Spoilers for episode 2 of theMarvel Disney+ Series What If...?.
Luckily, we are up and running on our revamped Nerdz Newz site as What If...? airs.. Instead of doing complete season wrap-ups - which are coming for WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki - we can follow it here as it unravels. Let's dive in, shall we?
In the second installment of Marvel's What If...? on Disney+, fans got to see what would have happened if T'Challa, not Peter Quill, was Star-Lord instead of Black Panther. As the two are completely different personality types, it was an interesting flip on the tale.
Star-Lord...T'Challa????
Instead of striving to be seen as one of the biggest and baddest thieves in the galaxy, T'Challa's Star-Lord was more of a Robin Hood-esque character, looking to right the wrongs of the universe instead of being a mercenary. In this world, Yondu and his band of Ravagers have changed along with Star-Lord and are kind of like the police of the galaxy.
Yondu and his Ravagers engage in a quest to make the whole universe a better place, as the show sees them working to save a planet by using an Infinity Stone to reignite the dying star that could help them. At the same time, it revealed that T'Challa saved Drax's world from the Kree Invasion that destroyed his life and killed his family.
Not only that, but he was able to get Thanos to understand that decimating half of the life in existence was not necessary to get what he wants - that it is possible to make the world better for everyone without indiscriminate extinction. In that vein, T'Challa is working with a friendly and barely cybernetic Nebula to eradicate hunger throughout the galaxies.
They do end up needing to attempt to steal from the Black Order and their leader in this reality - The Collector. They travel to Knowhere looking to collect cosmic dust called the Embers of Genesis. With this, they would change the ecosystems on different planets to allow for extra food and less hunger.
The Voices, Though
For many fans, this episode was a fun divergence from the regular line, one we get to see what would happen if a man as good and intelligent as T'Challa was in the cosmic portion of the MCU. It was also bittersweet as it was filmed before Chadwick Boseman passed away from colon cancer last August.
Hearing him once again voice the King made many people feel the loss and had fans again wondering how anyone will be able to fill his cowl.
The voices were almost all of the actors who portray the characters onscreen, with the two most considerable deviations being Drax and Peter Quill. Neither Dave Bautista nor Chris Pratt had their voices featured. Though Pratt has been silent on the matter, Bautista ranted on social media that he would have done it but was not asked. Marvel and Disney's executives have denied those claims and insist there was simply some miscommunication.
The voice actors for the episode are below:
Main Cast, What If...T'Challa Was Star-Lord?
Carina – Ophelia Lovibond
Corvus Glaive – Fred Tatasciore
Drax – Fred Tatasciore
Ebony Maw – Tom Vaughan-Lawlord
Ego – Kurt Russell
Howard the Duck – Seth Green
Korath – Djimon Hounsou
Kraglin – Sean Gunn
Nebula – Karen Gillan
Okoye – Danai Gurira
Peter Quill – Brian T. Delaney
Proxima Midnight – Carrie Coon
Star-Lord T’Challa – Chadwick Boseman
T’Chaka – John Kani
Taserface – Chris Sullivan
Thanos – Josh Brolin
The Collector – Benicio Del Toro
The Watcher - Jeffrey Wright
Yondu – Michael Rooker
Additional Voices
Dave Boat
David Sobolov
Debra Wilson
Don Fullilove
Matthew Wood
Michael Ralph
Michael Woodley
Piotr Michael
Terri Douglas
What If...? airs on Disney+ every Wednesday at 12:01 AM. It will have nine total episodes, and the finale will be Wednesday, October 6, 2021. We will see you back here next week to recap episode 3.
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