In 2021, Marvel Studios dipped its toes into the world of animation with the first season of What If...? on Disney+, which is already set to continue into Season 2 as a part of Phase 5. And after Marvel's animation panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it's been confirmed that the show won't be ending anytime soon, with Season 3 confirmed to be in development.
Since Season 1 kicked off last year, What If...? has featured Jeffrey Wright's Watcher as its leading character as he opened the door to wild Multiversal stories and characters like Captain Peggy Carter and T'Challa as Star-Lord. While there are only a few details known about Season 2 ahead of its release, Season 3 is sure to up the ante even further for the Watcher and his many new accomplices.
Jeffrey Wright's extraterrestrial hero is once again ready to make his mark on the animated sphere as the only character in What If...? who will appear in every episode of the show in some form. And as it turns out, he'll even have the chance to become a deeper character over the show's next couple of seasons on Disney+.
The Watcher's Growth in Future What If...? Seasons
Speaking with Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum teased the Watcher's direction in Season 2 and Season 3 of What If...?.
When asked what he's excited about with Marvel's animated future, he teased a deeper dive into the Watcher as a character. Winderbaum explained how the Watcher is "the ultimate fanboy" who genuinely loves all of the stories that he tells, looking at how fans will find out "what makes him tick" in Season 2, while Season 3 explores "his humanity:"
"The fact that we have What If…? going into a third season, it means that we can go a little bit deeper with these characters, especially the Watcher. It’s a Multiverse story, they’re standalone stories, but there is a serialized aspect to it because there’s this narrator who…he loves the subjects of these stories, he’s the ultimate fanboy. He’s watching, like we all watch, and he loves these characters like we do. So we can dig in a little deeper into what makes him tick in the second season, and then into the third season, we kind of get to know his humanity a lot more."
How Will The Watcher Grow in What If...?
Being the character that brought Marvel's best Multiversal Variants together for the fight of a lifetime in Season 1, the Watcher will continue being the central focus in future seasons of What If...?. That will come with exciting new developments for him as a hero and as a character in general, as fans get to learn what makes him the way he is throughout the show.
Over the course of Season 1, fans saw his curiosity grow deeper for the characters he watched over, leading to him joining the battle against Infinity Ultron by the time the final two episodes came around. He even provided a tease for his humanity growing already by giving Black Widow a new home after losing hers to Ultron in Episode 8.
Most immediately in Season 2, The Watcher will have a brand-new set of stories to dissect, including a confirmed episode based on 2021's Black Widow and the scrapped Season 1 episode featuring Tony Stark and Gamora on Sakaar. These will be only two of many adventures that unlock new dimensions to the Watcher as a hero, and fans will be curious to find out exactly how that character development evolves moving forward.
What If...? Season 2 will begin streaming on Disney+ in early 2023.
