What If...? Season 2: The Trailer's New Avengers Team & Child Villain Explained
With "Loki" Season 2 all wrapped up, the hype train for "What If...?" Season 2 has officially left the station. The first multiversal yet Christmas-themed trailer for the anthology series has arrived online, and it looks to pack in more animated action, drama, and intrigue. In fact, the opening moments of the teaser reveal what could be one of the season's more fascinating ideas. It puts the spotlight on a young Peter Quill, who appears innocent at first but seems to have been delivered to his Celestial father, Ego, who helped him awaken his cosmic abilities.
In response to the young boy's destruction, a group of heroes steps up to stop him. This 1980s Avengers unit consists of King T'Chaka, aka the Black Panther; Hank "Ant-Man" Pym; Bill "Goliath" Foster; Wendy "Mar-Vell" Lawson; and Bucky Barnes under his Winter Soldier persona. It also appears that the main minds behind these heroes coming together to stop Quill are Peggy Carter and Howard Stark. Additionally, somewhere along the line, these retro Avengers are joined by Thor for a battle against what could be Terra Cotta Warriors.
With this new Avengers team featured heavily in the "What If...?" Season 2 trailer, one has to wonder if there's more to their existence than a single story. Will Season 2 have them take part in a multiversal team-up with another notable animated Avengers crew?
Will the '80s Avengers be major players in What If...? Season 2?
Even though "What If...?" Season 1 introduces, kills off, zombifies, and otherwise abandons whole Avengers teams, Season 2's '80s team seems a bit different. It's entirely possible that it's only in a single episode, but then again, it does feature quite prominently in the inaugural trailer. As the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) explains, the Multiverse is still very much in a bad way, and all kinds of mischief is afoot. Therefore, could Ant-Man, Black Panther, and the rest of the retro Avengers join with the other major heroic unit on "What If...?" — Season 1's Guardians of the Multiverse?
For those who don't recall, the Guardians of the Multiverse — Captain Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Black Widow (Lake Bell), T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Gamora (Cynthia McWilliams), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) — forms to defeat the Infinity Stone-wielding Ultron (Ross Marquand) and save the entire Multiverse. Though Killmonger betrays them, and they disband after Ultron's defeat, presumably, they're all still alive in their respective timelines. Perhaps they'll re-form to battle another multiversal threat and call on the '80s Avengers for backup.
Thankfully, those hoping to learn more about the '80s Avengers, and potentially the state of the Guardians of the Multiverse, don't have long to wait for such knowledge. "What If...?" Season 2 arrives on Disney+ on December 22.