The MCU Finally Confirms The First Real MCU Avengers Team: Members & Powers Explained

A new Avengers team joins the MCU in Marvel Studios’ What If…? season 2, comprised of a selection of heroes from the MCU’s history. The first trailer for What If…? season 2 released on November 15, 2023, revealing new details about the upcoming sequel season to 2021’s What If…? season 1. Phase 4’s animated first season debuted variants of many high-profile MCU heroes, including Peggy Carter’s super soldier Captain Carter, an only child version of Thor, the villainous Doctor Strange Supreme, and the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa as Star-Lord. What If…? season 2 will expand the MCU’s multiverse even further, and will develop the backstories of several pre-established MCU characters.

What If…? season 2 is set to premiere on Disney+ on December 22, 2023, and will be releasing an episode per day for nine consecutive days over the Holiday period. Episodes will focus on a version of Nebula who joined the Nova Corps, the MCU’s superheroes in the year 1602, and the emergence of an original MCU superhero, Kahhori, who becomes empowered by the Tesseract. While What If…? season 2 is expected to explore some unexpected realities, a new superhero team will also be formed that actually looks very familiar, as an Avengers team will be brought together in 1988, comprising heroes that have already been seen in the MCU.

Who Is In What If…?’s 1988 Avengers Team?

What If…? season 2’s first trailer has given audiences a glimpse at the MCU’s newest Avengers team. The team consists of heroes who were operating in the MCU during the 1980s, though many of the mantles are still in existence in the MCU’s present-day continuity. It appears as though the team, similarly to the MCU’s original Avengers team in 2012, have been brought together by SHIELD, as Peggy Carter and General Ross seem to have a direct hand in forming the group. The 1988 Avengers’ SHIELD connections constitute the appearances of Hank Pym’s Ant-Man and Bill Foster’s Giant-Man, with Michael Douglas and Laurence Fishburne expected to reprise their MCU roles.

Along with the shrinking Ant-Man and the growing Giant-Man, T’Chaka’s Black Panther, T’Challa’s father, will also have a role in 1988’s Avengers team, presumably displaying the same abilities that his son, and later daughter Shuri, exhibit. Mar-Vell, Carol Danvers’ Kree mentor on Earth, also appears in a Starforce uniform, though it’s unclear what abilities she will possess past the usual Kree physiology. Interestingly, Bucky Barnes’ Winter Soldier is also included, despite still being under his HYDRA conditioning in 1988, though it’s possible SHIELD found a way to free this variant of Barnes from his brainwashing, and recruit him into the Avengers team.

One surprise inclusion on 1988’s Avengers team is Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, still with the same appearance as his present-day MCU variant as his Asgardian physiology grants him an elongated lifespan. In the main MCU timeline, Thor didn’t operate on Earth as a superhero until 2011’s Thor, becoming a founding member of the Avengers only a year later, but it seems this backstory has been changed for his appearance alongside 1988’s Avengers team in What If…? season 2. Thor is a worthy inclusion on the team that is already packed full of powerful superheroes, yet a formidable team such as this needs an even more formidable villain to battle.​​​​​​​

1988’s Avengers Form To Battle A Young Peter Quill

There may be no villain more threatening to 1988’s Avengers team than a Celestial, and What If…? season 2’s trailer has confirmed that the team will battle Ego and his superpowered half-human son, Peter Quill. In the MCU’s primary timeline, Peter Quill was abducted from Earth in 1988 by Yondu Udonta and the Ravagers, who failed to complete their mission and deliver him to his Celestial father. Instead, the Ravagers raised Quill, leading to him becoming the hero Star-Lord, the founder and former leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. This history has been changed dramatically in the 1988 Avengers’ reality in What If…?​​​​​​​ season 2.

In the upcoming animated season, Peter Quill appears to have realized his half-Celestial biology as a child, gifting him remarkable powers such as telekinesis. At some point, instead of being taken to Ego, it appears as though Peter Quill will be joined by his Celestial father on Earth, and What If…? season 2’s trailer suggests Ego will create monstrous copies of himself to form an army worthy of battling the 1988 Avengers team. It’s unclear how this story might end, but the arrival of a Celestial on Earth has seldom ended well, and with Ego’s ambition for universal domination, 1988’s Avengers team will have a massive challenge on their hands.

What If…?’s Avengers Team Will Be The First Since Endgame

The appearance of a historic Avengers team in What If…? season 2 will mark the first time a version of the team has been seen in the MCU since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Endgame marked the conclusion of the Avengers’ battle against the Mad Titan Thanos, and their attempts to reverse the devastation he caused with the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Infinity War. Endgame’s final battle featured the majority of the MCU’s superheroes, banding together in an epic fight against Thanos and his forces, and culminated in the deaths and retirements of several Avengers, most notably Black Widow (who died while collecting the Soul Stone), Iron Man, and Captain America.

Since Avengers: Endgame, many new heroes have been introduced to the MCU who could potentially have a spot on a future Avengers team. However, there has been no sign of the team coming back together anytime soon, particularly since there is no Avengers movie planned until 2026’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Phases 4 and 5 are the first in the MCU’s history not to feature the live-action Avengers, but Phase 5 will be delivered an animated variation of the team. The appearance of 1988’s Avengers team in What If…? season 2 may help to assuage criticisms that Marvel Studios has forgotten about the Avengers in the Multiverse Saga.

Could What If…?’s Avengers Team Appear In Live-Action?

Following their debut in What If…? season 2, it’s entirely possible that 1988’s Avengers team could make their way into the live-action MCU. In fact, this might be a great way to reestablish the Avengers as an important presence in the MCU. Variants of characters introduced in What If…? have already crossed over into the MCU, including Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a member of Earth-838’s Illuminati. This means the 1988 Avengers team from What If…? season 2 could certainly appear in live-action, though it’s unclear when this might occur, and whether the original actors would return to portray their younger selves.