YMMV / What If…? S1E2 "What If… T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?"

• Angst? What Angst?: Young T'Challa does not sound the least frightened that he was abducted by aliens or that he's been separated from his family. Instead, he just goes to Yondu on how he's excited to see the world.
• Fanfic Fuel: Ego arrived to meet up with Peter Quill, with the Watcher implying that maybe it leads to the end of the Earth. How exactly would T'Challa, Wakanda, and the Ravagers deal with this threat?
  • The episode was going to create a spin-off show but was scrapped due to Chadwick Boseman's passing. What other adventures exist with this world's versions of Gamora, Rocket, and Groot?
• Moe: A young T'Challa is so goddamn adorable with how he's calmly approaching the Ravagers on how he's exploring the world.
• Older Than They Think: The Collector's prisoners had also been freed from their captivity in Guardians of the Galaxy (2015).
• Questionable Casting: While Fred Tatasciore does a fairly good impression of Dave Bautista when he voices Drax in this episode, many people were confused as to why Bautista himself wasn't asked to reprise the role. He stated on Twitter that he wasn’t asked. A producer for the series later said that there was an alleged miscommunication between the producers of the series and Bautista and his agent.
• Salvaged Story:
  • A lot of people were thoroughly intrigued by Thanos's Black Order in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and were disappointed that all four members got killed off rather quickly without much fanfare in those films. The Black Order gets much more screentime in this episode of What If…?, as enforcers of the Collector.
  • Speaking of the Collector, many people who were disappointed that he was Killed Offscreen in Infinity War after being hyped up as a threat in previous movies were excited to see his Alternate Self is an Adaptational Badass whose combat prowess and threat level are significantly larger than in the base movies.
• Unexpected Character:
  • While the episode was billed as being one of the final performances of Chadwick Boseman, as well as having Michael Rooker reprise his role as Yondu, no one was expecting a sizeable role for a reformed Thanos, voiced by Josh Brolin.
  • Even if it was just an indirect reference, nobody expected Malekith to get mentioned in this episode of all places, due to him being one of the least memorable villains in the Infinity Saga.