Will Neil Gaiman fans get their wishes fulfilled just an hour or two after the Author’s San Diego Comic Con Sandman panel? Although Sandman is a DC property, many of the people in the rather large Venn diagram of Marvel/Gaiman fans are hoping that Marvel may announce an adaptation of the American Gods author’s most lauded effort for Marvel comics, Marvel 1602. And Gaiman says he’s up for it.
Addressing the crowd at his SDCC Sandman Panel, Gaiman revealed that not only would he be open to a Marvel adaptation of 1602 he even pitched the project himself a few years back. When asked if an adaptation may be in the cards, Gaiman replied “That’s up to Marvel! I asked about 8 years ago. People at the time were like ‘No, it’ll never happen.’ Those people are gone, new people are there, and I would love to see a 1602 movie or series.”
Gaiman may be holding his cards close to his chest as reports coming out of today’s Marvel Panel seem to indicate that the second season of What If…?, announced today, will contain at least an episode of 1602 — confirming fan speculation that Gaiman’s graphic novel will finally take up some real estate in the MCU multiverse.
Gaiman wrote Marvel 1602 in 2003. The eight-part miniseries describes an alternative timeline where the superheroes of Earth-1616 first appeared during the Elizabethan era in a timeline designated as Earth-311. Doctor Strange, Steve Rogers, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker, and Victor von Doom all appear as alternate versions of their contemporary selves while interacting with notables of the time period, including the English monarchs Elizabeth I and James I.
The second season of What If…? will stream on Disney Plus sometime in the early part of next year.