The arrival of What If…? on Disney+ today was something fans have long-awaited. The series promises to make a big hit not only for its quality, a feature we noticed already in the first episode but also for following the animation format.
However, one question raised by many fans is regarding the timeline of What If…? and how the animated series fits in with the MCU’s live-action heroes and villains!
Already in the first episode, we can see the effects Loki had on the Multiverse. There, a branch was created where we don’t have Steve Rogers taking the super-soldier serum, but Peggy.
Instead, Rogers takes a different position and wears Howard Stark armor very similar to the one we see in Avengers: Infinity War, created by Tony.
We can conclude from the episode that the shield was meant to go to a person, no matter who, but who had specific characteristics. The weapon’s bearer was supposed to be selfless and worthy of wielding it, something Peggy certainly proved herself to be.
Timeline: 1943 – 2012
The Nexus event that What If…? brings us takes place at a certain period in the timeline. We can determine it by Doctor Erskine‘s death, responsible for creating the serum. The episode took place in June 1943, the same day Steve Rogers became Captain America in the original timeline.
According to The First Avenger #1 comic, the exact date for this is June 22. The events of the episode are a kind of mirror image of what actually happened in the original timeline, with just a few changes. Bucky’s release from Hydra happens on November 3 of that year.
The series does not show exactly how long everything we see throughout the chapter lasts, but it is already possible to get a sense of where What If…? has taken us. For example, Red Skull‘s death occurs in 1945 in the comics, but apparently, the series took it to moments earlier.
Decades later, the Captain appears on the other side of the Tesseract and meets Nick Fury and Clint Barton in the modern-day. Fury even reveals that the war ended 70 years ago, indicating that they are very close to the Avengers events in 2012.
What If…? premiered on Wednesday, August 11 on Disney+. New episodes will always be released on the same day of the week.
