The setup was a little WTFy and I had a few beefs. Thanos being on the team weirded me out; especially the way his desire to murder half the universe was treated as a wacky quirk. "Ha ha, it's funny 'cause they told him to its face that he's a genocidal monster!" Um. Sure.
Also, Star-Lord is a title Quill's mom gave him as previously noted. Similarly, T'Challa never had a problem with Wakandan isolationism until Character Development well into his adulthood caused him to see reason. So "T'Challa is a rebellious scamp who chafes under the yoke of Wakandan isolationism and yearns for freedom, winding up becoming the legendary Star-Lord" didn't really work for me as an explanation for how we got here.
I also felt that Yondu, like Thanos, is a darker character than this episode gives him credit for. He's a remorseless pirate noted as the evilest remorseless pirate; he was exiled from the Ravagers when he violated the remorseless pirate code by trafficking children - and that's a plural; he had a business relationship with Ego. Quill wasn't a one-time job. Yondu's one and only redeeming quality is his love for Quill; it's hard to imagine him pulling a complete 180 and willingly becoming Galactic Robin Hood.
Everybody in this episode felt horribly flanderized. Except the Collector, anyway.
But despite my qualms with how they set it up, I still had a good time with the events themselves once it got going. The characters felt wrong and the beats around Thanos, in particular grossed me out. But the action was good and the drama, particularly surrounding Wakanda and T'Challa's father was heart-wrenching.
Also I cracked up on that final scene. Watcher's like, "And then everyone died horribly when Ego's master plan went off without a hitch. The end." What a note to end on.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 18th 2021 at 7:42:11 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I also enjoyed this. Yeah, the Thanos thing was weird, but I suppose we have to assume T'chala talked him out of the plan at a very early point in time.
It does raise the question of where Gamora is though.
I also kinda feel sorry for Quill. He has two great accomplishments (saving Xandar, and then the entire universe) and not only did the Infinity War / Endgame duo logy render them moot (by Thanos just rolling in and decimating Xandar and then the Snap), but now this series shows the universe would not only be 100 times better if he'd never been kidnapped, but he ultimately amounts to even less than he is in the main universe, and will now be responsible for it's destruction by virtue of not having the emotional support to resist Ego's manipulation.
Though with some luck, maybe T'challa will help save him as well.
One Strip! One Strip!It's what they already did for Steve. Hydra-Stomper Steve Rogers is played by Josh Keaton, best known for providing the voice of Spectacular Spider-Man's Peter Parker. From a skinny kid in Queens to a skinny kid in Brooklyn.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.If I do have a question about things its why the Black Order doesn't seem to have a connection to Thanos here. Or it doesn't really come up. You'd think they'd have something to say to each other but they're treated as just elite mooks.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
I guess maybe T'Challa got to Thanos before he ever recruited them? So he only knows them by reputation. Though I'm not sure if that works timeline-wise.
Yeah, it seems like What If is totally fine with re-voicing. Though this episode got a very impressive amount of actors pack: Quill is the only one I know changed.
Some of the characters did feel "off" but I can roll with that as they are NOT "our" versions. Just because Mainline T'Challa was fine with isolationism (until he wasn't) doesn't mean THIS one is. Same for Thanos, Yondu etc.
I don't think we're supposed to go in thinking this is EXACTLY the same except for the one point of divergence. There may have been smaller differences that were less consequential than the "main" one.
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."So far it seems like What If is going pretty hard with the Fix Fic. A lot of the choices here felt a little iffy, but I guess that is the nature of taking risks. I'm looking forward to the zombie one or whichever episodes start to go into darker territory.
![]()
![]()
I'd rather not think too much about it and just enjoy the ride.
![]()
We are creating subfolders for variants who are sufficiently different from their main counterparts and play an important role in the series on the same pages where main characters are. We are adding a single Alternate Self entry to the folder of the main character otherwise.
All variants who got separate subfolders are currently highlighted in bold script here: What If…? (2021).
I'm looking forward to the Doctor Strange one. It should be dark and emotional, and there are rumors it might affect the main continuity. And he is one of my favorite characters.
Edited by Asherinka on Aug 18th 2021 at 7:42:35 PM
Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous.The moment I saw good!Thanos, I had to pause and laugh nearly a minute.
@HandsomeRob Gamora most likely is still in Zen-Whoberi(her home planet), since it's possible that Thanos never attacked it in this timeline due to him going straight.
Edited by jouXIII on Aug 18th 2021 at 7:46:26 PM
I assure you, I'm perfectly trustable person
Or Gamora will decide that while Thanos grew soft, she shouldn't, and will become the Galactic Conqueror instead of him.
I see it less fix fic and more that the writers had certain characters they wanted to play with and greased the narrative to get there quickly
Edited by Bocaj on Aug 18th 2021 at 12:48:41 PM
Forever liveblogging the Avengers
x2 Assuming the conqueror!Gamora and Star-Lord!T'challa are in same timeline.
Do note that in the main timeline, the thing that made Quill turn on Ego wasn't the Guardians. It was Ego, totally out of fucking nowhere and for no possible reason, announcing that he killed Quill's mom. Just awkwardly tossing it out there, injecting it into casual conversation in the midst of achieving his goals, because I guess there was no other way to deliver this information to Quill.
Since there's no reason he wouldn't give the same logic-defying confession mid-plan this time around, I don't think these events make Quill more likely to go along with Ego's machinations. They just make Quill less likely to survive his enraged outburst and subsequent fight.
With regards to the Black Order, Thanos does assert that he has firsthand knowledge of how intense and powerful they are. So, presumably, they were working for him before T'Challa convinced him to abandon course. At which point he fired them or whatever and they found new employment.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 18th 2021 at 11:34:49 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Ego was prepared to use Peter as a battery. So he could still do his plan
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

I will admit that I uttered “what the fuck” when it was revealed that T’Challa talked Thanos out of his infinity plan
Anyway, hope this convinces anyone who was worried that the What If series was going to just go through movie plots. Because this went in a radically different direction
I liked that the Collector got to show his chops and that he’s a lot more dangerous when against someone that isn’t Thanos with several infinity stones and that he got to do his thing of busting open the collection to fight with
I thought the Howard cameo was going to amount to more but oh well
and in defense of Peter Quill he started from a much worse emotional place than T’Challa and wasn’t trained from birth to eventually become a king. Instead of raising up the Ravagers he got dragged down by them somewhat. I’m not going to blame him for not managing the ludicrous CHA goal of talking down an arc villain
On that note, it is funny how the ending scene with Ego kind of uses that “divert from the main timeline and suffer” thing that What If used a lot while not being as egregious with it. T’Challa Star-Lord has been a net benefit for the universe but Peter is in a worse position to resist Ego now without the bonds he made to the Guardians. As the Watcher said, this could result in the end of the world. The imperfect Peter Quill is what is needed for the universe to muddle on through. Just like him fucking up against Thanos was apparently necessary for the ONE path of victory Strange saw
I quite enjoyed the episode
Forever liveblogging the Avengers