Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death at age 43 only left one last film performance (in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) for fans to cherish from the cinematic hero. Yet as it turns out, there’s also a TV performance on the way, too. And while viewers won’t get to see Boseman onscreen, they’ll be able to appreciate his iconic portrayal of King T’Challa (and another MCU character, in a roundabout way) one more time in Marvel’s upcoming What If…? animated series that will arrive on Disney+.
Over the weekend, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige reminded everyone of this glimmer of good news that first surfaced during 2019’s D23 Expo, which dropped tons of game-changing information on Disney fans. A lot of that has been pushed back, of course (because of everything that’s happening with 2020), but the show’s the first MCU animated series will put a new spin on preexisting MCU movies within 23 different episodes. And as Feige has now re-emphasized to Emmy Magazine, the show will contain “all sorts of stories [that the MCU] couldn’t explore through live action.” And Boseman “came in about four times and recorded numerous episodes.” He then added, “In hindsight, it’s very moving.”
What If…? operates off a killer premise, by asking how the MCU would unfurl differently if tweaks had occurred to the universe’s reality. As the sizzle reel presented at D23 revealed, one episode shows Agent Peggy Carter receiving the super serum instead of Steve Rogers and becoming Captain Carter. Elsewhere in the Captain America franchise, Bucky Barnes never falls off the train, and there’s a Zombie Captain America. And what happens to Black Panther in this weird world? He materializes as Star-Lord. Seriously, watch the trailer (which arrived a week ago) below for a peek.
Interestingly enough, too, Star-Lord/Peter Quill actor Chris Pratt didn’t surface on the D23-concurrent list of MCU actors who lent their voices to What If…?. Nor did Chris Evans or Robert Downey Jr. appear (although none of the trio has been explicitly excluded), but here’s a list of actors who are definitely onboard:
Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger;
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes;
Josh Brolin as Thanos;
Tom Hiddleston as Loki;
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury;
Natalie Portman as Jane Foster;
Taika Waititi as Korg;
Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster;
Michael Rooker as Yondu;
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk;
Chris Hemsworth as Thor;
Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther;
Karen Gillan as Nebula;
Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye,
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man;
Michael Douglas as Hank Pym;
Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan;
Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark;
Sean Gunn as Kraglin;
Toby Jones as Arnim Zola;
Djimon Hounsou as Korath.
We can expect Disney+ to stream What If…? sometime in 2021.