The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first animated series, What If…?, generated a great deal of discussion among fans, despite its status as somewhat of an outlier amid bigger projects in the franchise. Its frequent use of live-action MCU actors reprising their roles earned it a surprisingly high profile, coupled with the surprise creation of the Multiverse in Loki and subsequent ramifications for a rafter of Phase 4 projects.
What If...?'s generally warm reception still came with a healthy amount of debate, and as an anthology series, tastes vary on which episodes rank higher than others. A list of subjective rankings follows, from worst to first, along with a brief discussion about why each episode occupies its given spot.
9. What If… Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark? (Episode 6)
The weakest entry in the first season of What If...? benefits immeasurably from its villain, who finds a way to be memorably dangerous in an entirely different way here than in the MCU. But its mash-up with Tony Stark and the resulting mayhem never find the spark that other episodes held, and while Killmonger’s “Gundam” army is visually distinctive, it lacks the sense of weirdness that both the series and the comics that inspired it thrived upon.
8. What If… Ultron Won? (Episode 8)
Easily the season’s darkest episode revealed Ultron claiming the Infinity Stones and succeeding in his mad quest to destroy all life in the universe, then turning on the Watcher in an attempt to do the same to the rest of the Multiverse. Its central twist was a good one – knocking Uatu headlong in the realities he had only observed before – but the episode created what appears to be a significant continuity error in the process. Furthermore, it served more as set-up for the season finale than its own story, and once the basics of its reality were covered, the remainder of the episode consisted largely of a single extended fight.
7. What If… the Watcher Broke His Oath? (Episode 9)
The season finale was suitably epic, as Uatu gathers variants from across the first eight episodes to halt Ultron’s genocidal rampage, and its ending found a sense of harmony and optimism in all of the season’s realities. But as with “Ultron Wins,” it spent a lot of time on what amounted to a lengthy battle, and while the mash-up of different realities worked as a gimmick, it turned away from the funhouse mirror distortions that were supposedly the series’ principle point.
6. What If… Thor Were an Only Child? (Episode 7)
As with “Killmonger,” this episode gets a boost from its title character, who turns into an enormous party animal in this universe without the humbling influence of his step-brother, Loki. Chris Hemsworth – cheerfully willing to take potshots at his signature character – has a lot of fun with the concept, and the light tone was badly needed after a run of surprisingly dark episodes. But the humor was the point, and once it stepped past its central theme, the episode had little to offer beyond the admittedly hysterical gags.
5. What If… Zombies?! (Episode 5)
“Zombies!?” was heavily promoted during What If…?’s launch, with an obvious nod to the Marvel Zombies line of comics. It stuck to traditional zombies – shambling and mindless instead of intelligent as they were in the comics – and though dark, the episode also found moments of humor to offset the apocalyptic circumstances. It felt perhaps the most self-contained episode of the season, as well as demonstrating the show’s capacity to dramatize corners of the comics that could never see expression in the Prime MCU.
4. What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger? (Episode 1)
The inaugural episode was upbeat, energetic and in Hayley Atwell’s reimagined Super Soldier, delivered Peggy Carter as she was always meant to be. Adding a still-frail Steve Rogers as a protean Iron Man made for a fun twist on their long-deferred romance in the prime MCU, and the episode aptly demonstrated how the show’s central premise worked. The one complaint lay in its relative similarities to the prime MCU’s Captain America; venturing outside the established storyline fitfully without embracing the more extreme possibilities.
3. What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord? (Episode 2)
Chadwick Boseman returned as T’Challa multiple times in What If…?, delivering what turned out to be his final performances. His stand-out episode saw the sometime Black Panther unburdened from his responsibilities as king and set loose to explore the galaxy. He becomes a very different hero – turning the Ravagers into Robin Hoods of the stars and even convincing Thanos to try something other than mass genocide – but carries the same soul. He one-ups Captain Carter by better embodying the wild differences that the show is supposed to embrace, as well as saying a proper good-bye to a talent who left too soon.
2. What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? (Episode 4)
Another borderline nihilistic episode details the undoing of all reality thanks to a Doctor Strange obsessed with bringing his lost love back to life. By keeping it focused on the character, it allows the doom to advance organically, and with Benedict Cumberbatch performing the voice, fans can see how close the Prime MCU’s Strange comes to this one. The variant is compelling enough to merit a return in Season 2. The episode is a textbook example of how What If…? should work, and might even have ramifications in the Prime MCU as well.
1. What If… the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes? (Episode 3)
Ostensibly one of the season’s dark episodes, “Mightiest Heroes” displays an eerily plausible reality in which a grief-crazed Yellowjacket murders five of the six original Avengers before Nick Fury can assemble them. Besides the strong comic book logic behind the scenario, it found a number of unexpected twists – including Fury teaming up with Loki to stop Yellowjacket – before the final coda confirming one of What If…?'s core tenets: whatever the danger, heroes will rise to face it. “Mightiest Heroes” found a smart and surprisingly dynamic way to demonstrate that.