Well if we thought episode 1 opened the door to some changes in the multiverse, episode 2 of Marvel’s What…If? Just turned the dial up to 11. So, for those you haven’t been watching, check out our recap of What…If? Episode 1. But, the premise is that the show presents us various potential (or real) alternate relatives within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), where some of the characters we know from the MCU end up on different paths than the stories we are all familiar with. After the events of Loki, we know the multiverse is very real, so we can assume every episode of the new animated series isn’t just an interesting thought experiment, but actually true alternate branches of the multiverse. The narrator is a character called The Watcher, who observes all of these different universes and is bringing viewers a look at various alternate realities. So, each episode will look at one of these alternate timelines, where things may be very different.
In episode 1, we met an alternate Captain America - Captain Carter, where Steve Rogers instead became a much earlier version of Iron Man. What would episode 2 of What…If? bring our way?
Chadwick Boseman as Star Lord
First off, we hear Chadwick Boseman’s voice in what we recognize as a scene from Gaurdians fo the Galaxy, where T’Challa has somehow taken Perter Quill’s place as Star Lord. It’s a bit jarring to hear Boseman’s voice (he did the voice work for the series before passing away in 2021), but also great to get one last opportunity to appreciate his acting, even in an animated series.
T’Challa was mistakenly picked up on earth instead of Peter Quill in this universe and took on the mantle of Star Lord as he grew up with the Ravagers. But, this version of Star Lord is very different. He actually convinced the Ravagers to turn away from… well, ravaging… and instead become something of a future version of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. We get to see various Ravagers we know from Guardians of the Galaxy (Yondu and the rest of the crew) who have joined T’Challa in helping the universe.
Wait...Thanos is a good guy?
But, T’Challa’s transformative leadership didn’t stop at the Ravagers. The episode’s big reveal is that he somehow convinced Thanos that eradicating half the universe wasn’t a good idea. There are running jokes about Thanos trying to defend he previous plan, before joining up with T’Challa to save the universe. We also meet Nebula, who still has some friction with dear old dad, but it seems to a much lesser extent.
With Thanos stepping off the path of evil, it seems the void was filled by The Collector. T’Challa’s team comes up with a plan to break into the Collector’s vault and steal a powerful cosmic dust called the Embers of Genesis to help feed the universe. We get a fun cameo from Drax, now a bartender whose wife and daughter are still very much alive thanks to T’Challa and even Howard the Duck shows up.
The team eventually takes down The Collector, who we can see has managed to collect some surprising artifacts in his vault, including: Captain America’s shield, Thor’s hammer (Mjolnir), Hela’s helmet from Thor: Ragnorok, and Malekith’s dagger from Thor: Dark World.
Who Didn’t we See?
There were a ton of recognizable characters in What…If? episode 2, but one particular absence jumps out. Where is Gamora? If you’ve watched the trailer for What…If? then you know she will show up eventually, but not in this episode.
What about Peter Quill?
While we all were asking ourselves about poor Peter Quill, we do run into him in the end. He is working at a fast food restaurant when his real father, Ego the Celestial walk into the restaurant. Looks like it won’t turn out well for Peter in this universe.
What’s Next?
Like we said last week, who knows? It does seem like there will be some character crossover in some of these episodes, but we’ll have to wait for episode 3 to learn more! Until next week.
