What If…?
Episode 1: What if…Captain Carter Were The First Avenger
By Emily Hubbard
-
A strong start for the MCU’s first venture into
animation
- 3.5/5 Cameras 🎥🎥🎥.5
- Directed by: Bryan Andrews
- Starring: Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Jeffery
Wright
- Where to find it: Disney+
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| No Copyright Infringement Intended |
It should come as no surprise that 2020 saw Marvel Studios
release no new content, besides a few trailers. This year, however, couldn’t
have been more different, with ‘What If…?’ being the entertainment giants
fourth Disney + and fifth overall release of the year (with at least 3 more to
come).
Hardcore fans will remember 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con where
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige stood in front of a packed Hall H and announced
an onslaught of projects that would see the MCU into Phase 4 and beyond. Amongst
those now critically acclaimed projects, including WandaVision, stood ‘What
If…?’, the MCU’s first animated offering.
The title itself, ‘What If…’, explains the premise of the
show fairly well. What if slight alterations to well-beloved Marvel events led
them to play out differently, with the first episode posting the question: What
if Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) took the super-soldier serum instead of Steve
Rogers?
The show is narrated by The Watcher (Jeffery Wright), a
cosmic being comic fans will already be aware of who has been tasked with
watching events that occur in every universe but will not and cannot interfere.
Initially, from the brief look, we got in the trailers; I
was unsure if I would be able to enjoy the show's animation style.
However, right from the get-go ‘What If…Captain Carter were The First Avenger’ left
me pleasantly surprised with the designs feeling fresh, making the show stand out
from other successful animated superhero shows such as Invincible.
The episode is at its best during its action sequences, with
shots looking like they’ve been lifted right out of a comic book and further solidifying
the fact that Peggy Carter is a badass. The episode also has plenty of call-backs
and references that are both satisfying and, surprisingly, emotional. It’s worth
noting that the overall series of ‘What If…?’ has over 50 actors from the live-action
projects returning to voice their characters and it was a delight to see Stanley
Tucci (briefly) reprise his role as Dr. Erskine. It was, however, equally as
delightful to see Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) provide the comedic relief of
the episode with some unexpected and hilarious one-liners, a vast change from
his brooding, emo-kid persona of the normal timeline.
Despite its enjoyable nature, the episode does have its let-downs,
with its non-action scenes being not nearly as gripping or fun as the sequences
where Peggy is kicking ass with the Howling Commandos behind her. The episode
also suffers from strange pacing at some points, with some scenes coming across
as rushed and could have benefitted, perhaps, from a slightly longer run-time.
Taking place in the multiverse, it would be easy for viewers
to dismiss this show and see it as something they can skip. However after the
events of Loki’s season 1 finale, and upcoming films such as Spiderman: No Way
Home and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness promising to deal with the
issue of the multiverse, skipping this show would be a mistake. This show is
canon to the MCU and who’s to say that Captain Carter won’t make her
live-action debut somewhere down the line?
‘What If…Captain Carter were The First Avenger’ provides a
solid start for the MCU’s first animated outing and I can’t help to think that I
would have enjoyed its live-action counterpart ‘Captain America: The First
Avenger’ a lot more if it would’ve followed the plot of this episode. It’s safe
to say that I am looking forward to whatever The Watcher throws at me over the
remaining 8 episodes.
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