The Marvel Cinematic Universe is awesome. It offers a unique and thoroughly gripping type of longform storytelling that no one else has ever accomplished on this scale. However, at times it can put filmmakers in a tight box as they have to adhere to and follow rules and story beats that were established five, 10, maybe even 15 films ago. Everything that is set up becomes a part of the MCU canon.
But what if (pun totally intended) creators wanted to go crazy and have a little fun? Well, it looks like the solution will be coming to Disney+. According to /Film, Marvel is currently developing an animated series based on popular Marvel comic series, What If. This series will be dropping on the Disney+ streaming platform that is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Per /Film:
The idea is that they could potentially have some of the main actors from the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe movies reprise their roles in the animated series, which would imagine alternate possibilities from another dimension. The time commitment for voice acting is a whole lot less than for live-action productions, which could accommodate some of the biggest Marvel talent. The series would function as an anthology, just like the comic book series, with each episode tackling a different premise.
This is such an exciting concept, one that reminds me of the DC animated movie Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. Just like in the comics, this anthology series will tell stories that explore how the Marvel Universe would’ve turned out if key moments in history occurred differently than we know from the established canon.
It’s reported that the series will adapt What If? Vol.1 #47, which explored the idea of Loki finding the hammer of Thor. But there hasn’t been official confirmation if Kevin Feige and gang will be adopting any other storylines from the comics. Other mouth-watering stories in the comics include ‘What if Aunt May had died instead of Uncle Ben?’ and ‘What if Iron Man had been a Traitor?‘
Having said that, we do know that the animated TV series will be based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon and not the Marvel comic canon. So perhaps there could be an episode titled ‘What if Star-Lord didn’t lose his cool on planet Titan?’
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