The sixth entry into the What If…? anthology follows what would happen if Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) rescued Tony Stark (Mick Wingert) at the beginning of 2008’s Iron Man. This leads to Tony never becoming the hero and icon he was previously destined to become, causing huge ripple effects to the universe in the process.
What If…? has been on an exceedingly strong run in it’s last four episodes, sadly that run ends here. While it may not be a bad episode per se, episode six is weaker than all of its counterparts. The pacing is off, with a strange ending point halfway through the episode, a slower pace than usual, and plot holes everywhere you look. The entire thing just feels like a mess, below average in almost every department that matters.
The original cast is mostly here, aside from a few massive and noticeable omissions like Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow and others. Their replacements aren’t bad, they’re just not the voices of well-known characters and actors, no matter how hard they try to imitate them. This is something that comes up every week, but this week it’s especially worth pointing out because of Tony Stark’s central role in the episode.
On that topic, Mick Wingert isn’t bad as Tony Stark, but he just isn’t Tony Stark, it’s one of those roles you just can’t recast; Robert Downey Jr. is synonymous with Tony Stark at this point, especially when it’s the MCU version of the character. Recasting was the only option for the series financially, but it’s still extremely disappointing nonetheless.
Michael B. Jordan is great as Killmonger, just as he was in Black Panther, being the best part of that film and this episode. I just wish he had more to do here, even though he’s essentially the lead. His character just hits all the same beats he hit in his original appearance, making this episode feel insignificant even though its differences from the mainline MCU are significant.
The political aspects of his character aren’t changed in any way from Black Panther, making some of his lines feel played out and outdated, which also isn’t helped by the fact that his original lines were about as subtle as a jackhammer. His character ends up coming off as boring over everything else, and no actor can save a script from such subpar writing.
Jeffrey Wright is as underutilized as ever this week, with barely a few lines to his name. It’s always massively disappointing how much Marvel wastes his talent on such a limited role. The rest of the cast is giving largely fine or good performances, just nothing notable.
The animation, as I have to say every week, is beautiful. There are the occasional lip sync issues and the beginning looks a bit drab, but aside from those small things it’s gorgeous, especially scenes later in the episode. There’s a particular action scene in the latter half that’s extremely impressive, not only because of its visuals, but because of its choreography and style.
The flames and reflective materials in that scene are just great to look at, mostly thanks to it’s great cinematography. Despite the episode’s issues, this episode truly does have some iconic-feeling shots, they just lack the impact they’d otherwise have if this was a better episode.
This episode feels like it was made because of a random idea on a whiteboard, “what if Tony Stark and Killmonger met,” without any idea as to how to make it work in any believable way. The episode is really nothing more than an excuse to revive Killmonger and Tony for one more ride, no matter how inconsequential that ride ends up being.
Also, forcing Killmonger into a timeline a decade before his first appearance makes little to no sense when even the slightest thought is given to it. It’s just a messy episode that’s better left forgotten. Hopefully next week the creators can lick their wounds and put out an episode worthy of being included in the MCU.
