SALT LAKE CITY — Marvel Studios announced the voice cast for their “What If…?” Disney Plus series, and the sheer number of Marvel Cinematic Universe stars indicates lots of story potential for the animated series.
AV Club reports that the announced returning cast includes actors from “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain America,” “Ant-Man” and “Black Panther.” Some highlights include Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger), Jeff Goldblum (The Grandmaster) and Michael Rooker (Yondu), three actors who likely won’t appear in the MCU again in a live-action film.
Polygon reports that Jeffrey Wright (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”) will also voice the Watcher, a cosmic being who observes history across several alternate Marvel dimensions. The show itself takes inspiration from the “What If” comic series and will depict alternate takes on scenarios seen in the MCU.
It’s also worth noting actors like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Tom Holland and Scarlett Johansson weren’t announced. It’s possible some major heroes won’t be included in the show, or Marvel could be holding back an announcement for another event like D23, a convention held by Disney in California.
However, Collider reports that at least one episode of the show will explore what would happen if Peggy Carter became Captain America. Part of the episode will apparently concern itself with Steve Rogers fighting against Hydra in a metal suit designed by Howard Stark. So if Evans isn’t voicing Rogers, we’ll likely see someone else take over the role.
Marvel didn’t provide any information on possible storylines for the show, but judging by the cast list, fans can probably expect alternate takes on “Ant-Man,” “Black Panther,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and any of the “Thor” movies.
“What If…?” will debut on Disney Plus in the summer of 2021.
The full cast is as follows:
- Michael B. Jordan — Killmonger, “Black Panther”
- Sebastian Stan — Bucky Barnes, “Avengers: Endgame”
- Josh Brolin — Thanos, “Avengers: Endgame"
- Mark Ruffalo — Hulk, “Avengers: Endgame”
- Tom Hiddleston — Loki, “Thor: Ragnarok”
- Samuel L. Jackson — Nick Fury, “Spider-Man: Far From Home”
- Chris Hemsworth — Thor, “Avengers: Endgame”
- Hayley Atwell — Peggy Carter, “Captain America”
- Chadwick Boseman — T’Challa, “Black Panther”
- Karen Gillan — Nebula, “Guardians of the Galaxy”
- Jeremy Renner — Hawkeye, “Avengers: Endgame”
- Paul Rudd — Scott Lang, “Ant-Man”
- Michael Douglas — Hank Pym, “Ant-Man”
- Neal McDonough — Dum Dum Dugan, “Captain America”
- Dominic Cooper — Howard Stark, “Captain America”
- Sean Gunn — Kraglin, “Guardians of the Galaxy”
- Natalie Portman — Jane Foster, “Thor”
- David Dastmalchian — Kurt, “Ant-Man”
- Stanley Tucci — Dr. Abraham Erskine, “Captain America”
- Taika Waititi — Korg, “Thor: Ragnarok”
- Toby Jones — Arnim Zola, “Captain America”
- Djimon Hounsou — Korath the Pursuer, “Captain Marvel”
- Jeff Goldblum — The Grandmaster, “Thor: Ragnarok”
- Michael Rooker — Yondu, “Guardians of the Galaxy"
- Chris Sullivan — Taserface, “Guardians of the Galaxy”