Matthew Chauncey

The first season of the American animated anthology series '' What If...?'', based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, explores alternate timelines in the multiverse that show what would happen if major moments from the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) occurred differently. The season was produced by Marvel Studios Animation, with A. C. Bradley serving as head writer and Bryan Andrews directing. Animation for the season is provided by Blue Spirit, Squeeze, Flying Bark Productions, and Stellar Creative Lab, with Stephan Franck as head of animation.

Jeffrey Wright stars as the Watcher, who narrates the series, alongside many MCU film actors reprising their roles. The series was officially announced in April 2019, with many of the cast announced that July. Bradley and Andrews were confirmed in August 2019.

The first season premiered on Disney+ on August 11, 2021, and ran for nine episodes until October 6, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. The season received generally positive reviews, with praise for the voice acting and creative storylines and scenarios but some criticism for its animation, episode length, and writing. A second season was confirmed in December 2019.

Episodes

Cast and characters

The series is narrated by Jeffrey Wright as the Watcher, a member of the alien Watcher race who observes the multiverse. Each episode features different versions of characters from the MCU films, with many actors reprising their roles for the series. The final two episodes bring together characters from earlier episodes to form the "Guardians of the Multiverse", including Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange Supreme, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter / Captain Carter, Lake Bell as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow, Chadwick Boseman as Star-Lord T'Challa, Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger, and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Other new versions of characters who also return for the finale include Kurt Russell's Ego and Brian T. Delaney's Peter Quill from the second episode, Tom Hiddleston's Loki and Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury from the third, Ozioma Akagha's Shuri from the sixth, and Toby Jones's Arnim Zola and Ross Marquand's Ultron from the eighth. Additionally, Cynthia McWilliams and Mick Wingert appear as versions of Gamora and Tony Stark, respectively, from an episode that was cut from the first season and was released in the second as " What If... Iron Man Crashed into the Grandmaster?".

Production

Development

By September 2018, Marvel Studios was developing several series for its parent company Disney's streaming service, Disney+. One of these was an animated series based on the Marvel Comics run '' What If...?''. The anthology series, which would be produced by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, would explore how the MCU would be altered if certain events had occurred differently. Head writer A. C. Bradley joined in October 2018, after Marvel Studios was impressed that some of her pitch ideas matched with concepts they were planning for films. Director Bryan Andrews met with Brad Winderbaum, the Marvel Studios executive in charge of the series, as early as 2018; both Bradley and Andrews were officially announced in their roles in August 2019.

In April 2019, Disney and Marvel officially announced the series. Winderbaum said it was not a coincidence that the series was set for release so soon after the first season finale of ''Loki'', which introduced the multiverse, since ''What If...?'' explores facets of the multiverse in a way that Winderbaum believed made the series as important as any other MCU property; Bradley confirmed that all episodes of the series are canon to the MCU multiverse, with most of the episodes taking place in their own universe. Since work began on ''What If...?'' before the development of ''Loki'' and ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'', Bradley was unsure how those projects would be exploring and explaining the MCU version of the multiverse. She chose to focus on the possibilities within the alternate timelines of the multiverse, which she described as a "sampler of assorted chocolates", and left elements such as the Time Variance Authority to be explained by those other projects. Feige and Winderbaum kept the creative teams of ''Loki'' and ''Multiverse of Madness'' informed of what was happening in ''What If...?'' as work on those projects began. The creative team of ''What If...?'' met with ''Loki'' executive producers Stephen Broussard and Kevin Wright as well as ''WandaVision'' (2021) co-executive producer Mary Livanos to establish a "rule book" regarding the multiverse, its branch timelines, and nexus events.

Executive producers for the season include Winderbaum, Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Andrews, and Bradley, with Carrie Wassenaar producing. In December 2019, Feige revealed that the first season would consist of 10 episodes. However, because of the production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the tenth episode of the first season was not completed in time and moved to the second season. The episodes are approximately 30 minutes in length.

Writing

Feige explained with the series' announcement that it would take "pivotal moments" from throughout the MCU and change them. For example, the first episode features Peggy Carter taking the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers. The writers were initially unsure if they could use Spider-Man in the series due to Sony Pictures owning the character's live-action film rights, but they were ultimately allowed to. Before considering "what if" scenarios, the writers examined all of the MCU heroes to determine "what makes them tick". They wanted to ensure that there was story potential beyond the inciting "what if" change of each episode, so they could use the different scenarios to explore "the hero behind the shield". Bradley described the series' balance between character examination and action as "''Die Hard'' (1988) meets Wes Anderson". 30 potential episodes were conceived and written by Bradley, Andrews, Winderbaum, story editor , junior executive Simona Paparelli, and script coordinator Ryan Little. The ''What If...?'' comics provided inspiration for potential story points, as did the Ultimate Marvel comic book imprint (which told alternate stories to the main Marvel universe) since it was an example of a fully realized alternate universe. Bradley first created simple scenarios out of concern for the series' budget, but was told by Marvel to "go nuts". Feige chose his favorite concepts from the 30 options, which were then narrowed down to the 10 episodes for the first season. After each episode was incorrectly rumored to focus on one film from the Infinity Saga, Bradley clarified that multiple films and characters would be represented in each episode and most of the characters from all the films would appear throughout the season. Winderbaum hoped the episodes would intrigue viewers to revisit the original films, like how reading a ''What If'' comic could lead a reader to the original comic story.

Each episode and its alternate storyline is introduced and concluded by the Watcher, presenting it as "a cautionary tale in the spirit of ''The Twilight Zone'' (1959–1964)". The episode's tones vary, with some being darker or lighter than the MCU films that they play off. For example, one episode is a political thriller, the episode centered on Stephen Strange is a "dark... tragic love story", and another allowed Bradley to "goof off" and draw inspiration from films she enjoyed when growing up such as ''Can't Hardly Wait'' (1998) and the ''National Lampoon'' films. ''What If...?'' also has a horror, a heist, and a murder mystery episodes. Various films served as touchstones for each episode, such as 1940s serials and war films for the Peggy Carter episode. Some of the writers' concepts were rejected because they matched with story ideas that Marvel already planned to use, such as Professor Hulk, an older Steve Rogers, and Pepper Potts in the Rescue suit, who all appear in '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019); Loki becoming a hero as he does in ''Loki''; Jane Foster becoming Thor, which was planned for '' Thor: Love and Thunder'' (2022); and an episode that was "half the lannedplot" of ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3'' (2023). Other unused pitches include an episode where Spider-Man turns into a real spider that was deemed "too dark and too body horror" for Marvel's target PG-13/TV-14 rating; a ''Jurassic Park'' (1993)-inspired episode featuring the Avengers as dinosaurs during prehistory; and a crossover with ''Star Wars'' characters like Luke Skywalker.

Despite the series' anthology format, the writers conceived a story device for the first season that allowed them to have some connectivity between the episodes; this begins to be revealed in the season's eighth episode before the finale in the ninth. Additionally, after the Watcher begins the season distant and appearing in the background, he becomes more apparent as the season progresses. Bradley likened the character to the audience, since "as he suffers he heroes'triumphs and their tragedies, he becomes also more emotionally invested, and therefore becomes more and more part of their world and wants to be more part of their world even though he knows he's not supposed to". Each episode also ends with a twist or question that could potentially be resolved in a sequel episode, similar to the MCU films' post-credit scenes, though these endings are also a reference to the twist endings of the ''What If...?'' comics that were not always resolved. Bradley called these endings "fun" while differentiating them from post-credit teasers which she considered "a promise". Many of the endings for the first season's episodes are resolved in the final episode of the season. Regarding the dark tones and tragic plot points of the first season, Bradley explained that being able to feature things that would never happen in the live-action MCU, such as killing off heroes, was the "most liberating part" of the series, and that some of the episodes ended in tragedy for reasons tied into the first season's overall plan. As the writers were developing the scripts, they realized that Captain Carter would "bubble up and became more important" alongside the Watcher, and decided to revisit her story in each future season. Bradley was asked to only explore "what if" concepts for existing MCU stories, so Phase Four characters do not appear until the second season.

Casting and voice recording

Marvel's plan for the series was to have actors who portray characters in the MCU films reprise their roles in ''What If...?'', with more than 50 doing so. Feige revealed half of these actors at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2019: Michael B. Jordan as Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, Sebastian Stan as James "Bucky" Barnes, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter / Captain Carter, Chadwick Boseman as Star-Lord T'Challa, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym / Yellowjacket, Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, Stanley Tucci as Abraham Erskine, Taika Waititi as Korg, Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer, Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta, and Chris Sullivan as Taserface. Feige also announced that Jeffrey Wright had been cast as the Watcher, who narrates the series. Boseman was one of the first actors to agree to appear in the series.

Voice recording began by August 2019 and continued into early 2020, taking place remotely when on-site work at the Walt Disney Studios lot was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright did some recording in a make-shift recording studio at his home. In January 2021, Frank Grillo revealed that he had worked on the series, reprising his role of Brock Rumlow. By July, Seth Green was revealed to be reprising his role as Howard the Duck, as was Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue.

Ahead of the series' premiere, additional actors were revealed to be reprising their roles in the series, including Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange and Doctor Strange Supreme, Benedict Wong as Wong, Benicio del Toro as Taneleer Tivan / The Collector, Bradley Whitford as John Flynn, Carrie Coon as Proxima Midnight, Clancy Brown as Surtur, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, Georges St-Pierre as Georges Batroc, Jaimie Alexander as Sif, John Kani as T'Chaka, Jon Favreau as Harold "Happy" Hogan / Zombie Happy, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Kurt Russell as Ego, Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart, Ophelia Lovibond as Carina, Paul Bettany as Vision and J.A.R.V.I.S., Rachel House as Topaz, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ebony Maw.

In July 2021, ''Variety'' reported that several characters, such as Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Carol Danvers, would be voiced by different actors than those who portrayed them in MCU films. Winderbaum attributed some of the replacements to scheduling conflicts with the original actors, and explained that the creatives did not want the series to be "defined by the actors we thought we could get". When casting replacements, they looked to prioritize the performance for this series over an actor sounding the same as the original. He felt the series' exploration of the multiverse gave a "cerebral justification" for the different actors. Dave Bautista, who portrays Drax in the films, indicated that he was not asked by Marvel to be a part of the series, despite the character's inclusion. Winderbaum expressed surprise at Bautista's claims, assuming that there was some miscommunication at some point as all MCU actors were asked through their agents or directly to participate in the series. Josh Keaton voices Skinny Steve Rogers / Hydra Stomper and Steve Rogers; Ross Marquand voices Johann Schmidt / Red Skull and Ultron; Fred Tatasciore voices Drax, Corvus Glaive, and Volstagg; Brian T. Delaney voices Peter Quill; Lake Bell voices Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow; Mick Wingert voices Tony Stark / Iron Man; Stephanie Panisello voices Betty Ross; Mike McGill voices Thaddeus Ross; Alexandra Daniels voices Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel; Hudson Thames voices Peter Parker / Spider-Man; Kiff VandenHeuvel voices Obadiah Stane; Beth Hoyt voices Pepper Potts; Ozioma Akagha voices Shuri; Josette Eales voices Frigga; David Chen voices Hogun; Max Mittelman voices Fandral; and Cynthia McWilliams voices Gamora.

Animation

Stephan Franck serves as head of animation on the series, which features a cel-shaded animation style with character likenesses based on the actors from the films. Blue Spirit worked on two of the first season's episodes, with Squeeze handling animation for four episodes, Flying Bark Productions working on four, and Stellar Creative Lab working on one. The animation style is consistent across these episodes, with Bradley noting that Marvel was "trying to use the color palette, the lighting, ndthe character design to tell as much story as you can" like they do in live-action films, adjusting the camera and color palettes between each episode. Production Designer Paul Lasaine and his team painted all of the backgrounds for the season, basing these on frames from the films as well as the concept art and set plans from those productions. Discussing the apparent exaggeration of action and abilities in the series, Franck said they were trying to be consistent with what is seen in the films, but "every medium has its own poetry and reads differently, and there's a level of abstraction and exaggeration that is inherent to animation". Graham Fisher and Joel Fisher edit the series, starting during the storyboard phase.

Music

Soundtrack albums for each episode, featuring composer Laura Karpman's score, were released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records. The first episode's album was released on August 13, with subsequent albums releasing shortly after their corresponding episode.

Marketing

Footage from the series' first episode was shown during the D23 2019, with footage from the series also included in ''Expanding the Universe'', a Marvel Studios special that debuted on Disney+ on November 12. The first trailer was released in December 2020. Based on the trailer, ''io9''s James Whitbrook felt the series was "looking great". Chris Evangelista at ''/Film'' also thought it looked "pretty damn cool" and felt ''What If...?'' was a good "excuse to essentially blow up the MCU as we know it and tell completely new, weirder stories that would never get their own feature films". Writing for ''Polygon'', Petrana Radulovic felt the trailer showed "the full extent of arrativepossibilities". An extended look at the first episode of the series was shown during the Women In Animation panel at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2021. Also in the month, Hyundai Motor Company partnered with Marvel Studios for a marketing campaign to promote the Hyundai Tucson along with ''What If...?'', ''WandaVision'', ''The Falcon and the Winter Soldier'', and ''Loki''. The commercials were produced by Marvel and were meant to tell an "in-world" story set within the narrative of the series. The ''What If...?'' commercial was released in August 2021, which saw Party Thor driving the Hyundai Tucson into a battle against Ultron's robots with Captain Carter, Star-Lord T'Challa, and Doctor Strange Supreme. Adam Bentz at ''Screen Rant'' felt Hyundai's "Question Everything" campaign was the perfect match for ''What If...?'' and its concept, and added the content of the commercial likely was not a spoiler for the series, since the ads for the other MCU series did not correlate with actual plot lines. Barney Goldberg, executive creative director of Innocean, the creative agency working with Hyundai, noted there was "an incredible amount of coordination" to get the ad released at the proper time, in order for them to be relevant and not too late, while not spoiling aspects of the series.

An official trailer and poster for the first season were released on July 8, 2021. Nick Romano of ''Entertainment Weekly'' felt they provided more insight into the various "what if" stories the series would be exploring, and said it would be "one to watch" along with MCU films that explore the multiverse like '' Spider-Man: No Way Home'' (2021) and ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' (2022). Chaim Gartenberg at ''The Verge'' called the trailer "the best look yet" at the series. Writing for ''Screen Rant'', Rachel Labonte said the trailer was a "wild ride" and felt like "almost every MCU character imaginable is glimpsed for at least a few seconds... it's clear there are a lot of exciting stories ahead". Vanessa Armstrong of ''/Film'' said she was not a fan of animation, but, after seeing the trailer, believed ''What If...?'' would "convert a lot of folks ike herwho are resistant" to the medium. Armstrong was "excited to see how these different realities play out" and noted the impressive amount of content and questions that were posed in the trailer. Three episodes of the series '' Marvel Studios: Legends'' were released on August 4, exploring Peggy Carter, the Avengers Initiative, and the Ravagers using footage from their MCU film appearances.

In January 2021, Marvel announced their "Marvel Must Haves" program, which reveals new toys, games, books, apparel, home decor, and other merchandise related to each episode of ''What If...?'' following an episode's release. In July, Funko Pops, Lego sets, and Marvel Legends figures based on the series were revealed. The "Must Haves" merchandise for the episodes began on August 13, 2021.

Release

The first season debuted on Disney+ on August 11, 2021, and consists of nine episodes which were released weekly until October 6. It is part of Phase Four of the MCU.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 94% approval rating with an average rating of 7.90/10, based on 104 reviews for the first season. The site's critical consensus reads: "''What If...?'' may not add much to the larger MCU narrative, but surprising takes on beloved characters and some of the best action sequences in the entire franchise make for engaging viewing." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the first season a score of 69 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Liz Shannon Miller at ''Collider'', reviewing the first three episodes, felt the series lived up to the promise of showing "totally fresh but familiar spins" on the MCU. Regarding the animation, though Miller felt at times it "lacks depth" and wished varying styles were used to fit each story being told, the action sequences were "beautifully executed, with an extra bit of comic book flare to heighten the reality of the show, enhancing the whole aesthetic". For Miller, while some of the returning voice actors were not able to capture "the essence of their characters" as well as others, simply having them return enhanced the series, with praise also going to the new actors voicing established characters and noting Wright was a "pitch-perfect" casting as the Watcher. She concluded that ''What If...?'' was "seriously an MCU superfan's dream at times, though once you get past the initial discovery of each short's "What if...", it's sometimes hard to stay invested". Giving the first three episodes 3.5 out of 5 stars, Alan Sepinwall of ''Rolling Stone'' said the series was "uneven in the way almost any anthology series is. It's fun simply because the level of quality control at Marvel is pretty high these days... and because some of the ideas are either inherently appealing or are used to cleverly tweak what we know from the films. But not every installment lives up to the title's seemingly limitless potential." In his review of the first three episodes, Tyler Hersko from '' IndieWire'' felt the series was a "paradox" since it was both "the Marvel Cinematic Universe title yet" while also "the first MCU installment in years that doesn't feel burdened by the need to meticulously fit into the franchise's canon or blatantly tease future installments". He called this "a breath of fresh air", with ''What If...?'' "offer ngthe fans exactly what they want while still clinging to a few surprises", presenting plenty of in-universe references and jokes for long time fans, while still creating standalone stories that could appeal to all viewers. Hersko called the animation "an absolute pleasure to witness in motion", and gave the episodes a "B+".

''The Hollywood Reporter''s Angie Han believed "for a series set in the infinite vastness of a multiverse, ''What If...?'' is dreaming awfully small", with some "what if" concepts were not as compelling as others. She added that Wright gave each episode "a boost of gravitas", but noted the animation was awkward at times, with some scenes approaching the uncanny valley and that some of the returning actors gave "robotic" voice performances without the charisma of their live-action portrayals. She concluded, "Dare to hope for more than superficial amusement, though, and ''What If...?'' tends to disappoint... It's possible future episodes will do a better job of balancing big concepts with a half-hour run time, or that the season is building to some grander design. If that's the case, ''What If...?'' is taking its sweet time showing what it can do." Etan Anderson of ''/Film'' called the results of the first three episodes "mixed" with "some glaring shortcomings", such as the "clunky" animation when it was not showing action sequences, the voice acting from some of the returning stars, and the short run times which did not allow enough time for viewers to "fully engage" with these new versions of characters. Anderson added that some of the humor struggled and felt "awkwardly contrived" and believed "the creators seem to be trying too hard to keep the secrets of the series instead of being more forthcoming about the exciting twists and turns within". He concluded that this appeared to be the first Marvel Studios series that might not be "necessary viewing" and one that could be "an uphill battle" for general audiences to continue watching, though dedicated fans would find ''What If...?'' to be "a satisfying remix". Following the release of the first season, Adam B. Vary of ''Variety'' said the season had been "a fascinating experiment for Marvel Studios", with "fizzy adventures... hatalso leaned into real darkness".

Accolades

Documentary special

In February 2021, the documentary series ''Marvel Studios: Assembled'' was announced. The special on this series, ''Assembled: The Making of What If...?'', goes behind the scenes of the making of the series, and was released on Disney+ on October 27, 2021.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Marvel Cinematic Universe, Studios

2021 American animated television seasons
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Four mass media