In the multi-verse beyond the MCU, the omniscient being The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) observes various stories of alternate timelines featuring familiar characters from the MCU with some differing slightly, while others differ greatly.

What If...? Is an animated anthology series that dovetails off the end of the first season of Loki which established the nature of the multi-verse in the MCU. While Marvel had discussed a What If...? Series for years, it was decided that it would be held off until the end of the Infinity Saga. To ensure continuity, the producers of What If...?, Loki, and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness met with one another to ensure cohesion between the series in terms of understanding of what the rules and expectations of the multiverse were. What If...? For the most part does tackle some fairly unique divergences from the MCU, even if it does sometimes feel like it's held back by time constraints.

In terms of anthology setups, Jeffrey Wright makes a great narrator as The Watcher as he guides us through various points of the MCU multiverse through various stories that run the gamut between serious and dark to more light-hearted and fun. We get some fun takes on things such as Marvel Zombies, Peggy Carter becoming a supersoldier while Steve Rogers becomes a proto-Iron Man called the HYDRA Stomper, or an only child version of Thor turning the planet Earth into his universe's "Party Central" much to chagrin of SHIELD and Captain Marvel. I think the biggest issue however that we run into is in the fact that we only get "tastes" of these worlds and in the half-hour format it does sometimes feel like we're a bit overly rushed in terms of our experiencing these worlds. I also felt like it was little unnecessary in the last few episodes to connect the stories in a big finale, and frankly if they wanted to do that sort of thing then they really should've done an adaptation of Exiles rather than What If...?.

Like many anthology shows, What If...? Has both its high points and its low points. If you're a fan of the MCU and often pondered of the road not taken, What If...? Does provide ample opportunities for exploring those corners of the MCU multiverse. Despite my mixed feelings on the ending I did enjoy most of What If...?.