The second season of Marvel’s What If…?, the animated anthology series that tells stories in different realties in the multiverse, is headed our way this holiday season. I had the chance to attend a screening of two of those episodes as well as attend a Q&A with the series’ writers and director, and while the three were unsurprisingly tight-lipped about what’s in store for viewers, they did tease some things about what we’ll see in the upcoming episodes—not only in season two, but the already-greenlit season three as well.
I can’t get into details about the two episodes I saw, other than to say they were titled “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?,” which was solidly channeling film noir/Blade Runner, and “What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?,” a holiday-filled special with multiple Die Hard references and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) villainously dancing his way into Avengers tower.
These episodes’ homages to other movies and/or genres are something we’ll see in season two’s other episodes, and something director and executive producer Bryan Andrews teased we’ll see even more of in season three.
That doesn’t mean, however, that we won’t see some familiar faces in season two. The already-released trailer for the second season (check it out above, if you haven’t already) reveals the return of several characters, including Captain Britain Carter (Hayley Atwell), who appears to have struck up a rapport with the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright); something that writer and producer Matthew Chauncey confirmed at the screening.
“Fate has made both of them lone warriors,” he said. “And part of the fun of watching their journey through the show is they’re mirrors for one another. And I think the Watcher is going to reckon with some of the choices he made in Season One through how he engages and watches Captain Carter navigate her life in these episodes.”
Other confirmed characters include Cate Blanchett reprising Hela. The Doctor Strange Supreme we saw in arguably the first season’s best episode, is also returning, as is Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Kurt Russell as Ego. We also knew that there would be an episode dedicated to a new superhero, Kahhori, a young Mohawk woman who gains powers in a non-colonized world after finding the Tesseract. The panelists also shared that we would see a new configuration of the 2012 Avengers, and also there would be an episode set in the 1980s featuring the aforementioned Ego and Hank Pym, as well as T’Chaka as Black Panther.
We also knew that there would be a 1602 episode, a riff on the comics that place Marvel superheroes into the year 1602, and writer and executive producer AC Bradley shared what writing that story was like. “That was the one where we had the most fun,” she said. “We just went a little nutty [and asked,] ‘What’s the weirdest we can get with these characters? What is the most different outfits and personas that we can put them through?’”
“The cosplay potential is huge,” added Andrews. “We can’t wait.”
The second season of What If…? premieres on December 22, 2023 with “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?” An additional episode is dropped every day after, with “What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?” appropriately premiering on December 25, 2023.
