Last summer, the MCU debuted its first animated series – and its first anthology series – with the multiversal madness ofWhat If…?. With such hypothetical premises as “What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” and “What If… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord?,” the show’s first season reimagined the events of the Infinity Saga. Now that the MCU is deep into the Multiverse Saga with the films and streaming shows of Phase Four, there are plenty of new story events for the second season ofWhat If…?to draw from when it premieres in early 2023.
What If… Shang-Chi Stayed With His Father?
The second season ofWhat If…?has the chance to explore a much darker character arc for Shang-Chi. In the mainline Earth-616 universe,Shang-Chi abandoned his familyand moved to America to start a new life after reluctantly carrying out one hit on his father’s behalf. If he wasn’t so racked with guilt after that first kill, he would’ve stuck around and served Wenwu and the Ten Rings as a formidable assassin.
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In this potential timeline, with the help of his son, Wenwu could’ve taken down the fake Mandarin earlier. They still would’ve captured Trevor Slattery, but they might have also been able to fine-tune the Extremis virus. The episode could culminate in the showdown between Tony Stark and his arch-nemesis that fans were denied byIron Man 3’s controversial Mandarin twist.
What If… Doctor Strange Couldn’t Fix The Multiverse In No Way Home?
When the space-time continuum cracked open during the final battle ofSpider-Man: No Way Home, Peter Parker came up with a solution to make everything go back to normal. He allowed Doctor Strange to go through with the original spell and wipe him from the memories of everybody on Earth. This sentthe other Spider-Menand their villains back to their own universes and left Earth-616 intact.
But if Peter didn’t come up with that solution, or wasn’t willing to be forgotten by everybody, Strange wouldn’t have been able to repair the multiverse and Earth-616 would’ve been overloaded with otherworldly visitors. Depending on which characters Sony will allow Marvel Studios to animate, this version of events could see Earth-616 flooded with Spidey villains ranging from the Rhino to Black Cat toKraven the Hunter.
What If… Natasha Never Left The KGB For S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Natasha Romanoff’s backstory was finally fleshed out in the long-awaitedBlack Widowmovie. She was trained to kill in the Red Room program, and during a shady KGB mission, she defected and became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. If Nat never left the KGB, she would’ve ended up just as cold-hearted and morally ambiguous as her surrogate sister Yelena Belova. Nat and Yelena’s bickering was so much fun inBlack Widowthat it would be great to see another team-up in animated form.
This Nat/Yelena team-up would be decidedly darker than the movie, because instead of one Black Widow trying to get another Black Widow to act more ethically, they’d both be as bad as each other. In the timeline in which Nat remained a Black Widow carrying out covert operations for the KGB, she might end up in a fight withher would-be best friend Clint Barton.
What If… The Eternals Were Allowed To Interfere In Human Conflicts?
Since itarrived afterAvengers: Endgame,Eternalswas burdened with explaining why its ancient alien superhero characters sat around and did nothing when Thanos came to Earth, collected the sixth Infinity Stone, snapped his fingers, and wiped out half of all life in the universe. According to Sersi, she and the other Eternals “were instructed not to interfere in any human conflicts, unless Deviants were involved.” But what would they have done if they were allowed to interfere in human conflicts?
If the Eternals were permitted to help humanity with problems that don’t involve Deviants, then they could’ve helped out with much more than just the arrival of Thanos. Throughout human history, instead of just hanging out and laying low, the Eternals could’ve intervened in countless wars and genocides.
What If… The Scarlet Witch Acquired America Chavez’s Power?
InDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda Maximoff set out to seize America Chavez’s power of interdimensional travel for herself, andkilled whoever stood in her way. She claimed she just wanted to settle down in the Earth-838 universe and raise her sons Billy and Tommy, and that she would only use America’s power to find cures for whatever diseases they might catch. But, having been irreversibly corrupted by the Darkhold, that version of Wanda was too far gone to settle down into the tranquil suburban mom lifestyleseen inWandaVision.
If she had America’s ability to travel across the multiverse, she would become mad with power. Enough would never be enough. She’d look for a universe where Vision is still alive, a universe where Pietro is still alive, a universe where her parents survived the war in Sokovia, and she’d eventually cause a catastrophic incursion and be left with nothing.
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