When you really think about it, Peter Parker is very lucky superhero. Not only does he get to walk around looking like your everyday high school student, he also gets to rock a killer Spider-Man suit (the same can't be said for other Marvel heroes and villains such as Fantastic Four's The Thing or the wall crawler's nemesis, Venom).
And so, when Disney first began development on their Spider-Man 'What If...?' storyline for the series, the creators originally thought up a completely horrifying alternative version of the character.
According to series writer A.C. Bradley, who spoke to the Post Credit Podcast, their initial idea for the Spider-Man episode was not PG-13 enough for Disney. Instead of Peter just gaining spider-like abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider, like every 'Spider-Man' movie thus far, the team wanted to see him turn into a giant arachnid spider. *Shudders*
Bradley said of the concept that didn't make the cut: "There were a couple of episodes that were just a little too dark. Spider-Man turns into a real spider, and that was just too dark and too body horror for their PG-13 [rating]."
However, 'What If...?' still allowed the creative team to come up with concepts never seen within the MCU before, inspired by the comics of the same name. Bradley continued to explain the creative process, saying: "But it was a blast! You said it yourself, we were basically given the keys to the toy store.
"'Go have fun and make sure everything was different. Don't give us ten of the same, give us ten of the most different stories you can come up with.' I hope Bryan [Andrews] and I have achieved that."
From what we can piece together from the brief promotional material of the Spider-Man episode in 'What If...?', it looks like he and Doctor Strange will overlap somewhat - potentially sharing abilities.
The 10 episode series of 'What If...?' begins on Disney+ from tomorrow, Wednesday, August 11. The majority of the cast from the MCU have lent their voices to their animated characters, including Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, and the late Chadwick Boseman. A second anthology season has already entered production.
