So we're all thirsting for thicc, muscular Peggy Carter now, right?

No matter how the new show, What If...? turns out in terms of actual quality, I think that the mere existence of it is insanely exciting. When I was growing up, there was a healthy supply of hypothetical, AU, and otherwise non-canonical one-offs from Marvel under the What If...? umbrella. Then the MCU started rising to prominence, and for a long time it's had pop culture in a chokehold. But that's a discussion for another day. The main point is that for a long time, What If...? and one-offs were seemingly over. They just weren't being made anymore, to my dismay.

But my cynical complaints have been proven slightly wrong, and a childlike excitement has been awakened inside of me. The What If...? animated series doesn't even need to be that good, really. Like I said, the fact that it exists in the first place is already an achievement. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse felt like a bit of an experiment, a test as to whether mass-market, mainstream audiences could understand the concept of multiple and/or parallel universes, and all the characters those entail, in superhero media. What If...?, with any luck, could bring back the trend of hypothetical one-offs. Hell, DC has had Elseworld stories running even after "What If's" fell off. Gotham By Gaslight was an Elseworld story, and it got its own animated adaptation years after its release.

Despite myself, I feel excited. Hopeful. What If...? has sparked my creativity and excitement, my love for superheroes and the medium of storytelling, to be a little hyperbolic.

Also thicc, muscular Peggy Carter is pretty hot.