Marvel's What If...? Episode Endings Could Lead To Sequel Stories For Variant Characters
The Watcher asks one simple question: "What if..."
Sometimes that means what if T'Challa was picked up by the Ravengers instead of Peter Quill, or what if Peggy Carter took the super-soldier serum. But the biggest question has gone unanswered ... until now. What if these episodes of Disney+'s "What If...?" weren't just one-shots? Well, we might have a little info to consider in the form of a quote from the show's head writer, A.C. Bradley.
Hidden In Plain Sight
According to Bradley those little tags at the end of the episodes aren't just filling in the timeline for these alternate worlds. They could also hint at a continuation of these individual stories.
In his interview with Discussing Film, Bradley said this:
"The ending twists that many of the episodes have, not all of them, came from a place of loving the Marvel tags — the Marvel credit scenes. So the idea was that we resolve the entire episode, like we resolve the T'Challa Wakanda Ravagers of it all. Then we give kind of what would be our mid-credit scene. So the hope is, if we do sequel episodes, if we do see the heroes later on, that we answer some of the questions raised in those twists. But they're not meant to be ironclad promises of future episodes, it was just kind of "what would be a fun twist at the end of this?" The What If? comics were known for having very surprising endings. So we wanted to pay tribute to that."
So, You're Saying There's A Chance...
The quote may be noncommittal, but it does fire up the nerdy synapses a bit. Some of the alternate realities showcased in this series could have a life beyond one single episode, although I will say that the appeal for me of the original comic book (which I read religiously as a kid) was the one-and-done nature of these stories. I could pop in wherever in the run and not be lost.
However, an animated series that serves as a companion to the entire MCU is a little bit of a different situation. They have a Marvel Zombies episode coming up, for instance, and that by itself could be its own show. The comic appearance of the superhero zombies was intended to be a fun little off-shoot and turned out to be so popular that it spawned its own limited series and toys.
These folks know what they're doing. They know how to hook you and leave you wanting more. If you've seen the end of the first episode, you know that opens up a million questions about what's next for Captain Carter and I'd legitimately love to see the answer to that.
Dollars to donuts they're watching fan reactions very closely, and if the demand is there for more of a particular alternative history storyline then we'll get exactly that in a coming season.