We’re only on our second episode of the final season of What If…? and it’s already pretty obvious that the bulk of the show is going to be taken up with devoting time to characters who mostly made their debut during the fourth phase. It’s understandable considering that there are some seriously under-served personalities who have been left in the dust thanks to the ramped up levels of content that the MCU has to offer. With this in mind, there’s probably no other phase 4 title that’s been as discarded as 2021s Eternals that faced criticism that divided the entire fan base and is classed as one of Marvel’s major failures.
Whether you agree with this or not, any Eternals presence in the wake of the film has been minimal with the plot point of a bloody great, dead Celestial sticking out of the Indian Ocean not even being properly addressed at the time of writing (although the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World will finally pick up the slack. However, this exactly is the sort of thing What If…? thrives on, dredging up discarded or undervalued corners of the franchise to keep them relevant and remembered – but it doesn’t hurt that it also includes their hottest character at the moment…
As the Watchers’ rumbling tones get us up to speed, we enter a universe where power hungry witch, Agatha Harkness, has developed an epic plan to draw cosmic energy from Tiamut, a Celestial gestating in the Earth’s core waiting to be born in a destructive act known as the Emergence. Of course, Agatha isn’t the most subtle of magic users and her big plan has involved her becoming a huge Hollywood star during its golden age and her latest production is the lavish Cosmic Queen, a rather flimsy cover for her plans to ascend to godhood.
Helming this rapidly ballooning epic is eccentric billionaire Howard Stark and while his assistant/butler, Jarvis, has hourly panic attacks concerning the budget, Agatha suggests hiring a co-star to really push the production over the top – Hollywood mega star Kingo.
Of course, both we and Agatha both know that Kingo is actually one of the Eternals, a race of ancient beings created by the Celestials to shepherd the world into the Emergence and the ambitious witch needs him to finish her plan. However, Kingo also is wise to what Agatha is up to and they do battle during a massive musical number while Stark hungrily films every second, but after they brawl to a standstill and the fireworks die down, Harkness, attempts to sell the Eternal on her plan to “save the world” – yeah right.
However, the Eternals’ creator, Arishem, isn’t best pleased when he gets wind of the plot and streaks his gargantuan red ass across the cosmos to shut this shit down. Can even Agatha’s tricks and plots possibly stand up to the cosmic scrutiny of Arishem the Judge?
I have to say, when it comes to What If…? I find that I’ve started to gravitate on the more character focused episodes rather than the more action based ones and Agatha Went To Hollywood proves to be a witty and imaginative episode that pairs of one of Marvel’s most disliked movies with a character who recently went into the stratosphere. While the more cynical among you might simply see pairing the breakout star of both WandaVision and Agatha All Along with a less loved property as a way to try and rehabilitate the latter (it certainly worked for The Incredible Hulk during previous seasons), it ends up being a really good match.
The secret is the setting. While the use of the golden age of Hollywood might not scan terribly well from a certain standpoint, all the historical inconsistencies and modern slang don’t manage to dilute the fact that the series was obviously aching to launch into a huge, Busby Berkeley vs Bollywood dance number and does so while still managing to squeeze in a more standard superhero scrap among the fancy footwork and choreography. Also slotting into the time period incredibly well is the return of Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark who gets to finally channel (read: parody) Howard Hughes in a way thats so manic, it makes his previous appearances seem positively restrained in comparison. It’s also nice to get James D’Arcy back as the “original” Jarvis too, which not only makes the episode a booster for the Eternals, but a sweet reminder back to the short-lived Agent Carter series and it’s probably one of the better merging of multiple Marvel characters the show has done.
The plot itself isn’t great shakes, but then the actual story beats of an average episode of What If…? rarely prove the be the best points of the show. For example, the writing off of all the other Eternals with a single line is laziness by necessity and for stakes that involve the world possibly ending for multiple reasons, it’s all resolved with a surprising lack of fuss despite featuring a cosmically empowered Agatha throwing hands with Arishem as the two dwarf the Earth. But it’s the wit and the smoothness of the merging that keeps things feeling so fresh.
Of course, the real get here is having a story that features Kathryn Hahn’s beloved villain that’s managed to land while the memories of her recent spin off show are still warm and to be honest, it’s great to be back in Agatha’s company again as she unleashes yet another salvo of cutting one liners and snide remarks and the actress still manages to shine through even though she’s animated. She gets a more-than capable co-star in Kumail Nanjiani who proves to form a surprisingly effective double act as both compensate for their differences (one’s a centuries old witch, the other’s a comic space robot slash Bollywood) with the fact that their egos are so monumentally huge, one loves to manipulate and the other loves to be manipulated if the benefits are cool enough.
Does the final scene, which sees Kingu imploring a god-like Agatha to renounce her powers purely by suggesting that being an actor is far better, hold much water? Not really, but I’ve always found the journey of a What If…? episode to be far more entertaining and fun than the pay off for virtually the entirety of the show’s run.
Those expecting more classic superhero shenanigans might get a little fidgety with all the dance numbers, but when it comes doing something new with ingredients old and new, this trip to Hollywoodland shows that for this last go round for What If…?, maybe the deeper cuts will be the best ones.
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 