Marvel's What If...? Let Imaginations Run Wild For An '80s Avengers Line-Up
Marvel's "What If...?" is creatively one of the best things to happen to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. More than big crossover movie events, more than the many, many TV shows expanding the world through new kinds of characters, it's "What If...?" that really fulfills the potential of the MCU. "Star Wars" didn't become such a massive and beloved franchise with the movies or the shows alone. It did so with the expanded universe of books, games, and comics exploring smaller, weirder aspects of the galaxy. "What If...?" season 1 wasn't perfect, and it still adhered too close to the formula of the MCU's films, but it showed promise in how it unleashed the imagination of what was possible in the MCU.
Now, season 2 will attempt to build on that by telling more stories that aren't simply pulled from the MCU's films. Take the brief trailer shots of what looks like an adaptation of the comic "Marvel 1602" or the shots of a familiar yet still new 1980s-inspired Avengers team with T'Chaka, Mar-Vell, and Hank Pym on the team. This is something that could only be possible after 15 years of Marvel movies and shows building the foundation of that universe.
During a press conference attended by /Film's Jenna Busch, writer/producer Matthew Chauncey talked about crafting that '80s Avengers team. "I think fan-casting different Avengers lineups is something we all do as fans and we ended up doing in the writers' room," Chauncey said. "And so I think early on in season 1, one of our ideas was, what would an Avengers movie look like if it took place in a different era? If there was an Avengers level crisis in the 1980s. So the idea of setting an episode in the '80s was something that really excited us."
The old Avengers
As Chauncey explained, the writers went through the history of Marvel, as shown in the MCU, and determined which characters were active during the period explored in the episode. "Then the fun of it was getting to craft a story narratively and then aesthetically that sort of mirrored '80s action movies." The key to this was Michael Douglas, who plays the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym. We know from the "Ant-Man" movies that Hank was active as a superhero in the '80s, so "it was kind of a trip to get to write for a 1980s Michael Douglas movie," Chauncey added.
The idea of exploring earlier periods of the MCU and seeing how different the heroics were has long been a part of the MCU. Before the MCU's Disney+ shows, and even before the Netflix Marvel shows, there was "Agent Carter." The ABC series explored the origins of SHIELD through the eyes of the titular Peggy Carter while also featuring a young Howard Stark. Likewise, the idea of an "Ant-Man" movie centered on Michael Douglas' Hank Pym has long been in the conversation, with director Peyton Reed teasing it way back in 2015 as a possibility. Thankfully, that idea can live on in animation.
"What If...?" season 2 begins streaming on Disney+ on December 22, 2023.