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Marvel reportedly developing 'What If?' animated anthology series for Disney+
Some of the Marvel Universe's weirdest and wildest stories are about to get a new lease on life. Marvel Studios is certainly expanding its reach on Disney's upcoming streaming service, Disney+.
This morning /Film broke the news that the comics-based production banner is reportedly working on an animated anthology series based on the ever-popular What If? books, which have explored alternate outcomes within the Marvel Universe since the late 1970s.
Based on the report, it is already confirmed that the show will adapt What If? Vol.1 #47, which begs the question: “What if Loki had found the hammer of Thor?” Since a Loki standalone show with Tom Hiddleston is already in the works at Disney+, it's not hard to imagine Hiddleston voicing an alternate version of the Asgardian mischief maker.
Since 1977, there have been dozens upon dozens of What If? stories written, but a few standouts include: Captain America not disappearing after WWII, Peter Parker not being bitten by a radioactive spider, Charles Xavier becoming the Juggernaut, Thanos becoming an Avenger, and Steve Rogers becoming president of the United States.
As /Film expertly points out, voice recording is much less time consuming than live action, making it much easier for Marvel Cinematic Universe actors to voice their iconic characters if they so choose to reprise the roles.
“It’s pretty exciting to be 10 plus years into the MCU and have an entirely new outlet to tell stories with new characters, with existing characters," Kevin Feige told /Film back in February. "And the way we like to do nineties action movie, political thrillers, heist movies, you hear us talk about this all the time, and now we get to do play with a medium even more in a multi-episode arc, which we’re excited about.”
Getting into the anthology game is actually a very smart move for Disney, particularly with reboots of The Twilight Zone on CBS All Access and Night Gallery on SYFY. Moreover, it allows Marvel Studios to revisit some of its most popular movies from different angles, thus giving them a second life of sorts.
Disney+ is expected to go live later this year. In addition to the What If? and Loki projects, Marvel Studios is also producing two more MCU-based shows, one about Scarlet Witch (Elisabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), the other about Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan).
