What If? (2×02) What If… Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? Review

For our review of the last episode of What If?, click here.

This latest episode of What If? took a retro, Cold War, era spin as it saw a different set of heroes come together to face a familiar threat. As the episode suggests, Peter Quill attacks Earth but how did it come to that? In this universe, Yondu delivered Quill to his father Ego as intended instead of keeping him and raising him. Using his son to enact his master plan, but this time on an accelerated timeline, his next target was Earth and Quill was his way to enact it. However, it did not take long for his arrival to be noted by Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, and the forces of SHIELD. Setting their targets on Quill, a team of Dr. Wendy Lawson, Hank Pym. Bill Foster, King T’Chaka, Thor, and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier was put together to take him on but there was still the unavoidable issue of him still being a boy.

As this new team worked out their respective personalities and quirks, in order to develop that dynamic, solving the Quill problem meant exploring the complicated relationship between he and his father. Too powerful to deal with on his own, the goal was to pin them against each other and eventually, that plan would go into action. Working towards a climax that saw Ego take on this makeshift set of Avengers. Watching a different dynamic come together was refreshing but, in the end, it was up to Quill and Ego. Left with a void, Quill needed somewhere to land safely, and Pym was the answer. Just like the first episode, this episode worked in service of this team of Cold War Avengers. Offering plenty of promise, there is room for them to navigate now and into the future. Meanwhile, they add insight into what we know to come later. However, the episode also does the drama between Quill and Ego justice though the latter may still be an issue somewhere down the road.

Once again, the best part of the episode is its performances. Boasting an incredible voice cast, featuring the likes of Annette Bening, Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Sebastian Stan, Chris Hemsworth, Kurt Russell, John Slattery, and Hayley Atwell, they all deliver as this episode felt like an event. It was a blast to watch them play off of each other but the nature of the series meant that many will be left wanting more of them.

still courtesy of Marvel Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.