The latest episode of What If…? Answered a lot of unexpected questions, including what T’Challa would be like as Star-Lord, but it also showed an alternative fate for Thanos. In What If..? Thanos actually ends up teaming up with the Ravagers, after being convinced to not try to destroy the entire universe.
The second episode of What If…? Follows the rest of the series in providing stories based on alternative MCU realities. The first episode followed the story of Peggy Carter, who ends up becoming Captain America over Steve Rogers. 9 episodes of the show will run through the rest of Summer weekly and conclude on October 6.
Alternate Thanos
Head writer A.C. Bradley recently spoke about the decision to include Thanos in an interview with Discussing Film. The team wrote Thanos into the show around the same time that Endgame released: “ It came from a few places. We were writing it with Endgame coming out in a matter of weeks, or months. We’d already seen it. And so the Thanos question was looming large.
“And to be honest, we don’t really play around with Thanos in the rest of the series, because we did it so well here answering the Thanos question, which is, 'Does this universe still have the snap?' So we decided that like, 'Wouldn’t it be funny if T’Challa just had a conversation with the man and convinced him that like, you know, genocide is not the answer.' And that was almost like a joke that we were tossing around,” added Bradley
MCU actor Josh Brolin returned to voice the character, adding authenticity to one of the MCU’s most prominent villains over the past ten years. Brolin opened up about playing the role to ACE Universe recently, discussing what it was that drew him to the character “"When I said yes to, to Thanos, you know, they'd given me a big Bible and really kind of talked me out but it wasn't for you know a massive, massive part in two final films of a 10-year span. It was meant more as a cameo.”
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A power vacuum
Bradley also touched on how Thanos’ decision to not destroy the universe left a power vacuum in the MCU: “It gave us so many gifts, which is, without Thanos, there’s a power vacuum. And, you know, nature abhors a vacuum, so the Collector gains prominence. And then what can we do with Nebula? Gamora and T’Challa don’t seem like a match, and Gamora is so great with Peter Quill, we don’t want to split up the fan favorites. But there’s something about Nebula: if she had a somewhat normal, probably like late childhood teen years, what would she be like?”
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