After a 2023 that has seen the critical highs of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki Seqson 2 and the commercial lows of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels, it seems that what the MCU could do with right now is to take a break from the norm and let its hair down for a bit while it screws with it’s own continuity for a bit. Of course, that means it’s time for the second season of What If…?, the animated anthology show that delights in taking the established mythology of the huge connected universe and shaking it up like a vodka martini.
If the MCU (and us, now I think about it) could use anything right now, it’s a chance to take a break from itself, so allow cosmic peepers, the Watcher, to escort you once again into worlds that are both familiar and yet are starkly different from all that you know.
To quote the large headed one himself, it’s time to ponder (dramatic pause) What If.. ?
In a universewhere Ronan the Accuser betrayed Thanos and went for the Orb himself, a betrayed Nebula found herself cast adrift in space only to be salvaged by Nova Prime who subsequently recruited her as one of the Nova Corps; space cops who patrol the planet of Xandar. However, after Ronan’s mission of vengeance found itself inevitably on Xandar’s doorstep, Nova Prime managed to keep the marauder’s forces out by turning on a shield that protected the entire planet – however, the bad news is that they don’t dare turn it of.
In the years that pass, the fact that no one can enter or leave Xandar means that the planet’s inhabitants turn on themselves and the once prosperous world is now beset with crime and corruption.
Within this world, we find a Nebula that is fiercely loyal to the oath she swore to the Nova Core, even though other Corpsmen such as Garthian Saal look down at her as a former member of Thanos’ Black Order, but her new allegiance is about to be put to the test when the body of Yondu Udonta is found murdered on the rainy city streets.
Saal instantly dismisses it as a criminal getting his just desserts, but Nebula isn’t so sure and after finding a hidden file hidden in Yondu’s signature arrow, she fears that a shadowy conspiracy is afoot.
The only people she can trust prove to be the most untrustworthy people around as she comes calling at the gambling den of one Howard the Duck, but after deciding the file, she realises that to get even deeper into this mystery, she’s going to have to spring from prison one of Xandar’s most feared criminals: the Kree soldier Yon-Rogg. However, as all conspiracies often do, Nebula is about to find that the corruption goes all the way to the top.
If you had to sum up What If… Nebula Joined The Nova Corps? in a short, succinct single sentence, it would undoubtedly have to to be “the MCU does Blade Runner” as the episode revels in rainy streets and hard nosed space detectives like a cosmic Raymond Chandler story. In many ways the episode is trying to reinvent Nebula much like the first season put Captain Carter front and centre in its first episode. To be fair, it couldn’t be a better time to do it, as Nebula’s character arc from the third Guardians movie proved to be one of the MCUs highlights of 2023 and Karen Gillan has been doing wonders with the character since her first introduction way back in 2014.
In fact, her steely demeanor seems a perfect fit for a plot that contains intrigue, murder, unsavory characters and a weirdly liberal borrowing of some ideas from Highlander II: The Quickening and for the most part it works fairly nicely. Less a reshuffle of the MCU timeline and more of an altering of the traits of established characters, the episode plays a lot like the T’Challa becomes Star Lord installment from season one as a large grouping of the franchise’s supporting cosmic characters pop up in various roles. Not only does Seth Green’s Howard the Duck continue to pop up where you least expect it as sort of a feathery Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca, but we also get Taika Waititi’s irrepressible Korg working as a curiously learned bartender and even Groot gets a look in.
The other thing What If…? tends to excel at is giving various one-and-done characters some more time in the spotlight just when you thought you’d seen the last of them and in that vein we get to spend some long overdue time on the virtually forgotten planet Xandar with Nova Prime (sadly not voiced by Glen Close) and Garthan Saal (awesomely voiced once again by Peter Serafinowicz). However, surely the biggest surprise is the return of Jude Law (or at least, his larynx at any road) as Captain Marvel’s Yon-Rogg who proves to still be the duplicitous cad he was back in the MCU we’re more familiar with.
However, while it’s fun to spend time with these characters again in such a different setting and Nebula gets a long overdue starring role, the detective plot proves to be rather paper thin with its twists being so predictable they’re more like slight curves. Also, What If…? seem to be getting overly fond of the “let’s form a team” trope as after a first season full of random team ups that resulted in the face of Ultrons, Zombies and T’Challa’s reasoning skills, Nebula vanquishes her foe by – you guessed it – assembling another team. For a show whose very existence is to specifically mix things up in a franchise that’s been acused in the past of having a formula, it might want to try a few new tricks if it wants to retain that anything-goes edge the show is supposed to have.
Still, as season premiers of anthology shows go, Nebula Joined The The Nova Corps is nice and solid and make good use of some of the areas of the MCU that aren’t as well trodden as others. However, before the episode ends in a very Marvel-like manner, there’s something to be said of the show’s use of noir-like imagery to swap up the genres a little bit. Much like the Zombie and Captain Carter episode riffed on horror and war movies, seeing the MCU operate more completely in a western or a disaster movie setting could not only be fun, but might stir up some of the rich unpredictability found in Sony’s recent Spider-Verse movies.
As bright, colourful and inventive as ever, What If…? returns on a positive, if predictable note – but if the Watcher intends to keep us watching with him, he may need to start looking for more out-there universes than the ones we’ve been getting.
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