Note: this is a spoiler-free advance review of the What If…? Season 2 premiere, which debuts on Disney+ on Friday, December 22.
Marvel’s What If…? is a series with unlimited potential, able to mine the vast multiverse for stories where key events we know from the MCU played out a little bit differently. The series never seemed quite able to capitalize on that potential in season 1, with only a handful of episodes like “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands” really rising to the challenge. But if season 2’s premiere episode, "What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" is any indication, What If…? is on much firmer footing for this new run of nine episodes.
The series returns not by continuing one of the loose ends from season 1, but rather introducing a new reality where Nebula (voiced by the original actor, Karen Gillan) is recruited into the Nova Corps. This episode is set around the general timeframe of 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and provides an alternate take on Nebula’s redemptive arc from the Guardians trilogy. It also features the voices of returning MCU veterans Peter Serafinowicz as Garthan Saal and Jude Law as Yon-Rogg, although Julianne Grossman takes over the role of Nova Prime from Glenn Close. Close’s absence is unfortunate, but there’s plenty of strong MCU pedigree in the cast, particularly in Law’s gleefully sinister performance as Yon-Rogg.
“What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps” is essentially a cosmic MCU tale by way of Blade Runner, with Nebula herself filling the Officer Deckard/Agent K role. The cinematography and makeup of Xandar owes a clear debt to that venerable sci-fi series, and it’s a franchise fusion that works extremely well. Nebula makes for a strong neo-noir protagonist here in her role as a police officer committed to upholding the virtues of the Corps in a neon-drenched, rain-soaked world of nothing but gray morality.
Visually and tonally, this one of the most distinctive and captivating What If…? episodes to date. The show’s moody, cel-shading-esque look is a perfect match for the towering skyscrapers and rainy alleyways of Xandar. Even Nebula’s hard-boiled narration fits right in with the Blade Runner motif.
It’s also an episode that makes strong use of its supporting cast. The very fact that this installment is set on Xandar is a welcome shift from the norm for the MCU. We haven’t seen much of this world and its culture outside of the original Guardians, and this is a welcome opportunity to spend more time with characters like Nova Prime and see how the lofty ideals of the Nova Corps fall short of the reality on the ground. Plenty of other familiar faces pop up in unexpected ways, but revealing more would be spoiling the fun. Suffice it to say, this episode does more than most to mine the breadth and depth of the MCU.
Admittedly, the story is somewhat constrained by its limited runtime. The actual mystery Nebula is tasked with solving is fairly straightforward and easily unraveled. 30 minutes really isn’t enough to do the plot full justice, especially with so much of that space devoted to the early setup and the big climax. The resolution also introduces some fairly large plot holes. As a result, this is an episode that stands out more for its mood, humor, and action than it does for its story, but that tradeoff is worth it.
"What If... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?" also isn’t an episode that’s going to satisfy anyone hoping for more of the overarching narrative introduced in late season 1. For better or worse, What If…?’s second run seems to be recycling the same format as the first, which saved the real meat of the series and the focus on Jeffrey Wright’s Watcher until the end. The good news, at least, is that the rapid release schedule means we don’t have long to wait before the endgame arrives. But even if that weren’t the case, “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps” is a strong standalone episode that works regardless of any connection to the overarching plot. A few more of these, and What If? will have no trouble raising the bar from season 1.
