<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-b-headline__title" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;font-size:38px;margin:0px;font-family:"Visby CF",-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,149,217);line-height:1.26316;padding-right:18.75px"><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400">I loved Marvel's "What If" comic as a boy, and am overjoyed that a television show has been adapted from it. The first episode was excellent...</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400">"Created by screenwriter and producer A.C. Bradley and inspired by the comic book series of the same name, <em style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box">What If?</em> devotes each episode to a particular moment in the MCU timeline and explores how easily it could have unfolded differently, as well as the ripple effect that small difference would have had on everything that came later.<br></p><div class="gmail-dtads-slot gmail-dtads-slot-hub gmail-solid gmail-callout gmail-dtads-is-rendered" id="gmail-dtads-hub-06esq957csu" style="background:rgb(236,236,236);box-sizing:border-box;display:flex;text-align:center;height:290px;width:100vw;margin:52px 0px;max-width:none;clear:both;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/5611/dt.desktop.hub.booksliterature_comicsgraphicnovels_0__container__" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:100vw;margin:auto;border:0pt none"></div></div><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400">For example, the first episode of the series reveals how easily SHIELD agent Peggy Carter (who previously headlined Marvel’s live-action <em style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box">Agent Carter</em> series) could have ended up with the super-soldier serum that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. However, even with all of the superhuman abilities the serum bestowed on her, Peggy finds herself waging a battle against Hydra as well as the misogyny of a WWII-era military structure that can’t imagine sending a woman to war. Peggy isn’t the only MCU character to experience a new story arc, either, as Steve Rogers, Howard Stark (Tony’s father), and other characters head in a new direction thanks to the emergence of “Captain Carter” instead of the Captain America we know.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400">The second episode of the series then explores what would have happened if, instead of inheriting the mantle of Black Panther, Wakandan prince T’Challa ended up becoming the cosmic adventurer known as Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill. What might initially seem like an inconsequential replacement ends up having massive implications on subsequent MCU events, as T’Challa’s perspective on life and experiences on Earth result in a much different version of Star-Lord — along with a much different Guardians of the Galaxy roster around him.</p><a class="gmail-wp-image-2764123 gmail-size-large-wrap gmail-h-lightbox gmail-is-zoomable" href="https://icdn.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/marvel-what-if-s1e02-star-lord-1920x874.jpg" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline-color:rgb(0,149,217);color:rgb(0,149,217);text-decoration-line:none"><img src="https://icdn.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/marvel-what-if-s1e02-star-lord-768x768.jpg" class="gmail-size-large gmail-wp-image-2764123 gmail-dt-lazy-load gmail-dt-lazy-loaded" alt="T'Challa as Star-Lord in a scene from Marvel's What If? series." style="background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle; border: 0px; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.7s cubic-bezier(0.465, 0.183, 0.153, 0.946) 0s; display: block; max-width: 100%; width: 625px; height: auto; aspect-ratio: 2.1968 / 1;"></a></h1><h2 style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;font-size:22px;margin:3.15789em 0px 1.26316em;max-width:100%;font-family:"Visby CF",-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,149,217);line-height:1.27273"><a id="gmail-dt-heading--to-look-ahead" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent;outline-color:rgb(0,149,217)"></a>… to look ahead</h2><h1 class="gmail-b-headline__title" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;font-size:38px;margin:0px;font-family:"Visby CF",-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,149,217);line-height:1.26316;padding-right:18.75px"><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400">While the stand-alone, alternate-timeline stories presented in <em style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box">What If?</em> offer plenty of surface-level entertainment that mixes up Marvel’s roster and then pours it out in new, intriguing combinations, what the stories reveal about some of the big-picture elements of the MCU and its characters’ strengths and weaknesses might be the most fascinating aspect of the show."</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400"><a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/what-if-review/">https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/what-if-review/</a><br></p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:1.41176em 0px;max-width:100%;padding-right:25px;color:rgb(37,42,64);font-family:Molde,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:17px;font-weight:400"><br></p></h1></div>