One of the more interesting projects announced by Marvel Studios for Disney+ is its first animated series, What If…?, based on the famous line of comics in which alternate versions of famous Marvel Universe stories were presented.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that the series was in development at Comic-Con last month, but on Friday (August 23) at Disney’s own D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, he elaborated a bit more on the show while also unveiling some footage from the series.
The footage — done in the cel-shaded animation style which renders 3D objects into 2D for a hand-painted look — showcased two scenes in particular: in one, Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier confronts a Captain America who has become a zombie, a nod perhaps to the Marvel Zombies comic of years back.
Read More: Top 10 Marvel What If? Concepts That Actually Happened
Advertisement
In the other, longer sequence, we flash back to the lab experiment in which Captain America/Steve Rogers was injected with super serum and gained his massively enhanced strength, stamina and physique. Only in this case, the procedure goes sideways and its British agent Peggy Carter who gets the treatment, emerging to don a British-flavored suit as Captain Carter (not Captain Britain, a separate Marvel character that fans have lately been clamoring to see).
The rest of the footage showcased Captain Carter in battle mode, although near the end a large mech suit all done up in Army green — sort of a U.S. military twist on the Hulkbuster — pops open and ensconced inside to greet Peggy is a still skinny and unenhanced Steve Rogers. The teaser also gave us a brief, shadowy glimpse of its narrator, the all-seeing Watcher, voiced by Jeffrey Wright.
The woman who has played Peggy in live action for eight years, Hayley Atwell, emerged onstage to greet the audience, with Feige remarking on both the character’s longevity and Atwell’s consistent run. The actress replied that Carter is returning “because of the fans…they love Peggy, they’ve brought her back.”
Feige promised that nearly all the live-action MCU actors will voice their animated counterparts in the series, which will explore different variations on key moments from all 23 MCU movies to date. What If…? is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in summer 2021.
Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!
Don Kaye is a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist and associate editor of Den of Geek. Other current and past outlets include Syfy, United Stations Radio Networks, Fandango, MSN, RollingStone.com and many more. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @donkaye