What If Episode Runtimes: How Long Is Each Episode of Marvel’s Animated Series?

Marvel's What If...? clocks in with a shorter runtime than any of Marvel Studios' live-action shows, according to new intel revealed ahead of the original animated series' August 11 premiere on Disney+. Set in the ever-expanding Multiverse cracked open in the season finale of Loki, the first animated series from Marvel Studios and producer Kevin Feige promises to be just as important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as its live-action counterparts. Episodes of What If...? will run for about as long as individual episodes WandaVision, each with a shorter runtime per episode than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki.

According to ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis, who screened the first three episodes released to press, episodes of What If...? are roughly thirty minutes in length. The series premieres with an episode asking "what if..." Peggy Carter (voice of Hayley Atwell), not Steve Rogers, took the Super Soldier serum to become Captain Carter?

The first season of What If...? will run for 10 episodes — more than the nine for WandaVision and six each for Falcon/Winter Soldier and Loki — with twists on MCU stories hand-picked by Feige. The Marvel chief previously revealed a What If Season 2 is already in development.

"It's an anthology," executive producer Brad Winderbaum said in a press release. "The Watcher [voice of Jeffrey Wright] introduces us each week to these alternate storylines—each a kind of cautionary tale in the spirit of The Twilight Zone. We bounce around genres and tone—some episodes will be dramatic; some will be tragic or comedic."

Questions raised by What If...? include what if T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) became Star-Lord; what if Black Widow was the survivor of an apocalyptic event caused by Ultron; what if Spider-Man was a cloaked zombie hunter; and what if Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) became the dark Doctor Strange Supreme?

"What If...?" flips the script on the MCU, reimagining famous events from the films in unexpected ways. Marvel Studios' first animated series focuses on different heroes from the MCU, featuring a voice cast that includes a host of stars who reprise their roles. The series is directed by Bryan Andrews; AC Bradley is head writer.

Marvel's What If...? is streaming August 11 on Disney+.

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