The Marvel Cinematic Universe has another hit on its hands with its first animated series What If…. The series takes everything the MCU does so well and tweaks it, asking the timeless question that has launched a thousand Marvel stories. Its first three episodes have been a huge success, with fans loving alternate universe characters like Captain Carter and Star-Lord T’Challa, as well as all of the cool Easter eggs crammed into each episode.
While the show is keeping itself contained in the MCU, this is actually kind of a mistake as the comics have way more stories that can be mined for episode ideas.
10 It Could’ve Given The DCAU Some Competition When It Comes To Comic Adaptations
While both have their fans, it’s plain to see that Marvel dominates DC in most ways. From comic sales to movies, Marvel has proven to be more popular with DC but there’s one place where DC has always beat the pants off Marvel: animation. From the Timmverse shows to the current DCAU, DC’s animated output has been much better for comic adaptations than Marvel.
If they had adapted What If… stories from comics, Marvel could finally compete with DC there and perhaps even best them. DC’s comic adaptations have always been amazing and Marvel, with the power of Disney behind them, could have wrested this crown from DC as well.
9 It Could Have Been A Great Way To Test The Waters For New Characters
So far, the MCU has been great at putting new comic characters into the movies but their method has often been pretty risky, just introducing new characters in their own movies. The MCU has already started scraping towards the bottom of the Marvel barrel, with upcoming projects starring C and D-listers like Shang-Chi, the Eternals, and Moon Knight.
Throwing out less popular characters and hoping for the MCU rub to get them popular isn’t the best way to do things. A better way would have been to introduce them in a What If… series based on the comics, gauging their popularity and finding out what worked.
8 The Movies Aren’t Exactly The Best Stories
What If… stories have always lived and died because of their source material. While they’ve often gone in strange directions, What If… comics have had some great stories to start out with. The MCU has created some wonderful movies but the stories are often kind of simplistic and work more because of the characters than the plots.
Going by the MCU instead of the comics is a mistake. While it’s impossible to call the MCU bad, the stories in the movies just can’t stand up against the decades of amazing stories that the comics have put out.
7 The Show Will Run Out Of Ideas Much Quicker
The MCU has proven to be a very prolific movie and TV franchise but it can’t match the comics. The comics have alternate universes older than the MCU and that’s barely bringing in all of the regular universe stories. There are hundreds of Avengers stories to choose from, for example. Even with the new Disney+ shows, there aren’t even a hundred MCU stories.
Even with new movies and TV shows, What If… could easily burn through all of the good ideas in two, maybe three seasons. This limits the show’s life.
6 The What If… Comics Are Some Of The Best Alternate Universe Tales Ever
Marvel has published several different What If… series over the years, taking some of the biggest Marvel stories of all time and tweaking them into something new. Some of these stories have been worthy of movies of their own and have surpassed the originals they were based on. What If… created some truly amazing alternate universes, ones that non-comic fans need a chance to explore.
With the countless alternate universes on the table because of the ending of Loki, borrowing them from the comics would have been a great idea, one that would have introduced MCU fans to countless new stories.
5 It Could’ve Given MCU Only Fans A Comic Education
One of the strangest parts of the MCU compared to past comic movies is that it’s done very little to move the dial on comic sales. This feels a bit like it’s of design- Disney puts out enough MCU content per year that a fan never has to go to a comic store to get their Marvel fix. The MCU, though, is very much a narrowed version of the comic Marvel Universe, and presenting the comics in What If… to MCU only fans could do wonders for them.
Marvel has so much to offer MCU-only fans in its comics and a way to get them into the comic stores would be to present comic What If… stories on Disney+, showcasing comics for a new audience.
4 It Would’ve Been A Way To Give MCU Fans More Hulk Stories
The Hulk has been sorely underserved by the MCU. Part of this is because of the old film deal with Universal Studios but a way around that might’ve been a more comic-based What If… It wouldn’t have been a movie and there are almost sixty years worth of Hulk stories to mine for What If… ideas. The show literally could have had an entire season of Hulk episodes.
The Hulk rarely gets any spotlight in the MCU and has a legion of fans. The number of Hulk stories that What If… could have adapted would have shown fans of the character more about him than they ever knew.
3 It Would’ve Kept Fans Guessing
Looking at the MCU, there really aren’t a whole lot of choices for really good What If… worthy stories. While the writers have shown they know how to use the stories and characters they have in interesting ways, it doesn’t always work as well as one would expect. The Star-Lord T’Challa episode was fun but it’s hard to believe Hank Pym could have killed the Avengers so easily.
Making it more comic-focused would have kept fans guessing on what would happen next without getting too far-fetched.
2 It Could Have Had A Grander Scope
While the MCU was able to end the first three Phases on a massive two-movie spectacle extravaganza, the scope of the MCU is rather small, even with movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. The MCU can’t match the grand scope of the comics and their stories and a great way to have shown that was by adapting comics for What If…
From stories like Annihilation to Siege to some of the massive sci-fi/superhero spectacles of the comics, the scope of the printed Marvel Universe is far grander than that of the MCU. It would have given the show a bigger scope.
1 There Could Have Been MCU X-Men Stories
The X-Men have supplied some of the best What If… comics of all time. The X-Men and the MCU haven’t gotten to mix yet; even though Marvel has their film rights back, they’re dragging their feet on introducing them. Fans want some kind of X-Men content in the MCU and a great way to have done that would have been using comics for the basis of What If…
The X-Men are one of Marvel’s most storied concepts in the comics and there are just so many great X-Men stories and characters that could have been brought into What If… It’s a huge missed opportunity for the MCU.
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