What If The Watcher Broke His Oath

Opening in the continuity of WHAT IF… CAPTAIN CARTER WERE THE FIRST AVENGER? with the very beginning of Captain Carter’s version of THE WINTER SOLDIER (something it’s rumoured that WHAT IF…? Season 2 will circle back to cover), WHAT IF…THE WATCHER BROKE HIS OATH? begins with our constant narrator doing just that in spectacular fashion as he raids previous episodes of the series (and, in one case an unfinished episode) to recruit a team of Guardians Of The Multiverse in an attempt to neutralise the omnipresent threat of the multiversal Ultron.

In addition to Captain Carter, we get Star-Lord T’Challa (as well as a brief glimpse of Ego and that universe’s Peter Quill), Killmonger, party boy Thor and an appearance by an alternative Tony Stark and Gamora on Nidavellir (from the unfinished episode) which results, much to Tony’s chagrin, in Gamora being recruited and not him. Brought together by the Watcher and dark Doctor Strange,

Where previous episodes have muddled through with mostly replacement cast members, this season finale immediately impresses with its collection of original cast. Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael B Jordan and Hayley Atwell all report for duty and Kurt Rusell himself returns to deliver Ego’s single line of dialogue. Of course, this episode is destined for notability for one poignant reason: it gives us the final performance of Chadwick Boseman before his untimely death.

While WHAT IF… THE WATCHER BROKE HIS OATH? may not be the epitaph anyone would have chosen, it does at least provide a suitably epic setting for T’Challa’s last appearance, pulling together every single episode of the series thus far – yes, including the zombie one in a battle which spans multiple worlds and multiple rounds without ever feeling forced or repetitive.

In common with many of the Marvel Disney+ series, it does feel like a pretty good (in this case animated) movie has been padded out to provide enough content to be serialised across multiple weeks in service of a subscription-building strategy. As the Marvel content conveyor belt gets ever more crowded, spreading a multiverse across multiple platforms, you have to wonder how much room there will continue to be for quirky little side projects like this.

Score 8

8/10

logo

Related posts

Grease 2 (1982) Review

Grease 2 (1982) Review

Grease may have been the word, but Grease 2 is the turd. If Grease was a slick, nostalgia-drenched jukebox party, Grease 2 is the kind of off-key, shambolic karaoke performance that makes you want to unplug the machine and flee the bar. This glorified fan-fiction sequel never stood a...

Need For Speed (2014) Review

Need For Speed (2014) Review

I felt the need, the need for a much better script when I watched Need For Speed There are points in life where you are faced with a choice; a fork in the road if you will. Choosing one way or the other will set in motion a series of events and potentially have repercussions which will...

Love Hurts (2025) Review

Love Hurts (2025) Review

Disppointment hurts too. Love Hurts sees Ke Huy Quan follows up his Oscar win by throwing himself bodily into an already crowded genre, trading multiverse-hopping for hitman retirement with a clumsy and mismatched Valentine's Day veneer. Marvin Gable (Quan) is living a quietly...

Star Trek (2009) Review

Star Trek (2009) Review

“You know, coming back in time, changing history…that's cheating.” With the residual affection and legacy of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” all but obliterated by the scorched-Earth debacle of “Star Trek: Nemesis” and the franchise’s last remaining television offering...

Big Game (2015) Review

Big Game (2015) Review

I had a ton of fun playing the Big Game It’s not just upstart American and British directors who are getting a chance to try out for the big leagues on the basis of small, independent films brimming with creativity and it. Jalmari Helander’s 2010 darkly comic festive treat “Rare Exports...

The Incredible Hulk (2008) Review

The Incredible Hulk (2008) Review

Don't make Feige angry. You won't be back if you make Feige angry When his cover is blown thanks to an accident in a bottling plant, Doctor Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) returns to the United States to seek the help of a mysterious ‘Mr Blue’ who may hold the key to undoing his Gamma...

Tales Of Halloween (2015) Review

Tales Of Halloween (2015) Review

Tales Of Halloween is the horror anthology your inner crypt keeper craves. The film that closed the 2015 London FrightFest Film Festival, “Tales Of Halloween” is a scarily good time. A playfully macabre anthology, it offers us ten subtly interwoven tales that take place over the course...

Kubo And The Two Strings (2016) Review

Kubo And The Two Strings (2016) Review

I defy the Moon King himself to dispute my Kubo And The Two Strings Review Breathtakingly beautiful, "Kubo And The Two Strings" - Laika’s latest stop motion animation - is a dazzling, inspired medley of Japanese and Chinese folklore and a joyous celebration of the power and...