What If Scrapped Episode That Was ‘Children of Men With Spider-Man’

While Marvel’s What If…? tends to show a more mature side of the multiverse, one episode featuring Spider-Man was deemed a little too dark for the animated series.

Children of Spider-Man

Chatting with IGN, head writer/showrunner A.C. Bradley spoke to some of the creative team’s ideas that didn’t make the cut. She acknowledged that since all of the episodes were created during the peak years of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the stories took on a more grim tone, something she ultimately had to cut back. “It felt like the world was already ending and we didn’t need to add to it,” Bradley said. “And so it became kind of an escape and a fun release. However, I did write an episode, which is forever going in a drawer, that was very, very dark. I was calling it ‘Children of Men with Spider Man.’” No further details were provided, but just the elevator pitch alone makes it sound like it would have been too heavy of a narrative for a generally upbeat franchise like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Children of Men is a 2006 film that tells the story of a dystopian world where infertility is threatening the survival of the human race. The narrative follows a disillusioned bureaucrat who is forced on a deadly, high-stakes quest when he’s enlisted to protect the only remaining pregnant woman on the planet. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, it’s widely regarded as a masterpiece of sci-fi storytelling.

While What If…? may have shied away from the nightmare of Children of Men, it’s already presented audiences with a world-ending version. Season 1 featured an episode where the majority of the MCU’s heroes turn into zombies, forcing the survivors to take up arms against their former comrades and look for a cure. This is just one of the show’s re-interpretations of the franchise, with episodes typically looking to turn established characters and tropes on their heads. Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Disney+.