What if Killmonger rescued Tony Stark? That’s the question, or premise at the heart of this week’s episode of What If? But is it really the premise this week, maybe it’s the catalyst, but certainly not the heart, and that’s where I had some issues. As always, I will get into a little more detail below after the spoiler jump, but if you want to know what I thought without spoilers, here it is.
Unrealized potential! That’s the lasting image I have after watching this week’s episode. The premise in the title is far more intriguing than the story we are told. A much better name for this episode would have been, What if Killmonger started a few years earlier? That’s about as accurate a premise for this week’s episode I can give without spoilers. Frankly, this episode therefore played out like a stripped down and boring version of Black Panther. I wasn’t as keen on Killmonger as a villain in Black Panther as many were. Perhaps with the character being just the same here, that’s leaning on my review?
There was no darkness like the Strange episode, no levity like T’Challa’s episode, and no character development at all of which to speak of. I was bored by the end and felt like I understood the entire plot after 5 minutes in and was just waiting for it to all happen.
SPOILERS for What If? Episode 6 Below!
Adding to what I already said above, I felt like this premise promised something more between Killmonger and Tony Stark. Realistically Stark’s only purpose is to do what Killmonger wants and die like a chump. With Stark and T’Challa dispatched with barely an effort, Killmonger then just sets up the same plan, using almost the same people he did in Black Panther. Except this time, King T’Chakka thinks he’s a good kid and makes him the new Panther. Somehow with barely any effort Killmonger has put Wakanda at war with the U.S. but of course his goal remains the same. He wants to destroy the race that he has seen beat down what he feels are his own people. Instead of fixing the issue, Killmonger wishes to reverse it.
The problem is, we’ve been here and see this happen before, but this time without T’Challa playing the other side. The eprson who wnats to fix it without more bloodshed. T’Challa does speak to Killmonger in the ancestors dream thing. However, all he really does is tell him, he’s done messed up and this won’t work. As we are used to now, we end on a sort of cliff-hanger as the war prepares to escalate. Yet somehow Shuri has made her way to Pepper Potts with the evidence it was Killmonger who killed T’Challa. Now, I’m not being funny, but going all that way, when the first person she should have told this to was her dad, was weird.
It just didn’t work for me as a story and as such I struggled to stay engaged till the end.
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What would have been far more interesting to me here would be the opposite. somehow Killmonger save Rony, but the two become close and Tony actually changes Killmonger’s mind and he abandons his revenge quest to help people instead. See, that is taking the character of Killmonger and twisting it on it’s head. That’s interesting, that’s drama. Watching Black Panther replayed out across a quarter of the run time with no heart wasn’t.
But hey, lets us know what you thought of What If Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark? Maybe you hard disagree, maybe you can see where I am coming from, either way, lets us know below.
GRADE: C-
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