Disney Plus animated series Marvel’s What If…? features over 50 returning stars to have previously appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s back catalogue of movies and TV shows, but several heavy hitters are notable absentees, including a trio of original Avengers.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man have all been replaced by soundalikes, and in the case of the latter it probably has something to do with the small print of the Sony deal. That doesn’t mean they’re cheap knockoffs by any stretch of the imagination, with Lake Bell’s Black Widow in particular drawing strong praise following yesterday’s episode that upended the events of Phase One.
The actress is no stranger to the world of Marvel or superhero stories in general, having previously voiced Vanessa Fisk as part of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, while she currently stars as Poison Ivy in DC’s animated Harley Quinn. As you can see from the reactions below, fans are loving that they get to hear Bell as two iconic comic book characters at once.
Bell manages to sound a great deal like Johansson without veering into doing an impression of the disgruntled former Disney employee, and it’s to her immense credit that fans have responded so well to her performance as Black Widow in Marvel’s What If…?, especially when her live-action predecessor’s battles against the Mouse House have garnered her so much support and even more headlines over the last few weeks.