The last episode of Marvel’s What If…? proved that they can use the concept well to heighten the stories that we already know. This week’s episode gave us another story that used the concept of the show to its full advantage. So what was the concept this week? Well what if Nick Fury didn’t get the Avengers together to fight Loki? What if they all got picked off one by one by an unknown assailant? That’s what Nick Fury has to deal with this week.

Overall, the episode’s story plays out like a murder mystery that’s framed around the event known as “Fury’s Big Week”. The events of Iron Man 2, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk all happen in the span of seven days. As an audience we were introduced to some of our favorite characters during this time period. It practically built the Avengers and the MCU into what it is now. So what happens when you change that slightly? It looks like our main hero for this episode was Black Widow (with Lake Bell doing the best Scarlett Johansson impression, but also adding her own flair to the character). That turns out to be untrue.

This was a Nick Fury episode through and through and the reveal at the end was one that I’m sure no one expected. Overall, the voice cast in this episode actually had the most replacements from their original characters. I’m still dreading hearing the episode where we get more than a couple lines out of Tony Stark, but this was a good showcase for the replacements, especially Lake Bell.

The Twist Here Was Pretty Awesome Though

So who was the killer? None other than Hank Pym (voiced by Michael Douglas) avenging/revenging the death of Janet Van Dyne. It was an interesting twist on the killer. Normally, we’d assume it’s some sort of villain like Loki (voiced by Tom Hiddleston), but this time around it’s a hero turned villain. I’m really looking forward to how they use a narrative like this going forward. I know there are ideas about Doctor Strange being a bit….off in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, that’s an idea that Marvel could explore in the future. Nothing is better than a hero turned villain, and also vice-versa, like Thanos in the previous episode.

As for the animation, the real highlight was the design of the evil Hank Pym. He looked pretty terrifying in this episode. It goes to show the ingenuity and creativity of the whole team working on this show. It’s not just the writing, but the designers and animators that help bring it to life for all of us.

But That Carol Danvers-Fury Relationship Is Where We Leave Off

There was the twist of Hank Pym being the killer at the end, but what we’re really left off with is Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel being the savior once again. Loki invades the Earth still, so we’re left without our greatest heroes. It’ll be interesting to see if they return to this story for season two and have Carol fighting off Loki with some sort of “New” Avengers team. That’d be an episode of television that I want to see.

Overall, I was really pleased with this episode. I think I might judge the episodes of this show on “would this make for a good movie that I’d want to see?”. I think I wouldn’t want to see a whole movie based on this concept, because seeing our favorite heroes die like this would be kind of shocking and upsetting, but this worked really well in this short form.

What If…? airs a new episode every Wednesday on Disney+.

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