There are so many rabbit holes.I believe that 13 years later, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will all agree that the part of Marvel Cinematic Universe is the fun of reading the text and coming up with theories about where the juggernaut franchise might go next. The new Disney+ animated series, What If ...?, is in this spirit. Marvel says: "You are visible."This show dares to imagine what would have happened if Peggy Carter had been given Dr. Erskine’s super-soldier serum in place of Steve Rogers. What would have happened to Peggy? Steve? Or Bucky? Or Bucky? By simply changing Captain America to a gender-swapped captain Britain, cleverly evades the path of least resistance.Fans have always expected that the MCU would not zig-zag in the way they expect. The surprise revelation comes out of a place you would never have imagined when an assassin begins to take out Avengers in episode 3. This same vibe is evident in all three episodes Disney offered for review.The MCU, as we know it, is what defines each frame of What If ...?, giving Easter egg hunters plenty of material to choose from. You will find some slightly altered recreations of familiar scenes, as well as specific lines of dialogue. For example, you can return to the campus where Edward Norton Hulk was fighting against Thunderbolt Ross. But it's now Ruffalo Hulk and things are quite different."What If ...?'" It feels more like an intermission in the MCU before things get really wild.It's a series that feels poised to deliver multiple-layered thrills. It's a joy to watch T'Challa (voiced by Chadwick Boseman) assume the role of Star-Lord. This is the second best episode. This story is a gut punch of 30 minutes that celebrates Boseman's T'Challa take, and just one more adventure for old times sake.This episode, which featured familiar faces from both sides of the good-vs.-evil divide, also highlighted the ripple of events that can occur when one character is swapped for another in the timeline. What happens to our Guardians of the Galaxy team, as well as their allies? What if ...? These questions are asked repeatedly, and the one-shot format ensures that answers arrive within the time frame of an episode.Fans who have grown accustomed to holding onto the shards of information disbursed by post-credits scenes will find it a refreshingly low-investment gift. The MCU doesn't reward investment, but it does require that level of loyalty. What if ...?? There are many rewards for keen-eyed fans, but you don't need any extra baggage to bring into or out of any episode.Beautiful imagery is another highlight of the show. The credits at the end of each episode start with the most important art and design leaders, who were responsible for bringing this dream vision to life. Rotoscoping is a technique that layers live footage over drawn art. The animation isn't as trippy and evocative as Richard Linklater's A Waking Life.However, it is distinctive. This visual style is dreamlike and perfectly matches the core concept of exploring fantasal MCU rabbit holes. This vibe reinforces the notion that none of these things actually happened in the Earth-199999 we have spent more than a decade learning about.It's not Captain Britain. It's Captain *Carter*. Credit: disney / marvel studiosMCU fans who are trained to invest, save, invest and invest might not like a series that presents everything and then takes it away in a half-hour. Yeah, it would be cool to see more T'Challa-as-Star-Lord or Captain Carter beating Nazi ass. More than that, it is important to realize that all of this doesn't really mean anything in the larger picture. You won't be disappointed if you want to take another step in Marvel's Phase Four. What if ...?? It feels more like an intermission, before the shit gets wild.This episodic approach means that not all stories will be the same. It's a small sample, but it is something we can draw on. The second episode with T'Challa is already a standout, not only because it's the last bittersweet ride with Boseman. The episode is also full of fan service references back to Guardians, Black Panther and other characters that are sure to elicit a lot of laughter when they appear.Yes, it's subjective. It's an illustration of How What If ...? works. It's likely to be a hit with MCU fans. It will be tempting to rank each episode and to judge each one according to its merits as stories. This series is refreshing in that it breaks out of the MCU trap where everything is connected. It'll be a lot of fun to discuss What If ? Once the season is over, stories will be available.Let the final episode be a series finale, not a season finale. My sincere wish is for What If ...? to return. In a year or five years, the series will be back with new stories. Marvel Studios came up with a great idea by taking a beloved line of one-shot comics that aren't well-known and letting the MCU creators use it.It feels very much like the MCU, but it doesn't fit neatly in that multi-movie puzzle box. What if ...?? This is a strange fit for Marvel's movie-verse but not a bad one. This Disney+ season of TV explores new plots of land and uncovers a multiverse of rabbit holes.What if ...? Disney+ will be available on August 12.
