The Marvel animated show What If…?, like the comic book before it, has always been a playground for the craziest ideas. Episodes like “What If… Ultron Won?” and “What if… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?” explore alternate realities without affecting official Marvel canon.
The show has been surprisingly successful, netting three Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Animated Program for the Doctor Strange episode.
Now director Bryan Andrews is saying the next season of the show is going to be even wilder. In an interview with Deadline, Andrews explained what will make this season different than the last.
“Obviously more unique stories that slowly get a little bit wilder. The first season Kevin (Feige) wanted to keep it a little bit closer to the vest, have a little thing that was different and that little thing made these things different, but still tied very much to either a moment in the movies or a particular film itself.”
The difference now, he said, is there’s more material out there to play with, so there’s room to play and expand. The new season will put new characters against each other, ones that “we haven’t really got a chance to play with before and we see how they’ll integrate with some of the favorites that come back. There’s lots of really cool stuff and I can’t wait for people to see it,” he said.
He also shed some light on why Marvel chose the Doctor Strange episode for Emmy consideration – something that happened before the Multiverse of Madness movie was even officially a thing.
“There’s a lot of other episodes that were really great, but this one overall had such an emotional core. It just made the whole thing really strong and cohesive, but I think the strongest thing is the ending.”
Of course, having an Oscar-winning actor on your roster doesn’t hurt either.
“Another reason is that Benedict Cumberbatch did an amazing job playing evil Doctor Strange,” he said, “and that was long before Multiverse of Madness was really getting started.”
Turns out the show was so impressive that the team working on the Doctor Strange movie was told to watch it, with Feige saying “You guys better watch out, cause this shit’s good,” according to Andrews.
“I think they borrowed a lot from what we were trying to do in that episode, which is crazy.”
What If…? is set to return to Disney Plus sometime in early 2023 with an episode called “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?”
