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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 314325" data-attributes="member: 5079">And that is adjacent to one of my pet peeves about these kinds of stories and honestly just fiction in general: writers who create a &quot;rule&quot; for their world and then cheat against it.To build on that, let&#039;s consider what WHAT IF ... ? is portraying.&nbsp; In comics, as a I recall, the &quot;What If ...?&quot; tales were not meant to be parallel universes or divergent timelines; they were just random concepts of things that could have happened.&nbsp; In the MCU, divergent timelines have become a significant plot point (END GAME; LOKI).&nbsp; We also know the Multiverse is about to be explored, as it&#039;s literally in the title of an upcoming movie.&nbsp; What we don&#039;t know: are divergent timelines and parallel universes the same?&nbsp; For now, I am going to assume they are.&nbsp; The alternative is that there is a multitude of universes each with a multitude of timelines; that gives me headache.That detour was relevant because a divergent timeline starts when a specific event deviates from the norm, thus creating the new timeline/universe.&nbsp;&nbsp; With that, I can&#039;t help but judge each of these tales on how well they establish that divergent point and how well they follow through on it.&nbsp; The Captain Carter episode was fine in that regards; the T&#039;Challa as Starlord had a decent starting point but flimsy follow through.&nbsp; To your point, I&#039;m not sure if there was a mention/hint of Hope having joined S.H.I.E.L.D.&nbsp;&nbsp; If not, I agree that&#039;s something of a narrative cheat.&nbsp; But I would also have to view that as the divergent point for this timeline:&nbsp; Hope was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., then was killed in action, then Hank went nuts.&nbsp; A bit convoluted, but I guess it works.&nbsp; How well this fits into the MCU as a divergent point is less clear.&nbsp; I recall Hope being quite resentful at her parents&#039; careers, which makes it dubious that she would have followed in their paths.&nbsp; And then, the cheat; if Hank&#039;s goal was the kill the Avengers before they formed, there was no reason for him to kill Thor.&nbsp; We, the audience, of course knew who he was, but neither Fury nor Pym had any reason to.&nbsp; But I can give it a pass since Hank was insane and, thus, probably not prone to rational decisions.&nbsp; (I recall someone complaining that Thanos&#039; plot didn&#039;t make sense, to which someone replied &quot;They didn&#039;t call him the Sane Titan&quot;.)So this episode mostly passed the sniff test, and beyond that I enjoyed it.&nbsp; As mysteries go, it was decent even if I had the Pym angle worked out at least halfway through.<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">&quot;What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?&quot;</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">&quot;What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?&quot;</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">&quot;What If... T&#039;Challa Became a Star-Lord?&quot;</li>
</ol></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson, post: 314325, member: 5079"] And that is adjacent to one of my pet peeves about these kinds of stories and honestly just fiction in general: writers who create a "rule" for their world and then cheat against it. To build on that, let's consider what WHAT IF ... ? is portraying. In comics, as a I recall, the "What If ...?" tales were not meant to be parallel universes or divergent timelines; they were just random concepts of things that could have happened. In the MCU, divergent timelines have become a significant plot point (END GAME; LOKI). We also know the Multiverse is about to be explored, as it's literally in the title of an upcoming movie. What we don't know: are divergent timelines and parallel universes the same? For now, I am going to assume they are. The alternative is that there is a multitude of universes each with a multitude of timelines; that gives me headache. That detour was relevant because a divergent timeline starts when a specific event deviates from the norm, thus creating the new timeline/universe. With that, I can't help but judge each of these tales on how well they establish that divergent point and how well they follow through on it. The Captain Carter episode was fine in that regards; the T'Challa as Starlord had a decent starting point but flimsy follow through. To your point, I'm not sure if there was a mention/hint of Hope having joined S.H.I.E.L.D. If not, I agree that's something of a narrative cheat. But I would also have to view that as the divergent point for this timeline: Hope was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., then was killed in action, then Hank went nuts. A bit convoluted, but I guess it works. How well this fits into the MCU as a divergent point is less clear. I recall Hope being quite resentful at her parents' careers, which makes it dubious that she would have followed in their paths. And then, the cheat; if Hank's goal was the kill the Avengers before they formed, there was no reason for him to kill Thor. We, the audience, of course knew who he was, but neither Fury nor Pym had any reason to. But I can give it a pass since Hank was insane and, thus, probably not prone to rational decisions. (I recall someone complaining that Thanos' plot didn't make sense, to which someone replied "They didn't call him the Sane Titan".) So this episode mostly passed the sniff test, and beyond that I enjoyed it. As mysteries go, it was decent even if I had the Pym angle worked out at least halfway through. [LIST=1] [*]"What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" [*]"What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?" [*]"What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?" [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?