Marvel's What If...? Release Date, Cast And More

(Welcome to ...And More, our no-frills, zero B.S. guide to when and where you can watch upcoming movies and shows, and everything else you could possibly stand to know.)

Marvel Studios has already made waves on Disney+ with new TV shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But soon they will put a new spin on their blockbuster characters with an animated series that finds various superheroes and villains in alternate universes, imagining what might have happened if certain events played out differently in the MCU. Here's everything you need to know about Marvel's What If...? animated series.

Marvel's What If...? will be released on August 11, 2021. It will be available to stream exclusively on Disney+ alongside the other Marvel TV shows such as WandaVision, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and Loki. Like Loki, new episodes will arrive on Wednesdays instead of Fridays, letting the streaming service dominate the middle of the week and while Netflix has the weekends.

Marvel's What If...? is an animated anthology series inspired by the Marvel Comics series of the same name. The comic books explored what would have happened if certain events from Marvel history happened differently. Some of the questions asked in the comics included "What if Gwen Stacy lived?" or "What if Thor became a herald for Galactus?" and "What if Wolverine took on the role of The Punisher and fought mobsters in 1920s Prohibition-era Chicago?" That last one is something we'd pay to see turned into a TV series or movie.

When it comes to the animated series version of Marvel's What If...?, the kind of alternate storylines being explored will involve different spins on what has unfolded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For example, what if Peggy Carter took the super soldier serum and became Captain Britain? What if T'Challa was kidnapped as a child from Wakanda and became Star-Lord instead of Black Panther? What if Captain America became a zombie? We're not quite sure how that last one will unfold, but it's a fun way to bring the Marvel Zombies limited series to life. There have also been rumors of an episode that imagines what would happen if Loki was worthy of wielding Thor's hammer Mjolnir.

The first season will be comprised of 10 episodes. Though it's previously been reported that each episode would focus on one film from The Infinity Saga, series creator A.C. Bradley clarified that multiple films and characters would be represented in each episode, allowing us to see a variety of different approaches to the superheroes, villains, and worlds we're all familiar with.

There isn't an official synopsis for Marvel's What If...? animated series yet, but Marvel Studios has offered up this tagline: "Space. Time. Reality. It's more than a linear path." That also sounds like it could be the slogan for a new Lexus, so hopefully we get a more detailed synopsis for this series in the near future.

Marvel's What If...? is created by A.C. Bradley (Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, Arrow), who also works as head writer and showrunner on the series. The series will be directed by Bryan Andrews, a storyboard artist who has worked on many of the Marvel Studios movies, including all of The Avengers movies. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is producing and Brad Winderbaum is the Marvel Studios executive in charge of the series.

Many of the actors and actresses who have appeared in the movies and TV shows of Marvel Studios will be reprising their roles for Marvel's What If...? animated series. Here are all of the stars who have been confirmed to lend their voiced to the series so far (in alphabetical order):

Outside of those characters and the stars who are voicing them, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Taneleer Tiva/The Collector, Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, and Howard the Duck have all been confirmed to appear on the series. What hasn't been confirmed is whether Robert Downey Jr., Benicio del Toro, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brie Larson, and Seth Green will be back to voice those respective characters. There may also be other cameos and appearances that have not been announced.