REVIEW: ‘What If…?’ Season 3 Episode 4 — “What If…Howard the Duck Got Hitched?”

What If Season 3 Episode 4 is the weirdest episode of the MCU anthology series. Written by Bryan Andrews, Matthew Chauncey, and Ryan Little, with Stephan Franck as director, “What If…Howard the Duck Got Hitched?” introduces Howard the Duck (Seth Green) to Darcy (Kat Dennings). As The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) says, romance can change the world, and that’s what we have here.

At a party thrown by Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the duo met each other, fell in love, and got married by Elvis. The Midgard rager that Thor threw also led to the two worlds becoming one, with the Asgardians remaining on Earth. But while that backdrop is kind of important, it’s Howard and Darcy’s child that really is the focus of What If Season 3 Episode 4. Or, more specifically, their egg.

When the duo gets two surprise tickets to the Grandmaster’s (Matt Friend) cruise ship, they bring the egg. Excited by the chance to relax with The Grandmaster, his eccentricities, and many of Howard’s signature green cocktails, they sit at the dinner table and start the party. That is, until the Baby winds up on the menu.

Darcy and Howard the Duck are thrust into a chase to save their child. It’s not just The Grandmaster who wants their baby. So do the Ravengers as Yondu (Michael Rooker) steals the egg. As What If Season 3 Episode 4 expands, The Ducks reach out to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) for help. I mean, why does everyone want their kid?

What If Season 3 Episode 4 gets weird and wholesome.

A convergence of two species and, ultimately, two worlds, Darcy and Howard the Duck’s baby are powerful before anything they could have thought, or at least that’s what everyone believes. Whether they want it for dinner, for Dormamu, or to sell it to The Collector in Knowhere, the entirety of What If Season 3 Episode 4 is about the couple trying to save their baby. What If Season 3 Episode 4 is adult, funny, and just the right amount of chaotic. A weird cultic Rosemary’s Baby subplot makes the story interesting, especially as S.H.I.E.L.D. decides to steal their baby too.

The weirdness in What If Season 3 Episode 4 makes it fun and something unique. The beauty of animation as a medium is that it allows stories you wouldn’t see in live-action. With multiple factions raining down on Darcy and Howard the Duck, magic and aliens from literally every Marvel series converge in this one episode. As extensive as the cast is, the story itself is extremely simple, and the eccentricity on display makes for fantastic chaos.

Darcy and Howard the Duck work extremely well together. Thanks to the connected realms, the story moves forward with the variety of characters that come into play. Their romance is great, and the action as they care for the egg shows how many risks What If Season 3 Episode 4 was willing to take.

What If Season 3 Episode 4 goes out with an electric rock track that still puts Howard and Darcy’s family at the center. Like the episodes before it, this one doesn’t look to past comic book stories to make a name for itself. Instead, it just gets weird and uses that weirdness to tell a wholesome story of parenthood.

What If Season 3 Episode 4 is streaming now on Disney+ with new episodes every day until December 29, 2024.