What If...? (TV Series) What If... Strange Supreme Intervened? (2023) User Reviews

Eye Candy and how Strange Supreme was robbed of his arc from S1

[gabrielmikhno · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

To start my review I want to talk about season 1 finale. I thought it was exceptionally good. Sure, maybe there were plot holes, but everything from the animation to the music to the story was AMAZING! Every second something happened that made my jaw drop. Examples; (multiple Thor hammers, Star Lord stealing soul stone, Doctor Strange eating Soul Stone, Time Stones battling each other, AI vs. AI battle, Killmonger holding all Infinity Stones, Peggy and Black Widow team up on motorcycle, etc...) And these are just a few. Now what I loved about that finale is that it also used every prior episode to tie in a satisfying ending. It was all built up. It felt like it's own little Saga. Also the fight scenes had stakes for each of the characters.

ONE SPOILER BEYOND THIS POINT THAT'S EXPLAINED IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF THE EPISODE

Now this season finale. I really enjoyed! Animation was amazing! Easter eggs everywhere! I even liked Kahhori and Peggy team up! But there were issues that really lowered it for me. For example, I hate what they did with Strange Supreme! He was one of my favorite characters from last season, and he had a redemption. It took an entire universe's death for him to see where he was wrong. That's why the story was so compelling. But... the writers decided to make him evil. GUESS WHAT'S HIS MOTIVE! Uh, yeah, the same one from 2 years ago. They ruined him! UHHHH! Maybe the writers couldn't find a worthy villain. Or they just wanted to find a way to bring many characters into the episode to make everyone just look at some easter eggs. Hence, the title. They should've extended the 1602 episode (the one with some plot holes) and made it an actual 2 parter. Have Strange Supreme be like a help.

This episode was also not built up will. It was all very out of nowhere. The watcher didn't get to do anything either. He didn't have a story this season. Last season had a journey for the watcher. Also Kahhori is way overpowered! Her episode was good, but her power set is so confusing and she just seemed like she came out of know where.

To summarize this episode - VERY FUN TO LOOK AT, but quite a jarring turn of events. I gave this a higher score than I would have if it didn't include many of the easter eggs and cool fight scenes, because that's what was the most enjoying. And don't get me wrong, IT SUCCEEDS REALLY WELL AT THAT!

Mary Sue 2: Electric Boogaloo

[duncanw-91404 · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

There were a lot of cool parts about this episode but they were all minor and in the background. Seems to be a few plot holes too, for one how does Captain Carter hold not one but ALL 6 Infinity Stones in her hand and use them against Strange Supreme? Carter is a mortal for one, holding even one stone, especially the power stone should obliterate her. Although they shouldn't even work because these stones aren't in their home dimension. Carter is not THAT bad, its mainly just the OC, can't be bothered to remember her name. I didn't think it was even possible to Mary Sue as hard as Captain Marvel but by god they did it with this new character. She is perfectly moral, always knows what to do, has infinite power for no reason. It takes a lot away from what could have been a great episode.

The ending disappointed me

[chattercomp · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

I like the series, but sadly, I do not think the ending delivers. It makes a weird turn in Strange Supremes' story. Instead of having to watch over two world enders forever as a sort of penance, he suddenly can go wherever he wants and just keeps the bad guys in pokeballs. This episode seems to throw all the rules out of the window and not in a good way. Cpt. Carter uses all infinity stones at once and lives. Seems like a spit in the face of Tony Stark who died forever once he did the same. Kahhori shluld be on a similar level to many of the characters that Strange imprisoned but somehow he cannot for the life of him catch her or defeat her? The story and powers just seem all over the place to me. I liked the 1st season finale much better.

This episode must be written by a 10yo

[jackson_richards · 21 January 2024]

I really didn't expect that they gonna nerf and disrespect Strange that much. He could literally absorb them. I died from cringe when Carter put on Hela's helmet💀💀. And why would he kept trying to get her Cristine back after learning all the mistakes he has ever made? And sacrifices himself for no reason. Also he spent centuries to absorb creatures and then look Kahori. She fell to the lake and then BOOM! Super powers. Nearly strong and powerful as Strange. Also wasn't he that smart to take precautions for those infinity stones and the other weapons? Whole episode is a disappointment.

And I just realised that: With that plot armor stuff, they'd even let women to take out God Of Time Loki (They wouldn't hesitate)

Visual Spectacle with Video Game Feel

[robbysheilds · 8/10 · 30 December 2023]

This episode feels a lot like a video game in certain aspects. That especially becomes obvious in between Peggy breaking out the Universe Killers and the final fight against Strange Supreme. The characters they encounter in the hall, from Hela to Surtur to Zombie Wanda could be viewed as boss fights in order to get to the final boss (Strange Supreme).

"But wait!" you might say," What about Killmonger? They encounter him in the hallway, too." Well, Killmonger might as well be one of those video game chests that has equipment in it, since he's defeated in less than a minute. He only exists in order to give Peggy the Infinity Armor and stones in order for her and Kahhori to stand a fighting chance against Strange.

Speaking of that fight, it is awesome! I love how creative it gets with all the magic. It also keeps building and building in intensity as well, truly making for a wonderfully climactic showdown! The action's great, it's visually stunning, and the animation is wonderful!

In terms of characters, it makes sense why Strange would try to bring Christine back again. Like Kahhori says, he's been in solitude for too long, and having a bunch of uncontrolled demons that represents your grief wouldn't really help your sanity, so it makes sense why he'd do this. I like how the mislead was done throughout the beginning of this episode, too.

This episode is pretty great! If I had to pick which finale I prefer, though, I'd say narratively, Season 1's was better. But in terms of pure visual spectacle and adrenaline-pumping action, Season 2's finale wins out on that regard. So, I guess overall, I like both if them equally. They both have their merits and shortcomings, but both generally make for a great time when watching.

As for which Season I prefer as a whole, I really like this season better than the first. This season truly gave us some What Ifs with much more unexpected twists and turns than Season 1 had. This season also had more consistently good episodes and intriguing concepts than Season 1 did. The only thing I'd say it did better was the pacing, as this season's episodes tend to go faster and are shorter than Season 1's episodes, so there's more areas of rushed pacing to be had here.

Overall, like I said, I really enjoyed this episode and this season. I can't wait for what Season 3 brings to the table.

A great finish to this season!

[jimparis-03634 · 10/10 · 30 December 2023]

As this episode began to unfold, I was wondering all along why Loki did not show up, and now I see why. The great tree showing at the end tells us that we don't just have multiple universes, but they are pan-dimensional as well, so the Watcher also inhabits the place where Loki now sits. I hope that next season shows us the trip Captain Carter took with the Watcher, it must be a fantastic story. They might even figure out a way for Loki to leave his great purpose and live a life with others again. He should get a happy ending someday. This series just keeps getting better, Marvel don't screw it up now. If only you had [put as much effort into the last few movies you have released. Those of us who are fans are always looking deeper into the stories than you seem to know.

Not a worthy reason for Strange's Demise

[himanshuashwani · 7/10 · 30 December 2023]

Why would you need to redeem villains that do not need redemption and make the worthy character go bad without a worthy backstory of why a hero goes down the wrong path. Grief cannot be the answer to everything. Strange just being overcome by so many demons inside him was more plausible than being just falling prey to grief again.

Stop making Wanda and Strange the bad guys :(

Kahori and Peggy Carter where great animation was superb, and the sequence was fun very we had lot of characters just going against each other that was a very good sequence. That was the only best thing in this episode.

Season Wrapped Up in A Bow

[livii-thomson · 10/10 · 1 January 2024]

What a great season finale that also ties up loose ends from season one! I was hesitant to watch the final episode, because I just really couldn't follow where the season was going in the previous episodes. But everything sort of came together from the season and brought back an awesome character.

Best action sequence I have seen in any marvel production in a long time! I cannot believe how much of a storyline and content they fit into just that one episode, and made it flow brilliantly.

Peggy is my favourite character, and I always knew she was worthy.

I was on the edge of my seat to the very end!

Can't wait for season 3!

Could Have Been Better

[josegsoy · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

I think the visuals and the battle sequence were impressive, it was awesome seeing so many multiversal threats in a single chapter. Nonetheless, I found somewhat lacking the justification for Strange's shift to a villainous role. While his grief and obsession for restoring his world and resurrecting Christine were covered in Season 1, rehashing them seems a bit repetitive.

I think there were more compelling ways to justify his villainy, such as tying his motives with saving the multiverse, to inject a fresh perspective.

Despite a decent finale, there was untapped potential for a more engaging conclusion.

The best event since Endgame!

[ar-anmolrawat · 10/10 · 30 December 2023]

The last two episodes could easily have been a movie! What an epic finale. I wonder why other MCU series (apart from Loki) and movies have been so bad when you have such writers in-house. A terrifing finale and conclusion to the Supreme Strange narrative. I was hooting and cheering even at home. This has so many great moments and a perfect story arc. Everything from writing to direction to those grand action sequences work. The animations were beautiful and the setup was nowhere less than what we saw in Endgame. I don't often wriite reviews but for this one I couldn't help myself. Totally amazing.

Strong or weak

[rj-62691 · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

The plot was good and all that but biggest problem is that how did they managed to outcompete strange. Killmoger scence was just like what ultron did to thanos. After all these drama I thought dr. Strange is a very highly powerful scence and you can understand that by how he captured all these powerful characters by himself but than shown struggeling against carter with stones and that blue girl was not convincing. Also I also think that doing these kind of things are necceassary for this show but these kind of episode really kill the power scaling. It is feeling like ant man vs kang fight now.

What a mess

[pauli_gomez · 6/10 · 6 February 2024]

For some reason, the writers of this show decided to make the villain of season 1 the same as season 2, completely reversing a redeeming arc...just to give him a new redeeming arc in the end. It was bad. The concept itself was bad. And then, everything became a mess, with everyone overpowered and super powerful weapons becoming ineffectual against them. When you have too many reality-shaping thing together, there is no way not to have pure chaos. And Peggy, a character I love, suddenly becoming able to comprehend and master pretty much everything is just too much. She is a human. With more strength and reflexes and whatever but she is a human. What happened in this episode makes no sense.

Ruined Supreme Strange.

[numberonehater · 1/10 · 30 December 2023]

I'm so pissed oh my god. They literally just made him evil again and then killed him off for good. It reminds me of the character assasination of Wanda from MoM.

Also both Captain Carter and Kahhori were WAY too overpowered while Supreme Strange was greatly weaker than in the season 1 finale. Like I get that maybe Peggy could last a few minutes (with the infinity stones, protection spell, and ultron's armor,) but Kahhori had no business being able to withstand all of that. From what I understand, she only has powers from one of the infinity stones? While not even all of the stones combined were not able to defeat Strange in season 1, (don't get me started on how stupid was her whole character arc, with her being magically stronger and better than all the other people from her tribe and getting the hang of her powers in like a day.) And it was just laughable the writers literally had to give them every single weapon and power there is so they would even have a chance against him (which in the end still didn't work.) It was so obvious the writers had no idea how to actually make them defeat him, yet they really wanted to give Strange that ending.

And don't get me wrong, I get what they were trying to do with the parallels between Strange and Peggy, (with the whole "one accepts the loss of their loved one while the other wallows in grief until they go mad,") but making him DIE? What kind of message does that give? That the only way for him to escape from his grief and mistakes was to die? Did they truly have nothing better for him to do other than repeat the same mistake again (which he has learned from) and "sacrifice" himself (aka kill himself) at the end? The writers thought they were so clever with how "perfect" and "poetic" it would be for Strange to die so the universe he destroyed got repaired. But it completely destroyed the whole point of his character and the ending of his original episode. Like, he already learned! He could've atoned for his mistake by saving other universes or something, but noooo they just had to make him evil again because they had no better villain in mind, and even if they made a new villain Strange would 100% win because he's like one of the most op characters in the whole MCU. Maybe the only reason he died was because the writers had to get rid of him just so other villains could have a chance to actually do something. (Also just a small nit-pick, but they could've shown the Watcher have some kind of a reaction to Strange dying/going mad? Like weren't they some kind of friends or something in season 1?)

I know they were trying to make him into this tragic character that nothing good happens to and he just progressively gets worse and worse until he dies, but that's just so painfully grim it makes me sick, (it's hurts even more that he was the only reason I watched this show in the first place.) But I also don't think he should've gotten his universe or Christine back, it was an important part of his character that losing her was the price he had to pay for his mistake, but they could have just... made him accept it and try to do good?? Literally just WHY did they do that to him???

I'm pissed and done with this show since the only interesting character worth staying for is dead. Big screw you to the writers for ruining the best character from this wreck of a show.

Great concept, but too short

[GregTheStopSign95 · 7/10 · 31 December 2023]

Seriously, this episode should have been a LOT longer. Possibly even left for another season in order to showcase some of the background characters we see in this one. That being said, though, I really hope they're done with the over-reliance on an overpowered Captain Carter. Don't get me wrong, she's an interesting character, I just think they're relying on her too heavily. I mean, Strange Supreme is an interesting character, too, and it would have been nice to see them use him a bit more previously...maybe even have episodes kinda shared a bit more evenly between the two?

Anyway, as the review title says, the episode has an amazing concept, it just would have benefited a LOT (like the previous two episodes, funnily enough) from being longer. Or maybe even do an Infinity War/Endgame with it and split it into two? I don't know, I'm not a professional writer or anything, I just think they could have done it at least a little bit better. Done the characters a bit more justice...

Summary: Amazing concept, but too rushed.

Season Two Review

[southdavid · 6/10 · 14 March 2024]

The second season of Marvel's " What If" comes to a conclusion with an interesting, if slightly underwhelming finale. One the whole, this second season has been good, but perhaps not as strong as the first.

Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) meets up with her multiversal Avenger friend Dr. Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch) who askes her for help. He's been collating the multiversal destroying threats but cannot subdue Kahhori (Devery Jacobs) from her universe. Carter agrees to help, but soon comes to realise that it is not Kahhori that in the danger, but Strange himself, who has arrived at an even more despicable plan to assuage his grief.

My criticism of this seasons overlying story is that it feels a bit more thrown together than the one in the first season. Beyond seeing Strange a couple of times, there wasn't really much set up to this one in the last few episodes. This episode too feels a bit thrown together around a few interesting ideas, namely the battles between Strange Supreme and Captain Infinity, as Carter becomes. A throw everything at the wall and see what sticks approach. That central fight - reintroduces us to almost all the characters we've ever seen in "What If", though some of them, such as Infinity Killmonger Black Panther noticeably and obviously don't speak - as presumably Michael B Jordan wasn't interested or available for such a small role.

It looks really impressive, the vocal performances are good (I feel like Cumberbatch puts more into playing the role in animation than he does in live action, or maybe the character has just gone to a more interesting place here).

It just feels less well thought out than in the first season, so much so I think I'd have preferred not to have a season story and just let the episodes live as individual storylines. I'll watch season three, but I'd like a bit more invention and maybe some more genuine "what if's" and not just other stories.

How to ruin a series and a great character.

[Avwillfan89 · 3/10 · 30 December 2023]

Well this was a colossal disappointment in every sense of the word. Supreme Strange, who had redeemed himself at the end of the last series by saving the multiverse, has turned evil again and tries to destroy it in order to resurrect his own world.

Yes the writers, for no discernible reason whatsoever, have completely reversed the growth and arc of my favourite character, just so two overpowered female characters can save the world.

Just when I thought Marvel could sink no lower, they create one of the ultimate writer faux pas and retcon a character arc. And it didn't even end up being a good story. It was boring, unoriginal and completely pointless.

I liked Captain Carter in the beginning of this show, but now she has become so overpowered (think G'Iah in Secret Invasion) and annoying (her arrogance does her no favours either) that I no longer care about her.

I am officially done with Marvel. Destroying and killing one of my favourite characters was the last straw.

Everything is wrong in final episode

[eversmilee · 1/10 · 30 December 2023]

We have already seen supreme strange in episode 1 that supreme strange saw the right path and change his mind and become the member of guardians of multiverse.

But what happened now? He became villain again?

Our supreme strange became villain again and try to kill heros from multiverse.

And Kahoti , new hero in season2 is so overpowered and can fight supreme strange easily.

And finally , our captain carter is so so very overpowered and can use so many kinds of weapons from multiverse so easily and this became non sense.

Cap carter is just human but she can use crown of hela, odin weapons and also can hold all 6 infinity stones together in her hand and can punch supreme strange.

So many non-sense things happened in this final episode. This destroyed all my expectations and my hope for this series.

Trash

[beastx2001 · 1/10 · 30 December 2023]

So your telling me that Strange Supreme loses to peggy carter and the chick we met 2 episodes ago who literally just has powers that were given to her from the space stone (she does not even have the stone). Strange Supreme was able to capture all these world enders but some how struggles with peggy? How. They just nerfed Strange Supreme to fit the plot. Also they did killmonger so dirty, he has all six stones but the girl was some how able to take them from him.... also killmonger had the stones ALOT longer than peggy and some how the first time she uses them she some how has mastery over them, also how are all of the stones able to be wielded by peggy? She litteraly has all six of them in her palm at one point. Remember how much damage just snapping did to hulk in endgame... is peggy some sort of god?

I don't want to watch this show anymore

[TabalugaDragon · 1/10 · 18 January 2024]

Unlike many, I defended this show. I liked most of season 1 episodes and some season 2 episodes. Unlike many, I didn't dislike Captain Carter. I thought she was a believable and a well-developed character and I can easily see her replacing Steve Rogers and even back in Captain America 1 movie she was shown to be smart and strong-willed.

But here... She can just easily use and control all stones however she likes, and other weapons like Mjolnir and Hela's crown.

Kahhori was also a Mary Sue in this season, learning hundreds of times faster than any of the people who got the same power, and of course she can go toe to Toe with Strange Supreme. Two overpowered girls fighting against a white male. That's not even surprising anymore, that is the norm of the modern MCU

Speaking Strange - he was the biggest disappointment in this episode. Like other reviews have mentioned, he has already learned his lesson, he changed for the better, why did you make him evil again? Imagine how amazing it would be to see him and The Watcher fight side by side in Avengers 5 and 6 against a new threat. I thought this is where the whole thing was going. But it wasn't, they just created an OP character and didn't know what to do with him so they made him evil again and killed him off. Extremely weak writing.

What I also hated personally is how after he was purged from his demons he became a good guy again, a man who's grieving, but his "demons" said they wanted it. So it wasn't Strange who was evil, it was all the magical creatures he consumed. I always hated the idea of villainizing non-human creatures because on the real Earth, only true villain is a human, yet it seems like those creatures are the ones who turned him to the dark side in the first place.

Terrible finale. The animation is great, but because the episode is severely overrated I'm giving this a 1.

I don't think I want to watch this show again.

What the h*** was that?

[kofenic · 1/10 · 4 January 2024]

I can't believe what they did to Doctor Strange. They just killed him off without making any sense. He was literally beaten by Captain Carter and a random girl from a few episodes earlier who gained her power from a space stone.

Wasn't Doctor Strange supposed to be much stronger than them? He could've easily defeated them within minutes, but I guess they needed to remove him because he was too overpowered for the verse. It's a terrible plot with no legitimate reason for Doctor Strange to turn evil. Very disappointing.

I think I'm done with the MCU. They've been providing poor plots and power scaling for a while now.

"What If" we cared about these stories

[rmmil · 3/10 · 31 December 2023]

I think "What If" is the absolute best example of how the "downfall" of the Marvel franchise has happened. It's not racism, hating of genders, or political ideology. It's just bad writing.

"What if" is an anthology show. Apparently the powers that be at Marvel have forgotten that or they are just so obsessed with interconnected stories due to the whole "multiverse" angle that they feel an overwhelming compulsion to connect absolutely everything.

This series could be so good. Viewers have no idea what they are missing. The comic series had such strange and insane ideas, and all that potential goes to waste in season 2 of "What If".

I just don't particularly care about Captain Carter. It was an okay idea in season 1, but in an anthology series where you can literally do ANY story, for some reason they just keep going back to the same one.

"What if Thanos was right? ", "What if Red Skull won?", "What if the other half got snapped?". Just a few ideas.

But no, we get "what if. Nebula was a cop?" Like, really? How pathetic.

Marvel, you will wither and die if you don't hire competent writers. Perhaps it's already too late.

Bad writing for Doctor strange again and again and writers making their children write episodes

[mranan · 5/10 · 30 December 2023]

The plot seems uneven, it's like the finale of secret invasion ( yuck ) . It's like the writer was playing with the children's toy and was like here you children mish mash it and make whatever you want . This is the episode ! Kahori suddenly become more powerful and and marvel obsession with killing Doctor strange characters. A great character and you had to kill it what's wrong with you Kevin fiege . Stop killing great characters and I will say it again it's like children playing with yours and marvel again i am saying it's like children playing with toys episodes . Just make your character shine instead of making fights with lots of power and nothing else there is no stakes at all . Disappointed with finale. I have no problem with female characters. It's just how they are being handled, people should see house of dragon and understand how strong female characters are served and blue eye samurai.

Captain Peggy Carter is one of the worst character I've had to endure

[marycrossland · 1/10 · 30 December 2023]

Please!!! For the love of God get rid of Captain Peggy Carter!!! Like let's be real Peggy could not have taken down strange that was so dumb and the fact that the character that everyone turns to for help is always Peggy is possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen!! Out of all the characters that could have been chosen to grow and to have such unique perspectives from why is it always PEGGY!!!!

I was excited to get the what if show it's such an amazing opportunity to build on characters and instead it's always the same annoying characters!!

I just can't believe that Supreme Strange was killed off because of Captain Peggy Carter!! What in the freaking world!!

Extremely Disappointing

[kratoszusezade · 1/10 · 30 December 2023]

Overall a super underwhelming finale. What was even the point of all the strange supreme episodes in season 1 when he turned back to what he was in his first episode again?

Strange has the power almost equal to all infinity stones and centuries of magic knowledge, but somehow he needs help from captain carter to catch Kahhori? How does this make any sense?

Also, why did strange open the portals super far away from the purple circle? He could just drop all of them directly there. And how did those villain/heroes all suddenly made the plan to give their powers to Kahhori and Peggy while they were all on the air having no idea what is even happening?

Another funny part was that Peggy was able to punch that demon version strange multiple times without using any stone.

This whole episode was just a lame excuse to remove strange supreme since he was too OP for the show.

Well made animation but terrible plot

[exzywu · 4/10 · 31 December 2023]

They totally ruined Strange Supreme by making him repeat a character arc that was already completed before, what people liked about him in season 1 is that he is a good man who made terrible mistakes, the most important part is that he is a good man, and yet the writers made him went full evil in this episode, it's like IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS all over again, the only difference is that Strange is the evil one here instead of Wanda.

Generally speaking, the animation of this season is better than season 1, but the plot and the connection between episodes is way more terrible than season 1, I really hope the writers won't make the same mistake in the next season.