Marvel Studios’ What If…? Season 1 Behind the Scenes

Hey, this is Josh Keaton and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. at the wrong time.

What if one choice changed everything? What if

every reality came down to one single moment?

Join me. Explore the multiverse and ask the question,

what if? Hello and welcome to Tooncast. This

is episode 244. That's right, folks, 244 episodes.

Holy crap. I am, of course, Steve, Joe, and Mike,

joining me for what is probably going to be the

last Superhero Saturday for a while. I said this

last time, but it is Alice in Sky Richards. Hello.

Hello. How are you? Um... The thread is is very

very thin. I need to just stop asking you this

question Well things have happened since the

last time we recorded this podcast and It's not

that I don't want to reveal I like I've always

been honest with the listeners. It's not that

I haven't been but Karen I haven't really talked

yet, so we're not really making what's going

on public but It's bad, but it's not. It's yeah,

it's um, sometimes I wish I lived in a what if

universe that, you know, this like, oh, Jesus,

I'm going to turn myself into Dr. Stephen Strange.

Great. The evil version of him. I was gonna say,

please, please, please don't be Stevie Strange

from this show. Lord okay, so we're here to talk

about the Marvel Studios assembled this is the

most recent episode I believe it is episode 5

on Disney plus it is all about behind the scenes

of what if and as you folks heard in the very

beginning of this podcast that is Most likely

gonna be the narration I use Going forward like

at the very end When it did at the beginning

of the show when Jeffrey says at the end of it,

he says ask the question It's just this clear

because it shows him in the booth recording the

line. So there's no music There's no this there's

no that and it was very cool watching this. Yeah

the one thing that I I liked for this Sorry,

my brain actually just died. I need to put more

caffeine in. Okay, well, we can take a break.

We'll be back right after this, folks. We were

looking at how to grow, how to expand, how to

evolve post -Endgame and into Phase 4. And we

had tons of ideas for features and for follow

-ups to existing characters and introducing new

characters. But it was Disney Plus and the idea

of Disney Plus that really allowed us to roll

up our sleeves and do things we hadn't done before.

We had to think, what ideas are worth doing in

animation that we couldn't do anywhere else?

And it was Brad Winterbaum who came into my office

and said, what about doing a what if? We have

so many fans now. We have so many people that

have watched our movies multiple times. Everybody

knows how things happened, how Iron Man became

Iron Man, how Cap became Cap. that the what -if

series from comics was always such a great way

of putting a spin on it. This was really interesting

to see. This was between all the producer notes

and all the discussions that they had and seeing

Jeffrey do the lines and them talking about how

they adapted the what -if concept for the Marvel

Universe. or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whatever

you want to call it. Yeah, and I really liked

how they kind of went into their thought process

for choices they made both story -wise and artistic.

Like, I didn't realize that, but I should have

realized it, that Norman Rockwell was a big inspiration

to the art. side. And when I sit back and I look

now, especially like at Captain Carter, you're

just like, yeah, yeah, that really has a lot

of Norman Rockwell. And then of course, they're

showing these character sketches, and then it

has the typical Norman Rockwell, you know, orange

-ish bubble that the top part of the characters

are, you know, displayed in for their character

sketch. Right. And it's like, I kept looking

at the style as we were watching it and being

like, this feels familiar. This feels familiar.

And it wasn't until watching this episode of

assembled that I'm like, Oh, that's where it

comes from. Yeah, exactly. And they talk about

it being 2d, 3d, half D, whatever you want to

call it. I 3d cartoons are a little weird to

me. They've always it doesn't matter how good

they improve but the The third dimension aspect

of animation has always been weird to me. I always

really more so enjoy the cell shaded 2d animation

and that's what I felt like this was and I love

seeing them and hearing them talk about the process

as you said about the inspiration for it and

how it comes together as an overall design. Yeah,

and even then, they're still experimenting on

things with, you know, experimenting with with

light and lenses and, you know, angles. I had

to actually look up what an anamorphic lens was.

To find out what they're actually talking about

and and it's Basically, it's what turns normal

video into a widescreen So, you know and it makes

it the video smoother and I'm like, hmm, you

know, I see how that is You know how that's used

so much today with all of these Smartphones and

movies that you're used to seeing those those

dimensions the computer screens even the 11 the

11 nine computer screen. So having having the

animation being you know created in that style

you know makes complete sense. Yeah, and it's

a beautiful piece of animation to look at it

really is the whole show all nine episodes even

the Even the zombie episode and I'm not saying

that because I dislike Marvel zombies I'm saying

it that way because I'm not a zombie person.

I just don't This just not my thing and that's

okay However, that Marvel zombies episode is

probably the best animated representation we

are ever gonna get of that concept and from listening

to to them about how they how they used what

if to kind of like to bring it in it kind of

sounds like there and then some of the other

things I said it's kind of like Like they're

testing the ground for animating and making a

Marvel zombies world and I bet you if the reaction

was What they hoped for I wouldn't be surprised

if we either see more of the zombie world in

season 2 or if they actually like make their

own Spinoff of it where they start at the very

beginning to how the zombie apocalypse happened

and Wind it all the way to the point Where we

came in with what if. Yeah, absolutely. And I

said this in the last episode of the show. I

don't know what, you know, I know there was supposed

to be the Gomorrah episode and that's, that's

fine. If they could have fit that in, they would

have, but you know, COVID does what COVID does,

I guess, but it is what it is. Yeah, we're still

going to see it. But what I'm saying is. See,

having seen the nine episodes and how they put

those together. I don't know where that would

have fit in. I don't like you get to episode

one, two, three, and four, and then episode five

is the zombies. Episode six is. Oh God. Um, what

is episode six? Episode six. He know episode

six is killmonger Okay, seven then send seven

is Thor and then eight is Ultron and nine is

is is worth the watcher broke his oath Yeah,

I'm not sure looking at this the only place maybe

You could have put it is Between Carter and T

'Challa between episodes one and two Don't know

where it was supposed to be originally and it

doesn't matter at this point but my point is

with it being pushed to season two and how they

Tied like what if has always been? Oh this tale

that tale, but they're using the Marvel Cinematic

Universe instead of the Marvel comics They aren't

gonna with that like I saw and I don't want to

I try not to dwell on these things, but I have

to bring them up sometimes. I saw a very clickbaity

article from comicbookresources .com. Ten stories

that the Marvel What If animated series should

adapt from the comics. Did they not, whoever

wrote that article, did they not understand that

this is from the MCU? This is not pulling from

the comics. Hey, maybe they could, but there's

so many threads in the MCU that you can create

stories with. I mean, you know, 13, 14, 15, however

the hell long it's been for all those movies.

Like you don't necessarily need to go to the

comics. Yeah. But the thing is, is that they

are still pulling from the comics. Marvel zombies

only exists in comics and they brought that into

the MCU. What is the other thing that they brought

in from the comics? There's one other one that

they brought in from the comics for that. Oh,

gosh. I mean, there are story ideas that are

brought in, but this article was basically like,

adapt this specific story, like adapt the story

where, from the comics, where Barbara Ketch,

instead of Danny Ketch, becomes Ghost Rider.

When they were talking about that, oh, well.

They were talking about their their introduction

to the universe in that article. In that part,

not comic book resource, but like the assembly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it assembled. But

that's what I'm saying. The article on the web

on the on the other website was like, oh, they

should make an animated series episode out of

this. And I'm just whatever. Anyway, well. And

I mean, we are going to see another What If story

actually appear in the MCU in the movies, because

the idea of Jane Foster becoming Thor, which

is going to be part of Love and Thunder, that's

actually originally a What If story. Is it really?

Yeah. Huh. That's originally a What If story.

I did not know that. Another thing that began

in What If is Professor Hulk, Smart Hulk. Yep.

That's a What If story originally. I mean, zombies

was Marvel zombies. But yeah, I mean, so stuff

from the comics has made its transition into

the MCU. I mean, Clint Barton's background is

actually all ultimates. True or his MCU background

And What is the other there's there's a couple

other things from that came directly from the

comics into the MCU without any changes But yeah,

so So I wouldn't be surprised what they would

do is they would look at some of the, um, the,

the comic book ideas and say, okay, where were

these people in the MCU? How can we do this as

an MCU side? So, you know, we haven't, we have

a, I don't know if Ghost Rider is actually canon

for the MCU. But if it does become canon, then

I don't see why we couldn't have a Barbara episode,

but until we have an MCU version of him that's

accepted in MCU, we won't. Yeah, it's just, it's

crazy what they can and can't use. It's crazy

with all these rights and whatever. Yeah. Have

you seen the Morbius trailer that recently dropped?

No, I haven't been avoiding that one right now.

Well, it's probably not something you want to

watch. I watched it. I'll say this. Leto does

a better Morbius than he does Joker. But it.

It just it's very horrifying. I guess But this

Marvel what if behind -the -scenes I loved listening

to all of this the only thing I wish this special

had is I wish it had talked to Laura Cartman

the composer for the music That's the only thing

that I think is missing from this behind -the

-scenes Thing and I know it's a 40 -minute thing

and they can only fit so much in but I mean the

music is so much To me anyway, the music is always

in anything whether it's animation whether it's

movies if there's a specific scored piece of

media like I don't necessarily count like sitcoms

because sitcoms have Half the thing is a laugh

track most of the time. But anyway Yeah, that

was the only thing I felt was missing but I mean

this It was just nice to hear how invested, like

when I think it was, yeah, it was Brad Winderbaum

who said something about bringing in Brian, I

think it's Brian Andrews, I could be wrong. We

had been working with Brian Andrews for many

years at Marvel Studios. He had boarded some

of our most iconic action sequences. I worked

with him on Ant -Man 1 when he designed Scott

Lang's first descent into the quantum realm at

the end of that movie. And he had taken a big

hand most recently as part of the story room

that cracked the finale of Endgame, which was

a combination of storyboard artists and Chris

and Steve, the writers. And frankly, when I pitched

what if to Kevin and things were happening so

fast, I just called Brian. who I knew and said,

hey, dude, do you want to work on this together?

And his response was, well, yeah, man, of course.

Like, I love their enthusiasm. I love that they

have all been kind of in the Marvel Cinematic

Universe behind the scenes stuff. Like they said

in the special, Brian's almost been there since

the beginning, since Iron Man. And you can really

tell. The dedication the pride the love that

they are putting into this and it's just so much

fun Yeah, and I The thing that that really got

to me from that one which is probably the reason

why I love this series a lot is When they brought

up talking about when they brought in AC Bradley

as an EP and how sure focus is on maintaining

the core of who these characters are, even if

they're in different multiverses. And that's

like, for me, that's a very big thing. I mean,

first of all, everybody who has ever listened

to me talk knows that I go to stories for character.

I examine character when I'm watching things.

For me, that's like my big thing when I look

at fan fiction even is I don't care what the

AU is, you know, that they're putting the characters

in. I want to still be able to recognize that

character for the core elements in them. And

if people can do that and keep that essence of

that character, That is one of the signs of a

great writer is being able to keep hold of who

those characters are. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. And

that's why knowing that they brought in her specifically

to keep that, that just sells me more on the

whole development team and what their priorities

were for this series. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. It's

absolutely a great, great team that they put

together. It's from seeing the drawings to seeing

the completed animation to seeing the cells and

just hearing their excitement for the ideas that

they unfolded. And I like, and I've said this

before, I like that it is, seems to me anyway,

one multiverse. Yes, you have various, you know,

you have Thor from here. You have a dark Thor

who seems to be a douchebag you have you know

Killmonger you got Captain Carter you have all

these people who are different from the regular

MCU that we know from all these different worlds

But with the one exception of with the Watcher

tying them all together into one universe one

multiverse Making them the guardians of the multiverse

That's just like I didn't want these to just

be one one -off stories by by episode six I was

like, oh these all have to tie in somehow and

then we got seven eight nine Yeah, and like I

said in our reviews of episode eight and episode

nine. That's essentially a two -parter between

what Ultron What if Ultron 1 and what if the

Watcher broke his oath? Because that was one

hell of a finale. Yeah. And we know we're going

to come back to Captain Carter because of that

tag at the end of the final episode. And in this

episode of Assembled, you know, they also talk

about how season two is going to be a big thing

of relationship between Captain Carter and the

Watcher. So I don't see that there were I don't

see us not visiting any of these worlds again,

because there are actually still plots to all

of them. I mean, we have in in in even a Marvel

zombie thing. We still have T 'Challa and Spidey

and and and the head of Scott, you know, trying

to find a cure. You know and what's that care

gonna do you know still have that you still have

you know doctor you know strange watching over

this battle between ultron and kill monger you

know so so there are still more scary more stories

to tell me there's so much more to go with the

ravagers. That they can do it's gonna be sad

that they will have to recast for the voice But

you know if they recast at all. I don't know

if they will I don't think I would want them

to recast because as You know in the in the in

the visual movie, you know, they're not gonna

recast you know, him there. But in the animation,

you can continue T 'Challa's story. And you can

get a voice that can get really close to Chadwick,

and people can still allow themselves to continue

to see stories from him. That's true. I'm just

trying to go through my mental Rolodex of all

the voice actors that I know who could potentially

pull that off. Yeah. It's just like, you know,

I wouldn't wish for anyone, you know, everyone

to stop voicing an animated Batman if Kevin Conroy,

when Kevin Conroy passes in 20 ,000 years. Yes,

that is true. However, they're I think it's a

different precedence because Batman has always

had multiple, yes, Kevin Conroy, number one definitive

in my mind, but all the different Batman series

all have different actors doing it, and that's

fine. But with, I don't know, I don't know if

it's because he passed, if it's just because

he passed, or it's because of what he brought

to the role of the character. Now I have not

read any of the T 'Challa stuff in the comics.

I have a whole page and a half of Black Panther

comics. Cause when they, I think it was, I want

to say when it either hit Disney Plus or right

after he died, Comixology put like literally

almost every single issue of Black Panther, any

of the Black Panther series for free. Yeah. And

I just grabbed them all, but I've never actually

read those yet. So for me, it's solely is Chadwick.

And like you said, yes, there could be somebody

out there that could do a Very very close impersonation

impression. I don't want to say impersonation.

I'll say impression I mean, I don't technically

they're they're kind of the same thing, but I

Don't know. It's just gonna be weird. Yeah, but

in the end, I also don't think Chadwick would

have wanted his T 'Challa's stories to have stopped

in the MCU just because you know, he passed.

I feel that because he knows how much it means

to young black boys to have a hero that looks

like them, that they would want to have that

continued. And I would want to have that continued

for them. Yeah, absolutely. What else do we need

to say about the behind the scenes thing? Anything

else you want to bring up? I kind of love that

guy's desk who had all the toy helmet. But then

again, it's not like I'm not sitting currently

in a room that, you know, is half covered in

the four Robins all behind me. So, and then Clint

over to my side. Got to keep them by the hip,

right? Oh, yeah. Inspiration. That's right. Oh,

man. So he has to know I... I just really like

these shows for how they show the behind the

scenes. I love listening to Jeffrey Wright and

him just even talking about how he developed

his voice. One of the things we're exploring

in phase four, which we've talked about, is the

multiverse. And what if... As almost every episode

is narrated by the character The Watcher, a very

important character in the comics that we've

never really seen much of in the MCU, briefly,

we saw some Watchers as a little cameo with Stan

Lee in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Anyway,

before I was so rudely interrupted... We know

the way it worked in the movies we watched. He's

showing us other ways it could have gone. In

a multiverse of infinite possibility, is your

destiny determined by your nature? or by the

nature of your world. We knew that we were going

to do The Watcher. The Watcher is a big part

of What If. We needed this guide to help us navigate

these vast new realities. And the voice we all

heard in our head was Jeffrey Wright from day

one. I am The Watcher. Where humans see chaos,

I see the crucible that would transform this

collection of individuals into a team of heroes.

The Watcher kind of serves as a Rod Serling to

the Twilight Zone. Kind of narrating the events,

but also sometimes passive, sometimes not participant.

Oh, you're so close. The answer is right there.

The Watcher is a celestial extraterrestrial being.

It always surprises me. Let his actual voice

is not the deep voice that he uses for certain

characters. Yeah. It always surprises me that

he's a little higher pitched in real life with

his normal voice, but when he uses that instrument.

You just stand at attention and listen to the

man, no matter what he's talking about. Yeah.

I think he was introduced, if I'm not mistaken,

in a Fantastic Four comic in 1963, where we discover

him on the moon. And he's introduced on the cover

as the most dramatic being humanity. So eager,

so willing to face the impossible, yet blind

to the bigger picture. The language is very cool

and it kind of, you know, it speaks to a certain

tone. He's obviously got to have a kind of strength

and a kind of, you know, gravitas and power and

all that stuff. Time. Space. Reality. It's more

than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibilities.

I like the idea of doing animation, of using

the voice, really, as, you know, from my perspective,

as, you know, the whole character. I really just

pretty much do what I do with any script, though,

and anything is just try to find the music that's

on the page and figure out if I can play it,

you know? I am the Watcher. I am your guide through

these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder

the question What if I just love the whole how

the whole team really came together? Yeah, I

also loved how when they were coming up with

like an idea of a dark Thor How they didn't go,

you know, like how they didn't go the automatic

like evil route Like, you know didn't make him

out to be like what Loki is in our current TV

But they made him a frat boy douchebag. And I'm

just like, yeah, no, from looking at where the

very beginning of Thor, where he was before he

lost his hammer. Yeah, that was personality.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And like we said in the

Thor episode. My mother is coming and she's very

bad and they're like Yeah, yeah, and he's like

we I need your help, you know and it again Do

I like douchebag party Thor like At the beginning

when I was first introduced to the character

when I wish watch that the first movie I was

like If he wasn't with the Avengers, I could

do without him. Mm -hmm. Plain and simple, have

no real interest to explore Thor, you know. Mm

-hmm. Odin's son. Now, eventually, hopefully,

Jane Foster as Thor, that's gonna be interesting.

Yeah. But, I don't know, I always roll, every

time I... As I said before, as I said in other

of our episodes, once we hit Ragnarok, I was

like, okay, I like Thor now because he's finally

not just the party dude. He's, he's kicking ass

and taking names. Not that he didn't before,

but he was more like 90, 10, 90 on the party

and 10 on the kicking ass. And by Ragnarok, he's

like. I lost an eye and I have to get it back

and I'm going to kill everybody to do so or whatever

he said, you know what I mean? And then man,

just having Dr. Strange watch over Killmonger

and Ultron, that's some phantom zone level shit

right there. It's going to be interesting. And

I mean, you know, I just have to think back about

all my appearances of my boy. Because Clint,

you know, is my boy. That's one thing I want

to see is I want to see a I want to see follow

where that widow where the where the widow at

the end of the world goes into the world without

a widow. I want to see that reunion. Yep. And

I also want to see a what -if of how Endgame

would have turned out if it had been Hawkeye

who jumped and died, you know, and Natasha had

stayed. Because I want to think that it would

have been a little different. Because not only

would you have to tie that into endgame, but

then Kate Bishop would still be there because

of the fact Kate Bishop is is, you know, going

to be taking up the the the Ronan mantle instead

of a Hawkeye mantle at the beginning. Yeah. And

so, you know, you know not get involved to find

out who the heck is pretending to be your best

friend and So the Hawkeye series would end up

being then, you know Nat and Kate and Kate would

become a you know would become basically Nat's

Mentee instead of Clint's and that's a different

type of training right there Oh, yeah, very much

also takes it from a comedy to a drama. Yep Yeah,

absolutely it's I'm very excited I think they

also said in the special something about having

potentially having a season per year. That would

be cool. I don't know if that's feasible on the

animation side because animation does take a

while, but that would be really cool if we got

season two in 2022. Yeah. Well, and here's the

other thing, the what if comics while they started

in like 77. And they still come out. But there

are like years of gaps between when they come

out. Yeah, yeah. So so I just picked up one of

the trades because it actually had a what if

what if what if Hawkeye or no sorry, what if

Clint had killed Norman Osborn during the Dark

Rain comic? storyline. And I want to look at

that one. And, you know, that's like one of the

last ones that have come out. And that was back

in like the still in the 2010s. And it was issue

198. So, they've only had 200 issues come out

since the 77. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna

be interesting to see what Season 2 does. I do

have all of the what -if trades in my wish list

on Comixology, but as we've mentioned before

over on the pull bag, Comixology is going to

be completely folded into Amazon, and I don't

like that. But it is what it is. I can't stop

it You can only get a subscription to you know

Marvel Unlimited then you can yeah there I know

but the whole point and whole reason why I loved

comics ology was it had everything from everywhere

Yes, I had to buy the actual comics whether it

was the single issues or the trades But I didn't

mind because I love their Guided View and I didn't

have to subscribe to seven different things.

Well, I will tell you from having had Marvel's

for both the Marvel and the DC versions, they

also have the Guided Views. Yeah, I know. I've

got a buddy of mine that lets me use his DC thing,

so. Yeah. So, so. And that's actually how I learned

it. And I was hoping comicsology would have it

when I finally had to break down and get some

stuff off of there. Oh, yeah. They were the first,

you know, eight years ago, they were the first

ones that I ever knew that had the guided view.

And I I can't read comics in the other way now.

Yeah. And yes, I know Marvel and DC have it,

but it's not. There have only been. Four times

in eight years that I've been using the Comixology

guided view that I've had a problem with how

the guided view is is is mapped out and a couple

of the DC ones were Poorly poorly mapped out,

but it's it is what it is. It's for another podcast

Marvel Studios, what if assembled go watch the

behind -the -scenes folks go watch season one

all nine episodes are on Disney Plus This is

fun. This is a fun journey Yes, it was and I

can't wait for season 2 so we can come back and

a have an episode where we rewatch all of Season

1 again prep And and then you know have our second

episodes also I love by the way the guys who

do honest trailers John Bailey up. Yep, and they

just made a Marvel's what if on his trailer I

Was sitting there like cracking up the whole

time I'm sure the screen junkies slash honest

trailers guys had You know not care, but I've

already recorded that audio as soon as I saw

it. I'm like Audacity record. From the studio.

You know the one. There's only like two of them

left now anyways. Comes a series based on silly

comic books. Like what if Iron Man fought King

Arthur? Or what if Wolverine was a vampire that

dares to imagine something even more ridiculous?

What if MCU writers could try something new?

But not like new new, just a slight remix of

some old favorites. Let's not go too crazy here.

Marvel's What If. Enjoy some wild animated experiments

that stay true to the MCU by having no real beginning

or end, no real message to get behind, and every

character from the most hardened warrior to the

most powerful cosmic being speaks like an AI

barfing out Chandler Bing dialogue. I simply

a poor drama. Your outfit would suggest otherwise.

Guys, I'm covered in Sharon. Do you guys just

not have horror movies in Wakanda? We don't need

them. We have American reality shows. Boom goes

the dime, right? Right now, you're running at

an eight, and I need you to take it down to a

four. Your team -building instincts need work.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell the HR. Okay, I

don't sound like that. That is so not true. That

happened. Meet the watcher the other extremely

powerful comics character who swore never to

intervene in human affairs that were meeting

this fall He's a messy bitch Who lives for drama

and this Jeffrey Wright shaped planetarium will

guide you through alternate timelines like What

if England had a pop culture icon who wasn't

a sociopath? What if every franchise was better

without Chris Pratt? What if all the Avengers

died and also agent Coulson was a five on the

Kinsey scale? He's a carcassian male mid -20s

with really great hair. It's an accurate description.

He's gorgeous hashtag Steve Steve Steve even

while rotting. He smells like lavender What if

the universe had it out for Rachel McAdams, you

know, dr? What's her face? What if she was the

key to all of this any interest? What if zombies

you guys still like zombies, right? Sorta. Okay.

How about this one? What if Killmonger the most

sympathetic villain in the entire MCU was just

destined to become evil like no matter What someone

should have killed him in his crib. What do you

mean? This isn't working for you. Fine. We'll

do it your way what if Alderaan stole vision

and chopped off Thanos arm and ate the universe

was like rawr I'm gonna eat you too and the watcher

had to be like not on my watch and they start

punching and Avengers fall out of the robots

get hit with the shield again okay you good?

You little content piggies get what you came

for? Come on why are you crying? Oh right this

is a show for kids I forget that sometimes. Kick

back and listen to find out which of your favorite

actors needed to pick up an extra check during

Covid. Play the fool with me, Fury. Michael Douglas?

Really? Then get genuinely choked up when you

realize you're hearing Chadwick Boseman do T

'Challa for the last time. It doesn't feel over.

And finally, wonder what Dave Bautista did that

caused Disney not to even reach out. All right,

principals. But regardless, thrill as a bunch

of million dollar voices emerge from heroes who

look like the characters you pay 10 bucks for

at a town fair. Because while Disney's built

its entire brand on top quality animation, everyone

deserves a break. now and then. It's been a tough

year. Are we sure they didn't buy DreamWorks

2? Our struggle seen only by a voristic space

walnut who could save us from our fates at any

time but won't. Wow. There had to be an easier

way than killing free will to explain why Terrence

Howard can't play roadie anymore or whatever.

He thinks one times one is two. So if you want

to see your favorite Marvel characters and exciting

new stories that stretch the imagination buy

a comic book But if you want more of the things

you already liked combined with other things

you already liked Resulting in something slightly

less than the sum of its parts. Well, what if

there was nothing else to watch until Eternals

comes out Wow Look at him stand there can't wait

starring I only watch the multiverse for the

articles. You Captain America. The cat is the

prat. Someone, please take this man's driver's

license. Glove, Death and Robots. Halloween 3.

Season of the Witch. Scarlet Nohansen. Gundam

Wang. Futurama did it. Asgardian Pie. Precario.

Hentai Squid, and... This is what happens when

you mess with a mouse, Robert. You have to die.

I'm gonna bomb. I'm definitely gonna bomb. But

why? John Bailey is... Epic voice guy is... Exactly

that he's he's very very awesome, and I love

I love him doing on his trailers Yeah, so hilarious

Yeah, I'm waiting to see you know like what the

Hawkeye one is once the whole mini airs Yep,

yep, yep All right folks. I think that's gonna

do it for us Oh the only other thing I wanted

to bring up was when they were talking about

the story aspects of what if season one The fun

part for them wasn't the moment that caused the

what if, it was the then what. I love that. It's

like what if and then then what. Yeah, because

they made the what if they're inciting action,

which, you know, if you take that from screenwriter

speak into novels, beak, you know, the inciting

action is your, is basically your, your, your

conflict coming to light, like, what is, what

is the thing that's going to drive the rest of

your story? And then, you know, everything else

afterwards is, is that story. So, as they pretty

much said in the episode, but no, it's always

the ride that's the most fun. Yeah, absolutely.

And literally the ride on, you know, hydrostompers

back was, you know, used as their example. Hmm.

I wonder who's in there. I swear you, if we're

going to see this coming the way that they did

Winter Soldier, Steve's going to be Winter Soldier.

Yeah. And I want to see him be Winter Soldier,

but still be tiny and skinny. Skinny Steve, yeah.

Skinny Steve as Winter Soldier, but with the

super strength. That would be funny. Because

that would be amazing, and I would never have

seen it coming if I didn't think about it myself.

Yep, absolutely. Alright folks, I think we're

gonna get the heck out of here. No ad break this

time around just a really short short Behind

-the -scenes episode with a lot of fun. I'm probably

gonna put a lot of the clips Not a lot, but some

of the clips of what they said in here somewhere

Oh, it's a great story because it is exploring

the relationship between Steve and Peggy, with

this time Peggy being the super soldier. And

it's also nice because we get to have a female

superhero, and what does that look like in the

1940s? How is she treated? What's the battles

that she has to fight that are singular to her

being a woman that Steve, we never had to deal

with. Where have you been all my life? The allies

must be desperate. Sending in a fragile frowline

to fight for them. Fragile. Exactly. All right,

Toonsters. As always, we want to thank you for

joining us here on Tooncast. If you'd like to

get in contact with us, leave feedback for the

show. There are several ways to do so. Visit

the website geekcastradio .com where you can

listen to and comment on all of our content.

Send an email to feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Here, all the ways you can listen to us nowadays.

Apple, Google Podcasts, leave us reviews, please.

Spotify, and any other podcasting client you

choose to use. Well, it's on Twitter at GCRN.

Tooncast is for the show. Also Tooncast at Tooncast

Beyond. I am at TF2 and Mike. You can also follow

at Geekcast Radio for the network. What is your

Twitter, Allison? It is AliSkyRichards. A -L

-I -S -K -Y -R -I -C -H -A -R -D -S. Become a

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Radio Network. You can also look up Tooncast,

all tunes all the time over there, as well as

the Superman and Lois tapes. still waiting...

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Tooncast

and wish you will join us next time when we will

be giving you something new. Well, technically

it's new, it's already debuted, but we are doing

our second episode of Tooncast Origins with SCP

-21, my buddy Steve Megatron. So we have 30 questions

all about people's cartoon habits and cartoon

watching. that is similar to what the pull bag

is, similar to what I do on Toycast, except it's

all cartoon based. So Steve's episode is coming

up next. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... AliSkyRichards.

Thank you for listening. Until next time. And

oh yeah, unleash the tune in you. As we were

developing the Marvel Cinematic Universe and

all the projects that went into creating this

big tapestry, it was a very... you know, specific

house of cards in a way. In What If, we get to

take a baseball bat to that entire structure

and just shatter it into a million pieces and

see what's left and rebuild in our own mutated,

interesting, unexpected forms. We've seen this

before. a universe in the final days of destruction.

But this particular story, this one breaks my

heart. I think in some ways everything is surprising

about the series, because that's what's wonderful

about this concept, this what -if concept. We

have these known stories, these known characters,

these known arcs. It doesn't matter. Anything

can be explored. And so, in some ways, surprise

is the whole point. In the story of Season 1,

the Watcher makes it very clear to us that he

is not going to get involved. He's on the wrong

path. I could warn him, intervene. But the fate

of his universe is not worth risking the safety

of all others. But it just so happens that there

is a story that culminates our first season that

requires the Watcher's intervention. We reimagine

a world where Ultron got the Vision's body. as

he meant to do in Age of Ultron, the film. And

when Thanos inevitably comes to get the Infinity

Stone from his forehead, he defeats Thanos. Fascinating.

And gets all six Infinity Stones. Once he does

that, he's able to wage war against the entire

cosmos and create an entire universe devoid of

all life. So devoid of life... that he can actually

hear the voice of our narrator. Basking in the

boundless silence of his universe, Ultron ascended

to a previously unattainable level of consciousness.

He became aware of another. He became aware of

the... I see you. And when he's aware of the

Watcher, he can break through the Universal Wall

and wage war on the multiverse itself. which

forces the watcher into a position he's never

been in before, which is to defend the very thing

that he's sworn an oath to only observe. And

it just so happens the perfect cocktail of heroes

that he needs to defeat this multiverse -destroying

bad guy happen to be the same heroes whose stories

we've been watching all season. Oh gosh, wow.

It's okay. We forgot what we were talking about.

The behind the scenes of what if. Yeah, I know.

I just wasn't sure if we had segued from your

life into that yet. Yes, we did. My life is...

These are gonna be great outtakes, folks. Oh

my gosh! I am the Watcher. I am your guide through

these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder

the question, what if... But it's so good.