Amph "Ponder the Question" Marvel's 'What If...?' [Disney+]

No, I was joking. We are all used to American productions blaming everyone for the genocide of North American peoples but the ones who actually did it! I'm joking again: it makes sense with the Fountain of Youth angle. Plus Anglos never did anything wrong. USA! USA!

I just finished the episode. Very good! Very nicely done and written! More alternate history than usual, and with a new character to boot. And they actually got actors with actual Spanish accents to play the invaders, so better than Narcos in a way!

Personally, I love this kind of story. It's closer to the post-2000s What If? series, that tends to be high concept instead of focusing on one single deviation like the classic 1970s series does. The cartoon seems willing to explore all of Marvel's typical alternate history fare, if the 1602 and Marvel Zombies episodes are an indication. And I'm down for it. Maybe in a few years, this is how we'll get Age of Apocalypse.

 

Yo I was made confused when reading this as I thought you were talking about the Peggy vs hydra stomper episode and was like what does this have to do with the indigenous population of the Americas. Then I remembered a new episode came out

 

Don't worry; nothing you wouldn't get from the trailer. I'm careful, like a tender lover.

 

Wonderful episode.

Spoiler

I love how they hired a Mohawk actor to portray Kahhori and how most of the episode was in their language. Finally...at long last. The Spanish and other colonizers are stopped in their tracks. No Native American genocide. I theorize that the Space Stone must have interacted with the Great Spirit in some way to create that portal to that other dimension. I also loved how Kahhori was wise and courageous. Great female character. And I wonder as to why Strange Supreme has been searching for her for a lengthy period of time. We shall see.

 

That felt fresh and new to me. Maybe because there was hardly a glimpse of a familiar face.

 

An interesting thing is

Spoiler

the actress that voiced Kahori will have a part in the upcoming Echo series, although it's not clear if it will be related to Kahori. But makes wonder how much of that show will be spoken in native language.

 

Definitely an interesting and very well done episode. It's hard not to like Kahori. After watching the episode, I was curious as to where her character may have come from, but I only realized today that she's a completely original character developed exclusively for the series. The only connection to any familiar stories was of course the

Spoiler

tessuract and its origin on Asgard. I like the historical theme to this; obviously shifting known reality in this alternate universe to fit with the show. There's always those open serious "What if?" questions involving known superheroes that might never be covered. Wonder Woman saving prisoners from the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. Superman during 9/11. Etc. I guess this invention of a hero from over 400 years ago alternating history to save the future of the Native Americans is safe from the "too soon" argument.

 

Also, a character and a villain and a story actually treated with reverence when it should be. Still funny parts and that guy from the Skyworld being a lot of the comic relief, but more gravity and less quipping from the main character, and even that guy would be serious too (sorry just don’t remember his name).

The MCU definitely shouldn’t dump all its humor, that’s one of its trademarks, but overall needs more gravitas sometimes, especially when the characters or the plot calls for it. Which happens here (and was severely lacking some films like Thor Love & Thunder … but also shouldn’t go back to the opposite extreme like Dark World. Some movies like Black Panther, Winter Solider, Endgame/IW mostly got the right balance).

 

Great stuff

Spoiler

I love that basically none of it was in English. Also while I love the camera work in this show I do despise the animation style. It’s IMO one of the most atrocious 3D shows I have seen animation wise. I don’t know why but the animation irks me so much

also it’s great that the natives get to keep the Americas. But wouldn’t 90% of them still die due to the plagues that the Europeans brought with them? You can argue not as many would die, but realistically still a good chunk of them would. I know my brain always focuses on the negatives.

Edit: Mohawk territory was New York to Montreal did the the Spanish even reach that far or were they to afraid of having English speaking people kill native americans?

 

I wish I could somehow watch this series in another body and understand the criticisms of the animation. I think it's on par with the best that SW has had to offer, including TCW, Rebels, and Resistance.

 

^ Resistance animation isn't great, TCW/Rebels/BB animation is the worst thing since Dire Straits made a video out of Money For Nothing.

 

That's a matter of opinion.

 

To each their own. IMO something ticks me off about the animation.

edit: I think it’s because of facial animation.

 

Glad that they worked in close collaboration with a Mowhak Nation historian to make this.

 

Okay a quick google search shows me that

Spoiler

the Mohawk people first had contact with the French and then the Dutch and later the English. It’s weird they went with Spain. Even if they were afraid of using the anglos they could have used the more historically accurate Dutch or French.

 

Yeah, but then they couldn't use Isabella as the big bad.

 

They burned their historian budget on the Mohawk one.

 

Spoiler

It’s just a weird thing to do. I don’t know much about native history other than what I have gathered from the two times I went to the native Smithsonian as well very local knowledge about DC natives due to my history of Washington DC class but even I knew the Spanish didn’t make landfall that far north.

it just seems overly unhistorical when the French or English would make better villians as it would be historically accurate.

someone at marvel probably thought conquistadors! And maybe they threw a dart at a board of American natives and landed on the Mohawk and just did no research on the fact they had no interaction with the Spanish.

or maybe they truly were afraid of pissing off weirdo Americans and the English and the French. It’s just a strange decision

 

An interesting latest episode. I'm sure I can be forgiven in not remembering much of the details of Thor Ranorak (along with the Shang-Chi film). Hela is an interesting character and this alternate story for her certainly expands on the possibilities. I'm wondering if this is just a one-off story, considering someone like her is probably too powerful to even need anyone else to help her in the picture.

 

Cate Blanchett sounded like she was having a lot of fun with her lines.

Spoiler

But I didn't find her redemption convincing, and the ending underwhelmed me.

 

Spoiler

Gotta love the classic What If? trope "what if bad guy was good guy?"

Really good fight choreography. They are pulling all stops this season.

 

It's on a roll now, I really enjoyed the Hela episode.

I feel she was a criminally-underused villain. She's like one of the few Marvel villains that people actually want to see more of.

Spoiler

I feel the redemption was earned. Could have been a little more time, but this is a 30-40 minute episode.

Honestly, I really wonder why Odin didn't try with Hela what he later tried with Thor.

Odin overall is such a mixed character, in basically every universe.

 

Just got through watching the 8th episode (1602)

Now THAT was a heck if a ride! Where to even begin?

Spoiler

Peggy is back to being the main protagonist, which is always a plus in my book. I get the feeling these What If? episodes are compensating for her otherwise minor roles in the MCU. There's no prelude showing how the Avengers characters wound up in 1602, but that's pretty much answered by the end. Peggy reunites with Steve once again, and this is sort of the matchup that I've been waiting for; since he is Captain America in this world. All of the familiar characters are here in some form; adapted to a 17th Century lifestyle. Everything appears to get resolved by the end, but there is a cliffhanger that obviously leads to the season's finale.

 

This thing has been so good it's somewhat mindbogging the date release between Xmas and the New Year fetivities when many people simply will ignore just because other family/social/vacation matters.
Clearly the best thing of this phase, even topping Loki's finale
Here i think where the mistake MCU comes clear: the multiverse thing should be introduced in only one project ( not in 5 diferents ones each one) and What If aproach is clearly te better.