Buffy The Vampire Slayer Did What If Episodes Way Better Than The MCU
Loosely based on the comic series of the same name, What If...? proved to be a clever way of introducing some of the many alternate storylines that may eventually come to affect the ongoing story of the MCU. The animated show was both interesting and entertaining, while also giving viewers a glimpse of the other Earths that may later appear. Audiences got to cheer T'Challa as a reimagined Star-Lord, laughed with Frat Thor, and been reunited with Peggy Carter in her new iteration as Captain Carter. Undoubtedly, the MCU has been enriched by these additional storylines.
But while What If...? was created to help guide MCU viewers through some of the branches of the multiverse and how they came to exist, by being separated from the main storylines - as well as being told in the completely different medium of animation - the show somewhat distanced the alternate storylines from the original universe. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in contrast, most often inserted its alternate universes directly into the main story. These interactions with the "other" worlds directly affected the characters, long-term, with one episode standing out as an example. In Buffy season 3's "The Wish," Cordelia wishes that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, and the resulting drama is both hilarious and horrible. Even though the wish is undone, and no one remembers what happened, the impact lingers. Emma Caulfield, who joined the MCU in WandaVision, played Anyanka, the vengeance demon who granted Cordelia's wish in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Punished for her failure and forced to live in a human body, she becomes part of the Scooby Gang as Anya and affects the remainder of the show's run. As a main cast member, Anya has a long-term relationship with Xander and helps save the world several times. In addition, the sadistic vampire Willow from "The Wish" world returns in "Doppelgangland," which greatly affects real-world Willow. This episode gives the first hint of her evolving sexuality, which will become an aspect of many of the ongoing story arcs, including Willow's tragic love story with Tara.
But no alternate-universe episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer bears quite as much weight as season 6's "Normal Again," which plays with viewers' minds by positing the idea that Buffy may not truly be the Slayer at all. Bouncing between one "reality" and the other, the episode has Buffy battling a demon that makes her see visions. In one scene, Buffy is shown dealing with her life of violence and monsters in Sunnydale, and the next, she's locked in a mental institution suffering from delusions. At the end of the episode, the audience can no longer guarantee which world is actually the real world, and it colors the entire series with a hint of mistrust. It is brilliantly maneuvered, and subtly changes the way the audience views the truth of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's multiverse.
Marvel has done amazing things throughout its construction of the MCU, and What If...? is another example of stellar storytelling and character development. But without the danger of it being real to the in-show universe posed by these types of alternate realities, like in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the impact of the varied storylines has thus far been lessened. It will be interesting to see how the MCU moves forward in entangling the alternate realities into the main universe in Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness. Hopefully, viewers can expect more impactful twists as the MCU fully dives into its various worlds.