As if the new Disney Plus show What If…? didn’t sound exciting enough already, it’s just been revealed that practically everyone from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be returning to voice their characters. This spectacular lineup of talent includes Michael B. Jordan, Sebastian Stan, Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Hayley Atwell, Chadwick Boseman, Karen Gillan, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Neal McDonough, Dominic Cooper, Sean Gunn, Natalie Portman, David Dastmalchian, Stanley Tucci, Taika Waititi, Toby Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Rooker and Chris Sullivan. It’s hard to ask for a better cast than that!
Still, there are some notable omissions from the aforementioned list. Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland, Tessa Thompson, Zoe Saldana, Jon Favreau, Elizabeth Olsen and more are all absent. While it’s easy to explain Holland’s disappearance given that Spider-Man is no longer a part of the MCU, the rest of the no-shows aren’t as easy to make sense of. Some of those performers’ characters are deceased, but so is Peggy Carter. And it’s already known that Hayley Atwell is being brought back for the show, so it doesn’t make much sense why these other folks aren’t.
Then again, it’s possible that they just didn’t want to do it or that their schedules are already too packed to commit to doing any voice work right now. It doesn’t mean that they won’t pop up in the future. There’s also a chance that most of those names are going to make a cameo, but Disney wants them to be a surprise.
If none of those A-listers end up returning though, it’ll be interesting to see if their characters are re-cast. It’s been established that What If…? will devote one episode each to all twenty-three Marvel movies, so there are going to be scenarios in which these parts are needed. For example, it’ll be hard to explore hypothetical situations in the Iron Man trilogy without Tony Stark. His voice may therefore have to be given to another actor who just sounds like RDJ.
In any case, one thing’s definitely for sure: What If…? looks absolutely awesome and we can’t wait for it to premiere on Disney Plus.