DIY VIRAL
The author Chris Snelgrove
| Published
Marvel animated series What if…? on paper provides the most thorough examination of the multiverse franchise, showing us stories from very different realities. However, while all three seasons of the show have been largely entertaining, it has increasingly highlighted the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest multi-pronged storytelling weakness. How Star Trek: Lower Decks recently expressed that Marvel is focused on giving us “lazy derivative remixes” and What if…? would be stronger if its multiverse had a better connection to existing movies and TV shows.
Now, some fair warning before we continue: we're going to touch on major spoilers at the end of the year. Lower decks as well as the third and final season What if…?so read on at your own risk.
Star Trek invokes the multiverse
The last two episodes Lower decks involved our Starfleet heroes exploring quantum rifts and eventually creating a sort of stable wormhole to other dimensions. Along the way, Variant character Captain Boimler complained about the multiverse as a concept, saying that they were increasingly finding “lazy derivative remixes” of familiar characters rather than anything new. Frankly, it's hard not to notice that sentiment being channeled Marvelwhich various films and shows (incl What if…?) have seriously squandered the storytelling potential of the multiverse.
I like movies Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and even a loved one Spider-Man: No Way Home have mostly used the multiverse as an excuse to bring us either new versions of familiar characters (like Dr. Strange and Mr. Fantastic) or cameos from other films (like the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and other Sony-era Marvel villains). Marvel's What if…? the show was designed to expand by creating separate stories set in its own multiverse. However, as huge fans of the original comic, we can't help but feel that this show would be stronger if it had a closer connection to the existing universe.
What the Marvel Multiverse needs
If you don't know, the original What if…? the purpose of the comic was to explore what would happen if a major Marvel event had gone differently, such as what would happen if the Hulk killed Wolverine in one of their early battles. A few episodes of the show reflect this, imagining how different the MCU would be if, say, Ultron beat the avengers did Odin never adopt Loki. But many more episodes of this show explore entirely outlandish possibilities, from T'Challa becoming Star-Lord to Agatha Harkness aspiring to great power by becoming a Hollywood star.
As Marvel fans, we've enjoyed some of these weirder ones What if…? stories, but Star Trek was right: after all Disney just keeps giving us lazy remixes of beloved characters, effectively wasting the idea of a multiverse. The show should have been more like a comic, with stories rooted in the exploration of what would happen if it were the main MCU events unfolded differently. There would still be plenty of room for fun variations (these action figures have to sell, after all), but audiences would be more invested in these “new” characters due to their connection to the cinematic universe we all know and love.
Marvel may have already taken this advice: What if…? is ending its third season, after which we will likely see the death of the multiverse (at least temporarily). Secret Wars. However, as fans who really want the franchise to succeed, we're always haunted by the one question we ponder every time the credits roll. Simply put, what if Marvel did a better job What if…? and the multiverse at all?
And if TVA could drag us into this reality, please do so immediately…we can only watch Deadpool & Wolverine so often to our worthy multifaceted narrative.
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DIY VIRAL
