It's been a fun nine weeks, but What If...?'s first season reached its end today with an episode that asked "What If...The Watcher Broke His Oath?" (find more on how that played out right here).
After a strong start, some fans started to find fault with a series they believed played it too safe. There's no denying that much more can be done with the premise and, based on interviews with the creative team, it does sound like bigger risks will be taken in that eventual second season.
This first batch of episodes has left us with plenty to discuss, and there's no denying that some were better than others. With that in mind, we've revisited all of these to bring your our ranking of them from worst to best. Needless to say, we're sure you'll have your own thoughts, but as for what comes out on top...well, something tells us you might be on board with that at the very least.
To take a look at this What If...? ranking, all you guys need to do is click on the "Next" button below!
9. "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?"
There may have been a compelling mystery at the heart of this episode, but the big reveal that Hank Pym/Yellowjacket was responsible didn't really work...unless you rename the episode, "What If...Hope Van Dyne Became an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
It was certainly interesting to see the sinister power the former Ant-Man could unleash on even the mightiest of Earth's heroes, but the sheer amount of comedy here did nothing to help that. In fact, it just lessened the impact of the episode, and even those deaths became a tad too light-hearted.
That was particularly in the case of The Hulk, but we can't fault the voice performances here. This was an all-star cast, and we understand if you think its placement here is perhaps too harsh!
8. "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?"
A cross between Iron Man and Black Panther, this episode of What If...? didn't do anything particularly original with retelling either movie. Somehow, the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron were also thrown into this one (who knew Ulysses Klaue was sitting on that Vibranium for such a long time?).
Logic was thrown out of the window for a story that played too fast and loose with the timeline, though we can't say anything bad about Michael B. Jordan's work as a still villainous Erik Killmonger.
Marvel Studios could and should have done more with this one, and heading back down the villain route with Killmonger...well, it felt all too familiar. His convoluted takeover of Wakanda didn't land the biggest impact, and neither did the lack of ramifications for the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
7. "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?"
In terms of sheer comedy, this effort worked pretty well and it was a lot of fun seeing what would become of Thor had he not had Loki to contend with growing up. What If...? delivered some fun surprises in this effort, with heaps of memorable cameos and a tone that suited the relatively safe premise.
The Thor vs. Captain Marvel fight was absolutely epic and a real joy to watch in terms of animation. Unfortunately, that was probably the most memorable thing about this one and we'd have liked to see a greater exploration of what made this Thor tick beyond wanting to throw a massive party.
The romance with Jane Foster was welcomed, though, and how could you not love seeing such a vastly different take on Loki? An enjoyable diversion, but not one likely to leave a lasting impact.
6. "What If... Zombies?!"
Did Marvel Studios drop the ball on Marvel Zombies? Not exactly, but things moved very quickly here and that didn't give the characters - or the undead heroes - enough room to strut their stuff.
It would have been no bad thing to tell this story from the perspective of the zombies, especially if they'd been given the same intelligence as their comic book counterparts. That aside, and this was a fun adventure. Kurt definitely outstayed his welcome and proved that these darker What If...? episodes really don't need to throw in heaps of comedy in order to keep fans engaged.
Spider-Man was a lot of fun to spend time with, while that big twist with The Vision and Scarlet Witch did a superb job of showing how toxic their relationship is. Hopefully, we can return to this world because we're definitely not satisfied after that big cliffhanger with the undead version of Thanos.
5. "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?"
Yes, What If...?'s premiere was basically just a retelling of Captain America: The First Avenger, but how could you not fall in love with Hayley Atwell's Captain Carter? This opening episode showed the potential of the series and how one small change could lead to a world vastly different to the one we know.
In this reality, Steve Rogers donned a suit of armour powered by the Tesseract to become the HYDRA Stomper, while Bucky was saved from being transformed into The Winter Soldier.
Those final few minutes with Peggy making the ultimate sacrifice and the emergence of a big bad who appeared to be Shuma Gorath was a great twist, and this episode was hard to fault. However, if we had to nitpick, it would be to say that Sebastian Stan definitely needs work as a voiceover actor.
4. "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?"
The finale of What If...? definitely didn't disappoint, and the Guardians of the Multiverse proved themselves one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's more memorable superhero teams.
It wouldn't have hurt to give this episode a longer runtime as Infinity Ultron felt a little watered down compared to his previous appearance. That aside, there was heaps of epic action to be found here and the series deserves a lot of credit for managing to address pretty much all of those cliffhangers. They hurt a lot of previous instalments, but this finale went a long way in making things right.
It's a shame Marvel Studios couldn't get that Gamora episode finished on time because her presence ended up feeling a little random. We can forgive it, though, and hope the door is left ajar to these Guardians assembling somewhere down the line...in live-action if we're really lucky!
3. "What If... Ultron Won?"
Like you, we're a little disappointed that James Spader didn't reprise the role of Ultron for What If...? Despite that, Ross Marquand did a terrific job as the big bad and this felt like the perfect exploration of what would happen if Ultron had managed to make The Vision's body his own.
There were a couple of plot holes (if he'd wiped out all life across the cosmos, how had he missed Black Widow and Hawkeye?), but those were easy enough to explain away. We also can't deny that it was nothing short of epic to see The Watcher battling Infinity Ultron through different realities.
Unfortunately, it appears that's it for this villain, but we do hope the concept can be revisited in some way. Once again, a longer runtime would have benefited the series as it might have helped both stories - Ultron's and Black Widow's - if they'd been given a little more room to breathe.
2. "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?"
This episode of What If...? was damn near perfect. Like the premiere and penultimate episode, it managed to do a fantastic job of showing us what sort of ramifications one change could make.
In this instance, it was T'Challa being abducted by the Ravagers instead of Peter Quill. Seeing how the Wakandan had managed to help reform Thanos was a pretty terrific surprise, while Karen Gillan's take on Nebula...well, that's something we need to see in live-action because the actress nailed it.
Throw in the late Chadwick Boseman's wonderful performance as the T'Challa Star-Lord and it's really difficult to fault this. In fact, it's fully deserving of being at #1, but the next episode arguably just topped it (even if it was extremely hard-hitting and more than a little bit, uh, depressing in comparison).
1. "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"
Things got dark in this episode of What If...?, but it was a damn near perfect thirty minutes of television. In a reality where Christine Palmer died in that accident, we followed Stephen Strange as he did everything within his power to undo his greatest mistake and bring her back from the dead.
What followed was a heart-breaking, potentially monumental new story that emphasised the Sorcerer Supreme's power. It also revealed the importance of fixed moments in time, something we're sure could be picked up on in the live-action MCU (Iron Man's death in Avengers: Endgame, for example).
There were some great twists and turns and a haunting ending that stuck with you long after the credits rolled. More of this, and Doctor Strange Supreme in season 2 of What If...? please, Marvel.