WHAT IF...? - Marvel Studios Turned Down A Spider-Man Episode For Being "Too Dark And Too Body Horror"

WHAT IF...? - Marvel Studios Turned Down A Spider-Man Episode For Being "Too Dark And Too Body Horror"

One of the biggest surprises about What If...? is that at least one episode will feature Spider-Man, but Head Writer A.C. Bradley has now revealed that Marvel Studios put the kibosh on one twisted idea.

By JoshWilding - Aug 10, 2021 03:08 AM EST
Filed Under: What If
Source: Post-Credit Podcast

It's clear What If...? is going to take us to some crazy places, and in one alternate reality, Peter Parker will don Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation and become "Zombie Hunter Spidey." 

During a recent interview with Post-Credit Podcast, Head Writer A.C. Bradley talked more about the wall-crawler's role in the series, and confirmed that there was one idea Marvel Studios was quick to shoot down: Spider-Man transforming into a literal spider. 

"There was a couple of episodes that were just a little too dark. There was an original What If...? [comic] run I believe where Spider-Man turns into a real spider, and that was just too dark and too body horror for their PG-13," she confirmed. "But it was a blast! You said it yourself, we were basically given the keys to the toy store. 'Go have fun and make sure everything was different. Don't give us ten of the same, give us ten of the most different stories you can come up with.'"

In the comic books and Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Peter Parker becomes Man-Spider when his powers evolved beyond his control. However, it's likely Bradley is referring to the What If...? issue based on "The Other" storyline that again featured a twisted transformation for the wall-crawler.

Bradley concluded by adding, "It was less about being reeled back in from crazier stories. It was more of them stopping us from walking into one of the movies and destroying that."

Marvel Studios has yet to explore Spider-Man's origin story on the big screen, and while we know he was bitten by a spider, the circumstances surrounding that encounter haven't been elaborated on. Had this been a twisted take on that, it could have finally cleared things up (to a point), but it clearly wasn't meant to be.

Check back here later for our spoiler-free review of the first three episodes of What If...?

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Mugens
Mugens - 8/10/2021, 3:53 AM
Now this should be included in the "Multiverse of Madness" movie. Blame Sylvie...
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 8/10/2021, 4:08 AM
Earth-51412.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 8/10/2021, 4:36 AM
BritishMonkey
BritishMonkey - 8/10/2021, 2:21 PM
@BlackBeltJones - Exactly what I was going to do.
Too dark for its rating? And this is from a cartoon that wouldn't allow punches, mention of death, or use of real guns!
Pussies.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 8/10/2021, 4:21 PM
@BritishMonkey - facts!
Allabin
Allabin - 8/10/2021, 9:50 PM
@BlackBeltJones - After a Spider-Verse movie, this story is right up there on my Spider-Man movie wishlist since... forever! Here's hoping either Marvel and/or Sony will deliver this glorious werespider after No Way Home!
SuperZeroCustmz
SuperZeroCustmz - 8/10/2021, 4:39 AM
It's funny that they would not want to take a series like that in the actual direction that the stories went because its too much for them to do . What is the point in picking up all of these properties only to water them down and take their own liberties instead of taking more chances and possibly thinking outside the box. I can't wait to see what they did to Marvel zombies if the Spider story was a bit too much.
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 8/10/2021, 4:54 AM


I've been in love with the Man-spider ever since the Spidey TAS and a rarely get to see that shit even in the comics.
manofillintent1
manofillintent1 - 8/10/2021, 4:55 AM
Would have been cool but I get it, it personally doesn’t bother me when they keep things family friendly and think too many people get too up in arms about that sort of stuff shouting on their keyboard DISNEY WOULD NEVER ALLOW THIS!!! it is what it is, accept it
Gandressmex
Gandressmex - 8/10/2021, 5:05 AM
So it's basically a "What if?" of the MCU and not based on some "What if?" comics?
ScottSummers
ScottSummers - 8/10/2021, 5:14 AM
@Gandressmex - I think that has been made quite clear.
Cyclonus
Cyclonus - 8/10/2021, 5:20 AM
@Gandressmex - That is correct. I wish it was based more on the What if comics than being limited to the MCU. Then they could easily have multiple seasons of this show and unlimited story telling. I think Disney/Marvel know alot of these "newbie fans" wouldn't understand or know the basis for alot of the what if stories if it was based on the comics.
TheMandalorian
TheMandalorian - 8/10/2021, 5:10 AM
How is it to much body horror for kids if this happened multiple times on the Fox Kids show in the 90’s?!?!
SKetCH
SKetCH - 8/10/2021, 5:22 AM
@TheMandalorian - I completely agree but I think the logical response is that those kids - myself included, born in the '80s, raised by the '90s - are a lot, LOT less sensitive than today's generation of kids.

I'm not a fan. We all grew up on crazy shit & we all turned out fine, I don't get why everything is so watered-down now.
Urubrodi
Urubrodi - 8/10/2021, 5:12 AM
I'd like Marvel to do a proper horror film/series one day (not a movie with horror elements but an actual horror story). They could release it in Star/Hulu. But probably will never happen. Something like Terror Inc, Man-Thing, Hellstrom...
Repian
Repian - 8/10/2021, 5:57 AM
@Urubrodi - I could see Blackheart as the demonic entity in a marvel horror movie. Also, they could introduce Brother Voodoo in this genre.

Fares
Fares - 8/10/2021, 5:20 AM
Boooo give us Man-Spider
Razorface1
Razorface1 - 8/10/2021, 6:14 AM
Too morbid given how this Spider-Man is a child.
Nightwing1015
Nightwing1015 - 8/10/2021, 10:09 AM
@Razorface1 - He can't still be tho right? What age is Peter now? He's been in the MCU since 2016 - in 5 years his character must've aged at least 3 right?
Razorface1
Razorface1 - 8/10/2021, 10:37 AM
@Nightwing1015 - we have yet to see if he starts acting like it.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 8/10/2021, 10:27 AM
lame
McMurdo
McMurdo - 8/10/2021, 11:47 AM
Epitomizes the MCU under Disney. Can’t even do stuff that legit happened in a cartoon or the comics.
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