What If…? Character Designer Didn’t Take Potential Live-Action Futures Into Account When Making Animated Designs

The fourth episode of Marvel’s What If…? hit Disney+ yesterday and asked the question, “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands.” The episode followed a timeline in which Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) lost Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) in his infamous car accident and things took an incredibly dark turn. Seeing Doctor Strange in the new light has raised questions about the character’s upcoming appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home with many fans believing the Doctor Strange seen in the trailer isn’t the version of him we know and love. However, despite the possible connections between the new animated series and the upcoming Spider-Man movie, What If…? character designer Ryan Meinerding recently told ComicBook.com that they did not take live-action futures into account when creating the animated versions of the characters.

“I mean, I don’t know what any of the plans are for the future for any of the characters. I think we’re always just trying to work as hard as we can on the project at hand. Being Marvel Studios’ first animated show, trying to create something at the same level of quality as all the other MCU content, we’re really just trying to make them the best animated characters that they can be,” Meinerding explained.

“And ideally that means that people love them and that they want to see more of them. But yeah, I think the challenge for this one was really just figuring out that style, figuring out how the characters are going to look within that style, and doing the best drawings that we can to create sort of a north star for everybody that’s going to work on the show,” he added.

The latest episode of What If…? featured the return of Doctor Strange‘s Cumberbatch and McAdams as well as Benedict Wong and Tilda Swinton. While some characters have been replaced with other actors, many Marvel stars are returning to voice their characters in the new series. You can check out the full list below:

Andy Serkis, Angela Bassett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Benicio Del Toro, Bradley Whitford, Carrie Coon, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Sullivan, Clancy Brown, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Danai Gurira, David Dastmalchian, Djimon Hounsou, Dominic Cooper, Don Cheadle, Emily VanCamp, Evangeline Lilly, Frank Grillo, Georges St-Pierre, Hayley Atwell, Jaimie Alexander, Jeff Goldblum, Jeremy Renner, John Kani, Jon Favreau, Josh Brolin, Karen Gillan, Kat Dennings, Kurt Russell, Leslie Bibb, Mark Ruffalo, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Douglas, Michael Rooker, Natalie Portman, Neal McDonough, Ophelia Lovibond, Paul Bettany, Paul Rudd, Rachel House, Rachel McAdams, Samuel L. Jackson, Sean Gunn, Sebastian Stan, Seth Green, Stanley Tucci, Taika Waititi, Tilda Swinton, Toby Jones, Tom Hiddleston, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.

Marvel’s What If…? releases new episodes on Wednesdays. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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