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Credit: Marvel TelevisionMarvel has officially axed one of its most popular projects.
It’s been 16 years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off with Iron Man (2008). Since then, we’ve seen the franchise balloon – perhaps too much for its own good.
In the wake of Avengers: Endgame (2019) – which was briefly the highest-grossing movie of all time – some have accused the MCU of losing its sense of purpose. While the Multiverse Saga has introduced some interesting concepts and characters, the overarching storyline lacks the Infinity Saga’s sense of immediacy and direction and has even steered the franchise into unwanted new territory: its flop era.
Between the mega hits like Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) and this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), the past few years have been littered with disappointments for Marvel, such as The Marvels (2023) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Its efforts on the silver screen have been equally inconsistent, with the likes of Secret Invasion drawing lukewarm responses from fans and critics at best.
For many, Disney+ has played a key role in damaging the franchise’s reputation. Since Disney+ launched in 2019, each year has seen Marvel pump multiple projects onto the streaming service – unconsciously driving a “quantity over quality” attitude for the franchise.
Luckily, audiences aren’t the only ones to realize this. Both Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige have made it clear that the reins are being tightened at Marvel, with several projects undergoing massive rejigs and each year’s release slate slimmed down to ensure a higher standard of quality moving forward.
While many Marvel Television projects have received a middling response, some stand out as jewels in the studio’s TV lineup.
One such jewel is What If…?, the animated anthology series that explores hypothetical situations in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the course of its two seasons, it’s explored questions such as “What If… Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?”, “What If… Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?” and “What If… the Avengers Assembled in 1602?”
At today’s Marvel Animation panel at D23, Marvel teased more upcoming scenarios to be explored in the series. Heroes featured in season three include Shang-Chi, Moon Knight, Ironheart, and the White Vision.
However, Marvel also confirmed some sad news: this season of What If…? will be the last.
This has been rumored for a while, with What If…? executive producer – and Marvel’s Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios – Brad Winderbaum recently describing the upcoming season as the end of a trilogy.
Winderbaum said, “It feels like the completion of a trilogy. It takes us to places that you’d never expect. It goes beyond the first two seasons, and its exploration of the Multiverse, and it pulls in characters that are very unexpected and has what I think is an extremely moving and fulfilling culmination for Uatu the Watcher.”
Combined with the fact that we’re gradually rumbling toward the end of Marvel’s Multiverse Saga, it isn’t the biggest surprise in the world. However, it still comes as somewhat of a blow. What If…? has consistently earned strong reviews and remains the studio’s most creative, spontaneous, and fun sandbox for its huge array of characters.
Are you sad about the end of What If…?