What If…? Season 2 blends the MCU with an iconic sci-fi franchise

The first episode of What If…? Season 2 just dropped – and it mashes up the MCU with a beloved science fiction property.

This tracks with What If…?’s alternate timeline conceit, which allows the animated anthology series to experiment with different genres and tones.

Examples of this freewheeling approach from Season 1 include horror-comedy “What If…Zombies?!” and tragic love story “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?”

What If…? Season 2 is set to push the envelope even further, particularly in its third entry, which seemingly takes its cues from classic Christmas action flick Die Hard.

What If…? Season 2 blends the MCU with an iconic sci-fi franchise

Fans have already had a taste of Season 2’s willingness to ape famous films in Episode 1, “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”

As its title suggests, the second season’s premiere installment sees Nebula (Karen Gillan) – freed from Thanos’ influence much earlier – recruited by space cops, the Nova Corps. The blue-hued cyborg soon embarks on an investigation on the Corps’ homeworld, Xandar, after a major MCU figure turns up dead.

The resulting neo-noir tale owes a big debt to one of the genre’s greatest efforts: Blade Runner. From its flying police cars to neon-illuminated, rain-drenched streets, it’s clear What If…? Season 2’s opening outing borrows heavily from Ridley Scott’s 1982 cult favorite and its sequel, 2017’s Blade Runner 2049.

Blade Runner riffs are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the What If…? creative team’s vision for the show’s future, too. Director Bryan Andrews said as much in a 2022 interview, indicating that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has finally given the What If…? crew permission to cut loose.

What If…? director teases “wackier” Season 3

“[In] the first season Kevin wanted to keep it a little bit closer to the vest, have a little thing that was different,” Andrews explained. “And that little thing made these things different, but still tied very much to either a moment in the movies or a particular film itself.”

“Now there’s more films and things to pull from, so we don’t have to have just a tiny moment,” he added. “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 2 Episode 1 is now streaming on Disney+, with further episodes dropping daily until December 30. Find out more about What If…? Season 2 here.