Third Season of 'What If...?' Captivates Critics

         On December 22, 2024, Disney+ premiered the third and final season 'What If...?', which has received predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the series, the multiverse comes to life in new and exciting ways. The ensemble cast includes Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Teyonah Parris, Simu Liu, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Kathryn Hahn, Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Oscar Isaac, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Hiddleston, Tessa Thompson, Emily VanCamp, Dominique Thorne, Wyatt Russell, Hayley Atwell, and Jeffrey Wright. But what did the critics say?

       Arezou Amin of Collider says, "What If Season 3 caps off the series with a bleaker final outing that ultimately manages to keep hope at the center of it all." Adding, "Without a doubt, Season 3 of What If...? is the show's bleakest yet. While the earlier seasons had riffs on Christmas movies, winks at the heist genre, or cartoonish showdowns with the episode's villains, moments like this are few and far between in Season 3. This isn't exactly a surprise. It feels as though the world around us has been moving in a bleaker direction for quite some time, and all media is a reflection of the time in which it was made, be it intentional or otherwise. The topics that What If...? Season 3 touches on are hardly new to the MCU, or even the wider superhero genre; greed, power, violence, prejudice, and subjugation remain at the heart of what drives the villains. Episode 6, "What If 1872," is particularly unafraid to directly call out the injustices its heroes are fighting, and unsubtly hints at similar issues still occurring today. What is new, however, is how utterly hopeless so many of the episodes feel.Yes, every story needs a low point in which the characters believe they cannot continue the fight; every Marvel movie has that moment. But the sheer, colossal, multiversal scale of the series really amplifies that helplessness, with the scenarios The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) chooses to visit feeling more cataclysmic than they usually do. Absent from this season is the lighthearted air of "What If T'challa Became Star Lord" and "What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas," or the groundbreaking nature of "What If Kahhori Reshaped the World." Season 3 does have its relatively lighter episodes with fun concepts — those starring Howard the Duck (Seth Green) and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) come to mind — but even those are tinged with the larger, cosmic scale of everything happening around them."

       Alan French of FandomWire notes, "When you dig into the creativity of What If…, it starts at the animation stage. For all the cool storytelling tricks that the series hopes to pull off, What If… Season 3 has to push the boundaries of what is possible in the medium. Like the two seasons before, a mixing and matching of styles allows the show to soar. In the old West, the vistas and gunslinging shine bright. Beyond the cosmos, the monsters look bigger and badder than ever. Magic duels between movie stars are larger than life, and even adding film grain to the frames feels bold and interesting.What If… Season 3 does not work unless this integral piece of the puzzle works. It’s not only that it looks gorgeous, but it adds dramatic tension to every episode. The fight sequences remind us just how tired the action has become in the live-action movies. With stunning creativity, What If… pushes the physical limits and creative uses of the powersets of its heroes. Even better, the writers never focus only on battle. Their powers are just as integral to their interpersonal relationships and antics as they are in battle."

Image Courtesy of Disney

'Creature Commandos' is an Animated Hit

        On December 5, 2024, Max released 'Creature Commandos', which has earned rave reviews from critics and a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the series, "A black ops team is formulated out of prisoners, laying the foundatoin for the Suicide Squad." The ensemble cast includes Viola Davis, Zoe Chao, Sean Gunn, Indira Varma, Frank Grillo, David Harbour, Maria Bakalova, and Alan Tudyk. Read the full review round-up below. 

Photograph by Courtesy of Max

        Tyler Robertson of IGN Movies says, "James Gunn’s classic recipe of lovable weirdos, great music, and lots of jokes and violence is on full display, but in a new, fresh way that’s presented well in animation." Adding, "The performances are an across-the-board highlight here, even those from actors more accustomed to live-action projects. Grillo and Varma are the deep-in-character standouts, but Zoë Chao and Viola Davis do great work as Nina Mazursky and Amanda Waller, respectively, and Alan Tudyk and Sean Gunn are well suited for their various roles. David Harbour doesn’t always hit the sweet spot as the curt and aloof yet irrationally immature Eric Frankenstein, but that might be more about the writing for the lovestruck monster. But when it works, it works, and it’ll be interesting to see how these characters are translated to live-action – according to Gunn, the actors will reprise their roles in other corners of the DCU."

       Jarrod Jones of AV Club notes, "Even with all these messy feelings and messier body parts flying around, Gunn’s monster mash achieves the level of gravitas it so often seeks. Even when he’s running in circles, the guy still knows how to deliver cheap thrills." Continuing, "Gunn, ever adept at pulling compelling beats from the most absurd characters, made the Guardians of the Galaxy a household name simply by giving space aliens motivations we understood, which is also why Creature Commandos works as well as it does. What motivates a supervillain is only a cliché if the writer lets it be, and Gunn is too canny a storyteller, too fascinated by the make and psychology of these esoteric freaks and geeks to let their stories be generic. So, Gunn takes detours from the series’ pandemonium to explore the Commandos’ origins, painting a vivid picture of who these oddballs are and why they’re so willing to march to Waller’s drum. (For most, it’s redemption by hellfire.) Even Tudyk’s cackling radioactive man gets a tragic backstory that explains why he’s so picky about when, where, and how he uses those melting powers of his. He may have a permanent rictus grin, but he ain’t smiling."

       Reuben Baron of Looper.com writes, "Gunn knows how to keep this material entertainingly twisted while still treating his silly characters with emotional sincerity. The only major downside is that the show is doing almost nothing new." Concluding, "Fans looking for clues as to the future of the DCU will find some potential Easter eggs relating to bigger-name superheroes, but will leave with many more questions about what the rest of the cinematic universe will look and feel like. "Creature Commandos" feels like a solid preview of the tone of the TV-MA "Peacemaker" Season 2-slash-"Waller" segment of the DCU, largely because it's completely in line with "The Suicide Squad" and "Peacemaker" Season 1 segment of the DCEU. But there's no way Gunn's "Superman" movie will be a tonal match for "Creature Commandos" — not when some uncomfortable scenes here border on the edge of Gunn's "Super."