New Episodes of Marvel’s What If…? stream daily on Disney+ through December 29, 2024.
Synopsis
A new team of Mech Avengers battle an accidentally enhanced Hulk.
Review
Marvel’s What If…? returns today for what is sadly not just its third season but also its final one. There’s just eight episodes left to understand if Marvel Studios’ first animated property has more than a tangential connection to its theatrical storytelling. Will it connect the dots? Will The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) catch a glimpse of Earth-616?
Today’s first episode, What If… The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers? will answer none of those questions. No, this first episode is classic What If…? leaning in to an outlandish scenario which allows a cross-section of key Marvel Studios actors to have a little fun with a scenario unlikely to ever play out in live-action. This episode is a brilliant who’s who of currently Marvel stars too. Anthony Mackie’s Captain America is joined by Teyonah Parris, Simu Liu, Oscar Isaac, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan and Mark Ruffalo. The series has always drawn cast from the movies but alongside notable soundalikes. So what a way to start the season than with an episode whose main cast is almost played by their original actors. Only Nakia, played in Black Panther by Lupita Nyong’o and Melina Vostokoff, played in Black Widow by Rachel Weisz, are replaced. Brittany Adebumola takes on the heroic Wakandan whilst Kari Wahlgren steps in for Weisz.
In this reality Bruce Banner has struggled to wrestle with his gamma-infused alter-ego. In a scene ripped straight from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it’s Banner (Ruffalo) whom Sam Wilson (Mackie) meets running laps around Washington. The two become fast friends until Sam reacts badly to seeing Banner turning in to our favourite Jade Giant. Wishing to rid himself of is curse Banner doses himself with gamma radiation once again accidentally creating Apex Hulk. A creature who separates from Banner entirely and is able to spawn an army of gamma monsters. So begins The Gamma War…
Ten years later the monster have been beaten back thanks to Cap and his team of Avengers who have created ginormous, Gundam-style mech suits to fight the monsters. Unfortunately the Apex hasn’t really been defeated, which Sam and Monica Rambeau (Parris) find in the Arctic, that sets Sam on a path to confronting his old friend before an apocalyptic final showdown commences.
What If… The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers? wears its influences on its sleeve. After an outstanding opening scene in the style of a 90s superhero cartoon, the episode weaves its way to a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers-style conclusion. A. C. Bradley and Bryan Andrews’ story falls squarely in to the bracket of an episode built around a specific concept rather than focussing on an engaging story which happens to also feature Marvel characters. It’s a fun watch which falls perfectly in to the What If…? template. But its concept can only take us so far and finds itself padded out by length dialogue scenes between Sam and Bruce. But whilst these moments are engaging, it feels like they’re holding the episode from back going full Gundam.
Verdict
It’s great to have Marvel’s What If…? back on our screens. What If… The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers? is the series leaning in fully to its elseworlds style of storytelling but fails to fully commit to the absurdity of its Power Rangers influences.
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