Draft:What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

"What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" is the second episode of the second season and eleventh episode overall of the American animated television series What If...?, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores what would happen if Yondu returned Peter Quill to Ego, and Quill going up against Earth's heroes when he returns in 1988 trying to go home. The episode was written by Matthew Chauncey and directed by Bryan Andrews.

Jeffrey Wright narrates the series as the Watcher, with this episode also starring the voices of Michael Douglas, Hayley Atwell, John Slattery, Kurt Russell (Ego), Chris Hemsworth, Laurence Fishburne, Sebastian Stan, Atandwa Kani, Madeleine McGraw, Mace Montgomery Miskel (Quill), Keri Tombazian, and Gene Farber. Work on a second season of What If...? had begun by December 2019, with Andrews and head writer A. C. Bradley returning from the first season. Animation was provided by Stellar Creative Lab, with Scott Wright serving as head of animation..

"What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" was released on Disney+ on December 23, 2023.

Plot
In 1988, Yondu and the Ravagers take Peter Quill to Ego, who urges him to help his expansion across the universe.

Six months later after ravaging several worlds, Quill returns to Earth. In response to his ongoing rampage, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark assemble a team composed of Bill Foster, King T'Chaka of Wakanda, Bucky Barnes, Dr. Wendy Lawson, and a reluctant Hank Pym, who brings his daughter Hope van Dyne along.

After a scuffle on Coney Island, the team detains Quill with help from Thor, who has been hunting Quill and Ego following the destruction of Jotunhelm and Asgard. As the team discusses their next move, Van Dyne frees Quill, who travels to Missouri.

As T'Chaka, Foster and Thor aid Carter's forces in holding back Ego, Pym and Lawson encounter Quill visiting his mother's grave, and a sympathetic Pym convinces him to stand against his father. Under the influence of his manipulator Vasily Karpov, Barnes prepares to assassinate Quill until Stark reminds him of Steve Rogers. Just as Ego overwhelms the heroes and attempts to obtain his seed, Pym and Quill arrive in time to stop him, with the latter using the seed to destroy Ego's avatar form.

As Barnes is on loose while freed from his brainwashing, the team, joined by Lawson's pet Goose, celebrates their victory before setting out to confront Ego's planetary form.

Development
In December 2019, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that work had already begun on a second season of the animated anthology series What If...?, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. It explores how the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films would be altered if certain events occurred differently. A. C. Bradley and Bryan Andrews returned from the first season as head writer and lead director, and they executive produce alongside Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Matthew Chauncey wrote the second episode, titled "What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?", which was released on Disney+ on December 23, 2023.

Writing
The episode explores if the Avengers were formed in the 1980s, including Hank Pym / Ant-Man and Ego, similar to the action films of that era. Marvel Studios had originally came up with an early concept of the episode – what would happen if the Avengers team formed in the 1980s after Peter Quill returned to Earth – for perspective writers to pitch on for the series. Bradley realized that the concept was missing "heart", and suggested it center as well on Hope van Dyne, since both her and Quill had both lost their mothers around the same point in time. The creatives explored it as an episode option for the first season, ultimately revisiting it for the second, at which point Chauncey expanded it further by choosing the members of the 1980s Avengers team. Ego was always considered for the villain since "it kept it simple. Peter and Ego, we know that story and therefore we can then focus on the ensemble of it all".

Casting
Jeffrey Wright narrates the episode as the Watcher, with Marvel planning to have other characters in the series voiced by the actors who portrayed them in the MCU films. The episode stars Michael Douglas as Hank Pym / Ant-Man, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, John Slattery as Howard Stark, Kurt Russell as Ego, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster / Goliath, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier, Atandwa Kani as King T'Chaka / Black Panther, Madeleine McGraw as young Hope van Dyne, Mace Montgomery Miskel as Peter Quill, Keri Tombazian as Wendy Lawson / Mar-Vell, and Gene Farber as Vasily Karpov. Miskel replaces original actor Wyatt Oleff.

Animation
Animation for the episode was provided by Stellar Creative Lab, with Scott Wright serving as animation supervisor. Andrews developed the series' cel-shaded animation style with Ryan Meinerding, the head of visual development at Marvel Studios. Though the series has a consistent art style, elements such as the camera and color palette differ between episodes.

Reception
Arezou Amin at Collider said that the episode "asks an interesting question in its title, but is perhaps the first and only episode of the series to be outright misleading in the question it poses". Amin also said "for as much as the imminent threat of the episode doesn't make a ton of sense, the character side is certainly more interesting".