Since its announcement at Comic-Con in 2019, generating quite a lot of expectations and theories about what it could address, finally the first Marvel Studios animation came to the homes of the world through the Disney+ platform this August, and today in October with its ninth episode came to its conclusion, but is it really a step in the right direction for the franchise and its universe? Or is it a failed attempt to want to attract that glory they had counted on with past animations like Spectacular Spider-Man?

Marvel's What If...? It's a very rich series in content, it has all the things you want to see in a series with different premises that address situations that have occurred in this cinematic universe. For starters, I have to say that the animation style wasn't that appealing to me when I saw it in the trailers, but boy did I end up being convinced with the final product they offered; and better yet, with the duality, world and story of each episode, it creates a unique color palette so that not only does it differentiate itself in the story it's telling, visually you're taking in a beautiful show where you see variants of stories, helping you connect and let yourself get carried away easier by the show.

Narratively, at first I thought this show would give episodes that would give separate stories in multiple universes, but as we all know in the season finale they ended up connecting that story in a somewhat rushed way, filled with a lot of fanservice but it works very well because it does what I think is the most valuable thing about these superhero projects: entertain you. All in all I have to say that I found all the episodes interesting, you have premises like what would have happened if T'Challa was Star-Lord? Which try to further deconstruct the events of the main universe and make it totally their own, but you also have the What if Peggy was Captain Carter? Which goes back to the main problem with this franchise: doing more of the same without taking any risks. It works for the story being told, but you can't help but feel that they could have taken more elements and modified them to their liking, in the end it's a What If?

The addition of several known voices to their respective characters will always add points and I think that whose characters did not have their actors, the truth is that there is nothing to complain about, for example, Lake Bell did a great job dubbing Natasha with the absence of Scarlett Johansson that at the end it didn't really need it.

Another important point I feel is that there weren't as many dips in the narrative and story of the episodes as in other Marvel series, something that makes the product more enjoyable, although obviously there are episodes that can seem very simple or narratively do not seek to make your story bigger, either because there were no more ideas or remain latent to a continuation. That said, I would recommend that you watch the series in a row, the episodes are really short and the experience would definitely improve with a marathon that would not leave you stung or anxious with the respective endings of each chapter.

To conclude, What If...? It really is a pretty big experiment that turned out well for Marvel Studios, it has a good animation style, it's interesting to see the stories they offer and, above all, there's a lot of fanservice everywhere, elements and characters from the comics that we hadn't seen because of the structure of the MCU that really made me enjoy the show even more. No doubt the series has everything for more seasons but it will be difficult to overcome or manage to make another interconnected story as in this first season, I think it is one of the risks they face by the implications already made clear in this season, but there is content where to draw, just hope to continue along the line you need and do not try to do things that don't correspond to him or, to turn their stories boring without any emotion, although the latter I see it difficult.

If you're a fan of this franchise and you like the MCU, this series is definitely for you, it has enriching episodes in its story, others a little slower and without much narrative to offer, but obviously the most important thing is that it will entertain you a lot for the amount of emotions and fanservice it has.

Final grade: 8.2/10

My episode ranking:

1. "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?" 2. "What If... Ultron Won?" 3. "What If... the Watcher Broke His Oath?" 4. "What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" 5. "What If T'ChallaBecame a Star-Lord? " 6. "What If... Thor Were an Only Child?" 7. "What If... Zombies?!" 8. "What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?" 9. "What... If KillmongerRescued Tony Stark?"