Marvel Studios' latest intriguing offering on Disney Plus, the animated What If…?, has been making waves not only among writers who feel rebellious putting a comma after a question mark but also throughout the legions of long-time fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's given the creatives in the company a chance to think up some alternate takes on now-classic stories in the Marvel universe, to the point where some seem to be using parts of the show as a sort of "re-do," as was the case for an abandoned Captain America concept.
Strangely enough, one such second chance was apparently used to bring back a set-piece that was cut from 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. Aside from depicting an honestly pretty awesome alternate timeline where Peggy Carter took the supersoldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, the first episode of What If…? implemented an interesting setting that the original Captain America film ultimately never got to use. Looks like Doctor Strange isn't the only one who wished he could go back.
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Paul Lasaine, production designer for the grief-laden What If…?, recently spoke with CinemaBlend regarding that particular element that was reused from an increasingly dusty cutting room floor. "The factory, they would call it the HYDRA factory, in Episode 1, where Captain Carter comes in with the motorcycle. We expand that location quite a bit, too," Lasaine explained. "That location was designed for the movie, and it was cut from the movie, from Captain America. So you don’t ever see it, but it was designed. So we got the designs, and we had to really build that courtyard out a lot more, we had to make it make a lot more sense."
What If…? has been using its premise to create a lot of really promising fresh new takes on well-known properties, from Captain America to a particularly dark interpretation of Ant-Man to a wholesome and heartwarming version of Guardians of the Galaxy featuring Chadwick Boseman's final performance as T'Challa. It's really a sort of satisfying series in many ways, offering viewers the sort of hypothetical situations normally reserved for fanfiction, except with an air of extra legitimacy due to it being an actual Marvel Studios production. Hey, seeing Thanos not only become a good guy but pull a genuinely selfless act that felt natural to his character is no small feat, and that deserves praise.
Among all the various changes made to the now decade-old Captain America story, a resurrected factory setting may not be at the top of most people's high expectations list. But it's pretty cool that the designer of that sequence finally got to see their work vindicated after 10 years of thinking it would probably never see the light of day. Besides, it gave viewers the chance to see a jacked-up Peggy Carter go to town and back on some nazi soldiers. Regardless of the context, watching nazis get a good old-fashioned pummeling is always a worthwhile occasion.
This just begs the question, what other long-buried concepts have been brought to light thanks to the surreal alternate realities of What If…? Here's hoping many other designers and crew members get their shot going forward. It's always nice to see hard work acknowledged, even years later.
Whatf If…? premieres new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney Plus.
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Source: CinemaBlend
