What If...? Episode 2 Review

What If…? Episode 2 asks the question “What if T’Challa was Star Lord?” In the episode, Yondu’s ravager group travels to Earth in search of Ego’s son Peter Quill, but without knowing what humans look like, they accidentally land in Wakanda and take T’Challa instead. This jumpstarts a new reality in which Yondu raises T’Challa as his own. Another interesting concept for this one, but does it hold in comparison to the previous? As we started with the last review, let’s kick things off with the animation. I thought this episode's animation was far better than the first. It could be that I was more used to it going into this episode, but I don’t think that’s the case. What I think actually happened is that this animation worked better with the more futuristic background this episode had. Rather than being in a bland WWII setting, we’re in space and on The Collector’s planet, Knowhere, with loads of color and action and I thought it really worked well this time around.

I also thought the animation with the voice cast was better as well. The acting wasn’t boring like it was in the last episode. The cast really brought these characters to life in this episode and I found myself really enjoying this one. The animators did a much better job at capturing facial expressions and emotions in this episode. This one truly felt like a comic book was jumping out of the pages.

Of course, we got the return of the late actor Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa. This was bittersweet to say the least. To hear the voice of Boseman as T’Challa one last time was really special, but knowing that it’s the last time is saddening. The episode being dedicated to the late actor made it all the more tear jerking. We also get the return of Michael Rooker as Yondu, Josh Brolin as Thanos, and Benicio Del Toro as the Collector; again along with other minor roles being reprised. Notably, Dave Bautista does not voice Drax, instead it is Fred Tatisciore (Hulk and Ultron in other animated series). However, we do hear Kurt Russell as Ego.

As for the content of the episode, I absolutely loved it. Peggy Carter getting the super soldier serum made sense, but T’Challa becoming Star Lord? I had no idea how we were going to get to that conclusion. As we have learned with the idea of multiple universes, anything we are able to think can happen, and the writers found a comical way to do so. Thinking that T’Challa was Peter Quill is only made funnier when we see that the ravagers were even given a picture of Quill but still make the mistake, leading one ravager to claim “all humans look the same.”

This episode delves into some interesting ideas, and I loved every one of them. First, obviously, what would a T’Challa Star Lord act like? As we see in this episode, very differently. Quill doesn’t act the way he does because he is Star Lord. Meaning, it isn’t the title that gives you the character traits. Instead, what we witness is what it would be like if the noble, humble, diplomatic T'Challa were to take on the role of Star Lord? As we find out, things would be pretty different. First off, Thanos would not be the villain that we have come to love/hate, instead he is part of the Ravagers. This means no mass genocide of any planet as T’Challa is able to talk through things with Thanos and convince him why it would be wrong. It also means a blonde Nebula and a bartender Drax. To hold things off without spoiling too many things, there’s a lot in this episode that is unpacked that leads us to question “Would T’Challa have been a better Star Lord than Peter Quill?” As for Peter Quill in this reality? Well, you’re just going to have to watch to find out.

Final Verdict

Episode 2 of Marvel’s What If…? is able to fix the problems that I had with episode one. This made for a highly enjoyable adventure with a lot of our favorite characters. The concept of T’Challa being Star Lord, along with all of us Marvel fans getting to witness Chadwick Boseman as the character one last time led to an episode that I think will be hard for Marvel to top in the coming episodes. This leads me to score this one an easy 10/10.