Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: ant man, black panther, bleeding cool, cable, captain america, comic books, Comics, guardians of the galaxy, marvel, Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, squeeze, streaming, television, The Watcher, thor, tv, what if

"What If…?": Animation Studio Squeeze to Produce 5 Eps of Disney+/Marvel Studios' Anthology Series

Marvel Studios has found the animation studio to bring The Watcher's tales to life, with Québec City-based animation studio Squeeze (Cracké) officially on board to create five episodes of  Disney+'s What If…?, set to premiere on the streaming service in Summer 2021.

Based on the popular and continually "reincarnated" comic book series of the same name and originally announced in April 2019, the 10-episode series looks at key main and supporting characters from Marvel's film and television worlds through an "alternative history" lens.

"Marvel was looking for a world-class animation studio to come up with a fresh and unique style that would be in keeping with their brand essence. We really clicked, right from our initial talks in Los Angeles last year, and they loved our proposal. I'm thrilled that our artists' creativity and talent resonated so strongly in Hollywood."

– Denis Doré, CEO & Co-Founder, Squeeze

Co-founded by Denis Doré and Patrick Beaulieu in 2011, Squeeze has worked with companies such as Disney, Marvel, Universal, Illumination, WarnerMedia, and video game company Ubisoft. With studios based in Quebec City and Montreal, the company has a creative team of nearly 150 people working on 3D animation projects.

At last month's Toy Fair 2020, Hasbro confirmed the release window for a number of upcoming Marvel series – including What If…?. In the following slide from the company's presentation covering Marvel's future television, film, and video game plans, we see that What If…? is (as of now) on track for a 2021 debut.

Now while this isn't chiseled in stone or "from the mountaintop", it's something for fans to work off of – our biggest takeaways? Loki and Ms. Marvel aren't a surprise, though What If…? caught me off-guard – was expecting late 2020 premiere. As for Hawkeye? We're not sure why, but we still can't shake this feeling that it's either not going to happen or has "2022" written all over it – even with Jeremy Renner teasing that he's starting to train for filming.

From Paul Rudd and Natalie Portman to Chadwick Boseman and Hayley Atwell, here's a look at the cast – all under the "watchful" eye of Jeffrey Wright's (Westworld) The Watcher:

● Ant-Man: Rudd as Ant-Man and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym

● Black Panther: Boseman as Black Panther and Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger

● Captain America: Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Atwell as Peggy Carter, Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, and Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan

● Guardians of the Galaxy: Karen Gillan as Nebula, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Michael Rooker as Yondu, and Djimon Hounsou as Korath

● Thor: Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Portman as Jane Foster, Taika Waititi as Korg, and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster

● Marvel Cinematic Universe: Josh Brolin as Thanos, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark

Variety (exclusive)

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