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What If…? Almost Featured a Different Animation Style for Every Episode
What If...? Almost Featured a Different Animation Style for Every Episode,What If...? director Bryan Andrews explains why plans for each episode of the animated anthology series to have its own art style were abandoned.

What If…? Almost Featured a Different Animation Style for Every Episode

What If…? director Bryan Andrews recently confirmed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe animated series almost featured a different art style for every episode.

Andrews discussed the evolution of the show's look during the Marvel Studios panel at LightBox Expo 2022. He recalled how he originally intended for each entry in What If…? Season 1's nine-episode run to sport a unique aesthetic, but that the show's budget wouldn't allow it. As such, he and Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding settled on a uniform art style inspired by legendary illustrator J. C. Leyendecker, instead. Andrews added that What If…? also emphasizes moody, film noir-esque lighting to make the set designers' and background artists' workloads more manageable.

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While Andrews focused primarily on What If…?'s inspirations during the LBX panel, he's not shy about highlighting the way the Disney+ series has itself influenced the wider MCU. Specifically, Andrews noted in a previous interview that Season 1, Episode 4, "What if… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?" shaped the creative direction of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. "[The film's creative team] had kernels of ideas, so [Marvel Studios President] Kevin [Feige] had them watch our stuff and was like, 'You guys better watch out, cause this shit's good,'" he said. "And they came out of that meeting just going like, 'Oh my God, what are we gonna do for a movie?' [Laughs] I think they borrowed a lot from what we were trying to do in that episode, which is crazy."

What If…? Director Teases A 'Wackier' Season 2

Andrews is currently hard at work on What If…? Season 2, which is set to mine the MCU Phases Three and Four for characters and story ideas. A sneak peek at the animated anthology series' next batch of episodes screened at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 that confirmed appearances by Thor: Ragnarok's Hela and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Wenwu. The SDCC footage also revealed that some of Season 1's most prominent figures, including Captain Carter, Black Widow and Steve Rogers, are back in Season 2.

Andrews discussed the greater creative freedom at his disposal for What If…? Season 2 in a recent interview. "Now, there [are] more films and things to pull from, so we don't have to have just a tiny moment," he said. "We can expand out and things can get a little bit wackier. We take it up a notch in Season 2 and then in Season 3 we just go even wackier."

What If…? Season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+. Season 2 does not yet have an official release date, but is expected to arrive sometime in 2023.

Source: LBX 2022, via Laughing Place