What If... Agatha Went to Hollywood?

 "Wow! That chemistry was hotter than the Hindenburg!"

I love the style of this, all late '30s Hollywood with opening titles to match, a massive contemporary musical number, pop culture references like the above and the Hollywoodland sign (not Hoyywood, yet) as a nice touch. And it's interesting to mix up Agatha Harkness with the world of Eternals and Celestials and the rapport between Howard Stark and Jarvis that we know so well from Agent Carter.

I'll be honest, though: I've only seen The Eternals once and there hasn't since been much follow-up. I just about remembered the Dreaming Celestial and Arishem's secret agenda to treat Earth as expendable. And if I'm a little vague on this stuff, surely many others, even those who try to keep up with the MCU, like myself, willbe in a similar situation?

Still, this works. I wouldn't say it's an absolute triumph, but it works. Kathryn Hahn can elevate anything just by being herself, and the script has lots of fun and clever touches- I love the bit where Howard casually and cheerfully reveals that he's well aware that Agatha is using real magic and Kingo is a powerful alien robot thingy, but it fine with it as it saves him money on special effects.

Overall, then, a nice little curiosity. And heavy hints that other Celestials will be back for a sequel. I wonder... is this a hint that the Eternals and Celestials will be used again in the MCU at some point?

What If... the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

 "Of course, issues left unresolved rarely stay buried for long."

One episode a day over the Christmas period, is it? With Mark Gatiss dropping a new Ghost Story for Christmas tomorrow and Doctor Who the day after? I'm so going to fall behind with this...

It's a fun way to start, though. Mechs and "Gamma Beasts" that owe a lot to Japanese tropes that I suspect I'd understand more if I was more deeply into Manga and the like as opposed to just the retro Godzilla films and of course Transformers with its Japanese roots. But we all know what mechs are and this is a fun take on the tropes from the MCU, exactly the sort of thing that What If? should be doing. I rather enjoyed this.

And yes, there's a very obvious subtext- the whole thing is a giant metaphor, a macrocosm, for what's going on inside Bruce Banner's head.

But there's something else going on too, I think. I've long seen the constant talk of the MCU's decline as overblown, but that's not to say there's nothing to the criticisms. Individual films and series have usually been good, but there's no denying that there's less of a feelof a cohesive gang of heroes as used to be the case, with the MCU spread much more thinly.

So is this episode trying to push a viable team of new "main" protagonists, including Sam Wilson's Cap, Monica Rambeau, Shang-Chi, Bucky and Moon Knight? If so, this could be interesting...

What if... Captain Carter fought the Hydra Stomper

 "I don't do sequels... normally."

And I thought last episode was good.

This one is simply outstanding. It helps, of course, that it's a sequel to one of last season's standout episodes and benefits from the powerfully tragic love story where Peggy and Steve, although deeply in love, can never be together on account of the small problem of him being the Hydra Stomper, never helpful to true love.

This gives the episode a nice bit of depth and character, but the whole thing oozes class, with excellent characterisation. The close friendshop between Peggy and Natasha Romanov feels real and nuanced. It's great seeing Peggy as out-of-time in the present day, just like the Steve of "our" world. It's nice to see a Bucky Barnes who has remained living and grown old. And, yeah, that ersatz American town in Sokovia is magnificent nightmare fuel.

Also, what an ending. Is this a version of Neil Gaiman's 1602 graphic novel? I look forward to it. The finale, I assume?

What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?

 "Take that, vile asparagus woman."

This is, quite simply, one of the best episodes of What If I've seen thus far, perhaps the best. Given the design of one of the "chariots", I think we're supposed to notice an allusion to the pod race in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. I prefer to see this as a particularly good episodfe of Wacky Races.

It's not just the simple but awesome ploty, it's the incredibly witty script. It's Jeff Goldblum's absoluteky splendid scenery chewing as the Grandmaster, a tyrant who gets a kinky thrill, after trying to cheart at the end, from the sensation of being melted. It's the fact that both Valkyrie and Gamora get some good character development that riffs on what happens in the actual films. It's the sheer horror of a grand prix that's an actual health and safety nightmare. Plus, Iron Man and Korg are one of those double acts that absolutely had to happen in some way or other.

Oh, and Mick Wingert almost convinces as Robert Downey Jr. I'm impressed. This episode will be rather hard to top.

What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?

 "You believe the cure for human suffering is more suffering?"

This is a fascinating episode. Killmonger saves Tony Stark... so he remains a playboy and never becomes Iron Man, leading to so much stuff not happening. For much of the episode we have basically decent but still very playboy Tony Stark.

But that's not what this episode is about.

It's about Erik Killmonger, and his lifelong concealed rage. Rage against racism. Rage against colonial exploitation. A rage that leads him to use Ulysses Klaw while he remains useful but kills him as soon as he slips into very Sith Efrican casual racism redolent of those days, within living memory, when South Africa was not so civilised. 

Stark still tries to be a hero in the end, but Killmonger is a fascinating and complex character amongst many in a nuanced and highyly satisfactory episode that packs so much into half an hour.

It's great to hear the voice of Chadwick Boseman. He's in this a lot, and he must have been dying. Was he too sick to appear on film but determined to make as much of a mark as he could in the time he had left? A sad thought.

What If... T'Challa Became a Star Lord?

 "You are very articulate for a duck..."

"That, Sir, is very closed-minded!"

It's fascinating, with a second episode, to see what is just format and what is not. Hence we see the same intro with the Watcher, equally effective. But then we see a fascinating tale of T.Challa, in many ways a batter and more beloved Starlord, who even convinces Thanos(!) to join the Ravagers, is adored by Yondu, and tries hard to reconcile Nebula with her father. All while acting as an interstellar Robin Hood, naturally... and co-opting his foes, as the wonderful first scene demonstrates.

Chadwick Boseman is, of course, superb. T'Challa gets to be a huge hero, ending universal poverty and freeing Howard the Duck to boot. There's just the minor inconvenience, after a happy family reunion in Wakanda, that the world is going to end because the wrong Star Lord was chosen. Bummer.

Yes, this is, like all of this series, a short half hour bit of fun. But I loved it.

What if... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?

 "Who needs a plan? I have shield!"

So Loki has unleashed the Multiverse. Branches now proliferate. So here's the first.

In alternate history (Google the fourm; it's an interest of mine) we have a phrase, the "POD" or point of divergence. Here, it's Peggy choosing to stay, and so becoming the Super Soldier instead of Steve... hence the Captain Carter in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.

This is huge fun. Captain America: The First Avenger plays out with Peggy as the hero- allowed to display the Union Flag, for some reason, by Americans of 1943, who would have been somewhat more ambiguous about us.

And it's wonderful. The romance between strong Peggy and War Machine weaking Steve, with a character that wins her heart. The Lovecraftian horror. I love this.