Marvel’s What If? Made Kevin Smith Cry

Marvel’s What If…? aired its season 1 finale today, and while a lot of fans have been sharing their reactions, one Marvel fan, in particular, has confessed that he was especially emotional after watching the final episode. Filmmaker Kevin Smith took to Twitter to let everyone know just what he thinks about Marvel’s What If…? as a whole. In traditional Kevin Smith fashion, this included mention of the fact that he openly wept fanboy tears while viewing the thing: “What If @MarvelStudios made a thing that didn’t make me cry?” Smith posted with a wink and a nod, reveling in one of his favorite Marvel comic series becoming a hit TV show.

in his full statement, Kevin Smith says, “What If @MarvelStudios made a thing that didn’t make me cry? As a huge fan of the comics back in the day, my God I loved this stunning series. The plots & performances were as beautiful as the art! ‘You, your stories, they are everything to me.’ The Watcher is every @Marvel fan.

Indeed, that final part is something that hit especially hard for Marvel fans everywhere during the finale of What If…?. (Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS Follow) Episode 9, “What If… The Watcher Broke His Vow” saw The Watcher Uatu take action in gathering heroes from across the multiverse together to fight Infinity Ultron. The heroes win the day, but it’s a bittersweet victory, as many of the “Guardians of the Multiverse” team members have to return to less-than-ideal worlds of their origin. Black Widow takes it hardest of all since her world was the one that Ultron originally decimated. In a heated exchange, Widow questions whether or not The Watcher even cares about the heroes of the multiverse, or if they are all just stories to him. 

In a moment that only actor Jeffrey Wright could deliver, The Watcher truly speaks for every Marvel fan that has ever been touched by the stories in this Universe (or its characters) when he assures Natasha Romanoff that “You, your stories, they are everything to me.”

This is just a nice reminder that, beyond everything else, Kevin Smith really is a fanboy first and foremost. He also happens to be from the generation of Marvel fans that grew up reading the original “What If…?” comic books. Those tales allowed Marvel Comics creators to go crazy playing with canon and characters, creating stories that ranged from way out there in terms of concept, to stories that became so famous Marvel fans wished they were actual official canon. The What If…? Disney+ series is following suit, having introduced season 1 characters and concepts that fans want to see incorporated into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Marvel’s What If…? is now streaming all season 1 episodes on Disney+.