Tom Hiddleston confirmed Marvel's What If...? will connect to future events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Loki actor described the show's premise during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, stating, "It's like, 'What if Loki wasn't adopted?' 'What if Peggy Carter was the one who got the [Super-Soldier] Serum?' 'What if the Ravagers kidnapped T'Challa instead of Peter Quill?' It's what if some major event in [MCU] history had gone the other way and what reality would we be living in now?"
"I am intrigued because I haven't seen the whole thing," Hiddleston admitted. He went on to mention that many of the MCU's actors will voice the animated versions of their characters on What If...?. "And then it sets up a whole bunch of stuff in the MCU, which I know nothing about," he coyly added.
Based on the Marvel Comics anthology that debuted in 1977, What If...? will explore a variety of alternate MCU timelines, with Jeffrey Wright's The Watcher serving as the show's narrator. Its reported storylines include ones where Killmonger becomes King of Wakanda and Gamora hunts one of the Avengers, in addition to the ones Hiddleston mentioned. Loki's sibling Thor will also feature in a plot-line where the God of Thunder is never banished to Earth and learns to humble himself. Instead, he becomes "Party Thor," a hedonist who journeys to Midgard and hosts a massive party with dramatic implications.
With the Loki series kicking the doors open to the Marvel multiverse, it's plausible one or more of What If...?'s storylines will factor directly into a future Phase 4 MCU film. Possibilities include Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is expected to feature multiple characters from Sony's non-MCU Spider-Man trilogies. That film will further set the stage for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness -- a sequel that promises to dive even deeper into the expansive multiverse suggested by What If...?'s setup.
Created by A.C. Bradley and directed by Bryan Andrews, What If...? premieres Aug. 11 on Disney+. It will be the fourth MCU streaming series to debut in 2021 after WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki.