What If...? has been building a version of the MCU with a bit more teeth—even if it has a somewhat limited idea of what that looks like

The A.V. Club

"Based on the first two episodes of the series, it really seemed like What If…? would be another wacky Marvel Studios romp where even the sad stuff has a twinkle of optimism," says Sam Barsanti. "The premiere, in which an injury prevents Steve Rogers from becoming Captain America and Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter must take his place, ends with the newly dubbed Captain Carter traveling to the future just in time for the events of the Avengers movie (an alternate reality that still seems appealing, since Captain Carter rules). The second episode pulled some surprisingly elegant twists to get Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa out in space, where he replaced Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill as Star-Lord. Like the first episode, the 'T’Challa as Star-Lord' story ended up being more hopeful and positive than even the notoriously hopeful and positive MCU, even if it ended on a potentially brutal cliffhanger. Since then, though, the series has featured the death of, well, everybody. This is in line with the source material: In the series’ namesake comics, the stories are traditionally built around alternate realities where something from the regular universe has gone wrong or just unfolded in such a way that works out poorly for the established heroes."