What If…? is one of the most thought-provoking MCU shows currently airing. It premiered on Disney+ in 2021 and ran for nine episodes before leaving the viewers on the edge of their seats with The Watcher quoting the words, "You thought the story was over…but it was only just the beginning." With a stunning finale, What If…? leaves plenty of room for more episodes with endless possibilities.

Adapted from Marvel Comics' What If…?, the animated series explores the various alternate timelines set in the multiverse and demonstrates how different stories could unfold. In addition to the intriguing character of The Watcher, the series was made worthwhile by many exciting scenarios, such as what if Captain Carter were given the super soldier serum and what if Ultron won. Considering what the multiverse has to offer, Marvel Studios has already renewed the show for the second and third seasons. While little is known about the third season, the MCU finally released the first trailer for the long-awaited What If...? Season 2, showing us the familiar faces of some beloved characters as well as introducing some intriguing new ones. Here is what we know about the second season of the series.

Update November 20, 2023: This article has been updated following the trailer for What If...? season 2 and the release date for the series.

What If…? Season 2: The Plot

Marvel released the first trailer for What If...? Season 2 on November 15, 2023. As expected, the trailer indicated a lot of new interesting plots. Firstly, we see Hank Pym, King T'Chaka (Black Panther), Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), Wendy Lawson (Mar-vell), and Bill Foster (Goliath) all teaming up to stop a young Peter Quill from destroying Earth after having teamed up with his father Ego. Nebula is wearing a Nova Corp uniform. One of the most interesting scenes of the trailer has to be where Xu Wenwu and Ying Li fighting together against Odin in an episode that will feature Hela.

Similar to how season 1 of What If...? adapted a popular alternate universe comic, Marvel Zombies, season 2 will continue that tradition. The series is doing a loose adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602 which saw the various heroes of the Marvel Universe assemble during the Elizabethian Era. While that series focused on the classic Silver Age characters of Marvel Comics, the series will feature many MCU heroes, including Hulk, Ant-Man, Steve Rogers, and the Scarlet Witch.

Viewers are also really excited about a new character who is going to appear in the series, a Mohwak woman named Kahhori, who is an original creation of the MCU. This particular alternate timeline will show us what would have happened if the Tesseract had landed in the sovereign Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The audience is excited to see what changes the introduction of this new and fascinating superhero does to the timelines.

A colorful episode will also be released either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, where Happy Hogan and Darcy Lewis will team up to save the Avengers tower on that has been overtaken, complete with a very appropriate Die Hard reference and Tony Stark in a Santa hat. Needless to say, with the appearance of many older characters like Peggy Carter (Captain America), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), and Steve Rogers (Hydra Stomper), and some new ones, the trailer has sufficiently hyped up the new series, which will come out during Christmastime. Talk about a perfect holiday season.

The season will also feature follow-ups and continuation for episodes and characters from season 1. The most notable is an episode teased at the end of season 1 that will see Captain Carter fight the Hydra Stomper, her universe version of Steve Rogers. Characters like Tony Stark, Gamora, Valkyrie, and The Grandmaster are also seen in the trailer, partaking in what seems like a street race on steroids, with the beloved rock giant Korg helping them out. This episode was originally intended for season 1 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Gamora from this universe was seen in the What If...? season 1 finale. The season finale will also feature the return of Strange Supreme. Watch the trailer below:

What If…? Season 2: The Cast

While The Watcher, played by Jeffrey Wright, will obviously get back in season 2 to witness more disasters, many of the previously cast voice actors will reprise their respective roles, including Hayley Attwell as Peggy Carter, Josh Keaton as Steve Rogers, Lake Bell as Natasha Romanoff, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff, Cynthia McWilliams as Gamora, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Mick Wingert as Tony Stark, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, Take Waititi as Korg, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Kurt Russel as Ego, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Michael Rooker as Yondu, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton, Michael Douglas as Ant-Man, and Evangeline Lily as Hope.

Cate Blanchett will be voicing her on-screen character Hela, while T'Chaka, the father of T'Chall and the Black Panther before him, will be voiced by Atandwa Kani who previously played the character in the prologue of Black Panther. Bill Foster (Goliath/ Giant-Man) will be voiced by Laurence Fishburne. In addition Annette Benning will be voicing Wendy Lawson, reprising her role from Captain Marvel. Although a few other major characters are getting introduced in the second season, at the moment, the information regarding the cast members is currently unknown.

Release Date

What If...? season 2 will premiere on Disney+ on December 22, 2023. There will be a total of nine episodes, and unlike season 1, where episodes were released weekly, season 2 will instead be released daily over the holiday season and will run from December 22 every day until December 30, 2023.

Just like season 1 of What If...?, season 2 premieres right after a season of Loki. The death of He Who Remains at the end of Loki season 1 caused the timelines to branch out, which was then the justification for seeing these various other realities. The season 2 trailer of What If...? has The Watcher say things have gotten twisted in the multiverse, likely a reference to Loki taking the branches and reforming them into a tree-like structure resembling the Norse tree of life, Yggdrasil. The events of What If...? season 1 and 2 appear to be kicked off by the finales of Loki.

What If...? season 2 will mark the final MCU project of 2023, one that has been a rough year for the studio but one they hopefully can recover from and end on a high note. What If...? will hopefully provide a fun viewing experience for families over the holiday season.