Marvel Director Confirms 'Star Wars What If…?’ Almost Happened

To put it lightly, Marvel and Star Wars fans were robbed.

Related: Marvel Officially Cut Spider-Man From MCU in 2023

Season 2 of the first-ever animated MCU TV show, Marvel Studios’ What If…?, has officially wrapped up its seven-episode run on Disney+. The new batch of stories showcased alternate realities with whacky Multiversal scenarios such as “What If… Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?” and “What If… Hela Found the Ten Rings?,” all overseen by the ever-elusive Watcher (Jeffrey Wright). The anthology series remains one of Marvel’s top-rated projects to date and has already been green-lit for Season 3.

Until then, the show’s creators are reflecting on another successful season and recently shared some surprising new insights into its production — most notably, the fact that an MCU-Star Wars crossover was pitched to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige at one point.

Related: The Best Marvel ‘What If…?’ Stories That Should Be In Season 3

Speaking with Moovy TV about the successful premiere of the series’ sophomore season, What If…? director and executive producer Bryan Andrews left fans shocked when he disclosed that the show’s creative team had ambitions to create a crossover between the MCU and Star Wars — and they actually got pretty close.

The revelation arose when the interviewer asked Andrews about the possibility of more off-the-wall What If…? episodes in the future, including possible matchups between Luke Skywalker and Dr. Strange or the Hulk and a Xenomorph. In response, the filmmaker stated, “I think Kevin [Feige] really doesn’t want to cross certain streams. But we did pitch…we actually had a Star Wars/Marvel crossover.”

Feige has long been vocal about his love for the galaxy far, far away. He was even supposed to helm a Star Wars movie before Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that the project was shelved but not “abandoned” at last year’s Star Wars Celebration Europe. With this in mind, it’s interesting to hear that the MCU boss was hesitant to give the go-ahead on a crossover between the superhero franchise and the beloved sci-fi universe. Although Andrews didn’t offer specifics behind the decision, it seems like Feige simply wants to keep the vastly different franchises separate from each other, or had a specific vision for What If…? Season 2 and didn’t want to risk it being overshadowed by Star Wars.

Still, Andrews seemed disappointed about his planned Star Wars-MCU crossover being axed, insisting that it’s “absolutely doable.” However, he admitted that once he got “to the realization of why” Feige and Co. shut down his ambitions, it “totally [made] sense” to him:

So I think it’s absolutely doable. I just don’t know if [Feige] wants to cross those streams, but it’s really funny. Once you get to the realization of why, you go: ‘Oh, that… oh, right!’ It totally makes sense. It won’t rain on anyone’s parade. But it was just a love letter to old-school Star Wars. And it was great. And I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do it. But we have thought about that stuff.

To cope with his Star Wars What If…? crossover being cut, Andrews resorted to placing Easter eggs into a number of episodes, although Disney ultimately removed some of them. “I have tried to put easter eggs. All these different things that Disney actually owns, but they’re really sharp about. They’re like, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ They spot that sh*t,” he joked.

Even so, there was a Star Wars Easter egg that managed to get past Disney’s censors in Season 1. “We did sneak in a TIE Fighter… I don’t think anyone will ever be able to see it, but in the shot when Starlord T’Challa runs in, and there’s spaceships around…in one of the shots, when it goes by, it’s maybe motion-blurred, but there is a TIE Fighter in there,” Andrews revealed. “I don’t know if you’ll ever see it, but technically it’s been painted. It’s in there. So that’s one we were able to get in.”

Sadly, it looks like we’ll have to settle for these hidden Star Wars Easter eggs until Kevin Feige gives the all-powerful “thumbs-up” for an MCU crossover down the line. Demand is certainly at an all-time high for a Star Wars What If…? series, and fans would surely be delighted to see familiar faces from the galaxy far, far away join forces with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes — even if creators will have to use some pretty extensive loopholes to get there. Still, this is the Multiverse, after all, and anything is possible.

One day, hopefully, we’ll learn what Bryan Andrews had in mind for his dream crossover episode, or better yet, we’ll actually get to see it in Marvel Studios’ What If…? Season 3.

Do you think it was a good call to scrap Bryan Andrews’ pitch for a Marvel-Star Wars crossover in What If…? Season 2? Let us know in the comments below!