The first season of Marvel's first MCU-set animated series will wrap-up tomorrow with the sure-to-be eventful What If... The Watcher Broke his Oath, but fans probably shouldn't expect the events of the episode to have any major implications for the live-action side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Though we might well see certain What If...? Variants show up in the likes of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, head writer AC Bradley has made it clear that this is "not a show that's designed to set up Avengers 5."
"It's supposed to be just about entertainment and what these heroes mean to us," she stated during an interview with EW. "When I took the job, one of my rules was let's be free. We're in the multiverse — we should be as free as can be and go and run into the wild, into the stories the movies will never do, into the stories the TV shows will never do, and show both Disney and the fans all the possibilities of these characters."
Of course, that doesn't mean this show will have no bearing on Marvel Studios' big-screen releases whatsoever, but it does sound like Phase 4 is going to have more of an influence on the second season of What If...? than the animated series will have on the upcoming movies.
"Going into the second season, we're sticking with anthology form, and it's going to be all-new stories, lots of fun, new heroes, and pulling more from Phase Four than we were obviously able to this season," Bradley continued. "Hopefully, we'll see hints of Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Black Widow characters. The fun of What If...? is that we get to explore the entire infinite multiverse, so we try and bounce around as much as we can. I want to play with all these characters, and as much as I love Captain Carter, we've got to share the love. I'm very excited to show new worlds, new heroes."
What do you guys make of Bradley's comments? Be sure to check back tomorrow after you watch the season finale of What If...? to let us know what you think.