Though Marvel has been known for its proficiency with overarching storylines with the MCU, the release of the What if? series streamed on Disney+ shows that the creators at Marvel can also deliver engaging, self-contained short-form stories. The general audience now has the chance to explore the Marvel universe and see how in-depth the original comics are by taking the characters and settings that everyone already knows, such as T’Challa and Peggy Carter, and give their stories a slight shift, creating a completely new setting for the MCU.
However, as great as the series is, it unfortunately only has a six-episode run in its first season. Thankfully there are a number of series’ just like it that can be watched now.
10 Love, Death, and Robots Tells A Number Of Stories Through A Number Of Mediums
Love, Death, and Robots is a Netflix original sci-fi anthology series that explores a variety of futuristic settings. Each episode is a self-contained storyline with a unique art style ranging from 3D CG animation to 2D animation. The series currently has two seasons available for streaming. Viewers can enjoy stories about a group of robots exploring a desolate human city as a tourist attraction or a couple that discovers an entire lost civilization hidden inside their freezer. Every episode has a wild concept that never fails to be engaging no matter how ridiculous or dark.
9 Black Mirror Can Give You Self-Contained Scenarios
Black Mirror does a lot of the same things as What If?, such as asking questions about our privacy in a digital age, how addiction can manifest with technology and social media, and how online platforms and talent competitions create an obsession with fame and fortune.
Currently sitting on Netflix with a total of five seasons, three episodes per season. If you’re in the mood to feel sad and powerless in the wake of technological advancement, this series might suit your needs.
8 Umbrella Academy Shows The Darker Side of Superheroes
Superhero media has become more popular than ever with the incredible expansion of Marvel films and TV series. If you want to look more into the world of mature superhero media, Umbrella Academy would be an excellent choice. Based on the comic of the same name by Gerard Way, the former lead singer of My Chemical Romance, the series shows the darker side of the classic superhero family trope with the Umbrella Academy, a team of super-powered children who have since grown up into adults corrupted and damaged by a lifetime of fame. The story of found family mixed with over-the-top scenarios of comic books currently has two seasons on Netflix with a third on the way!
7 Stranger Things Is Stephen King For The Modern Age
Do you like the crazy sci-fi, supernatural compendium of Stephen King, but don’t want to sift through a bunch of 70s and 80s made-for-TV movies? Netflix’s smash-hit sci-fi-horror series Stranger Things is the small-town mystery genre with the undefinable terror of cosmic horror. If you enjoyed how Marvel’s What if? showed how the idealistic superhero scenario can go awry, you’ll enjoy the catastrophic failure and hubris that lead to the spread of the Upside Down, and the effect creating child super soldiers can have on society.
6 The Altered Carbon Series Shows Audiences The World of A Dystopia
Altered Carbon explores a bleak dystopian future, while also questioning the value of people’s lives in the wake of technological advancement and extreme capitalism. In the way that What if? allows the audience to explore the MCU setting in greater detail, Altered Carbon allows audiences to explore the often-overlooked darker tones of a sci-setting. Much like with the Disney+ series, Altered Carbon has no set focus but rather uses its primary murder mystery storyline to give audiences a tour of the terrifying and illustrious setting of the distant future.
5 Snowpiercer, An Alternate World Where Human Life Lives On A Train
The world has frozen over and the last of humanity lives on a never-ending train ride. Snowpiercer presents audiences with an alternate timeline where the Earth has been entirely frozen over by the year 2026. In this new world, the survivors of the apocalypse live on a train that never stops, each trying to find a balance amidst the different social classes.
Based on the 1982 French graphic novel originally named Le Transperceneige, Netflix has adapted the story into a live-action series that currently has two seasons on the streaming platform.
4 Star Trek: The Next Generation Is The Classic 'Problem Of The Week' Series
It seems that every week there’s something going wrong on the Enterprise. Either the engine has broken again, or an alien has invaded the ship, or an ambassador is unhappy about something. Star Trek: The Next Generation is a perfect replacement for when you run out of What if? episodes. The series is filled with self-contained problems of the week while exploring unique and interesting sci-fi concepts from new forms of alien life to space-based anomalies. With seven seasons ready to watch on Netflix, there is more than enough content to sift through while you wait for season two of What if? to come out.
3 Jupiter's Legacy Is A Great Modern Superhero Series
Need your fix of more mature superhero content? The Netflix original Jupiter’s Legacy is what you need. Based on the long-running series by comic veteran Mark Millar, creator of Kingsman, and Kick-Ass, the TV series takes all ten issues of the original run and abridges it into an entirely unique story that allows new fans to experience the full story without having to read all the comics. Watch what happens when the initial awe and wonder of the superheroes wears off and audiences are presented with a world that no longer respects their protectors.
2 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Is An Excellent Anthology Series
What was originally drafted to be a filler for the time skip between the Star Wars films Episode 2 and Episode 3, Star Wars: The Clone Wars created an engaging anthology series following the intense war between the Galactic Republic and the CIS, chronicling the conflict known as the Clone Wars. Characters both new and old took the stage in intense and mature storylines that perfectly built up the finale of Lucas’ Prequel Trilogy of Star Wars films and brought new emotions and context to the story.
1 Gravity Falls Was One Of The Most Fun And Engaging Shows Disney Ever Greenlit
Okay so, take a series like the X-Files. Now, make it for kids. Then, make it not for kids. This was the basic premise of the Disney cartoon Gravity Falls. What began as a simple small-town mystery series for kids, soon evolved into a wide-spanning web of coded messages, ciphers, and existential terror as the main plot unfolded in the second season. While it may be considered to be too short, with only two seasons (also available on Disney+), the amount of story and content packed into those two seasons makes it well worth the effort to get invested in.