Marvel’s What If…? Head Writer Teases Surprise Marvel Cinematic Universe Cameos

Marvel Studios animated series What If…? has “more than a few” surprise cameos from actors and characters across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, teases head writer A.C. Bradley. Part of Phase Four of the MCU and produced by Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige, What If…? features multiple actors reprising their respective roles from Marvel Studios live-action feature films, including Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman in his final performance. Surveyed by the all-seeing and all-knowing Watcher (voice of Jeffrey Wright), the heroes and villains of the MCU will feature in stories presenting alternate realities in the Marvel multiverse that ask: “What if…?”

“I can say that there are more than a few surprising MCU cameos,” Bradley tweeted when asked about as-yet-revealed returning actors, “and characters can and do pop up in more than one episode!”

Episodes of What If…? will “feature a different moment from the MCU and turn it on its head,” Feige said when detailing the series at Disney Investor Day 2019. Scenarios include: what if Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) received the Super Soldier Serum? And what if T’Challa (Boseman) became legendary outlaw Star-Lord?

In 2019, Bradley clarified confusion that What If…? would dedicate at least one episode to every installment from the now 23-movie MCU, explaining the animated series involves “the majority” of characters from the franchise — and that many of them would appear in the same episodes.

“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.”

A movie-per-episode is “not the objective,” Bradley added. “The objective is to hopefully see the majority of characters from all 23 movies. You’ll see multiple characters in an episode.”

Previously announced voice actors include the following: Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Thanos (Josh Brolin), 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).

The 10-episode first season of Marvel’s What If…? premieres this summer on Disney+.

If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here. Note: If you purchase one of the awesome, independently chosen products featured here, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.