What If is now streaming on Disney+, and the first episode is ready for your consumption! Did you watch it? Are you skipping this since it's an animated series? Are you more excited because it is an animated series? Or will you just watch anything MCU related?
You can find a synopsis of this episode below, as well as some of my brief thoughts! I'd also love to hear your thoughts, so make sure you sound off in the comments.
What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger? When Steve Rogers is seriously injured, Peggy Carter becomes the world's first super-soldier.
If I'm being honest, What If didn't pack the punch that I think it needed to for a debut issue. Now, I know that the general consensus is that the next two episodes get better and better, but I also know many critics who received screeners didn't feel that the show really earned its place until the third episode. The question is whether or not people will stick around.
For the most part, this episode follows the story of Captain America: The First Avenger rather closely, but with some minor adjustments - namely that Peggy Carter takes the super-soldier serum. Deemed Captain Carter, Peggy essentially fills Steve's role from our universe. Meanwhile, Steve partners with Howard Stark, and the first "Iron Man" suit is created. I find the concept fun, but there's nothing here that really hooks me. In fact, I stopped the episode halfway through to walk my dogs.
If there's anything fun here, it's hearing the cast we know and love. I especially love getting Hailey Atwell any way that we can. There's just a magic to her Peggy Carter, and she's the reason the character has persisted. There are even rumors that she will appear in an upcoming live-action film as Captain Carter, so I'm kind of hoping for that. Kevin Feige produced the Agent Carter show for ABC, and already brought James D'Arcy's Jarvis into the films after all...
As I stated, the plot is pretty much a beat-by-beat replaying of The First Avenger, only detouring heavily towards the end of the episode. It was fun, even if it felt uninspired and predictable. There's an overuse of "dancing" throwbacks that... just... kept... going. Enough. We got it the first time.
The ending teases that this isn't the last we've seen of Captain Carter within the confines of the show. Appearing around the time of Avengers, Captain Carter pulls a Loki and comes through the Tesseract to find Nick Fury and Hawkeye...
If I had to rate this episode, I'd give it a...
6/10 - Decent
A full review for the season will post once every episode has aired. For now, we'll have to wait until next week to see what else Marvel has up their sleeves. Until then, follow us on Twitter @bypopped, and keep popping your culture!