As Marvel continues to expand its universe over on Disney+ with a massive lineup of shows, last summer the studio released its first animated series with What If…? The series saw the return of fan-favorite characters such as Black Panther and Doctor Strange into circumstances that didn’t happen in the movies, but what if they did? On Friday afternoon, San Diego Comic-Con hosted Marvel Animation’s first panel, and among the many announcements, including more details on Spider-Man: Freshman Year, the animators unveiled a first look at What If…? Season 2. On that note, get ready for more of Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter!
We've known that What If…? would return for a while, but at the SDCC panel, the creators behind the streaming series shared with us the first episode of Season 2, and it’s called “What If... Captain Carter Fought The HYDRA Stomper?” Don’t worry, we’ll leave out the major spoilers of the episode out so you can enjoy it when it is released in early 2023, but in some poetic symmetry, it involves Captain Carter meeting Steve Rogers in the present day.
Much like the journey of Steve Rogers in the core MCU story starring Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell’s What If…? Captain Carter makes it to modern times and befriends Black Widow in what looks to be the same year as 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier judging by her blunt copper hairstyle from that movie. In the Season 2 episode, Peggy and Natasha work together to take down a threat called the HYDRA Stomper, which happens to be Steve Rogers. Except, as you can imagine, Peggy doesn’t want to lose Steve.
In the upcoming What If…? episode, it’s awesome to see Peggy Carter’s arc as Captain Carter continue to develop in this debut Season 2 episode. And as the panelists playfully confirmed ahead of the surprise episode premiere, no, this is not the same Captain Carter who got annihilated by Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
If you may recall, What If…? Itself began with Captain Carter with the show's first episode, which was called “What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?” With that in mind, I can’t think of a better way for Marvel Animation to continue to tell What If…? stories. Additionally, the episode features a familiar voice and character in the form of Rachel Weisz’s Melina, who was introduced in 2021’s Black Widow, so look out for her among other cameos!
Along with seeing the first episode of What If…? at the first ever Marvel Animation San Diego Comic-Con panel, the panelists also showed an early look at Season 2 with a trailer of the coming season. The sneak peek featured Hela from Thor: Ragnarok and Valkyrie and Korg from the Thor movies, as well as the tease that one episode is based on Neil Gaiman’s alternative universe limited series 1602.
We’ll keep you updated here on CinemaBlend about more upcoming Marvel as it is announced, especially with more San Diego Comic-Con announcements.
