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What If...? poster

Shows that feel likeWhat If...? (2021–2024)

Taking inspiration from the comic books of the same name, each episode of this animated anthology series questions, revisits and twists classic Marvel Cinematic moments.

If you loved What If...?, the closest series we have are Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013), Marvel's Runaways (2017) and Loki (2021). All three share What If...?'s cerebral and dreamlike feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is X-Men '97 (2024).

11 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Disney Plus
Stream it:Disney+ ↗

If What If...? hit the spot, these will too

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. poster
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
2013–2020 · 7 seasons · ABC
★ 7.5drama · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureDisney+

A corner of the Marvel world free to try formats nobody else would

The difference: Weekly network spy drama, grounded and much longer

Agent Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) puts together a team of agents to investigate the new, the strange and the unknown around the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Marvel's Runaways poster
Marvel's Runaways
2017–2019 · 3 seasons · Hulu
★ 6.8action & adventure · drama · sci-fi & fantasy

Familiar Marvel furniture rebuilt around a different set of people

The difference: Teen drama, serialised and much smaller

Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if you found out they actually were? Six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other must unite against a common foe – their parents.

Loki poster
Loki
2021–2023 · 2 seasons · Disney+
★ 8.2drama · sci-fi & fantasyDisney+

Marvel's multiverse used as a playground for other versions of everyone

The difference: One continuous story, live action, with a real arc

After stealing the Tesseract during the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” an alternate version of Loki is brought to the mysterious Time Variance Authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline. They give Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a “time variant” or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat.

X-Men '97 poster
X-Men '97
2024– · 2 seasons · Disney+
★ 8.7animation · action & adventure · sci-fi & fantasyDisney+

Marvel characters at full animated scale, unafraid of big feeling

The difference: One continuous story with history behind it, not a fresh timeline weekly

The X-Men, a band of mutants who use their uncanny gifts to protect a world that hates and fears them, are challenged like never before, forced to face a dangerous and unexpected new future.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier poster
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
2021 · 1 season · Disney+
★ 7.1action & adventure · sci-fi & fantasyDisney+

What the legacy characters do once the main story is over

The difference: Live-action buddy action with real-world politics

Following the events of “Avengers: Endgame”, the Falcon, Sam Wilson and the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities, and their patience.

Marvel's The Defenders poster
Marvel's The Defenders
2017 · 1 season · Netflix
★ 7.2sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventure · crimeDisney+

Marvel heroes recombined for one specific experiment

The difference: Street-level crossover, grounded and grim

Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist join forces to take on common enemies as a sinister conspiracy threatens New York City.

Marvel's Inhumans poster
Marvel's Inhumans
2017 · 1 season · ABC
★ 4.9drama · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureDisney+

Marvel characters reshuffled into an unfamiliar arrangement

The difference: Live action, and it does not work

After the Royal Family of Inhumans is splintered by a military coup, they barely escape to Hawaii where their surprising interactions with the lush world and humanity around them may prove to not only save them, but Earth itself.

Marvel's Iron Fist poster
Marvel's Iron Fist
2017–2018 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 6.4action & adventure · drama · sci-fi & fantasyDisney+

A hero's origin reconsidered, with mixed results

The difference: Straight live action, humourless and slow

Danny Rand resurfaces 15 years after being presumed dead. Now, with the power of the Iron Fist, he seeks to reclaim his past and fulfill his destiny.

Secret Invasion poster
Secret Invasion
2023 · 1 season · Disney+
★ 5.8drama · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureDisney+

A premise that asks who these characters would be under different conditions

The difference: Espionage plotting, muted and self-serious

Nick Fury and Talos discover a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.

Moon Knight poster
Moon Knight
2022 · 1 season · Disney+
★ 7.3sci-fi & fantasy · mystery · action & adventureDisney+

A Marvel story willing to change its own rules episode by episode

The difference: One character's fractured psyche, live action and much darker

When Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life, he discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.

DC's Stargirl poster
DC's Stargirl
2020–2022 · 3 seasons · The CW
★ 7.1sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventure · dramaMax

Common ground: superhero

The difference: Sits closer to drama than What If...? does

Courtney Whitmore, a smart, athletic and above all else kind girl, discovers her step-father has a secret: he used to be the sidekick to a superhero. "Borrowing" the long-lost hero’s cosmic staff, she becomes the unlikely inspiration for an entirely new generation of superheroes.

Young Justice poster
Young Justice
2010–2022 · 4 seasons · Cartoon Network
★ 8.6animation · sci-fi & fantasy · action & adventureMax

Animated superheroes taken seriously, with a deep bench of characters

The difference: DC, serialised, and about growing up rather than what-ifs

Teenage superheroes strive to prove themselves as members of the Justice League.

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The best-reviewed series that share What If...?’s defining feeling.