When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe nowadays, fans are quite divided about how “unified” it is, and the quality that has been shown as a result. But in the case of What If…? Season 2, things were a bit different. Despite acting as an “outside presence” with how it looks at the MCU, the ending to Season 2 showcased a rather recent moment via Loki Season 2. At the end of that season, Loki took the various threads of the multiverse and created the World Tree with him at the center.
Then, as What If…? Season 2 ended (read my review!), The Watcher took Captain Carter to the World Tree to highlight the grandness of the multiverse. During the Phase Zero Podcast, Director and executive producer Bryan Andrews revealed that the initial plan for that final shot was much more generic due to timing and filming schedules, but then changed for that same reason:
“At first, it was never going to be the tree, because when we were doing that, there was no tree. There was no Loki Season 2, so there was no knowledge of any of this stuff. So, at some point it was going to be like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to show you some cool stuff.’ I’m just going to show you an image that really shows the multiverse.”
Once Loki debuted, things started to change, and the two shows actually worked together to make the World Tree:
“The crazy thing was they were still trying to design that shot in live-action while they asked us to do it. And we had a deadline, too. It was one of those situations where those deadlines were actually kind of matching and ours was more rock solid, like, ‘We’ve got to get this to the vendor pronto,’ and the live action guys are kind of hemming and hawing, ‘Is this the thing? Is this the thing?’ So, our team was painting up some stuff that was really awesome. So I think we were informing each other and that was really interesting. That rarely gets to happen.”
The result speaks for itself, and both shows prospered as a result.
Marvel’s Loki Season 2 is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
