What If? #3: The Death Of An Idea?
Welcome back, What If...? Watchers and Ticketholders!
Some news for you all before we begin: Facebook and Twitter weren't cutting it for me, so I am now on Reddit at r/Illustrious_Owl_84, as well as Tumblr at ticketmastersince2k4. And thanks to my expanded social media presence, and help from the folks at BlogPros, my last post hit 200 views in less than a week! Still no real feedback on here, but I'm seeing traffic numbers that that I haven't seen in over a year, so keep those eyeballs tuned, folks!
And if your eyeballs haven't yet tuned into the third episode of What If...?, get on Disney+ right now and start Watching, because there's a good idea behind it that deserves not to be Spoiled.
It's amazing what can happen because of an idea, isn't it? A struggling Blogger can return to his prime. A president can capture electrical current with nothing but a key and a toy. Or a master spy can put together a team of extraordinary people from across all walks of life to avenge the Earth against threats from throughout time and space. But what if that idea was never conceived in the first place? Or never acted upon? What if that idea was thwarted by outside forces before it could reach its full potential? What If...?
Ugh! Between the official trailer drop for Spider-Man: No Way Home, a casting revelation for the new Chucky TV series, Gunpowder Milkshake, anime, Fear Street, a retrospective on City Island, and Episode Three of What If...?, I have a lot to talk about. Maybe I'll do a short theory post later this week, and a few Just the Ticket reviews while I'm at it. I shouldn't even be doing this right now because I have Tax Law homework that I want to get done, too. Unfortunately, my multitasking skills aren't what they used to be. Hell, even when they were what they used to be, they weren't what they used to be! I'm all in on this now, so let's jump into the episode breakdown after the image.
The Returning Cast: Back for more voice work after the "Captain Carter" episode are Samuel L. "NickFurious" Jackson (because I felt like throwing in a Psych nickname--literally) and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. Jamie Alexander has a few lines as Sif, much like she did in that memory prison scene from Loki, and speaking of Loki, Tom Hiddleston is chewing up the recording booth for this episode, and leaving large chunks of ham in his wake. Mark Ruffalo is a joy as well, providing both the speaking voice for Bruce Banner and the primal outbursts of the Hulk. Clark Gregg, having perhaps the most voice-over experience of the film cast (as he previously reprised his movie and TV role for Disney's animated Marvel series'), is Phil Coulson incarnate. Speaking of animated series voice talent, I probably shouldn't include Mick Wingert as Tony Stark/Iron Man on this part of the cast list because he isn't Robert Downey, Jr. I mean, Adrian Pasdar (Avengers: Assemble and Ultimate Spider-Man) was more Robert Downey, Jr. than him. But as Wingert has voiced the character before, I'm counting it, and I think he's grown into the role since replacing Pasdar in Avengers: Assemble's last two seasons. If I'm including Mick Wingert here, I suppose I'll have to include Lake Bell (who previously voiced Black Widow in an episode of Robot Chicken) also. Get at me later if you want. Frank Grillo (Boss Level) is back to voice Crossbones, his character from Winter Soldier and Age Of Ultron. And in a surprising turn, Michael Douglas voices Hank Pym, whom he portrayed in the Ant-Man films. If I had to pick, I'd say Jeremy Renner gets this episode's Sebastian Stan Award For Awkward Vocal Performance. I didn't give one out for last week's post because I hadn't invented the award yet, but it went to Benicio del Toro as The Collector.
Replacement Voice Cast: Unknown (according to Wikipedia, at least) voice actors Stephanie Panisello, Mike McGill, and Alexandra Daniels voice Betty (Jennifer Connelly and Liv Tyler in film) and Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Sam Elliot and William Hurt in film), and Carol Danvers (Brie Larson in film), respectively. They have small parts, but voice them well enough.
The Animation: There isn't much new that I can say here. it seemed like the lighting was brighter in this episode (less Fleischer and more Warhol, I guess?), the dialogue scenes are still Disney-meets-disturbing, and the action, establishing shots, and recreated moments are still fantastic. There are even a couple of recreated establishing shots with the Watcher inserted into the skyline, which was a nice touch. One other thing that stood out to me is the Hulk. I like how, as a CGI character to begin with, he's rendered here to look "more" CGI than what the animation style already is, and it's just enough of a difference that it's noticeable without being terrible.
What Changed: The episode begins with Fury and Black Widow heading to the donut shop scene from Iron Man 2, but when Natasha gives Tony the injection for his paladium poisoning, it kills him. Having apparently been framed for murder, she is taken into custody by Crossbones (probably intending to have her conditioned into a HYDRA double agent by Alexander Pierce, as this is pre-Winter Soldier, and HYDRA is running S.H.I.E.L.D.), but she escapes in transit and goes looking for Bruce Banner. Meanwhile, Coulson, Fury, and Hawkeye witness Thor's infiltration of the S.H.I.E.L.D. encampment around Mjolnir,
and when Hawkeye has a bead on the Asgardian Prince, Thor suffers a fatal arrow wound, for which the marksman is detained, only to later be found dead himself.
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| Inserting obligatory Simpsons meme.... |
and when Hawkeye has a bead on the Asgardian Prince, Thor suffers a fatal arrow wound, for which the marksman is detained, only to later be found dead himself.
At Culver University (a setting familiar to those who saw The Incredible Hulk), Widow tracks down Betty Ross, who is harboring Bruce Banner after he snuck in dressed as a pizza boy. Thunderbolt Ross soon shows up with a small army (but no Abomination?) to capture Bruce, who is shot by an unknown assailant and transforms into the Hulk...who then explodes. This might be a reference to the "Realistic Gamma Radiation" What If? from the comics, where he just becomes a giant, living tumor instead of the Hulk. With all of the other Avenger candidates dead, Black Widow continues her search for the killer while Fury is faced with military intimidation as well. It's Loki, having assumed control of Asgard during the Odinsleep and his brother's banishment, and he (and Sif, the Warriors Three, the Destroyer, and the entire Asgardian army) intends to declare war on Earth in retaliation for Thor's murder. Ever the negotiator, Fury strikes a deal with Loki to buy the planet another day of peace. The killer is uncovered, and Loki gets his entire body of flesh...but then invades Earth anyway. With no Avengers assembled to stop him, the Trickster fulfills his Glorious Purpose. But there is still Nick Fury. There is still Steve Rogers. There is still Carol Danvers. And there is still an idea.
The Verdict: With the assassinations, the rogue arrow (I swear Hawkeye still has an arrow nocked when Thor is shot), and Black Widow saying something to the effect of "I thought you were dead" when the real killer comes for her, I desperately wanted it to be Taskmaster who was killing off the Avengers candidates. But as it turned out, Hank Pym was so distraught over the disappearance of his wife and the death of his daughter (both S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, apparently) that he faked his own death, became Yellowjacket, and instead of killing Fury, whom he held responsible for the loss of his family, he had himself injected into Tony Stark, bumped Hawkeye's finger to make him shoot Thor, scrambled Hawkeye's brain, shot Banner with a Pym particle bullet, and beat Black Widow to death because the convoluted reasoning of a vengeful mad scientist makes total sense every time and I'm totally not being sarcastic except that I totally am. There was a decent idea in here that could have been executed better with a different villain, more sensible motivations, or both. I liked that the true Nexus Event wasn't immediately spelled out, and Marvel applied their "plus superheroes" formula pretty competently to the serial killer mystery genre (Se7en influences? Thor = Pride, Hulk = Wrath, Black Widow = Lust, Iron Man = Gluttony, Greed, and Sloth, Hawkeye = Envy?). The episode had a lot of familiarity and comic book darkness to its implications, too. It's just that the payoff needed work. A lot of work.
The Implications: Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are dead. Loki has conquered the Earth. The timing might not line up, but considering the Collector had Captain America's shield and Mjolnir in his collection in the last episode, it's possible that T'Challa becoming Star Lord took place in the No Mightiest Heroes reality depicted in this episode. Which brings the death of Earth and the possibility of a war between Ego and Knowhere into play as well. At least Captain Marvel might stand a chance, and T'Challa's crew are back on Earth, so there's that to be hopeful about, right?
I am now exhausted and running short on time and thoughts to say much more about Marvel things tonight, so read on and stay tuned for more content.
Ticketmaster the Watcher,
Cannot interfere,
Must not interfere,
So come with me and ponder the question:
Out If?
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