Marvel’s What If..? Writers Were Given One Rule for Using Spider-Man

When it comes to Hollywood, the film and television rights to Spider-Man become pretty messy. Sony owns the feature film rights to the web-slinger and his extensive family of characters. We know that, because the Culver City-based studio has made seven live-action movies featuring Peter Parker, and an additional Oscar-winning animated picture. Beyond that, however, things get real murky, real fast. When AC Bradley and her team were developing Marvel’s What If…? for Disney+, they weren’t immediately sure if they’d be allowed to use the character.

As it turns out, Bradley was instructed to tell the best story possible she could and let the lawyers figure out the rest. Away they worked and as we all know by now, the suits managed to get everything figured out. Come Wednesday, What If…? hits Disney+ and shortly thereafter, Zombie Hunter Spider-Man will join the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse.

“I think that works with ‘people above our pay grade,’” Bradley recently told UPROXX. “Though, I think I did ask that early on. I was like, ‘Can we just touch Spider-Man?’ And they went, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re going to figure it out. Just tell the best story you can, and we’ll cross that bridge.’ That was kind of the mandate across the board with Marvel: As long as you’re not doing something that we’re doing in the movies, go have fun and we’ll figure it out.”

What If…? director Bryan Andrews echoed the sentiment, suggesting he and Bradley were instructed to worry about the storytelling and nothing more.

“No, they want the quality,” the helmer said of Marvel Studios. “They want to go for the quality and they’re like, ‘Yeah, let’s go. And all that BS is stuff that we have to deal with.’ It’s like, ‘We’ll deal with that. Don’t worry about it.’ Which I think that’s awesome. From day one on all their projects, it’s quality all the way down the line. You know what I mean? And that’s great.”

Marvel’s What If…? is set for release on Disney+ beginning August 11th.

What What If… storylines do you hope to see in the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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