Ryan Shoots First: What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord? (S1 E2)
We’re back with the spin the wheel of fan fic that is Marvel’s What If…?
This week we explore if instead of Peter Quill, T’Challa himself became Star Lord. The twist is simple for this episode. Yondu’s guys grabbed the wrong kid. This episode’s first half is one “holy crap!” Moment after another and the changes to the classic MCU timeline are drastic and really sells how simply great as a hero T’Challa is saving entire worlds with the galactic tools he has. Also kinda diminishes Quil is retrospective. This week’s episode doesn’t have as many of the original voice cast but those filling in do a really good job. Similar to the person who played Steve Rogers last week. Taking the approach of playing the MCU characters actors rather than trying something original is a bold choice but given the context of the show I like it.
One thing I enjoy about the show is seeing what things stay the same among the changes. And seeing heroes in completely different circumstances maintain their ideals and motivations is great and reinforces their position as heroes.
SPOILER ZONE
By far the show stealer in this week’s episode is Thanos going straight and joining T’Challa’s crew. That was a heck of a reveal and seeing how he had his original plans to erase half of all life but was talked out of it is crazy to think about and shows T’Challa is top tier hero stuff. Seeing the Wakandans go to space to try to find him is also a cool flip as it isn’t a stretch to imagine they could develop the technology pretty easily. Seeing Nebula take on this sci-fi Feme Fatal role was really interesting too and I like that it’s where her character went with a more stable-ish upbringing. While the mission itself was relatively low stakes, the fun of seeing how everyone in the Guardians and Wakandan circles changed was the joy of this episode. At least until Quill leaves DQ to go with Ego and destroy the universe.
Observations
- Jeffery Wright is up there with the most pleasing voices to listen to.
- Him recognizing star Lord and being a big fan is a hilarious twist.
- Great hearing Chadwick one last time.
- Hahaha laser face…nice
- Sooo was Ego ever upset that Yondu didn’t get Quil
- Seriously…Thanos is just on his crew.
- And like classy nebula. This is all coming way too fast for me.
- Thank you for making all these blurry so we don’t have to go frame by frame for Easter eggs.
- Pretty sure that’s Seth Green as Howard The D
- I can see there will be videos breaking down how power downed Thanos is.
- I love that wakanda mastered space travel to try and find their prince.
- I know I won’t get the answer but cmon how did the collector get all that stuff.
- So is he Star Black Panther Lord now?
- Oh man this episode didn’t do much for Quill
