Last week, Marvel Studios
released their MCU animated anthology, “What If…?” on Disney+ streaming. The
show features episodic vignettes of how certain characters and events in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline can be altered by points of divergence,
creating new versions of familiar faces and happenings. Their debut episode,
about Agent Carter getting the super-soldier serum and becoming Captain Carter,
was the original teaser visual for “What If…?” when introduced, but the actual
product was deemed “too safe” and less divergent than advertised. Any doubts
about just how alternative the series can get with the MCU may have been laid
to rest with the second episode, which came August 18.
“What If T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?”
is as said in the title, a divergent story where T’Challa of Wakanda took the
place of the would-be founder of the Guardians of the Galaxy. That comes about
at the time when Yondu Udonta of the alien Ravagers goes to Earth on a job for
Ego, to abduct his son. He leaves the task to his flunkies, who instead of
taking the boy Peter Quill abduct the young Prince of Wakanda instead. T’Challa
is surprisingly cool about what happened, asking Yondu to let him join the
Ravagers so he can explore the galaxy.
Two decades later, T’Challa has
become a famous space mercenary, dubbed Star-Lord. Unlike the explorer-bounty
hunter-rogue that Peter Quill was, T’Challa is very humanitarian in his
endeavors, helping planets in need and saving them from threats. He even
manages to convince Thanos that his plan to erase half of all life in the
Universe using the Infinity Stones was flawed. Shortly after finding the Power
Stone on Morag (per “Guardians of the Galaxy” canon), T’Challa and the Ravagers
are approached by the mysterious Nebula, who offers them a heist job.
Their mission; to steal from The
Collector’s treasury an artifact called the Embers of Genesis, capable of fast
terraforming and thus has the potential to end galactic hunger. Of course, due
to the divergences the Collector’s collection is even more heavily guarded than
before, in the form of Thanos’ former lieutenants the Black Order. T’Challa
also has been working all these years under the false assumption (planted by
Yondu) that his home Wakanda had been destroyed, leaving him no immediate
reason to return to Earth. Should he discover the deception, what would T’Challa
do? And will the theft of the Embers of Genesis even succeed?
As long advertised by Marvel
Studios, this episode of “What If…?” had the bittersweet fortune of featuring
the last voice-work of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa before he died of cancer
back in 2020. Quite the number of MCU cast members also returned to reprise
their characters here no matter how significant their screen-time might be.
Notable performances include Josh Brolin as a “chill” Thanos and Karen Gillen
as a femme-fatale Nebula instead of a bitter cyborg hunter. This time, the “Guardians”
cameo of Disney-problematic character Howard the Duck even gets voiced courtesy
of Seth Green.
More impressive, perhaps, is how
this “What If…?” episode really delves into the “what-if” of its plot. One
criticism of the “Captain Carter” episode was that in spite of all the changes
the narrative still follows “Captain America: The First Avenger.” This time,
the divergence really throws the world-building off the rails. How about that Thanos
becoming a Ravager after a talk with T’Challa? Who would have thought that
possible? “What If T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?” has done a good job with
viewers in assuring that the premise can work to deliver a still-familiar but
more-new experience to the MCU.
“What If…?” stars the voice of
Jeffrey Wright as narrator/presenter The Watcher, who observes the various
alternate universes the episodes are set in, but cannot and does not interfere.
Check out the MCU series more every Wednesday on Disney+ streaming.
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