Marvel Fan Theory Suggests Ronan Will Come Back for Thanos in What If...?

Before too long, Marvel Studios will be rolling out its first-ever animated series in Disney+'s What If...? Though its still being kept top-secret like any other property from the Disney-owned studio, we know one episode will follow Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) taking the Super Soldier Serum instead of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) while another will follow T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

One intriguing new fan theory is hoping we'll see Ronan (Lee Pace) take on Thanos (Josh Brolin) if the former was able to make it through the events of Guardians of the Galaxy unscathed. If you think back to 2014, Ronan was charged with gathering the Power Stone from Morag and once it was in his possession, he promised to take down the Mad Titan after razing Xandar.

For him to get back to Thanos, he'd need to avoid the final Xandarian conflict with the Guardians, where he was seemingly killed by the Power Stone. Previously, it was thought there'd be one episode of What If...? per MCU film, though that's something that has since been debunked by showrunner Ashley Bradley.

"That is a rumor. Kevin said that we will be exploring every movie in a new way, but not every episode is about one movie if that makes sense," Bradley told Discussing Film. "On the reel [shown at D23 Expo], there is this image of a Star-Lord T'Challa because we wanted to see what if the worlds of Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy collided? That was taking two universes, two to three movies, kind of twisting them in new ways."

So far it's unclear if Pace will be back to reprise his role, but it has been confirmed Brolin will be back to voice Thanos. Joining Brolin, Atwell, and Boseman include the following characters: Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Dum Dum Duggan (Neal McDonough), Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Kurt (David Dastmalchian), Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), Korg (Taika Waititi), Arnim Zola (Toby Jones), Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), Yondu (Michael Rooker), and Taserface (Chris Sullivan).

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.