Exploring the Marvel multiverse is all the rage these days… which is to be expected when Phases 4-6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are being collectively referred to as The Multiverse Saga. Spider-Man: No Way Home, Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels and Deadpool & Wolverine have all played with alternate realities to one degree or another in live-action, and then What If… ? has been playing with this subject matter on the animated front. We’re just a month away from What If… ? Season 3 premiering on the 2024 TV schedule, and some new information has come to light that has me wondering if the upcoming Marvel movies Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have something to do with the show ending.
Brad Winderbaum, the Head of Streaming, Television and Animation at Marvel Studios, stopped by Phase Hero to discuss the recently-concluded Agatha All Along and the slate of upcoming Marvel TV shows, including What If… ? Season 3. While discussing what’s ahead for Jeffrey Wright’s Uatu and the characters who will come into his orbit for this final batch of episodes, the executive said this:
I cannot say too much, but I’m just gonna put this out there, that there are bigger universe reasons why it feels like What If… ? needs to coast in for a landing right now. It doesn’t mean there can’t be more What If… ? down the road, but it is part of a bigger tapestry that’s being woven in real time.
Although Winderbaum didn’t outright mention Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, surely those of you reading this can understand how the tease of a “bigger tapestry” has me thinking about these movies. Just like Infinity War and Endgame in The Infinity Saga, Doomsday and Secret Wars are set to be the climactic chapters that bring The Multiverse Saga to a close. I can’t think of any “bigger universe” reason for why What If… ? would need to end, even though, as Winderbaum said, that doesn’t necessarily mean the show couldn’t return someday.
What exactly could that reason be? That’s hard to say given the amount of secret surrounding Doomsday and Secret Wars, even by Marvel Studios’ standards. Plot-wise, aside from the Avengers obviously reforming, all we know is that this franchise’s Fantastic Four will appear following their debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps next summer, and Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU to play Doctor Doom, who will be the main antagonist in these movies after the plan for Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror to fill that role was scrapped.
My best guess for now is that the events that unfold in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will be so monumental that they’ll affect the multiverse in a way that won’t make it possible for What If… ? to tell its standard kind of stories. However, I am hoping that What If… ?is still able to factor into what goes down in these movies. Specifically, I’d like to see Jeffrey Wright reprise Uatu, because you know he’ll have to take notice of what’s happening.
What If… ? Season 3 will be released daily to those who are signed up with a Disney+ subscription starting December 22. Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on May 1, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars follows on May 7, 2027.
