Episode 2 of Marvel’s What If…? explores T’Challa becoming Star Lord. Is he as proficient at dance battles?

The Nerd Review continues its new direction as we cover Marvel’s new series What If. The general concept for the series is that The Watcher is, more or less, the narrator leading us through some of our favorite stories from the MCU that have had some very important elements changed. In the wake of the Loki season finale clearly setting up the Multiverse, this series is all about the Multiverse and the different variations that can permeate through such a concept.

Also could be fun to pay attention to how each episode scores or adjusts the series score. Take a look at Episode 2 having a full point higher early on in the IMDB ratings. Even Rotten Tomatoes numbers went up a little in general (there weren’t any metrics for the episode individually).

• IMDB – 8.3/10
• Metacritic – 69
• Rotten Tomatoes – Critics: 93% – Audience: 91%

Epsiode 2: What If….T’Challa Became a Star-Lord (2021)

Dave Ungar

In Episode 2, we get an excellent variation of a key aspect of the Guardians of the Galaxy story. In this alternate timeline, it is T’Challa, aka The Black Panther that gets picked up by Yondu and his band of Ravagers instead of a very young Peter Quill. In this variation, T’Challa becomes Star-Lord, but a very different kind of Star-Lord. Whereas in the original Guardians, Quill was an awkward, almost reluctant, hero, T’Challa is the complete opposite. He serves as an inspiration to all those he encounters right from the start. The name Star-Lord is known throughout the Universe and it is revered with the utmost respect. T’Challa is so respected, he is able to turn Thanos away from his plan to snap half the Universe out of existence. Thanos becomes the muscle of T’Challa’s band of…well it is hard to call them heroes, per se. But, the sense of family between T’Challa and Yondu is very strong in this Episode. It was not really until close to the end of Guardians Vol. 2 where we got to see the same sort of relationship between Yondu & Quill; here it is there right from the jump.

I won’t give away too much of the plot because any MCU fan absolutely needs to check this Episode out. I was surprised how quite a few of the other reviews I read for Episode 1 were actually somewhat disappointed in the premiere Episode. To each, their own. But if you were kind of on the fence after that first Episode, please do yourself a favor and watch this one. In general, a much different version of Nebula, who almost seemed like a love interest of T’Challa’s, enlists his help to retrieve the Embers of Genesis from The Collector. Pulling this heist off has an Oceans 11 vibe, of sorts, to it, as the odds are very long against our heroes, indeed. Along the way, T’Challa finds out that things are not quite what he had been led to believe and he experiences a definite crisis of belief in Yondu, who has been like a father to him for all these years. I will leave it at that and let you discover for yourself how it all ends up.

There are two aspects of the Episode I will emphasize though because I absolutely loved it. The first is Thanos. Thanos is voiced by Josh Brolin who, of course, played The Mad Titan in the MCU movies. Thanos is so good in this Episode. He still wrestles with his decision to not carry out his plan to eliminate half of the life in the Universe. Even this version of Thanos sees the benefit of such a genocidal solution and he still champions the logic of it to anyone who will listen. But he has also learned a great deal from T’Challa and sees the value of life more distinctly than the Thanos we know from the MCU. He is actually more Drax than Thanos in this Episode and seeing Thanos throw down AGAINST The Black Order? Yeah, take my money.

But the best part of this Episode, by far, is that T’Challa was voiced by Chadwick Boseman. It might seem impossible, but it was one of the last things Chadwick did before his shocking, and untimely, death nearly one year ago. Hearing Chadwick’s voice, seeing T’Challa one more time….it was equal parts of joy and heartbreak. Boseman’s voice work here is absolutely top notch and he is able to easily convince that, indeed, T’Challa could have been a Star-Lord, and a damn good Star-Lord as well. It is a great performance and it elevates this Episode significantly. At the end of the Episode, where the Episode is dedicated to Chadwick….it is a powerfully emotional moment for anyone who felt like they lost a hero a year ago. It is not quite closure…but it comes pretty close. The best part is that we have since learned that this is not the last time we will hear Chadwick Boseman’s voice in the series. I cannot wait to see where else T’Challa shows up as the series progresses.

I did not have the problems that some did with Episode 1. That being said, Episode 2 was quite a bit better. It is the perfect retelling of one of our favorite stories from the MCU, including some of our favorite characters in ways you might not expect. In the end, T’Challa is the star, as he should be, and anyone who ever appreciated what Chadwick went through, were stunned at thought of what he hid from us, and who were left in awe at what he accomplished even though he was literally dying, will be even more awestruck by this performance. Yes, it is that good.

Rating: 5/5

Rey Cash

Last week, Marvel broke ground on a brand new property, genre, and idea.  What If…? was the beginning of a new venture in Marvel, focusing on the multiverse, using animation, and essentially re-doing storylines.  So far, the show has been a massive success, as every Marvel fan I know was talking about Captain Carter and Steve “Hydra Stomper” Rogers.  There was a ton of anticipation for Episode 2, and it did not disappoint.

The story of the Guardians of the Galaxy is one that has been the lifeblood of the cosmic side of the MCU.  Peter Quill and his ragtag family’s exploits of trying to save the galaxy has brought billions of dollars to the MCU.  So “what if” they didn’t exist.  In What If…? episode 2, Yondu doesn’t abduct Peter Quill.  The Ravagers accidentally abduct T’Challa, future King of Wakanda and the future Black Panther.  T’Challa, who was rebelling against his father T’Chaka wanting to see the world, left Wakanda and was brought into the Ravagers ship.  When given the offer to see the world, he willingly joined the group.  As we were soon to see, T’Challa, also known now as Star Lord, has followed the old Ravagers code of stealing, but they’ve instead become Robin Hood-esque in that they steal to give to those less fortunate.  This is first explained by entertainingly re-doing Quill’s finding of the Orb, having the Kree Accusers finding T’Challa and Korath being a massive fan of Star Lord.  After a hilarious fight with Korath, who T’Challa brings on to the team, the tone is set for the rest of the episode.

Another interesting change that is worth its own separate review is the new version of Thanos.  We know Thanos to be a genocidal maniac obsessed with balance.  This version of Thanos is almost a sitcom dad, happy to be the friend of T’Challa and a member of his crew.  T’Challa talked him out of his genocidal ways, but he’s still willing to mention to anyone who will listen that he could’ve made it work.  Also, there’s still tension between Thanos and his daughter Nebula, who plays a major part in this episode, but that is fixed thanks to T’Challa as well.  There seems to be a personal, almost romantic relationship between T’Challa (aka Cha-Cha) and Nebula, which leads to the main heist of the movie.  The Ravagers plan to steal the Embers of Genesis, which are plants that can grow anything on any planet, from the new big bad of the universe – Taneleer Tivan, better known as The Collector.

There are some fun switches in this episode, such as Drax being a bartender due to T’Challa saving his homeland and his family.  But none matter as much as Thanos’s former children, The Black Order, now being hired by The Collector.  Tivan has taken his obsession for trinkets to an obscene level, controlling much of the universe under this guise.  In trying to get the Embers, T’Challa finds a Wakandan ship with a distress call, showing that his family were trying to find him and Yondu lied to him about it.  Ultimately, they get the Embers, beat The Collector, free all of his prisoners, and go back to Wakanda for T’Challa to meet and blend his two families.

Besides the Thanos twist, there are two fantastic notes from this episode.  First, this is the last appearance of the legendary Chadwick Boseman in the MCU, as he lent his voice for T’Challa.  While he’s left an unfillable hole in the MCU, getting a chance to see him one last time in this role is a bit cathartic.  Also, it’s interesting to see how much essentially Peter Quill sucks at being Star Lord.  While Quill was able to do good, T’Challa doesn’t even have to try hard and he’s able to not just save the galaxy but change it.  This is even shown at the end of the episode with Ego, Quill’s Celestial father, finding Quill working at a Dairy Queen and trying to convince him to join him.

All in all, this episode was the perfect example of how amazing What If…? can be.  Finding one moment in time and flipping the entire sequence of events around it is a massively entertaining thing to watch play out.  Once again, Marvel knocked one out of the park.  Or should I say, the Galaxy.

Rating: 5/ 5

Overall Nerd Rating on What If….T’Challa Became a Star-Lord: 5/5