What If...? Season 3
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
301: What If... the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers? 2024 December 22
(First watched 2024-12-28) At first I thought it was Pacific Rim... then it was Power Rangers... then Godzilla... I guess it stole from all the big names. It seems pretty appropriate, since Japanese shows starring Spider-Man and a Captain America of sorts were among the first to start the giant robot trend.
302: What If... Agatha Went to Hollywood? 2024 December 23
(First watched 2025-01-02) The MCU is so suited to a show like this because they've established just so many things to potentially play with. Want to have an episode in the ~1940s? Sure, here are characters we've established from that time period as well as some long-lived/immortal ones who also must be!
Agatha wanting to be a Hollywood actress seemed silly for the first few seconds, but the revelation that she was trying to use the people/sets as part of a setup for a big spell is pretty clever. And trying to drain the power from the Celestial hidden in the Earth... yeah, totally up her alley.
Being about moviemaking is a fun excuse to also bring back Kingo in his role as a performer as much as his role as a superpowered guy.
On the whole this is one of the alternative possibilities that stretches my suspension of disbelief more than most of them... but it's fun.
303: What If... the Red Guardian Stopped the Winter Soldier? 2024 December 24
(First watched 2025-01-06) Very silly, but fun. The Red Guardian and the Winter Soldier made for a quicker unlikely buddy cop duo than the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
I like how much they play the Red Guardian as a Captain America equivalent. That is, they're both intensely tied to their countries of origin, but they both believe in and fight for what they see as the positive aspects, rather than just blindly following orders. So minus the nasty Russian baddie stuff, the Red Guardian mostly ends up a buff Bernie Sanders, with very strong pro-union opinions.
I guess it would've gone off the point, but the episode did fail to get into how the world was any different for having Howard Stark and wife around longer.
304: What If... Howard the Duck Got Hitched? 2024 December 25
(First watched 2025-01-09) Most of the episodes this season are silly... but that was rifuckingdiculous.
305: What If... the Emergence Destroyed the Earth? 2024 December 26
(First watched 2025-01-10) The situation was presented as dystopian... but I gotta say, for a planet that's cracked into pieces when a giant godthing emerged from it? Being under the thumb of a dictatorial supervillain seems like far from the worst possible outcome! The surface (or parts of it) is still livable? Always look on the bright side of life!
306: What If... 1872? 2024 December 27
(First watched 2025-01-11) They sure get some big names for this show. Even though they don't always get the live action actors to reprise their roles, here they're throwing in people like Walton Goggins and Jason Isaacs.
The Watcher being captured by his fellow... things... reminds me of Doctor Who, especially the end of the Second Doctor's time. Being put on trial and punished for sticking his nose into things too often.
307: What If... the Watcher Disappeared? 2024 December 28
(First watched 2025-01-14) It's... a Part 1. Still gotta see the rest.
Byrdie the Duck got big.
More peppering of X-Men into MCU stuff before they make their Big Debut.
Bad guys having a change of heart is a trope... but rarely do you get to see it of someone who straight up eradicated life from the entire universe.
308: What If... What If? 2024 December 29
(First watched 2025-01-18) Meh. Most of the episodes in this series had the advantage of branching off from known situations, so there was already an understanding of what was going on. In these last two we deal with things that are mostly new, but not enough to appreciate them. So there are people who watch the multiverse... for some reason... and have strict noninterference rules... and can see all of time and space... but didn't see that one of their own would become a heretic to their cause... and now let's fight about it.