After just three short seasons in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,What If…?is coming to an end. The animated anthology made its debut in 2021 and dived into the madness of the Marvel Multiverse, but as the MCU gears up forWhat If…?season 3 in 2024, it feels like things are coming to an abrupt stop.
Away from the live-action adventures of the MCU,What If…?arrived as part of the franchise’s ever-expanding Disney+ slate. There are other animated outings in the form ofX-Men ‘97,Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and thedelayedMarvel Zombiesserving as aWhat If…?spin-off. However, when it comes to this series exploring alternate timelines, there are just eight episodes left.
What If…? Season 3 Is The End of the Road
WhileWhat If…?’s multiversal nature has told its own stories away from the main canon of the MCU, fan-favorites like Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Hayley Atwell, Elizabeth Olsen, and the late Chadwick Boseman have all reprised their roles from live-action.What If…?season 3tells another crop of Multiverse tales, overseen by Jeffrey Wright’s Uatu, aka the Watcher.
Highlights ofWhat If…?season 3 include the return of White Vision fromWandaVision, Moon Knight’s long-awaited reintroduction, andX-Men: The Animated Series’Alison Sealy-Smith reprising her role fromX-Men ‘97as Storm. Storm wielding Mjölnir was a highlight of the season 3 trailer. And with Disney purchasing 20th Century Fox in 2019, the arrival of the X-Men in the MCU marks a new era for the franchise.
Just asWhat If…?season 2 introduced Kahhori as a brand-new hero who’s expected to leap into live-action, Natasha Lyonne makes her MCU debut in season 3 as a new creation called Byrdie. There are also rumors that Wright’s Uatu will play a major role in the franchise’s future, while the stalwart Captain Carter seems like an easy fit forAvengers: Secret Wars’ presumed recreation of Battleworld. This comes after Hayley Atwell played a version of the character inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
What If…?has largely told its own stories that have played out over a season and culminated in a massive multiversal team-up. So far, hasn’t had to worry about themain canon of the MCU’s Earth-616. Still, with the series coming to a close, many are expectingWhat If…?to go out with a bang and set up a future live-action project for the MCU. With twoAvengersmovies on the horizon, it’s logical to start sowing these seeds now.
The MCU Is Missing Out On the Potential of What If…? Season 4
Even if Sealy-Smith is unlikely to carry through as Storm for the upcoming X-Men reboot, her role inWhat If…?reminds fans of the potential that future seasons ofWhat If…?could have held. Similar to howDeadpool & Wolverineincluded Channing Tatum’s Gambit and Wesley Snipes’ Blade,What If…?season 4 could have let any number of familiar faces lend their vocals to classic roles. Imagine a Ghost Rider episode with Nicolas Cage, Ben Affleck voicing an animated Daredevil, or a Spider-Man-centric episode that makes good onDrew Goddard’s Sinister Six moviethat never happened.
More importantly, theupcoming debuts of The Fantastic Fourand X-Men include a whole host of characters that would be perfect for their ownWhat If…?stories. After all, live-action versions of Charles Xavier becoming Juggernaut (What If…?#13) and Dazzler being the herald of Galactus (What If…?#33) are unlikely to ever play out in the mainline MCU. Beyond that, the potential of Wolverine fighting Conan the Barbarian (What If…?#16), Punisher becoming Venom (What If…?#44), and the Thing becoming a mutated Hulk-a-like (What If…?#37) are just some of the stories audiences are missing out on.
It’s unclear exactly whyWhat If…?is ending, but it sounds like it was always planned as a three-part story that could springboard into other projects. This has already been showcased byMarvel Zombiesspinning off from season 1’s “What If… Zombies?!” Speaking toThe Official Marvel Podcastin July 2024, executive producer Brad Winderbaum said season 3"feels like the completion of a trilogy":
It goes beyond the first two seasons in its exploration of the multiverse, and it pulls in characters that are very unexpected, and has what I think is an extremely moving and fulfilling culmination for the Watcher.
Although the Watchers were briefly teased inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the live-action MCU is yet to make good on their potential. As the franchise introduces more cosmic entities, likeThor: Love and Thunderdid with Eternity andAgatha All Alongdid with Death, the Watchers (and specifically Uatu) look primed to play a part.
What If…?season 3 is assembling an alternate Avengers lineup with Sam Wilson, Shang-Chi, and Monica Rambeau, which is convenient as all of these are potential recruitments for the supposed New Avengers in the MCU. Even ifWhat If…?is ending in a traditional sense, it’s possible to continue exploring some of its ideas in spin-offs likeMarvel Zombies. By enterntaining ideas that are too ‘wild’ for live-action,What If…?has at least served as a testing ground for unusual concepts. There’s already been one Christmas episode, so it might also be an idea to revisit theWhat If…?for the occasional special.
As disappointing asWhat If…?’s end might be, it’s important to remember that it’s the only Disney+ series to get a three-season order. Most of the Marvel shows have been limited to a single season, and even the critically acclaimedLokidoesn’t look like it’s returning for a third season. Also, withSecret Warstipped to destroy the Multiverse and end the current Multiverse Saga before heading intothe rumored ‘Mutant Saga’, it makes sense thatWhat If…?is ending. While it’s a shame that fans never got to see Wolverine become Lord of the Vampries (What If…?#24), not even the Watcher knows what the future of theWhat If…?contains.
