This review contains spoilers for episode 2 of What If...?.
What If…?’s first episode was a callback and alternate spin on the events of Captain America: The First Avenger, so much so that its adherence to said source material was one of the few faults one could find in it. For this week’s outing, Chadwick Boseman’s Star-Lord takes Marvel fans on a vastly different Guardians of the Galaxy adventure.
It’s clear the series won’t deviate much from its core premise when it comes to titles as proven by The Watcher’s invitation for audiences to simply imagine “What if… T’Challa became Star-Lord?”, however, as it turns out one small T'Challla leaving Wakanda can lead to massive changes in the MCU. Things do start off in the abandoned planet of Morag, a sequence that is taken straight from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 but that is pretty much where the similarities end.
Although all the dialogue in What If…? Was obviously recorded prior to Boseman’s death, it seems strangely fitting for this version of T’Challa to be an inspiration for change all across the galaxy due to his sincerity and kindness after so many people that worked with him have gone on to speak highly of the real-life Black Panther’s character. In that sense, T’Challa’s upbringing makes for a wholly different Star-Lord that doesn’t exterminate his enemies and is even willing to take Korath on board to be a ravager, despite the latter's huge man-crush being a bit uncomfortable for him.
See, as it turns out Yondu had an entire change of heart regarding what the Ravager trade should really be focused on as he and his adoptive son clearly state that the stolen Power Stone should be used for the greater good of the universe. As a flashback shows us T’Challa as a small child -unsuccessfully- pleading to his father to open up Wakanda to the rest of the world, the young Black Panther’s abduction in itself is a reminder of the good-humored nature that Guardians movies are all about because this entire nexus event here happens just due to Yondu outsourcing the job.
The episode really plays into a similar brand of humor to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, at least as much as it can in What If…?’s constrained 30-minute format without compromising on exposition. Speaking of which, there’s actually plenty of that as one of the first big twists offered by this T’Challa inspired reality is the fact that this Star-Lord managed to convince Thanos not to pursue his genocidal plans to annihilate half of the universe’s population, all resulting in the big purple guy putting his titanic strength at the service of the ravagers.
As part of other fantastic outcomes from T’Challa’s abduction, Drax is now a bartender whose family is alive and well because Ronin and Thanos never invaded their planet, meaning this non-Dave Bautista Drax can live his best life taking selfies with Star-Lord. As a far less traumatized and dazzling blonde version of Nebula meets T’Challa, the episode then turns into a full-on heist mission to retrieve the Embers of Genesis from the Collector who’s sort of taken Thanos’ place as the most powerful guy in the universe.
Again, the main thing to highlight here is how the humble T’Challa being Star-Lord apparently has a wider influence that goes way beyond the ship and his costume’s color schemes fitting Black Panther iconography. Unlike Peter Quill’s Star-Lord identity that gets mocked even by the rest of the Guardians, in this What If...? Universe Star-Lord is a widely admired celebrity.
Once the mission begins, this What If…? Episode becomes a fantastic easter showcase (just like episode one) taking place in the Collector’s residency (still in Knowhere), yet it’s the type of fan service that’s done in quite the tasteful manner. Among the standout things worth noting are the Black Order’s new gig as personal detail for a Collector (and he's definitely been hitting the gym), as well as all of those carefully sealed living trinkets he keeps around (which have shown up before in Guardians), like Howard the Duck, Cosmo the space dog, an encased Dark Elf, and so much more.
T'Challa's big reveal moment comes when he finds a Wakandan ship with a message from his real father who was looking for him all along since he went missing, rather than his homeland being exterminated like Yondu told him. As for the mission, it unfolds as a bunch of double-crosses that only T'Challa and Nebula were aware of since the start, nevertheless, the battle that pits Star-Lord against the Collector is fantastic thanks to What If...?'s animation style, plus the fact that it's a chance for the Collector to show off all the toys he's been stacking, including a few Avengers items like Captain America's shield or even some Hela cosplay props, which maybe indicates he's completely taken out the Avengers and Asgard in this reality.
As the ravager team makes a run for it, both T'Challa and Nebula make amends with their adoptive fathers, which prompts the entire party to pay a visit to Wakanda where the audience is again treated to more Guardians-style humor. That comes with an endearing moment between King T'Chaka and his son Star-Lord, proving that the values under which he was raised as a child stayed on for the rest of his life and that's what enabled a single man to have such a huge influence in the rest of this specific What If...? Universe.
This What If...? Episode is certainly a noticeable level up when compared to the first one, as it even introduces further mysteries by introducing Peter Quill and Ego the Living Planet in its cliffhanger while also raising the question of what Gamora's Thanos cosplay means since she's sporting that look in the series' official poster. It does all that by portraying a radically and yet familiar reality based on the first Guardians of the Galaxy, making it quite exciting to imagine which MCU movie will be rewritten in the next episode and thus fulfilling the purpose of the What If...? Comics.
Naturally, the episode is dedicated to the memory of Chadwick Boseman who puts in a fantastic voice acting performance that really separates Star-Lord T'Challa from Black Panther T'Challa through very small nuances in his Wakandan accent or the way he delivers each word when he speaks, more like a Robin Hood figure and less like someone who's been raised like royalty. There are three more episodes featuring Boseman and, if they're just as refreshing as this one, then What If...? Will definitely be a perfect send-off regardless of what Black Panther: Wakanda Forever does in the future.