WHAT IF...? Rumor Claims The Animated MCU Series Will End After Planned Third Season

WHAT IF...? Rumor Claims The Animated MCU Series Will End After Planned Third Season

In news we're sure will disappoint many of you, a new rumour suggests Marvel Studios plans to end animated series What If...? with its upcoming third season. Find more details on this one after the jump!

By JoshWilding - Feb 28, 2023 03:02 PM EST
Filed Under: What If
Source: Toonado.com

Marvel Studios shared the first details about What If...? season 2 during last year's San Diego Comic-Con, though we've yet to get an official first look at the animated MCU series. 

At the time, it was made clear season 3 is already in development, and we know that the next batch of episodes will include Captain Carter battling the HYDRA Stomper (The Winter Soldier in her reality), Odin squaring off with The Mandarin, and a story revolving around Thor: Ragnarok villain Hela.

With Marvel Studios exploring the Multiverse in this current Saga of storytelling, you'd think as much What If...? as possible would be a priority for Kevin Feige and company. Instead, scooper Daniel Richtman (via Toonado.com) is reporting that the current plan is for the show to end with season 3. 

Now, some of you will be upset by this, but bear in mind the Multiverse Saga is scheduled to wrap up with the release of Avengers: Secret Wars a few years from now. As a result, there's a very good chance there was only ever a finite plan for What If...?, with the idea being to explore the Multiverse in animated form during a very short, specific period of time. 

After all, if this Saga ends with another single, "sacred" timeline, then more What If...? simply makes no sense. 

A Marvel Zombies animated TV series is also in the works, spinning out of the events of that memorable season 1 episode, so there are lots of animated MCU offerings to get excited about. Spider-Man: Freshman Year is also on the horizon, though there have been reports of issues behind the scenes. 

The response to What If...? was a positive one, and while the animation style wasn't for everyone, the show boasted a star-studded cast and put a fun spin on many of the stories we've become incredibly familiar with.

What If...? season 2 is expected to return to Disney+ later this year, though there have been rumblings about it being pushed into 2024.

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WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 2/28/2023, 3:01 PM
Is that because all of the What If multiversal characters are part of the new universe?
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 2/28/2023, 3:03 PM
Show was ok but it sucked when compared to the What If comics I read in the early 90s.
soupysales
soupysales - 2/28/2023, 4:08 PM
@AnthonyVonGeek - totally agree...i would have much rather the cartoon was the comic...animated...really didn't care much about the MCU in terms of what if...and i get people like the marvel zombies...i don't...i'm all for old school what if
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 2/28/2023, 3:05 PM
What if shouldn't be burdened with trying to connect to the mcu
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 2/28/2023, 3:07 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Couldnt agree more. That was the whole point of it in the comics.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 3:12 PM
@Shivermetimbers - The whole point of it in the comics was that every story was a different universe in the multiverse. Uatu always explained this at the beginning of every issue.

So if the Multiverse ceases to be after the Multiverse Saga then it doesn't make sense to do this show.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 3:16 PM
@MyCoolYoung - But then what would it be a What If story of?

It has to connect to either the MCU or the comics, otherwise it's just telling unique stories with unique representations of the characters. It's no longer What If. There has to be an event that we saw happen in order for them to say "What If this happened instead?"
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 2/28/2023, 3:34 PM
@CorndogBurglar - it could be telling stories from the comics or mcu, but what happens in this show doesn't have to effect what happens in the mcu.

Just give us some inventive premises and just let the writers go crazy. I loved the ultron episodes, but everything doesn't have to lead to a multiversal team up or connect to each other otherwise these stories could never truly go crazy.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 2/28/2023, 4:00 PM
@CorndogBurglar - I think the Multiverse will be completely dissolved or locked out of Universe 616 when this saga is over. And due to that it will pave the way for the Doom Saga. Or the Planet Eater saga.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 2/28/2023, 4:56 PM
@CorndogBurglar - “otherwise it’s just telling unique stories” yeah that’s what we wanted
DCfan84
DCfan84 - 2/28/2023, 6:13 PM
@CorndogBurglar - Just a question here, How can a Multiverse "Cease" though? Even if the MCU "Ceases" the Multiverse, that's just a Universe where it was dissolved. A Single Universe, out of Infinite. So the Multiverses still continue to be. Or am I wrong on the fictional physics here?
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 6:13 PM
@MyCoolYoung - Oh I see what you mean. Yeah I agree with that 100%.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 6:14 PM
@Taonrey - But based on what? It has to be based on stories from the MCU.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 6:21 PM
@DCfan84 - The Loki series explained it best. Before the multiverse one of the Kang variants (He Who Remains) created the TVA (Time Variance Authority) and he monitored the 1 timeline in existence. Any time something in that timeline changed it created a need branching timeline.

He didn't want that to happen because he knew another Kang would exist in each timeline and it would cause a multiversal war. Because apparently Kang is power hungry price in every timeline lol. So he uses the TVA to "prune" any branching timelines that pop up into existence, leaving only one universe.

But he died in Loki and now there is no one to monitor the timeline and an infinite number of branching timelines have popped up.

I don't know how they plan to end this, but either the multiverse will cease to exist and only one timeline will remain again, or the multiverse will remain but considered safe now.
Taonrey
Taonrey - 2/28/2023, 6:44 PM
@CorndogBurglar - it’s what if, it can be made up stories, stories based on novels, stories based on the ultimate universe, stories based on 616 comics , or the mcu, or even marvel cartoons from the past. It literally doesn’t matter as long as it’s good.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 7:01 PM
@Taonrey - Right. But by because it's based on something that automatically ties it to whatever it's asking "What if" about.

Of course it's based on events from the MCU, so its automatically tied to the MCU.
DCfan84
DCfan84 - 2/28/2023, 7:24 PM
@CorndogBurglar - With all that said, that's still just ONE Universe out of Infinite. There may be only one Universe in the MCU Universe, but there are Infinite Universe's aka Multiverses (Ficitionaly of course). If that makes sense. Ha. This is one of those conversations where it can go back and forth forever.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 11:18 PM
@DCfan84 - It's all very debateable. I look at universes as each branching timeline. We've been watching the MCU this whole time. But branching timelines are alternate universes, because each branching timeline has its own....well, universe. Meaning, each branching universe has its own full universe of planets, galaxies, black holes, and everything else that exists in a universe.

We can use the Into The Spider-Verse films as an example. In the original movie we saw a brand new universe where Peter Parker died. We also saw the universe that Spider-Man Noir came from. And in the sequel there are even rumors we'll see Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man.

So one can assume that there are branching timelines and universes for everything we know. The comics. The animated series'. The Netflix shows. The MCU. The list goes on and on.

The only thing that really throws a wrench in it all is the fact that they call the MCU the 616 universe. But the comics have been called the 616 universe for decades. Which does lend more to what you're saying.
Tonic24k
Tonic24k - 2/28/2023, 3:14 PM
It was a good show. I liked some episodes much more than others. But the Ultron twist took the cake. That's what really made this show compelling to me.

Although I will say, one thing I always liked about "What If..." in the comics is that they were just imaginary stories from actual canon. One-offs that had no bearing on anything. (At least that's how I remember it.) So on one hand I did appreciate the season coming full circle and brining everything together. But on the other, I wish they were completely independent one-shots.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/28/2023, 3:17 PM
@Tonic24k - Couldn't have explained it better myself. This is exactly what this show should have been.
Tonic24k
Tonic24k - 2/28/2023, 3:22 PM
@CorndogBurglar - Cheers! 🍻
HopediahPlanter
HopediahPlanter - 2/28/2023, 3:16 PM
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 2/28/2023, 4:06 PM
@HopediahPlanter - hoping for a reboot of this but instead of the multiverse, it's about hamburgers... tiny hamburgers
Reginator
Reginator - 2/28/2023, 3:20 PM
loved the What If comics, just couldn't get into the tv series.
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