'What If...?' Trailer: Marvel Explores A Multiverse Of Possibilities In Animated Anthology Series

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is ever-growing, from expanding multiverses to streaming platforms. One highly anticipated show coming to Disney+ is the animated anthology series What If...?, a show that asks the question: what if things in the MCU were a little different?

Or a lot different. Marvel Studios dropped the first full trailer for the show today, and it gives us a glimpse of what's in store.

 The Sorcerer Supreme (Tilda Swinton) sums it up nicely in the trailer, telling a confused Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) that everything we think we know is malleable. And it looks like there will be many, many different scenarios!

In the first minute alone, the trailer poses the following alternate realities: What if Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) saved Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the first Iron-Man movie? What if Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) took the super serum instead of Steve Rogers and became Captain Carter? What if T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) became Star Lord instead of Chris Pratt's Peter Quill? What if we got to see Howard the Duck take his rightful place in MCU lore?

The video also emphasizes how all the MCU actors came back to voice their cartoon counterparts, something that really makes the series feel like a part of the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think this animated show may convert a lot of folks who are resistant to watching cartoons. I admit to be one of those people, and this trailer made me excited to see how these different realities play out.

There are a whole lot of other questions posed in the trailer. An impressive amount for something that's only 140 seconds long. And that doesn't even touch on the poster, which has its own slew of clues.

The clip also teased The Watchers, cosmic beings from the Marvel Comics that do what their name suggests: they watch. As the oldest beings in the universe, they oversee all the multiverses out there but have a strict non-interference policy. Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) is joining the MCU as the voice of The Watcher in What If...?, and his ominous voice in the video emphasizes that his character cannot, will not interfere with what transpires below him.

With this trailer, we now have a glimpse of what The Watcher sees. We'll have to wait until later this summer, however, to get the details.

Marvel's What If...? Starts streaming on Disney+ on August 11, 2021.