Wait, Where Are We Going to See Marvel’s What If…? Characters Pop Up?
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has dropped another hint that animated Disney+ series What If…? may not stay in its own sandbox.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been doing a lot of dancing around the idea of the multiverse lately, but the most adventurous of those offerings so far is probably What If…? With the series free to imagine essentially any alternate Marvel storyline it wanted—especially without having to worry about actor contracts, though many reprised their roles—things got weird quick, but so far, it’s been a pretty self-contained offshoot.
That’s been a bit frustrating for those of us who have long felt that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest problem is playing it too safe. While upcoming projects certainly look to change that—as Spider-Man: No Way Home cracks the multiverse wide open, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness literally has “multiverse” in the name, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania deals with Kang, a villain who’s a multiverse-trotting variant of a character we met in Loki—there’s no telling how much those developments will really shake things up.
That’s why news about What If…? characters reappearing in future Marvel projects has been so fascinating. Apparently, there were once plans for Chadwick Boseman’s alternate universe Star-Lord to get his own spinoff, but a recent episode of Marvel’s “making of” series Marvel Studios: Assembled, Feige talked What If…? and had this to say (via Murphy’s Multiverse):
I really believe the deepening fictional mythologies is a way to appreciate them more, is a way to understand them more, look at them in a different way. They’ve got now two seasons of What If…? ideas underway that’s some of the best storytelling we’ve ever had that you may see spin into other mediums. It’s really the most uniquely beautiful animated series I’ve seen in a long time.
What “other mediums” will see What If…? characters return?
So … what other mediums is he talking about? Could we actually see some of the alternate realities established in the animated series—and, as a reminder, those have included zombies, among other things—hop over into Marvel’s main live-action storyline? Sure, he could be talking about something wholly different, like video games, comics, books, or other tie-ins, but the possibility is there.
After all, it’s hard to imagine that Uatu the Watcher won’t be introduced to the live-action movies as the multiverse comes into play, and it’d be a complete waste not to have Jeffrey Wright reprise his role in live-action, whether that’s on the big screen or somewhere like the second season of Loki. It stands to reason, then, that it would make for a more interesting character to have him come with the baggage of his experiences, at the very least, in the first season of What If…?
With that likelihood, it only feels natural that some of the other characters we met on What If…? could come along with him and have a bigger impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe than it first seemed.
(via /Film, image: Marvel Entertainment)
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