What If...?

With dazzling visuals and thrilling storytelling, Marvel's new animated series follows beloved storylines to new ends and scores on every level. Jeffrey Wright is a narrator with gravitas (shades of Rod Serling!), and What If ... ? hooks you in right from the beginning with his intro: "Time. Space. Reality. It's more than a linear path: It's a prism of endless possibility." Oooh, yeah! Wright's Watcher, who we see as a dark humanoid outline with glowing eyes against a cosmic backdrop, is an old-fashioned device, the storyteller who invites you to sit and watch as something unfolds. It worked once; it works still: You're in from the start, and happily, What If ... ? doesn't disappoint after it grabs your attention so extravagantly.

To some viewers, the greatest thrill of all will be seeing a Marvel universe that's more inclusive than you'd expect from the White male-dominated casts of most Marvel movies. In the show's first episode, Captain America character Peggy Carter advances from the sidelines to the center of all the action as she subs in for a wounded Steve Rogers during his hero-ification process. Machines whizz ... smoke gathers and clears ... and out steps a super-sized Captain Carter, ready for combat on America's behalf. "You won't be needing those heels anymore," says a clearly impressed Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper). Cue scenes of Carter acting with derring-do and bravery against a WWII-era soundtrack. Other episodes focus on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and, in performances recorded before his tragic and untimely death in 2020, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther hero T'Challa. Wakanda forever.