The exciting aspect of Marvel’s What If…? stems from our ability to see our heroes in completely new places. Whether that be with different heroes taking on the mantle or just a different time period all together, the show uses questions about heroes to its advantage.
But one thing we almost got from the show that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and company reportedly said no to was a crossover between Marvel and Disney’s other franchise that dominates the Disney+ and cinematic waves: Star Wars. Cue the distant tears of LEGO Death Star builder Peter Parker for what could have been.
Director and executive producer Bryan Andrews spoke with Moovy TV about the idea of a crossover between the two juggernauts of the Disney umbrella, saying, “I think Kevin [Feige] really doesn’t want to cross certain streams. But we did pitch… We actually had a Star Wars/Marvel crossover,” Andrews said. He went on to say that story editor Matthew Chauncey, who also served as writer on some of the iconic episodes from season 1 and 2, was who came up with the “reason that made sense” for the crossover to exist in the What If…? universe.
“So I think it’s absolutely doable. I just don’t know if [Feige] wants to cross those streams, but it’s really funny,” Andrews said. “Once you get to the realization of why, you go: ‘Oh, that… oh, right!’ It totally makes sense. It won’t rain on anyone’s parade. But it was just a love letter to old-school Star Wars. And it was great. And I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do it. But we have thought about that stuff.”
Frankly, that’s upsetting because that’s the point of things like What If…? and now I just want to see my boy’s reaction to a world where his Star Wars exists!
Peter Parker would have cried over a Marvel/Star Wars crossover
With the introduction of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, it was established in-universe that Peter Parker loves Star Wars. He builds the Death Star with Ned (Jacob Batalon) and there are moments in Captain America: Civil War and beyond where he makes references to Star Wars. Letting a crossover exist in-universe between these two worlds? I would love that for myself as a fan, but I would just like to see how it would work for him.
I am of one of two minds on this. On one hand, I get Feige’s resistance to bridging the gap between the two franchises. On the other, fans have wanted to see something like this (often with other franchises, too), and shows like Marvel’s What If…? are our chance for those big swings. So we could have had fun with it and really seen what was possible with both these worlds.
Sadly, it didn’t happen. Maybe never say never, but for now, we can just think about the possibilities of our heroes in a galaxy far far away. Peter would totally love Chewbacca, right?
(via ComicBook.com, featured image: Sony Pictures)
