What if Doctor Strange lost his heart instead of his hands? That is the question posed by this week’s new episode of What If…? If you have been reading my reviews previously for this series, then you already know I prefer my what if stories a little darker. On that front, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. The premise, given away by the title is simple and not a spoiler. Instead of being in a car accident alone where his hands were damaged, Strange was in the car with Christine and lost her instead. Of course, the basic premise of these stories is not really the hook of them. Instead it is the way our beloved characters deal with these changes in a different way. Some times that reaction remains heroic, and other times, like Hank Pym last week, it does not.

I’ll get into some Spoilers after the jump. But here is my non-spoiler take first.

Honestly, this was great stuff. I would happily watch a Doctor Strange sequel in live-action with this storyline. This episode has everything you want from a story about Doctor Strange. It is dark, adult, complex and thoroughly entertaining. More please Marvel, more please.

Now to get into some of the nitty gritty.

SPOILERS for What If Doctor Strange lost his heart instead of his hands? Below!

What better opponent for Doctor Strange to fight than an evil version of himself? As Strange becomes determined to reverse Christine’s death we begin with a sort of montage of all his failures as Christine dies again, and again, no mater what Strange changes. The Ancient One eventually appears to Strange to tell him he cannot change this event. If he tries it will destroy the Universe itself. However Strange does not listen, he rejects what he is told and flees to the past. Whilst there Strange begins absorbing all the knowledge he can. This then turns into absorbing powerful dark magical creatures, to give himself more power. Slowly across hundreds of years Strange becomes supremely powerful.

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However before he can put his plan into action he discovers a trick the Ancient One used against him. She melded the Universe where Strange doesn’t try to bring back Christine, and this one together leaving two Stephen Strange’s in the same Universe. In a movie the good Doctor Strange would likely win, or convince the other one of the error of his ways. However, this is not the MCU proper and as such the writers are able to play with a darker ending here.

Perfect! I absolutely loved this episode and really felt like I was watching a show for adults and not children for the first time yet. For me, far and away, this was the best of the four episodes we have seen thus far. If things keep getting better like this every week I am going to have to adjust my scaling.

However for now, this one takes top spot. Let us know what you thought of What if Doctor Strange lost his heart instead of his hands? Leave any thoughts below.

GRADE: A+

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