Rebooting a TV show or movie series can be a sore subject for some fans. As the reaction to Netflix's He-Man revival or recent Star Wars movies can attest, significant changes to a series' source material can cause fans to riot against the properties they love. As a newcomer to the movie franchise business, Marvel Studios doesn't need to worry about these drawbacks, even though the studio's latest TV offering, a byproduct of the recent arrival of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse (MCM), can be seen as a semi-revitalization. of classes. The MCU's first prescriptive animated anthology series, What If...? recreates the dastardly events of the franchise's thirteen-year history in unusual, entertaining, and sometimes surprising ways. Revisiting iconic moments, especially in a movie series that is still in its infancy, can be seen as a gamble. However, with an established and supportive fan base, Marvel can afford to take such risks and likely succeed with them. Already before the premiere of Et si…? from Disney Plus on August XNUMX, TechRadar spoke with star Jeffrey Wright, AC Bradley head writer, executive Bryan Andrews and executive producer Brad Winderbaum to find out how the series is building new futures from the MCU's past. . We also discuss the late Chadwick Boseman's final appearance as T'Challa and the show's prospects for multiple seasons.
There was an idea ...
(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney) Based on the XNUMX comic book series of the same name, What If…? It takes key events from Marvel movies, like Steve Rogers becoming Captain America or the training of the Avengers, and reimagines them in unpredictable ways. However, these moments do not occur in the MCU timeline, they have a place in alternative realities, which were presented as well as the Multiverse in the finale of Loki's season 1.
Announced in the month of April XNUMX, what if...? It's a project that Marvel has wanted to bring to life for some time, but until recently the exact pieces weren't in place. Understandably, the MCU was firmly established as a leading film franchise of the XNUMXst century long before What If...? has been officially revealed, but the idea of making a TV show based on this particular comic series and the introduction of the multiverse has been a pipe dream for quite some time.
“Over the years, we've been trying to figure out what to do,” Winderbaum says. “We were thrilled to explore animation at Marvel Studios, and now we have such a rich cinematic history that spans over ten years to draw on. People know about these stories, so we have many occasions to post What If...? project concepts that fans know really well.
And yes…? He's not just going to tell stories that fans are used to. As its official trailers and TV spots show, the series will also bring fan-favorite comic book stories to life, like Marvel Zombies, and create brand new stories that MCU or comic book fans have never seen before. already before.
As a result, Marvel's original and existing content provides the studio with limitless storytelling possibilities for its latest show, although, as Bradley reveals, there was a guideline its creative team had to stick to throughout development.
“The only rule was that you had to start with the MCU,” says Bradley. “So we must have been inspired by these characters. It's easy to think "what if this happens?" ", But the real challenge was" how to say something different? "Or" who are these characters without the costumes? Or 'where is the heart behind the hero?'. By the time we answered these questions, we had many different avenues to explore. " And if…? represents Marvel Studios' first foray into animation, so finding the right aesthetic to represent its familiar characters and locations (even though they exist in different dimensions of the MCU) was vital.
The choice of a particular art style became even more relevant when Marvel outsourced the animation for the series to 3 other studios, with Canadian company Squeeze, Australian company Flying Bark Productions, and French studio Blue Spirit working on 5, 3, and one of them. the chapters. from What Happens If...? respectively.
After much deliberation, including whether to stick with 2D animation or a style inspired by legendary Marvel artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Marvel settled on a design influenced by traditional American illustrators like JC Leyendecker and Tom. Lovell.
“As we riff on the MCU, we didn't want to go with something 'grand' out there,” says Andrews. “We look at the art of the XNUMXs and XNUMXs as having an idealized, almost heroic human form that is sculpted and lends itself to tenuously avoiding our live-action projects.
Galactic observations and bittersweet reunions
(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney) An omnipotent divine being who surveys the Marvel Multiverse, Uatu the Watcher is one of the primary viewers in the various What If...? stories. However, while Uatu is an individual with enormous power, he is a passive observer who cannot intervene in events as they occur, just like the show's audience. For Wright (Westworld, James Bond), who plays Uatu in What If...?, the all-powerful character acts as a stand-in for Marvel fans who, like him, are fascinated by this fictional universe and superheroes (and villains). ) than to inhabit it. "He's the biggest fan there is," says Wright. "He wants to get involved and maybe handle things in a different way, but there are limits. I think he is drawn to these characters, their stories and the mythology in exactly the same way that we are drawn to water; it defines him and brings him to life. "There's a certain part of our humanity that we connect to through these characters, and while he's not human, I think Uatu is, too. Wright isn't the only big name attached to the show. Many MCU stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, Karen Gillan and Sebastien Stan reprized their roles for What If... characters.Of all those who have returned, Chadwick Boseman's performances will be the most moving. The actor, who died in August 2020 after a four-year battle with colon cancer, reprises his iconic role as Wakanda's T'Challa in four episodes.What If...?, reprises the final role of Boseman, and from Bradley's perspective, it's fitting that one of the earlier episodes in the series, which explores what would have happened if the Ravagers of the Guardians of the Galaxy had accidentally kidnapped T'Challa. , is worthy of Boseman as much as the character he played. “In the MCU and the comics, T'Challa doesn't go through any changes; he changes the world,” says Bradley. “When it came to creating this particular episode, the question wasn't 'how do we do Black Panther in space? "was" how T'Challa, and Boseman by extension, are changing the galaxy and fixing it for the better? "Chadwick was a god among men who changed the people around him, so we wanted to play into that and honor him through that.
A wonderful future?
(Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney) What if…? The nine-episode series makes it seem like this is just the beginning of Marvel Studios' first animated show. Audiences might be happy to know that production is already underway for a second season that also includes nine episodes, but what about subsequent seasons? With the advent of the MCM offering the ability to tell endless stories, there are sure to be multiple entries in the latest Marvel TV series, right? Winderbaum declined to comment on such a possibility, but did tease the possibility that future installments were something the show's core creative team wanted to pursue. “We will never run out of ideas because there are so many ways to create the universe and the stories we love,” he says. “This season allows us to dig into each story and make it as rich as possible. I hope we can go even further and give everything you can. A lot will depend on the reactions of fans to the first season of the show. And if…? It represents a bold new step for Marvel Studios, but it can afford to take the risk now that it's established as one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet, and we think fans won't need a second treat to see it. The best Disney + and Disney + Bundle deals of the day