WHAT IF...? Director Reveals Why They Couldn't Use The X-MEN And When We Might See Season 3 On Disney+

WHAT IF...? Director Reveals Why They Couldn't Use The X-MEN And When We Might See Season 3 On Disney+

What If...? director Bryan Andrews has revealed why the X-Men were off-limits to the show's creative team and sheds new light on when we can likely expect the next batch of episodes to arrive on Disney+...

By JoshWilding - Jan 10, 2024 05:01 AM EST
Filed Under: What If
Source: Toonado.com

Each episode of What If...? season 2 was released across 9 days on Disney+ last month, and while it featured plenty of memorable new spins on familiar characters, there weren't any major cameos to speak of. Spider-Man, for example, was M.I.A. after previously taking centre stage in season 1's standout "What If... Zombies?!"

Marvel Studios brought the X-Men back into the fold when the Disney/Fox merger went through and X-Men: The Animated Series follow-up X-Men '97 will premiere on Disney+ later this year. So, why didn't we see any mutants in What If...?'s second season?

"They were pretty much off the table," director Bryan Andrews tells ComicBook.com (via Toonado.com). "They're like, 'We got to do it first in live action and then you get to do it.' And we're like, 'Ah, man!' We would've loved to have played with all kinds of toys. But there's limitations."

We're not shocked to hear characters like Wolverine and Magneto weren't allowed to be folded into What If...?, especially as the show is set in the MCU's Multiverse and having them appear in animation first would indeed lessen the impact of a future live-action appearance (and potentially confuse casual fans). 

The difference with X-Men '97 is that it's a direct sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series, explaining why Marvel Studios has been happy to move forward with that revival without it negatively impacting what we see on the live-action front. 

Andrews was also asked about What If...? season 3's release schedule after the lengthy gap between season 1 and season 2, and seemed to confirm it won't premiere on the streaming platform until 2025.

"They move stuff around. Every time I thought it was like, 'Oh, it's going to be this!' It's like, 'It's going to move a little bit!'" he explains. "So, even I would hate to say something and have people's hopes come up and then have them be dashed because of the beast of production and when things move around."

"I thought that it could come out at the end of the year in 2024 possibly, but that would be tight."

"There's some other group of people that are masterminding when things [release] and they're moving things on the board, and I don't know where we exist on that at this moment, as well as [Marvel Zombies]," he continued. "Zombies, I'm still working on at the same time, and that's going to be crazy and that's coming out, but that keeps moving around too, right? So I wish I could help you but I can't!"

Marvel Studios might get What If...? season 3 on Disney+ in time for the holidays again, but based on Andrews' comments, it simply won't be ready in time. 

As always, stay tuned for updates as we have them. 

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lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/10/2024, 6:04 AM
I believe that's a wise move. Having an x-men break, besides DP3, puts more distance between the MCU version and Fox's version.
mountainman
mountainman - 1/10/2024, 6:44 AM
“ We got to do it first in live action and then you get to do it” is the biggest reason why this show will never be great.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 1/10/2024, 6:57 AM
@mountainman - I kinda disagree. But that's moreso because I believe they should base the What Ifs on what we've seen in the live-action movies and not just on random stuff that happened in the past or in-between movies.
mountainman
mountainman - 1/10/2024, 7:04 AM
@bkmeijer1 - I just found Season 2 boring. Maybe if they had expanded the roaster of characters or done more variants I wouldn’t feel this way. It’s the Captain Carter show now.

If you are enjoying it, best to you, but after how much Season 2 disappointed, this will be yet another MCU show I’ll be bowing out of.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 1/10/2024, 7:12 AM
@mountainman - Moreso than not, I guess, but only really a little I think.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 1/10/2024, 7:24 AM
@mountainman - neat
kg8817
kg8817 - 1/10/2024, 7:38 AM
@mountainman - it’s also a load of horseshit, since they didn’t do Captain Carter in live action first. Or Star Lord T’Challa. But alright Disney.
mountainman
mountainman - 1/10/2024, 7:43 AM
@kg8817 - Or Kahori.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 1/10/2024, 9:27 AM
@mountainman - don't get me wrong, I feel the same way. Said it a few times before this is just the Captain Carter show now, and they should've just made a Captain Carter mini-series like Zombies instead
Variant
Variant - 1/10/2024, 9:33 AM
@kg8817 - @mountainman - T'Challa and Peggy Carter were established in the movies first. What If just gave us variants of those characters.

Also, Kahori probably doesn't have live action plans any time soon.

It really does make sense not to shoehorn the X-Men into an animated multiverse show before their true debut in the MCU.
HammerLegFoot
HammerLegFoot - 1/10/2024, 9:49 AM
@kg8817 - Because those are characters that we already know and were just giving a different story.
mountainman
mountainman - 1/10/2024, 10:08 AM
@Variant - To each our own. I found season 2 mostly boring since this show keeps focusing on the same dozen or so characters.
mountainman
mountainman - 1/10/2024, 10:10 AM
@bkmeijer1 - Having her follow up episode in season 2 was fine. That Winter Soldier / Black Widow episode was decent.

But then her inclusion in 1602 was odd.

And the finale just didn’t have the same impact as the season 1 finale did.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 1/10/2024, 6:58 AM
''We got to do it first in live action''

Explains why Marvel Studios is doing an animated X-Men show. Guess the difference it, that's a sequel and we kinda got XTAS inspired X-Men in the movies as variants first.
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 1/10/2024, 7:22 AM
Unless they were to jump to the Fox universe and make what ifs based on those movies, it wouldn't really make sense to have X-Men themed episodes.
JoeInTheBox
JoeInTheBox - 1/10/2024, 7:40 AM
I enjoy What If...?, but the scope is too small. I get that it's only covering possibilities within the MCU, but it's only been two seasons and they've repeated characters too much for my liking already.
Repian
Repian - 1/10/2024, 7:47 AM
I can see a "What If?" about the Illuminati universe with Daniel Craig as the voice of Balder The Brave and Jeff Bridges as the voice of Iron Monger. Also, Patrick Stewart returning as the voice of Xavier.
Cyclonus
Cyclonus - 1/10/2024, 11:45 AM
The What if animated series could really be great if they actually use the entire Marvel universe like the books did instead of the show being bottled/contained to the just the MCU events. Speaking of X-MEN I still have an old What if story of - What if Mr. Sinister created/led the X-MEN. It was a pretty cool story.

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