Last year, the MCU introduced a new animated series named What If…? that explored “What If” scenarios for previous MCU movies. With a second season of the animated series on the horizon, rumored to come out later this year, let’s take a look at some of the possible scenarios Marvel could explore within the infinite MCU Multiverse.
It is worth noting that two of the confirmed What If…? Season 2 episodes are ones that revolves around Captain Carter again and another which explores the Gamora we saw in the What If…? Season 1 finale. With these already being confirmed episodes, they will not be included in the list. With that out of the way, these are 10 What If…? Season 2 ideas that Marvel can have for free.
Warning: Some spoilers for previous Marvel Studios projects incoming.
What If… Maria Rambeau Became Captain Marvel?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we saw an alternate version of Captain Marvel that was Carol Danvers’ best friend, Maria Rambeau. Unfortunately, we got to see very little of this Captain Marvel, besides the fact that she was a member of the Illuminati.
An entire What If…? episode devoted to the origin story of the character could rectify this issue pretty easily. The MCU has a history of correcting previous shortcomings with future installments, The Mandarin being a notable example, so perhaps giving us an episode that focuses on the character may make the appearance in Doctor Strange 2 more impactful.
It’s also important to remember that our version of Maria Rambeau was revealed to have died of cancer in WandaVision, meaning that this alternate version of the character would provide an incredibly emotional moment if she were to interact with the main MCU. With both her best friend, Carol, and her daughter, Monica, being members of the upcoming team, The Marvels, this feels like even more of a possibility. An appearance for the character is almost certainly in the future Avengers crossover Marvel is building towards, likely to be something akin to Secret Wars.
What If… Captain America Ran For President?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
In Season 1, we got the episode What If… Ultron Won?, in which where Ultron battles the Watcher through many different universes, one of which we can’t get out of our heads. The universe in question shows Steve Rogers being sworn in as president. Questions immediately begin to arise when thinking of this universe. For starters, what scenario led to Captain America wanting to run for president? Something like that is out of character for the one we have grown to know and love in the main MCU, as Steve has never chosen to exactly go down the official path, as evidenced by his reaction to the Sokovia Accords.
A possible scenario may go to Captain America: Civil War, where maybe Captain America chose to side with the Sokovia Accords or perhaps chose to fight the accords more civilly, becoming president in an effort to revoke the Accords.
Then there also comes the fun of thinking about what this episode may look like. How would Steve Rogers deal with politics? Could we have a president that also moonlights as a superhero? Would he be forced to give up his mantle as Captain America? The episode could ask some interesting philosophical questions, so it would be fantastic if What If…? chose to look at this universe in the future.
What If… Quicksilver Survived?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
Quicksilver is a character that we only got to see in Avengers: Age of Ultron and briefly as a child in a flashback in WandaVision, which is unfortunate, especially given the obvious impact of the character’s death. While his death was not the catalyst, it certainly was a major factor towards Wanda’s “madness” in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, while Wanda certainly felt his loss, it is hard for us to totally sympathize as we only got one movie to get to know the speedster.
Also, remember that Quicksilver died saving Hawkeye, meaning that this scenario would likely have Hawkeye die instead, a character who was a mentor figure towards Wanda. What would a world without Hawkeye look like for Wanda?
Would Wanda continue down the same path if she had her brother to help her? Would Wanda still side with Captain America had she not had Hawkeye to pull her into the Civil War? If we’re not going to get a reunion between Wanda and Pietro in the main MCU, then getting an episode of What If…? that revolves around the two would be the next best thing.
What If… Ego Succeeded?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
Ego was the main villain of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, with expansion being the primary goal of the antagonist. The expansion was a procedure that involved planting his seeds all across the galaxy on numerous planets, where he would also have children with the women on those planets seeking to create a child, as he needed the help from that child to finish his expansion.
Ego’s end goal was to use the expansion process to recreate the galaxy in his image. A question that this episode of What If…? would answer is just what exactly Ego wanted his galaxy to look like.
We saw an alternate version of Ego battling the T’Challa version of Star-Lord along with Peter Quill, but we only saw him briefly, with no additional information about his plan added. The episode of What If… Ego Succeeded? likely wouldn’t follow the universe that we saw with T’Challa Star-Lord; instead, it would be a continuation of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Ego in this universe wins the fight against the Guardians. This would finally show us what Ego’s galaxy would look like.
Ego would be practically unstoppable though, which makes him a perfect candidate to replace Ultron as the main villain of a new season of What If…? as he could end up wanting to have his expansion take over every universe. The actual episode could then show how the Watcher is being more proactive against threats to the multiverse, meaning that he has saved different heroes from the universe and has them go after Ego before the celestial is able to go on his rampage through the multiverse.
As the Watcher is now willing to break his oath, perhaps he could join these heroes in defeating Ego. This would be a great episode to have in order to show us that the Watcher is not just some static character and that even a being like him can show character development over a show’s run.
What If… Thor Never Found Hulk on Sakaar?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
In a possible scenario where Hela was never released by Odin’s death, Thor and Loki never fell off the Bifrost into Sakaar, meaning that Hulk continued to live on Sakaar with the Grandmaster and Valkyrie. This means that Hulk would continue on his path of being a gladiator, possibly even resulting in Hulk never returning to Earth. Banner’s storyline in Thor: Ragnarok is an apparent reference to the Planet Hulk comics, so perhaps this episode of What If…? could look at exploring the Planet Hulk storyline further.
It’s also entirely possible that Hulk later discovers a reason as to why he should want to get off the planet, maybe because he learns of the events of Infinity War and the Snap, meaning that he has to escape the world. Seeing Hulk instead of Thor gathering an army of those trapped on Sakaar would be a sight to behold, which we could see in this “what if” scenario.
What If… Shang-Chi Stayed with Wenwu?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
In Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, we learned that Shang-Chi was sent on a mission by his father to kill the man who killed his mother. After going on this mission, though, Shang-Chi never returned, choosing to live his life free of his father and, in the process, abandoning his sister to stay with Wenwu. This episode of What If…? would look at what would’ve happened had Shang-Chi chosen to return to his father and sister.
A likely difference is that Xialing would not have become as vengeful as she was in the main MCU because her brother never abandoned her. This episode could, in general, explore more of the family dynamics between Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Wenwu, even perhaps give us an explanation as to what they were doing during previous movies.
The Ten Rings were supposedly the ones who kidnapped Tony Stark in Afghanistan, so maybe Shang-Chi leads that mission, and we get to see him interact with Tony. Even if it was a fake Ten Rings outfit, Shang-Chi could instead be sent on a mission to take down the outfit and perhaps even rescue Tony Stark. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was an excellent movie, so getting anything related to the film would prove to be a treat.
What If… Hawkeye Sacrificed Himself Instead of Black Widow?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
One of the crucial moments in Avengers: Endgame is when Black Widow sacrifices herself on Vormir. This moment has a huge ripple effect, as Hawkeye finds himself struggling to come to terms with her sacrifice, but it would be interesting to see how the ripple effect works when it is Hawkeye who instead sacrifices himself. A notable change would be that Natasha gets to reunite with her sister, Yelena, meaning that this universe wouldn’t have the vengeful Yelena we see in the Hawkeye series.
We also have the question of how does Natasha’s survival affect characters like Kate Bishop and Echo? We could perhaps see Echo somehow still figure out that Hawkeye was Ronin and thus become the antagonist of the episode as she seeks a sort of vengeance against Clint by going after Natasha.
This “what if” scenario would instead look at what Natasha’s guilt looks like as opposed to the one that the main MCU’s Hawkeye feels. How does Natasha deal with the death of her best friend? Would we see Natasha going to talk to the Barton family? This episode could prove to be an excellent exploration of survivor’s guilt and an absolutely incredible and emotional episode of What If…?
What If… The Gods Helped During Infinity War?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
In Thor: Love and Thunder, we visit the Omnipotence City, where we meet not only Zeus but also numerous other gods, both named and unnamed. However, we never get a mention as to what these gods were doing during the events of Infinity War and the Snap, even though these events would likely have affected the gods. Maybe it wouldn’t have impacted them directly, as perhaps they weren’t included in getting snapped away by Thanos, but that doesn’t mean that their loyal subjects were immune to getting snapped.
This What If…? episode would take a look at the Snap from the gods’ point of view, with the beings deciding to intervene as the Snap would clearly impact them one way or another. Would the gods be able to go up against an Infinity Stone-powered Thanos?
Perhaps in this universe, Thanos is taking direct aim at the gods as well, feeling the need to include them in his Snap, which in turn forces the gods to get themselves involved. Many were disappointed that we didn’t get to see the gods in action in Thor: Love and Thunder, a mistake that this episode of What If…? could rectify. To see these powerful beings arrive on Wakanda and/or Titan and fight against the Mad Titan would truly be an epic sight to behold.
What If… Thor Went For the Head?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
In Avengers: Infinity War, we witness half of the universe get snapped away from existence. There are plenty of different scenarios where the Snap could’ve been stopped. The signature one is where Thor failed to stop the Snap by impaling Thanos’ chest, to which Thanos says, “You should have gone for the head.”
This scenario would look at what would’ve happened if Thor had gone for the head and stopped the Snap. What would the world of the MCU look like had the Snap never happened?
In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we get a glimpse into what this world would possibly look like, as it seems that Earth-838 is thriving with technological advances that Earth-616 does not have. With the Illuminati having stopped Thanos, they didn’t need to deal with the rebuilding that Earth-616 dealt with after both the Snap and the Blip.
This episode would also be able to look at what happened to the Avengers immediately following Infinity War, this time as the heroes who saved half the universe.
What If… The Other Half Got Snapped?
What If…? Season 2 Ideas
This last idea would look at a scenario where the opposite people were snapped away at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. In this alternate take on the events of Avengers: Endgame, we would get to see how characters like Wanda would deal with the immediate aftermath of Vision’s death, how Star-Lord and most of the Guardians deal with Gamora’s death, and what the Wakandans would do if they still had T’Challa leading them. Some other things that would be interesting to see is how Sam and Bucky react to Steve being gone and what Nick Fury and Maria Hill would do if they weren’t snapped away.
We have not seen a ton of what happened during the five years in between Avengers: Infinity War and the main events of Avengers: Endgame, which this episode of What If…? could also choose to explore more of. Perhaps we get to see a more in-depth search for Thanos, with Wanda and Star-Lord seeking their revenge against him. Wanda versus Thanos is one of the big moments that came out of Endgame even though it was so fleeting, so this episode could provide an even more epic battle between the two. If Thor is the one to kill Thanos in the main MCU, then Wanda, or possibly Star-Lord, would certainly be a top choice to do the deed here.
