Posted in: Disney+, Marvel, TV | Tagged: A.C. Bradley, disney, Marvel Studios, season 2, what if

What If …? Showrunner Teases Writing "Very, Very Dark" Spider-Man Ep

What If...? showrunner A.C. Bradley discussed having greater creative freedom in Season 2 & teased a Spider-Man episode that wasn't produced.

One of the Marvel Studios' first original creations for Disney+ was its animated pseudo-anthology series What If …? that tweaks narratives of the existing MCU weaving into new stories. Two of the arcs that lead into the season finale were the epic clash between variants with Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, who was able to carve her legacy as the super soldier (instead of her love interest Steve Rogers) as Captain Carter, and Benedict Cumberbatch's Strange Supreme, a tragic incarnation who abuses his power out of remorse spiraling out of control as a threat to the universe. Joined by new hero Kahhori, played by Devery Jacobs, she and Carter battle Strange thanks to the guidance of the Wanderer (Jeffrey Wright). Showrunner A.C. Bradley opened up about the differences between both seasons and how creativity was loosened for season two.

Marvel's What If …? Evolution from Seasons One to Two

"With Season 1, there was a push to use the headliners, to do the Tony Stark episode, to do the Black Panther episode and Doctor Strange," Bradley told IGN. "But with Season 2, we had a bit more freedom. At the end of the day, we're not writing the big blockbuster, 100-million-dollar movie. We're not even showrunning the live-action TV shows. We're the scrappy, little animation show slipping under the Marvel machine radar. So, it was really subconscious, but I think we veered toward the scrappy characters in Season 2. We started with the second stringers, the undervalued and overlooked, like Nebula [Karen Gillan], Darcy [Kat Dennings], and Hela."

While recording for season two was done remotely from January 2020 – October 2020, there was an episode that was left on the cutting room floor, "It felt like the world was already ending, and we didn't need to add to it," Bradley said. "And so it became kind of an escape and a fun release. However, I did write an episode, which is forever going in a drawer, that was very, very dark. I was calling it 'Children of Men with Spider-Man.'" For more, including a breakdown of each episode, you can check out the interview here. Marvel's What If …? is available to stream on Disney+.

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