Marvel's What If? animated series, which features MCU actors reprising their roles from the movies in alternate universes with a twist, finally has a release date on Disney Plus: August 11. The series also has a first, nice-looking trailer, which you can check out below.
The show's big hook is that it's based on the comic of the same name, which would show Marvel's heroes and villains remixed in out-of-continuity stories that put them in all-new and exciting situations for one-off stories. Here, that includes Peggy Carter taking the Super-Soldier serum and becoming a superhero, or Spider-Man taking Doctor Strange's role as Sorcerer Supreme, based on the show's new poster.
The cast features plenty of MCU actors reprising their roles – though Disney Plus hasn't gone into specifics on that in this announcement. The likes of Chris Hemsworth, Michael B Jordan, Hayley Atwell, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan and the late Chadwick Boseman were already confirmed as part of the cast way back at San Diego Comic Con in 2019.
Jeffrey Wright voices the Watcher, a notable Marvel figure from the comics who seems like a Rod Serling-style figure in this anthology.
The trailer kicks off with a short Tony Stark sequence – though it's hard to tell if it's the real Robert Downey Jr playing the character, or a soundalike. We've asked Disney about that, and will update if we hear back (update: it's a soundalike). Here's the trailer:
Trollhunters writer AC Bradley is behind the series, along with director Bryan Andrews. The August 11 release date is a Wednesday – this matches Disney's schedule for Loki.
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A respite from the MCU canon
Disney Plus has gone hard with the Marvel series this year, and we've appreciated it after such a long wait for Loki, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Still, after three shows in six months, we're ready for a little break now – and even though What If? is more superhero content with some of the same characters, the fact that it's an animated series means it has a different flavor to the live-action shows.
If you want to keep up with the MCU story, you don't actually have to watch it. If you can't get enough Marvel heroes and they've replaced the rest of pop culture for you these days, you've got the option of seeing them all in slightly different contexts.
Everyone wins!
