There are just three episodes left in the third and final season of What If…?, the animated MCU series that explores alternate timelines in the multiverse, and ahead of the finale, director Bryan Andrews is revealing which characters he really would have liked to tackle, but never got the chance to. Debuting in 2021, What If…? was an instant hit when it premiered on Disney+ as the first series produced by Marvel Studios Animation, earning a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 89% from critics and 92% from fans.
Andrews got to explore a number of our favorite characters in What If…?, including the likes of Iron Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange, and even Howard the Duck, but in a new interview with Agents of Fandom (seen below), the director said there are several others he would have liked to explore, but were unfortunately off-limits by Marvel.

“You know, it’s funny… I wanted to do something with Beta Ray Bill but that’s like [Laughs]. I also wanted to do something with Ghost Rider. They were just like, ‘Well… maybe not so much.’ Or get Iron Fist and Shang-Chi together and have a real super mega Kung Fu-centric episode.”

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That being said, despite being unable to play around with some of his favorite characters, Andrews revealed that he at least got to dabble in one of his favorite genres: Western. The Dec. 27 episode “What If… 1872?” explores what would happen if superheroes lived in the Old West and features Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop traversing the frontier. However, the prolific creator did mention that it wasn’t his original concept.

“I’ve always wanted to do a Western, and the original idea I had was too much for Brad and company. It was way too heady, and dealt into Reconstruction and post-Civil War, and you know, the war isn’t actually won and there’s still a problem with racism. Like, big stuff […] So we pivoted. We wanted to do more with Shang-Chi, so as soon as we got Shang-Chi, that brought certain things, both historical that we could kind of riff on, and then some other things they had percolating allowed itself to eat into that episode, too.”

Why Were Certain Characters “Off-Limits” for ‘What If…?’

With so many irons in the fire regarding MCU characters, it’s no surprise that certain ones were prevented from appearing in What If…? Between the many movies and TV shows, Marvel needed to protect different elements from being surprised in their live-action projects because – as Andrews puts it – they didn’t want him stepping on the toes of other creators.

“They’re very careful about making sure we don’t step on the toes of films that are about to come out. Throughout our tenure, our writers would often be coming up with stuff and the higher-ups would be like, ‘Nope, that’s happening in Guardians or such and such.’ They were really close and sometimes spot-on to things happening in those movies. They watch out pretty carefully.”

Still, we’re thankful we got What If…? in the first place, even though it didn’t necessarily go as far as we wanted. Thankfully, Andrews will be back next year to helm Marvel Zombies, which is slated for release on Oct. 3. Until then, check out the entire run of What If…? Streaming now on Disney+.

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Release Date

August 11, 2021

Seasons

3