What If…? Season 3 Review — Who Watches an Empowered Watcher?

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As the multiverse saga unfolded across the live-action Marvel universe, a consistent complaint started to find its footing. For all the creativity that a multiverse allows, Marvel rarely pushed its ideas beyond surface-level concepts. WhileDoctor StrangeandLokifelt like half-measures,What If…explored the oddities atthe edges of the multiverse. The animated series pushes Marvel to embrace truly weird and different universes — worlds where Hulks fight like Godzilla, Shang Chi ends up in a Western, and Agatha Harkness is a Hollywood starlet. In its final season, What If… highlights a new generation of starsbut feels like it’s leaving a bit of its promise behindwith an early wrap-up.

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What If…Season 3 Plot

While each episode ofWhat If…seeks to tell stories outside the larger Marvel canon, they are loosely connected experiences. Pieced together through the lens of Uatu the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright), the moments across the multiverse hold their own power. However, as The Watcher breaks his vow, slowly becoming more involved in the stories, he must worry about the repercussions of his actions. Along the way, The Watcher observes stories featuring many of the MCU’s biggest stars, including Captain America (Anthony Mackie), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell).

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Beautiful animation continues to highlight the series.

When you dig into the creativity ofWhat If…, it starts at the animation stage. For all the cool storytelling tricks that the series hopes to pull off,What If…Season 3 has to push the boundaries of what is possible in the medium. Like the two seasons before, a mixing and matching of styles allows the show to soar. In the old West, the vistas and gunslinging shine bright. Beyond the cosmos, the monsters look bigger and badder than ever. Magic duels between movie stars are larger than life, and even adding film grain to the frames feels bold and interesting.

What If…Season 3 does not work unless this integral piece of the puzzle works. It’s not only that it looks gorgeous, but it adds dramatic tension to every episode. The fight sequences remind us just how tired the action has become in the live-action movies. With stunning creativity,What If…pushes the physical limits and creative uses of the powersets of its heroes. Even better, the writers never focus only on battle. Their powers are just as integral to their interpersonal relationships and antics as they are in battle.

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The anthology storytelling leaves some emotional stories feeling rushed.

There are plenty of incredible stories that could feel more fleshed out if given the chance. However,What If…demands the stories wrap within their thirty-minute or less runtime. It’snot that some episodes do not extend past the one-off episode, butWhat If…Season 3 primarily carries over a handful of stories from the last two seasons. That leaves the other half dozen stories from Season 3 in “to be continued” status. However, with Marvel insisting this will be the final season ofWhat If…, that just leaves the arcs unfinished.

In previous seasons ofWhat If…, the episodes did a better job at wrapping up the emotional throughlines in their initial run. Even when the “Guardians of the Multiverse” stories found their way back into the fold, they felt like new chapters for the characters to explore. What’s more frustrating is the way that Season 3 leans into the characters who will define the future of the current MCU but feel like they’re getting their breakout roles in a side project for the franchise.

Beyond Wright, Atwell has proven the heart and soul ofWhat If…over its run. Once again, she delivers some of the best work in the MCU, especially as she brings together a new team that should crossover into live-action. The arrivals of Jason Isaacs and Alison Sealy-Smith prove to be incredible adds to the crew as well. Allowing those actors to bring decades of history with fans back into the MCU. Their presence is a much-needed balm for the sometimes rushed aspects of the series.

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IsWhat If…Season 3 worth watching?

If you’ve watched the first two seasons ofWhat If…then you should follow it through to its conclusion. If you’re a newcomer, you may want to start back at the beginning. For all the fun and excitement around the first season, in its final season,What If…only lives up to some of its promise. The series concludes on a fun, but imperfect story arc that showcases what is possible in the MCU. Why it’s shuttering its doors is still puzzling, but we’re happy to have seen the MCU actually take a big swing.

What If… Season 3 releases on Disney+ on December 22.New episodes release daily through December 30.

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