A new promo for Marvel’s What If…?, an animated anthology series created by A.C. Bradley for the streaming service Disney+, showed an interesting glimpse at some of the heroes who will be featured. According to Comicbook.com, the images revealed renderings of “party” Thor, T’Challa as Star-Lord, and the Watcher.
🔥 Party Thor, O Vigia e o T’Challa como Starlord são destaques nas novas artes promocionais de #WhatIf pic.twitter.com/KBBgZxZpFu
— Marvel News (@BRMarvelNews) June 8, 2021
The “party” Thor image is one that isn’t very surprising, given that there have been rumors about an episode featuring the Norse God partying so hard that it could destroy the world.
And fans were already privy to the details of the episode where T’Challa would be recast as the legendary outlaw Star-Lord instead of the ruler of Wakanda and its hero, the Black Panther.
The show will be hosted by The Watcher, who will introduce each episode that explores a “what if” scenario in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“He’s a godlike, omnipotent figure who is larger than life,” Jeffrey Wright told D23 Magazine about his infamous upcoming role. “The challenge with a character like that is: How do you make him human? How do you make him relatable? He is mysterious, but he’s also kind of dangerous. You want to know more, and you’re hanging on his every word as he invites you into all these stories. In the comics, he’s an observer—and then some. Here, in the first season, he starts off as an observer, but he gradually becomes more compelled by what he watches.”
Marvel has shown a strong desire to give fans surprises and in its live-action Disney+ series so far, and the unexpected is sure to continue in this show.
“There are infinite possibilities with this series within the MCU,” Wright said. “I’m open to all of it. One thing I think we’re realizing with Marvel and Kevin Feige’s leadership is that these are broad, broad canvasses they’re painting on. I don’t even try to anticipate, so I’m just open to all of it—as The Watcher would be.”
Bradley has gone on record that the show’s inaugural season would play out like a Marvel Studios film.
“Kevin said that we will be exploring every movie in a new way, but not every episode is about one movie if that makes sense,” Bradley told Discussing Film in 2019. “On the reel [shown at D23 Expo], there is this image of a Star-Lord T’Challa because we wanted to see what if the worlds of Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy collided? That was taking two universes, two to three movies, kind of twisting them in new ways.”