Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel’s animated show What If...? ended last week, leaving the door open for another season and for possible effects on the live-action movies. Now that we’re beginning to see universes collide from What If…? to Loki to Venom: Let There Be Carnage, it’s exciting to think about the future of the multiverse in the MCU. In the meantime, let’s go back and look at all of the different universes shown in What If...? and rank each episode from worst to best! Spoilers ahead!

I’m all for girl power, but this episode was just a shot for shot remake of Captain America: The First Avenger with a woman as Cap and an ample dose of misogyny to go along with it. The story follows the classic, done-over feminist narrative of a woman being oppressed by men in her workfield, then she fights back. It’s too formulaic. The constant misogyny Peggy faces feels forced in to make her story more compelling, but it just makes it feel like a shallow attempt at feminism for woke points. Since this episode offered nothing new or interesting, it’s the lowest on this list. 

This episode has a lot of crazy deaths. It suggested this show was going to take risks when it came to killing off characters. The murders of each of the Avengers were crazy to watch. However, the payoff wasn’t nearly as successful and the reveal of Hank Pym as the true villain was way out of left field given that we as an audience knew nothing about the lore of this universe, especially that Hope was dead. 

There are so many interwoven stories, themes, character arcs, timelines, and dimensions! In order to keep track of the MCU films and figure out what to watch when, here’s a list of those that have come out – 29 as of now — as well as what's coming up in the next few years. Included are related articles and Incluvie score (and a fun 1.5 minute TikTok).

First is the release order of the MCU films. This is the way Marvel intended the audience to take in the characters and story arcs. After the release list is Incluvie’s own note and style on how to watch!

1. Iron Man (2008)

2. The Incredible Hulk (2008)