Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: guardians of the galaxy, hayley atwell, john slattery, kurt russell, laurence fishburne, Mace Montgomery Miskel, Marvel's What If, Michael Douglas, sebastian stan

What If…? S02E02 Review: Guardians of the Galaxy By Way of Brightburn

If Ego's plan came true, Marvel's What If...? S02E02 explores Peter Quill going "Brightburn" (instead of Star-Lord) against the Avengers.

The second episode of Marvel's What If…? is a minor tweak of 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that asks, "What If…Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" which is a much "better" title than asking "What if Star-Lord attacked the Avengers?" Lack of subtlety aside, it literally undoes everything Yondu (Michael Rooker) did for Peter after kidnapping him from Earth and making him a part of the Ravagers instead of turning into Ego (Kurt Russell). Chris Pratt played the adult version in the films, but since the episode takes place in the late 80s, Mace Montgomery Miskel voices his younger counterpart. This is also an excuse not to use Tony Stark or Iron Man, but provides an opportunity to revisit Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, John Slattery's Howard Stark, Michael Douglas' Hank Pym (Ant-Man), Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes (Winter Solder), and Laurence Fishburne's Bill Foster (Goliath). We also have Atandwa Kani as the younger King T'Chaka's Black Panther and Keri Tombazian taking over for Annette Bening as the voice of Mar-Vell.

Why Evil Peter Quill Doesn't Work in Marvel's What If…?

The story has Quill coming back to Earth full of uncertainty like he might go Brightburn on everyone, and the existing forces try to meet this threat. As Marvel does their best to play up the threat, it doesn't look like the tweak did much of anything to make the concept of blending GotG and trying to turn Peter into evil Superman. First, I don't think Marvel, even under Disney, would ever have the stones to dial the darkness up to an 11. The acceptance of that level of cruelty just isn't there. It's also what prevented the season one episode "What If…Zombies?!" from being a true classic on how far down the nihilistic rabbit hole it's willing to go. Don't get me wrong, for what it's worth, the MCU explored the psychology of the Blip with as much nuance as they could. It's also naïve to think Marvel could ever get as chaotic and gory as Prime Video animated shows Robert Kirkman's Invincible or The Boys. As much as the heavyweight characters carry the episode, the real star is Madeleine McGraw's Hope Van Dyne, who becomes the episode's heart and soul.

What If… never dared to explore how far someone like Peter would go if he didn't have the structure he had growing up, and it's a shame because they did so well with season one, episode four, "What If…Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" that shows the comic-level depth of its grand vision in terms of darkness. If animation allows you to go places you wouldn't normally go, what is the point of not going all the way with it? While I appreciate Marvel allowing the veteran actors another opportunity to bask in the spotlight, the episode suffers from not exploring its full potential. Marvel's What If…? streams new episodes every day through December 30th on Disney+.

Marvel's What If...? Season Two Episode Two: "What If...Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"

---

Review by Tom Chang

---

6/10

Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, John Slatterly's Howard Stark, and Michael Douglas' Hank Pym (Ant-Man) front and center trying to mitigate the damage from Mace Montgomery Miskel's young Peter Quill while Sebastian Stan , Kurt Russell, and Laurence Fishburne are happy to collect a check, reprising their roles as The Winter Soldier, Ego and Goliath, respectively. The real star is Madeleine McGraw's Hope Van Dyne, who becomes the heart and soul of the episode.

Credits

---

Director

Bryan Andrews

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!