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Spoilers What If...? season two discussion thread

Spain was chosen, I’d wager, in large part because the number of hispanophones vs francophones in the US (always the primary market for Disney) is orders of magnitude greater.
 
Spain was chosen, I’d wager, in large part because the number of hispanophones vs francophones in the US (always the primary market for Disney) is orders of magnitude greater.

This sounds more plausible to me. Sloppy writing to me.
 
This sounds more plausible to me. Sloppy writing to me.
I think it’s the opposite of “sloppy” as it makes a deliberate choice to maximize its audience. It’s a cartoon alternate history in a superhero franchise—scholarly precision is about 963 on the list of priorities. Far more important to focus on the attention to detail of the Indigenous language of the Haudenosaunee used in the episode. A welcome change of pace.
 
I think it’s the opposite of “sloppy” as it makes a deliberate choice to maximize its audience. It’s a cartoon alternate history in a superhero franchise—scholarly precision is about 963 on the list of priorities. Far more important to focus on the attention to detail of the Indigenous language of the Haudenosaunee used in the episode. A welcome change of pace.

Good point. It pulled me a little out of the episode but that's my own hangup and that's a good reason.
 
I think it’s the opposite of “sloppy” as it makes a deliberate choice to maximize its audience. It’s a cartoon alternate history in a superhero franchise—scholarly precision is about 963 on the list of priorities. Far more important to focus on the attention to detail of the Indigenous language of the Haudenosaunee used in the episode. A welcome change of pace.

It's sloppy to me, because using Spain as the villains was historically incorrect and unnecessary. I refuse to continue to pretend that the MCU is renowned for good writing. As far as I'm concerned, it has rarely been able to utilize that, especially in the past eight years.
 
Spain was chosen, I’d wager, in large part because the number of hispanophones vs francophones in the US (always the primary market for Disney) is orders of magnitude greater.
I'd honestly be surprised if that was any kind of determining factor.
The conquistadors and the greedy single-minded quest for the fountain of youth, El Dorado, and basically anything shiny that wasn't nailed down or on fire has a much larger footprint in popular cultural awareness than what the early French, Dutch and English colonisers were doing further north. Fairly or no; they are seen as epitomising the unbridled mercenary avarice and cultural arrogance of that chapter of history. That plus the fact that at this point in history Spain was THE European superpower on the scene, makes them a much easier fit for a story of this scale and profundity, especially with that final scene. Showing up in late 15th Century Westminster or Paris just doesn't have the same impact as the court of Queen Isabella I.
There's also the possibility that they wanted to deliberately avoid as much cosmetic similarity to the Disney 'Pocahontas' movie as possible. Both "because: Disney", but it might also distract the conversation from the message and the story they're trying to tell.

So what if the when and the where are off a little? It's an alternate timeline in a fictional multiverse. Even so; you can bet that if in that time, if word got out of a magical pool up in Mohawk territory, you can bet the Spanish would have sent and expedition to claim it.
 
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It's sloppy to me, because using Spain as the villains was historically incorrect and unnecessary. I refuse to continue to pretend that the MCU is renowned for good writing. As far as I'm concerned, it has rarely been able to utilize that, especially in the past eight years.
It's not historically incorrect because it's not meant to be our universe's history, it's an alternate reality.
 
It's some what amusing that people watching a show called "What If...?" have trouble with history taking a "left turn". T'Challa becomes Star Lord? No problem. Peggy Carter becomes a Super Soldier? No problem. Spaniards in New England? Big problem. :lol:
For what it's worth, Esteban Gómez explored parts of New England for Spain in the 1500s. ( looking for the Northwest Passage) A bit later than what was shown in What If...?, though.
 
Finally got around to seeing this and overall enjoyed it. I liked some episodes more than others but that's always the way.

Damn it makes me want a live action Captain Carter film though!

It's great they got so many actors to do voices, even if some were limited in terms of how much screen time they got (I wanted more Wanda).

I think my favourites were

Ironman/Grand Master (Wingert does a great Tony and Goldblum is still having a ball with that character)

Peggy vs the Hydra Stomper

Hela/ 10 rings, Blanchett seemed to be have a lot of fun with this.

Avengers 1602, genuinely a lot of fun

I liked every episode to some degree though.
 
It's not historically incorrect because it's not meant to be our universe's history, it's an alternate reality.
I took it as someone from Europe saw the bright light of the tesseract centuries ago falling to the West, wrote it down in legends, then the Spanish later on followed those legends after the 'New World' was found.
 
The conquistadors and the greedy single-minded quest for the fountain of youth, El Dorado, and basically anything shiny that wasn't nailed down or on fire has a much larger footprint in popular cultural awareness than what the early French, Dutch and English colonisers were doing further north.

When it comes to U.S. History, American schoolbooks had tend to emphasize Spanish travesties against the indigenous population in compare to French and especially British travesties. At least in the past. I think it had a lot to do with cultural bias. I don't know about today.


Also . . . Season Two? Not a fan. I thought Season One was more or less a mixed bag. I'm not impressed by Season Two.
 
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