What If…? was a fun ride through alternate takes on the MCU, though could have been a lot crazier. Rejected episodes for the show included dinosaur versions of the Avengers, a body horror story about Spider-Man turning into an actual spider, and a Star Wars crossover featuring Luke Skywalker.
None of those got further than pitches, though one unmade concept appears to have been canceled fairly late on. A new episode of Marvel’s Assembled, which takes us behind the scenes of What If…? was just released on Disney Plus and contains a whiteboard teasing an “Avengers ’88” episode.
Above that a card reads “Maria/Kree Saved Carol Danvers”, indicating the two plotlines may be connected. So, what could this episode have been? Well, chronologically Danvers didn’t encounter Mar-Vell until 1989, so this could indicate that we’d have seen her receive her powers in a different way.
This would likely have led to a story about what would have happened if the Avengers had to form in the late 80s. With most of the regular team either too young or unpowered, an Avengers ’88 would have to be formed of then-active heroes, which could have encompassed Thor, Wong, the Ancient One, Hank Pym as Ant-Man, T’Chaka as Black Panther, the Winter Soldier, the Red Guardian, and Melina Vostokoff as Black Widow.
Like the postponed episode in which Gamora kills Thanos, it’s possible we may see this story in What If…?‘s second season, which may be coming as soon as 2022. Then again, it may have been ditched precisely because the timelines don’t match with what we saw in Captain Marvel.
Either way, the story sounds like a good time, let’s hope we hear more about what’s next for What If…? soon.
