What if Marvel’s What If…? wasn't derivative?

What if Marvel'due south What If…? wasn't derivative?

(Image credit: Disney Plus/Marvel Studios)

What If…? Is the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's TV content, and the first one to tell its stories in blithe form. The premise of the show is to tell stories of what could have been, if different decisions had been made, and how that impacted the Marvel movies.

Nosotros've simply seen two episodes of the series so far, but fifty-fifty this early it's apparent that What If…? should be trying to tell its own stories — and not only suit existing MCU movies.

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The start ii episodes of What If…? Show united states of america how things would be different if characters were swapped around. The first dealt with what happened if Peggy Carter got the Super Soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, and the other focuses on what happens if T'Challa was abducted and became Star Lord instead of Peter Quill.

And these 2 episodes could non have presented themselves more than differently.

What If…?'s first 2 episodes are polar opposites

The first episode of What If…? Was, essentially, a remake of the very first Captain America movie — admitting one that had a different ending. Meanwhile, the second episode takes a lot of inspiration from Guardians of the Galaxy, but tells its own original story.

Needless to say, episode 1 felt very derivative and rushed. Which is what happens when y'all try to condense an adaptation of a two-hour movie into a 32-minute TV episode. The story of Captain Carter jumped around from plot point to plot point, trying to get from Peggy'south infusion of super soldier serum to the bespeak where she'd sacrifice herself and wind upwardly in the modern twenty-four hours.

It'due south almost like South Park's 'Member Berries made an adaptation of the first Helm America moving-picture show. 'Member when Captain America saved the POWs from Hydra? Yeah I 'member! 'Member the train sequence? Ooh yep, I 'member that.

And so on, for a solid half an hr.

What If…?'s second episode is guilty of this too, merely non to the same extent. There are frivolous callbacks to the showtime Guardians motion-picture show and the wider MCU, but they're mostly kept to the background as easter eggs. The actual plot is an original story, and merely happens to be ane that features characters similar to those we already knew.

Even the inclusion of Thanos made some sort of sense, because it showed only how dissimilar things could accept been if T'Challa was Star Lord. Whereas with Captain Carter, things played out pretty much the aforementioned way as they did with Captain America. The details changed, but the journey did not. With T'Challa, the entire catholic stop of the MCU was turned on its caput, simply considering T'Challa is not Peter Quill.

What If…? Needs to be its own thing if it wants to be a success

The whole premise of What If..? is that it's supposed to be the story y'all know, just slightly different. A simple "what if this happened instead?" and exploring the world that came about considering of it.

The trouble is that the concept is just interesting if things play out differently. Otherwise, you're just telling the same story in a different style, and that's slow. What If...?'due south first episode was incredibly linear and predictable, or at least it was to anyone who's seen the first Captain America movie.

You knew Peggy was going to take a showdown with the Red Skull, and would somehow wind upwards in the modern day. The fact the last sequence was tweaked slightly didn't brand that much of a difference.

The aforementioned couldn't exist said virtually the second episode, considering information technology deviated from Guardians of the Galaxy and so hands and quickly. And the fact the serial is totally non-canon had me wondering whether Curiosity would kill off either T'Challa or key members of his coiffure before the episode was over.

Nosotros can't make a sentence on the series as a whole, considering there are still vii episodes to go. Some of those episodes are going to exist completely different from the movies (like Curiosity Zombies) while others might fall into the same trap as Captain Carter (like Tony Stark taking Blob's place on Sakaar).

Lesser line

There's admittedly no way to completely disconnect What If…? from the movies, because these stories are based on the MCU tales anybody knows and loves. That link is its core appeal, and is the simply reason why the show exists in the first place.

Simply What If…? still needs to dissociate the stories it tells from the stories already told in the movies. Because constantly rebooting the movies into a xxx-infinitesimal TV bear witness is going to get actually boring really quickly.

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Tom is the Tom's Guide's Automotive Editor, which means he can unremarkably be found knee deep in stats the latest and best electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo Britain, when pretty much everything was on the table. He's usually found trying to clasp some other giant Lego ready onto the shelf, draining very big cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't permit him buy the stuff he really needs online.