Talk: What If...?

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Phase Four[]

The following discussion is an archived discussion. Please do not modify it.

What If...? Season One will be counted as Phase Four.

I thought the first season was removed from the slate. MrWii000 (talk) 05:25, 9 October 2022 (UTC)

What If was not present on the slate graphic at San Diego Comic Con, but that was not a direct statement that What If...? is not part of Phase Four. We have only sources that say What If...? and the other animated series are part of Phase Four, not that they are not. To put it in context, there was an animated series presentation the day prior to Feige's presentation at SDCC, where What If was covered. This is seemingly the only reason the animated series were not covered the following day, despite them also being part of Marvel Studios' phases. Disney+ also supports this.

latest?cb=20200507061542&format=original

- Blogs • Message Wall • Guestbook 07:40, 9 October 2022 (UTC)

I am not going to dispute this, however I would like to add that at some point we actually had a source on the page that said the show had been removed from the phase. I can’t seem to locate it on the “History” though. —Danniesen (talk) 06:26, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it.

Episode Titles[]

The following discussion is an archived discussion. Please do not modify it.

Status quo will be retained

Currently there is a discrepancy in the way we title articles about episodes of What If...? Every episode article is titled with the same format, that being What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger? with a capital I in "if" and a space after the ellipsis. However, this is only true for season one episodes. Each season formatted their titles slightly differently. The first episode of each season is titled, both on Disney+ and in promotional material:

What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?
What if... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?
What If...The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

Each season is consistent with the title scheme, but they're not consistent between seasons, with a lowercase i in season two and a lack of space between the ellipsis and the next work in season three. Currently, all episode articles conform to the season one formatting, with the reason cited being internal consistency for the wiki. However, I disagree with this. There is no episode in any MCU material titled What If... The Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?, because the episode title does not have that space. The same goes for season two episodes with the capital I. It's more important to me that we follow official episode titles than that we have internal consistency with our article titles. Thoughts on this? - Jessica3801 💕💕🏳️‍⚧️ | Message Wall • Contributions 21:46, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

I would be in favor of keeping them consistent to themselves if Season Three didn't change the title scheme again. Because of that we get to the point where there is not really an official scheme that every episode follows. Therefore I am in favor of following the different titles. - Raff • Message Wall • Contributions 22:05, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

For the sake of consistency, I believe we should have them all as What If... Episode Title? in the grand scheme of things, this is a much better solution in my opinion, it makes everything look clean and well written, especially since it's how all the Season One episodes are formatted. Fish Master 41 (talk) 22:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

But what if(...?) another format was used in the first season? It doesn't really change anything. - Raff • Message Wall • Contributions 22:18, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree with Fish Master. Even if Marvel themselves have done an inconsistent naming scheme, for wiki consistency we should stick with the current format of using the Season 1 format of What If... episode title?. I personally disagree with having the season 2 & season 3 episode pages renamed to their Disney+ titles. • MJLogan95 | Message Wall • Contributions 22:24, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree as well -

E-Scope | Message Wall • Contribs - 22:28, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

I just struggle to see wiki consistency as more important than using the official titles. -

Jessica3801 💕💕🏳️‍⚧️ | Message Wall • Contributions 22:31, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

It's not just Disney+ titles. It is the official titles. Disney+ just doing it is one thing, but the actual titles are the inconsistent ones. - Raff • Message Wall • Contributions 02:40, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

I still think we should retain wiki consistency for this case. • MJLogan95 | Message Wall • Contributions 03:27, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

Even though I hate it (capital H) when things aren't consistent, in this case I think it's best to follow the official titles, since they're official after all. I mean, things are already inconsistent, like the capitalisation of "the" in What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger? and What if... Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?, so to me it's either perfect consistency (i.e. we change the capitalisation of "the" as well to our own conventions), or following the official titles all the way. MalchonC (talk) 04:51, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

I don't think the "the" is applicable here, as "The First Avenger" or "The Hulk" isn't comparable to saying someone joined "the Army" or "the Nova Corps". • MJLogan95 | Message Wall • Contributions 05:04, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

Ah, I see. But I maintain my position that official titles should be followed. I understand it's not ideal, but I don't think we can selectively ignore what's been presented to us and choose one format over others when they're all actually used in the same way. MalchonC (talk) 05:59, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

I think consistency is important. I would personally prefer keeping "What If... [Episode Name]" as the standardized format for the site. I would suggest reconciling the capitalization and formatting discrepancies by including a note about them in the trivia section of the respective episode articles, so that way they are still acknowledged. - Mister Explicit • Message Wall • Contribs - 12:50, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

Yes, I think having them listed in the Trivia is a good way to denote that they were spelled differently while retaining Wiki consistency. • MJLogan95 | Message Wall • Contributions 13:17, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

I’d rather it in the lede then honestly. If we’re not naming the articles correctly, the correct name should at least be very prominent. Something like “What If... 1872?, stylized as What If...1872?, is the…” -

Jessica3801 💕💕🏳️‍⚧️ | Message Wall • Contributions 13:20, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

Having "What If... 1872?, stylized as What If...1872?" in the lede feels off to me. I think Trivia works best for this sort of thing. Of course, Staff can discuss this and decide which way to go. • MJLogan95 | Message Wall • Contributions 01:17, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

I agree. Even if it would be cleaner to be consistent, I think that we should always put officiality first. Incursion Lee (talk) 12:41, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

I would prefer there being consistency with the titles. DrewVeenstra (talk) 20:22, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

This has been open for more than two weeks, so it's time to close the discussion. There are 4 in favor of the proposal of changing it for each season, and 5 against the proposal/in favor of retaining Wiki Consistency. As such, the status quo will be maintained, with episode titles for all three seasons having the consistent What If... [title]? format. • MJLogan95 | Message Wall • Contributions 01:14, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it.