Why Marvel's What If... Season 2 Wasn't Allowed To Use Sam Wilson's Captain America

Marvel's "What If...?" series on Disney+ is a chance to explore numerous variations of famous characters throughout the multiverse, which makes it a bit weird that one prominent character is missing in action. Why doesn't Sam Wilson as Captain America appear on "What If...?" Season 2? The question's particularly intriguing considering how much attention Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) receives on the show. 

The team behind "What If..." appeared on the "Phase Zero" podcast to discuss Season 2 and why Sam Wilson's Captain America is conspicuously absent. It all comes down to animation requiring so much more time than live-action projects. Writer and producer A.C. Bradley explained, "We were writing Season 2 as 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' paused shooting, and the scripts were being rewritten because of other things. We don't know when anything is airing. So we couldn't touch it because we're not allowed to introduce [him]."

It would have been odd and taken some of the wind out of the sails of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" if Sam Wilson appeared first as Captain America in "What If...?" before his own show. Phase 4 overall was addressed sparingly in "What If...?" Season 2, with minimal references to things like "Black Widow" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." For Season 3 and beyond, Sam Wilson could have a larger role — and maybe even team up with Captain Carter at some point. 

Sam Wilson's absence from "What If...?" and the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn't gone unnoticed by fans. He became Captain America at the end of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" in April 2021 but hasn't appeared in anything else. In a whole multiverse of stories, Sam Wilson is missing in action. So where is he?

Fans have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to voice their frustration. In fact, @RandyS0725 responded to the "What If...?" team's answer on "Phase Zero" by saying, "So, what's their excuse for not even featuring Sam Wilson as The Falcon? Cause that was also an option, and they just didn't feature him AT ALL, except a couple times in the background." It's a salient point: even if they didn't fully know where Sam Wilson would be when they were writing the episodes, he could still appear in some other capacity aside from Captain America. As @JamessBuckBarns noted, "There's still a bunch of episodes where Sam Wilson could've been included as just Sam Wilson. I mean, they got things like the Yggdrasil Tree or Wanda as the Scarlet Witch, but this is their excuse?"

At the moment, Sam Wilson's next project is "Captain America: Brave New World," which is slated for release on February 14, 2025. Captain America is a vital part of the MCU's fabric, so the fact that fans will have to wait another year to see him may be disappointing. Hopefully, Sam's return is worth the wait.