What If...? head writer A.C. Bradley is aware that Tony Stark is, essentially, the show's equivalent of Kenny from South Park.

Kenny, for the uninitiated, is a character on South Park who notoriously died every episode as part of a recurring gag during the long-running animated series' early seasons. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone nearly killed Kenny off for good after Season 5, having more or less run out of funny ways for him to die, but later revived him at the end of Season 6 and have mostly retired the bit since then.

"I noticed on Twitter we're getting a lot of crap for killing Tony a lot," Bradley told Entertainment Weekly. "He has become the Kenny of the What If…? universe by accident."

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Similar to the Marvel Comics anthology of the same name (which launched in 1977), What If...? explores alternate timelines in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many of which are far darker than that of the main MCU continuity. Among the timelines glimpsed in Season 1 are ones where Tony and other would-be Avengers are killed before Nick Fury can assemble Earth's Mightiest Heroes, as well as ones where Tony is turned into a zombie and murdered by Erik "Killmonger" Stevens as part of his scheme to replace T'Challa as Wakanda's Black Panther.

Season 1 originally included an additional comedic episode centered on Tony to offset the ones where he dies, but delays caused by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to it being pushed into Season 2. "Our 10th episode was a more light, upbeat Tony Stark episode," Bradley explained.

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As mixed as fans are on What If...?'s tendency to kill off beloved characters in its darker episodes, Bradley admitted the experience is one she's relished. "The most liberating part of What If…? has been writing things you'll never see in the movies, which includes killing off our heroes, ending the world, just going full out," she noted.

Bradley also hinted "there might be a reason" so many Season 1 episodes end on a tragic note. "I'm hoping people have enjoyed the ride so far, and that the finale gives them everything we promised."

What If...? Season 1 premieres new episodes on Wednesdays on Disney+. The aforementioned Tony Stark episode will air as part of Season 2 in 2022.

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Source: Entertainment Weekly