On December 22, we say goodbye to one of the only Marvel shows or films to get the multiverse right. Today, the trailer for season three of Marvel’s What If…? released, giving us our first look at the alternate reality mash-ups we’ll be delving into over the Christmas week.
Throughout the 140-second trailer, we’re thrown around from one dream scenario to another. We get Monica Rambeau in a story where she is Captain Marvel, flying away from what appear to be those pesky Ultron Sentries from the first season. There’s a mind-busting appearance of multiple Avengers flying around in mech suits before they combine into one badass-looking Power Rangers-esque Megazord after Sam Wilson alters one of the most iconic Marvel lines ever when he says, “Avenger…assemble!” That alone needs time, not only to process what a machine with the combined powers of Avengers like Rambeau and Shang-Chi with the Ten Rings can do, but what otherworldly force is strong enough to require this sort of over-powered behemoth to take it on.
One of those adversaries will undoubtedly be Spectral Vision, also known as White Vision, who makes his first appearance in a Marvel TV show since flying off during his battle with the Vision that Wanda Maximoff created in the Hex in WandaVision. There also appears to be Mysterio’s devious self attached to wires, likely powering devastating illusions like the three ominous Watchers that appear, and Dormammu, the demonic entity that didn’t get to show the full extent of his powers when he first appeared in the first season of the show.
Thanks to Marvel’s apparent multiverse mandate for almost all of its properties, anything that happens in What If…? could be explored through inter-dimensional travel in other properties. That’s what makes Riri Williams appearing as Ironheart in this series, six months before her own live-action series debuts, so interesting. But nothing in this trailer caused as much excitement as seeing Storm, goddess of thunder, wielding Mjolnir. Seeing as she appears to be voiced by the same actress who voiced her in X-Men ‘97—Alison Sealy-Smith—and actually given the hammer known as Stormcaster in the comics, this What If…? scenario could become more than a one-off.
There are so many Easter eggs throughout this short trailer. So go ahead and nerd out, theorize, and celebrate until your heart’s content because we’re going to be fed nicely by Marvel soon. After the first episode of the final season streams on Disney+ on December 22, the next seven episodes will release every day until December 29.