What I hoped wasn't going to be an issue for me, ended up being worse than the animation choice. It's the same gripe I have with Endgame. Recap with small room for creativity.
That is the point of Endgame, but it could've been done better.
! - Natasha and Clint trip: dope
- Tony, Scott and Cap 1st trip: weak
- Rhodey and Nebula trip: weak
- Bruce trip: dope
- Rocket and Thor trip: weak
- Tony and Steve 2nd trip: dope
! The problem is the creativity of where they revisit.
! - Showing me Natasha and Clint fight to sacrifice themselves is dope. It's creative and has purpose beyond "remember this place and what happen here last time"
- Tony and Steve hitting up the base and seeing Howard n Peggy is creative. It foreshadows their decision making in the end.
- Bruce talking to the Ancient One is dope cuz we see that she is also there for the 2012 invasion and it emphasizes how urgent it is to return the stones and Strange's decision to relinquish the time stone
! - Going back to Dark World was weak. I didn't get another perspective. Thor just found his resolve and they were done
- Guardians 1 opening scene being revisited felt lazy. The only good was that Thanos picked up on Nebula's mission
- Seeing Loki's escort team was basically, "hey this is what happen after Avengers 1". Oh God, this was lame. Cap vs Cap was dumb. "Hail HYDRA" by Cap felt forced in. Ton of tacky fanservice for Tony and Cap.
Now for this What If episode, I have the same issue.
! It's just Peggy walking in Steve's shoes. Maybe it leads to something in the future, but for what it is, I felt like I was watching First Avenger. That is the intention, but they didn't lean in on there being a difference. Yes, she was a woman and Steve gets to be Iron Whatever, but what else? Isn't this What If. You have the greenlight to provide more imaginative alternatives and all I got was a Hydra and Scrawny Steve in the suit.
It doesn't help that First Avenger is in my bottom 5 MCU films. Decent film, but 1 of my fav Marvel villains was a letdown. Red Skull deserves better.
Great voice acting by Jeffrey. Wouldn't mind him getting a live action spot doing the same thing.