Bending realities: WandaVision tweets trailer for the first Marvel animated series, ‘What if…?’

Have you ever wondered if a story would have ended differently if this-or-that never happened? Well, What if…?, the first Marvel animated series, explores this captivating question. Marvel Studios released the trailer for this universe-bending series on July 8.

The series, What if…?, slanted to stream Disney+ on Aug. 11, is based on the Marvel Comic series of the same name. The series will look at all previous Marvel Cinematic Universe installments, and change major moments in various films, which of course would affect the overall plot (and outcome) of the story.

While What if…? will create alternate storylines for Marvel-lovers’ beloved characters, each episode will also contain characters from various movies to make the series really universe bending.

Familiar characters from the Marvel universe reprise their roles in this series, such as Loki (Tom Hiddleson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), and Nebula (Karen Gillian) among others.

The series What if…? is going for a retro feel. The series looks like a 90s comic, the animations all in 2D, with the characters using flip phones.

Marvel studios released a “first look” trailer back in December 2020 for What if…?, which garnered over 7 million views. However, when WandaVision’s twitter account shared an official trailer for What if…?, it provided viewers with a more detailed idea of what might happen in the series rather than just random snippets.

The trailer begins with an explosive bomb from the Shark Industries (a company owned by Iron Man). A little bit after some character falls into what looks like a portal, the trailer flash-forwards to some battle scene with swords and shields: just what you would expect in any old Marvel movie.

According to IMBD, the first episode of What if…? will explore this alternate storyline, “What would have happened if Peggy Carter and not Steve Rogers took the super soldier serum at the start of World War II.” Season one will contain ten episodes.

Created by A.C. Bradley and directed by Bryan Andrews (writer for Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Doctor Strange, and Avengers: End Game) this superhero anthology series will certainly play with time and realities and intrigue fans of the Marvel universe.

The Marvel series What if…? will stream on Disney+ Aug. 11.

Chelsie Derman

Chelsie Derman studies journalism and professional writing, as well as creative writing, at The College of New Jersey. She also serves as the Arts & Entertainment Editor at her school newspaper, The Signal. When she isn’t writing reviews or anything pertaining to entertainment, you will find Chelsie either writing her novel or watching anything fantasy related.