The Rocketeer in the MCU? If What If...? director Bryan Andrews had his way, it would have happened.
The first episode of the Disney+ animated series imagined a reality where Peggy Carter took the super-soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, but it seems Andrews' initial pitch to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige was quite a bit different.
“It was also in the vein of doing something vintage and pulpy, because I love that,” he tells Variety. “There were three heroes back-to-back, and they’re fighting, like, all the Nazis. It’s Cap with the super-serum, as we know him, Peggy Carter, just being her normal badass self because she doesn’t need the serum—and the Rocketeer.”
Yes, the very same Rocketeer from the 1991 big-screen adventure that has since gone on to achieve cult status. Though Disney did release the movie and there is some other MCU connectivity (he's also a WWII-era superhero and the film was helmed by Captain America: The First Avenger director Joe Johnston), it sounds like adding a character from a completely different universe might have been s step to far for Feige.
“Kevin was just like, ‘Uh, yeah, no, no, we’re not gonna do that. But I like the drawing!’” Andrews adds.
An intriguing concept, for sure, but it's not difficult to understand why Feige didn't bit - even if Disney does still own the rights to the character. Last we heard, a Rocketeer reboot was still in development for Disney+ from a script by Azia Squire, but updates have been few and far between.
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