This season also introduces a familiar member of the X-Men, albeit with a twist: Fan-favorite mutant Storm will make an appearance, this time as the hammer-wielding Goddess of Thunder. It’s an idea that was born while Winderbaum was working on X-Men ’97, and he jumped at the chance to bring everyone’s favorite weather-manipulating mutant into the world of What If…?
“I had just come from a review and had been listening to [Alison Sealy-Smith’s] voice in X-Men ‘97, and it was an idea that was just too incredible to pass up,” Winderbaum explains. “There’s a famous issue in the comics where Storm is the Goddess of Thunder, so that just sealed the deal. And we were off to the races.”
“She is royalty among the X-Men and among other heroes as well,” Andrews adds. “Being able to see her in the What If…? style was exhilarating. Having our designers jump in there and design that, they were nerding out — as hopefully people are when they watch her!”
The result, Andrews and Winderbaum hope, is a fitting send-off to the wild world of What If…?
“This show really is a labor of love,” Winderbaum adds. “It’s a show that could only exist in animation, which is one of my favorite things about it. We’re lensing the MCU in different ways, and animation becomes the conduit to telling those stories.”