**** SPOILERS AHEAD****
Marvel Studios What if…? premiered on Disney+ this morning with their first episode What if Peggy Carter was the First Avenger?
Again… SPOILERS
I hate to be this person, but the absolute first thing I noticed was that Chris Evans DID NOT voice Steve Rogers in this. Literally every time Steve spoke, it threw me off. Evans is just synonymous with the character at his point and it was a point of annoyance for me. (it might not bother you, that’s cool)
The next thing about this first episode, is that it like any good Marvel show, it tugs at your heartstrings. You get basically the same story you know but with Captain Carter in a Union Jack uniform and an ending that involved the tesseract and not an iceberg. Instead of Steve Rogers waking up 70’s years in the future and Peggy Carter being old and frail, you get Peggy Carter coming out of the glowing cube a la Loki, and being told that she last 70 years, but they won the war, so yay!
The meat of this story is pretty fun and it’s aided by a very quippy Bucky Barnes (with both his arms!!) and Captain Carter herself being quite funny while in combat.
Who needs a plan? I have a shield. – Peggy Carter
I loved how she took on the characteristics we so equate to Steve Rogers. As Captain Carter she is reckless and smart, doesn’t like authority too much but still has a soft heart. And she gets a sword!! So much happens in the 30 minutes of this first episode. We get to meet the Watcher and listen to his spiel about the multiverse and only watching, never interfering. We get to see an early Iron Man in the from of the Hydra Stomper, which Steve Rogers pilots with sheer joy and again, recklessness. We get a quick special appearance from Samuel L Jackson and Jeremy Renner as their Marvel counterparts (yay, Hawkeye!), the Howlies are there to keep Carter on her toes, and you also get Red Skull getting his just deserts in a VERY satisfying way.
All in all, for a first episode, it did really well. It gave us MCU fans even more Peggy Carter, and a glimpse at a wonderfully whole Bucky Barnes.
I’m very excited to see what comes next.
