Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Jeffrey Wright, Haley Atwell, Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Teyonah Parris, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Simu Liu, Oscar Issac, Kathryn Hahn, Kumail Nanjiani, Dominic Cooper, James D’ Arcy, David Kaye, Laurence Fishbourne, Gene Farber, Kat Dennings, Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Michael Rooker, Josh Brolin, Rachel House, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Dominique Thorne, Emily VanCamp, Tessa Thompson, Hailee Steinfeld, Wyatt Russell, Walton Coggins, Karen Gillan, Taika Waititi, Alison Sealy-Smith, Matt Friend, Jared Butler, Alejandro Saab, America Ferrera, Natasha Lyonne, Jason Issacs, Darin De Paul.
You either believe that there is only one eventuality, one version of you that experiences life, its misfortunes or its grandness, its lack of adventure, or its bounty of love and respect, or that that the infinite possibility of everything you ever did, every decision, for good or bad, that you ever made, has the power to be realised in its equal and opposite reaction, the chance to see that that one moment where you stood up for yourself didn’t end in a beating, that walking a different way home meant you saw something that altered the path of your life.
It is not a case of What If…?, but If Only…that we play with the image of our alternative selves thanks to our imagination offering the prospect to see how our day, our life, may have been.
The third and final series of Marvel’s animated tales of alternative paths for the heroes and villains that have long been part of the zeitgeist, not only now on television, but from its comic form incarnation and beginning in 1977, and it is with a certain sadness that the studio has closed down the animated tales of heroic lives as they take on situations far and away from the realm that readers and fans of the films would ever expect them to face.
It is with respect that the pull of the series has been such that it has for the most part retained the services of many of the names that have made the live action series and films so enjoyable, and the third series is no different as the likes of the ever impressive Haley Atwell, Mark Ruffalo, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Dominic Cooper, Teyonah Parris, the dominating Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishbourne, and Tom Hiddleston, all perform with genuine affection for their animated versions; and with Jeffrey Wright once more leading the way as the all-powerful Watcher, Uatu, the series goes out with style and panache.
The seven tales, one in which is the sublime finale spread over two parts, make the most of the fantastical and the extreme, not least with the introduction of a unique character drawn for the series, and voiced by the impressive Natasha Lyonne, Byrdie is the product of union between Darcy Lewis and Howard The Duck, and one that fits in with the Marvel ethic of surprise encounter.
With tales that incorporate genres such as the Western, and moments that touch upon Marvel stories that weren’t truly appreciated at the time and given a finer prominence, especially that in which showcases The Eternals being hunted by Agatha Harkness in the disguise of a television show, What If…? finds a way to illuminate the infinite and the transient in one emotive experience.
It is with sadness to acknowledge the end of a popular series that gave the unexpected, but with our imagination, the greatest gift bestowed on our species, we can always wonder What If…?
Ian D. Hall