With just over a week to go, Marvel has released a new trailer for What If…? season 2. This one is decidedly Christmas-themed, with an instrumental version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” playing as the trailer leads into that motif. The previous trailer was released less than a month ago, so it’s unsurprising that Marvel wants to remind people not only that What If…? is a thing but that it’ll be returning to Disney+ soon. The new season starts on December 22, 2023, and runs for nine days. You can see the trailer below:
Well, it’s more interesting than the last trailer, if only because it embraces the Christmas setting. I wonder if that’s a bit misleading; I know at least one or two episodes will be Christmas stories, but the trailer suggests that the entire season is a Yuletide treat. If it is, I like that idea; conceptually, you can do almost anything with What If…?, so why not make one season all Christmas, all the time? It’s a good hook for them, considering when the show is airing, and since it feels like it popped up out of nowhere, this could help get people to tune in when it hits Disney+. Otherwise, the new trailer doesn’t do much for me; nothing new they’ve shown is all that enticing, and I feel the same way about it that I’ve felt since a second season was announced: indifferent. I liked some of the first season and disliked the rest of it, so I’m expecting another mixed bag. I will say that this trailer confirms that the animation in What If…? still sucks; it’s striking how bad it is, perhaps even more so now because Marvel didn’t even try to improve it. Who’d have thought the MCU would produce some of the ugliest entertainment around?