Marvel Animation came to D23 2024 with behind-closed-doors looks at upcoming Disney+ shows like What If…? Season 3, Eyes of Wakanda, and X-Men ’97 Season 2.
Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of streaming, television and animation, appeared today for a panel about the company’s animation projects and revealed some key details about how Marvel’s long history in animation will continue. While fans already love shows like X-Men ’97 for their visual impact, he says not all shows will have the same art style.
“We can create a unique style for each show,” Winderbaum explained. “We’ll never have a Marvel house style, but rather a filmmaker’s vision. That allows us to use all of Marvel’s art styles and go to amazing places throughout the universe.”
For example, footage from Eyes of Wakanda shows that the Wakandan story will be told using 3D animation. What if…? Season 3 will retain the cel-shaded style that fans have become accustomed to while playing with visual elements. It will also introduce new twists to the stories of characters like Moon Knight, Ironheart, Shang-Chi, and White Vision.
Brian Andrews of What If…? showed footage showing Transformer-like Avengers working together in new and interesting ways, as well as old-fashioned versions of some of Marvel’s greatest heroes. The third and final season of the Marvel spinoff show gives the team another chance to engage in strange scenarios only imaginable in the world of comics.
“If you look at seasons 1 and 2, you can see how much the fans love these characters and stories. That gave us a lot of momentum,” Andrews said. “We learned that we could take big swings. The wilder and crazier What If…? got, the better the response was. We’re really playing with footage. Some western stuff, some stomping robot stuff.”
Eyes of Wakanda, premiering later this year, will expand the story of Black Panther’s homeland in a four-part series exploring different generations of Wakanda. This means the series’ leads Ryan Coogler and Todd Harris can introduce new elements to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), such as the Wakandan protectors, the War Dogs.
It’s a show that will give audiences more background on existing characters, but X-Men ’97 has a chance to build on stories established with Season 1 earlier this year. Little has been revealed about the upcoming season, but Marvel says we can at least expect to see outfits based on Grant Morrison’s suit designs. Footage shown at D23 also showed footage of Magneto’s trial, before declaring that “the X-Men are here to stay.”
Unfortunately, there is still no release date for X-Men ’97 Season 2. We liked Season 1 so much that we gave it a 9/10 in our review, saying at the time, “X-Men ’97 is not only a fitting sequel to X-Men: The Animated Series, but one of the best adaptations of this iconic Marvel franchise ever.”
Click here to see all the Marvel projects currently in the works. D23 has even more to reveal, so while we wait for further updates, be sure to check out everything that was announced at last night’s Disney Entertainment Showcase.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor to IGN. He began writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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