One of my favorite comics when I was a kid was Marvel’s “What If…?”.
Back in the day I missed picking up the first few issues, so the first one I read was this one:
The Fantastic Four with different powers? And a full explanation of how the powers manifested differently? Blew my 10-year old mind.
And then I didn’t get another issue until this one:
NICK FURY IN SPACE! Holy crap!
And at the time Marvel was publishing Star Wars, so I was hoping for a crossover with Nick Fury and Han Solo teaming up. Oh well.
I never got more than a couple of issues consecutively, because the one comic shop where I could find it was the one at Pier 39, which I didn’t go to regularly. I also found an occasional issue at the flea markets around here.
A few years back I eventually read the entire series when it was released in trade paperback form, acquiring the first 2-3 collected volumes, and then finished it when it became available on comiXology.com.
It always remained as a favorite, even the more recent What If…? series that came out to cover Marvel’s later history and big events.
Flashforward to now, over 40 years later, and about 13 years after the MCU started with Iron Man.
The first episode of Marvel’s “What If…?” animated series premiered on Disney+, and it was good.
Nothing beats the old comics, but this comes close.
I heard that the idea was to produce 1 episode for each film in the MCU, which now totals 24, but this first season will only be 9 episodes long.
And what a first episode!
Peggy Carter becomes the first Super Soldier.
It felt enough like the old comic for nostalgia’s sake, but with the voices of many of the original actors, I’d love to see this in live action with modern effects.
It even had me guessing and speculating on where the MCU would have been changed, like who becomes the Winter Soldier in this universe? Who was the Red Skull summoning? Questions that were answered before the end of the episode, thankfully.
I hope they do get to make at least one episode for each MCU film, and then for the 3 and later upcoming Disney+ series.
I’m totally on board for this show, and they just can’t make them fast enough.
And I gotta get my hands on that Hydra Stomper. It’s awesome.
