. He seems like a genuine and upstanding guy on the surface but beyond that he is utterly manipulative and out for ultimately himself. He talks about fighting back against the oppressors but all he really does is use people, kill good men, and in the end is just trying to throw his own personal rage at his childhood and father's death at the world. T'Challa basically called him out on it in the ancestral plane.

I wonder if it was deliberate at all that it was the female characters who were the most suspicious of Killmonger or if it was just a coincidence. Pepper, kid!Shuri, Christine asking the hard questions, and even Ramonda seemed really suspicious of him right up until the battle. I feel like there's a "girls get it done" vibe in there somewhere.

What the heck was up with Pepper's hair? I might be mis-remembering how she looked in IM1 but she looked so...blonde here. I guess they were trying to go for a bright redhead look here, or they couldn't use Gwyneth Paltrow's likeness, but she really didn't look like herself here.

Poor Happy losing on his promotion moment. But at least he got to punch out Stane once he was revealed thanks to Killmonger. And Stane lives, which I guess is good for him, even if he's heading to prison.

"I like anime." You know they only wrote that in there because Michael B. Jordan is an actual anime fan and is starring in a Mecha cartoon from Rooster Teeth. Never thought I'd hear a Marvel show, let alone Tony Stark, mention Gundam out loud though.

A deliberate parallel to Tony building the Mark 2 with the making of the Stark Liberator...we even have Tony's old robot pals.

Tony and Killmonger bonding over how their dads and their respective deaths ultimately defined them. It's kind of interesting to see Killmonger kill Rhodey, and basically call him a sellout to the oppressors, only to say he was hoping he wouldn't have to kill Tony. Maybe he really did come to like Tony in-spite of his plan and worldview. He actually seemed kind of reflective right before he stabbed the robot they both worked on together.

It was kind of surreal to hear Paul Bettany as JARVIS instead of Vision again, heck we're hearing old JARVIS again too. I kind of wish he had gotten more lines in this episode...

Don Cheadle playing Rhodey circa-IM1 was funny. Less funny when he actually gets killed.

Andy Serkis reprising Klaw and getting to play the more manic characterization from his appearance in BP was fun. I was kind of wondering if Killmonger would still kill him, but he probably took that "boy" line personally.

I love how they couldn't resist getting Killmonger shirtless. Like the robot deliberately ripped his shirt off.

"The police are about the law. I want justice." Um...I don't think that's quite how that works Tony. Like even Batman might not think that's how it works.

I wasn't expecting to see General Ross here, but I guess considering Killmonger's military background it made sense. Basically a stand-in for your average aggressive Military General Type, but I know in the back of his mind he was plotting to turn the Stark Liberators into a Hulkbuster unit to hunt down Banner.

It was nice to hear Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa in the Black Panther suit again and to see him in action...until Killmonger actually kills him this time around. Seeing T'Challa die on-screen and get the full funeral rites...really hit differently, knowing the real life circumstances. Again, I'm glad we got to see him again when Killmonger went to the ancestral plain after taking the herb. Instead of seeing his dad Killmonger sees the good man he murdered. Maybe Bast was trying to show that ultimately she didn't approve of him as the new Black Panther.

Gotta imagine there was a lot of mixed emotions in T'Chaka getting to see Erik knowing what he did to Erik's father. Losing T'Challa and seeing Erik, I feel like T'Chaka saw this as a chance to redeem what he did and make up for it. Not knowing he was also ultimately dooming Wakanda.

Ramonda being a general leading the Dora's in battle? I kind of wonder if that was something Coogler had planned for Ramonda's backstory that he might develop. I wasn't so much surprised about it so much as wondering why this never came up in the BP movie. You'd think she'd have been leading the charge to overthrow Killmonger.

[KabutoRyder]

Always interesting to me which actors they get back to voice their animated counterparts and who they don't...I wonder if it's money, scheduling or both....

[Frontier]

Always interesting to me which actors they get back to voice their animated counterparts and who they don't...I wonder if it's money, scheduling or both....

I also wonder if the actors they get back helps with likeness issues to where some characters look like themselves while others (like Pepper in this episode) don't.

[Immortal Weapon]

.

Ramonda being a general leading the Dora's in battle? I kind of wonder if that was something Coogler had planned for Ramonda's backstory that he might develop. I wasn't so much surprised about it so much as wondering why this never came up in the BP movie. You'd think she'd have been leading the charge to overthrow Killmonger.

Isn't another reason for the Dora to serve as a potential Queen for a Black Panther? I know the movie never brought it up but I will take this as a subtle confirmation. Ramonda leading them didn't surprise me assuming she was a Dora before becoming Queen.

[Oswin]

I think she just retired as active general and okoye became the general, it's roughly 8 years earlier then the events in the BP movie.

[Immortal Weapon]

Where was Nakia this episode? Was she not T'challa lover in this time frame?

[Frontier]

Where was Nakia this episode? Was she not T'challa lover in this time frame?

Probably away from Wakanda on a mission.

[Kirby101]

Well, that was largely unpleasant all round, even by the bleak bias this series seems to have settled into as seemingly its only go-to story; "What if... some people died".

spoilers:

Course, this one wanted to have it's awful cake and eat it, so after an entire episode that basically says "Hey, T'Challa's dead, but the guy who killed him has fooled everyone and achieved everything he wanted," we get a little tacked on scene to say "or does he....?"

end of spoilers

Mostly boring, but with some added misery, this week's episode was another clunker from a show that started so well in its first two episodes, but which has been plummeting downhill since.

You read my mind. We all love M B Jordan, but this was bleak.