With the arrival of the third and ultimate season of the multiverse-driven Marvel Cinematic Universe sequence What If…?, a sequence with infinite potentialities, it begs the query — why cease now? With Season 1 largely being acquainted settings throughout the MCU altered barely, Season 2 actually felt just like the gloves had been off, and the episodes began residing as much as the identify of the sequence. Now Season 3 will get to dive even additional into the titular idea with inclusions of latest fan favorites like Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), an Avengers lineup with mech fits, introducing brand-new characters like Kahhori (Devery Jacobs) and Byrdie (Natasha Lyonne), and even together with a variant of an animated X-Males fan favourite, Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith). With the sequence feeling prefer it’s simply discovered its footing, it is a disgrace to see such a enjoyable idea come to a conclusion.

‘What If…?’ Did not Want A Principal Character

Each season of What If…? begins off with particular person tales, all culminating in season finales with a gaggle of heroes from throughout the multiverse teaming to assist The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) save the day. The widespread denominator in all of those groups is Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell). Captain Carter is a good character — we noticed a variant of her pop up in Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity. We’d see a variant of the character within the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Nonetheless, there should not be a central anchor to an anthology sequence of this sort apart from The Watcher, who serves extra as a narrator than something. There isn’t any downside with persevering with tales inside What If…?, that gives a degree of funding, however centering round an total narrative solely stunts the countless potentialities with a have to have a conclusion to the principle character’s story.

Whereas the bombastic and zany finales of What If…? are entertaining, the sequence shines when it truly asks the query “What if?” as an alternative of making an attempt to inform an total narrative. The multi-episode finales take away from the idea totally, leaving the viewers wanting extra stand-alone tales that evoke the essence of the sequence. Marvel Studios Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum has cited that Season 3 of What If…? is the “completion of a trilogy,” however the trilogy that is accomplished revolves round a central character, not the premise of the sequence. Season 3 does present a satisfying farewell to Captain Carter’s story, however when the intro to each episode of the sequence contains the phrases “countless chance,” it is perplexing to see all of it come to an finish.

What If ‘What If…?’ Did not Finish?

Even with Season 3 of What If…? nonetheless following characters we have already met earlier than, the eventualities they’re positioned in are extremely entertaining and inventive. Who had Agatha turning into a cosmic god and defeating a Celestial or Howard the Duck (Seth Inexperienced) having a child on their bingo card for 2024? Nonetheless, there’s a lot potential for What If…? to proceed with Unbelievable 4, Blade, and the Mutant Saga nonetheless to return within the upcoming years. Just lately, when talking with Brokers of Fandom, director Bryan Andrews revealed that Marvel would not enable them to incorporate characters comparable to Ghost Rider, Iron Fist, and Beta Ray Invoice, as a result of they’ve but to be launched within the MCU at giant. Ending What If…? now leaves so many whacky tales left untold.

There isn’t any approach the workforce is working out of concepts. The primary difficulty of the What If? comics was printed in February 1977 with What If Spider-Man had Joined The Unbelievable 4? There are numerous comedian What If? tales that may be delivered to life by means of animation with their very own MCU twist, however sadly, these tales won’t ever be informed. The ultimate scene of the sequence even teases insane multiversal variations of Gamora, Ghost Rider, Thanos, Spider-Man, The Punisher, Silver Surfer, and extra, including extra gasoline to the fireplace of the query — why cease now? Marvel Studios ought to double down on the idea, no matter whether or not the Multiverse Saga is coming to an in depth. Very similar to what DC is doing with their Elseworlds initiatives, Marvel may gain advantage from tales outdoors the related universe. Or a minimum of tales that don’t have to abide by the principles of stated current universe, which made What If…? work. There’s one plus facet, the world of What If…? is not fully useless, with the spin-off Marvel Zombies sequence hitting Disney+ subsequent October.

What If…? Season 3 is streaming now on Disney+.

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