Earlier this week, a surprising social media storm whipped up over what Marvel must’ve thought was a bit of harmless marketing for What If…?. Ahead of the animated series’ debut this Wednesday, the Captain America Twitter account replaced its Sam Wilson display image and header with that of Captain Carter, star of the show’s premiere episode. And fans got furious, blasting the studio for “replacing” Sam when he’s only just taken over as Cap himself.
But now, just a few days later, Marvel has reinstated the former Falcon as the star of the Twitter account. It’s possible this was always the plan. As next week will bring a new storyline on What If…?, the Captain Carter rebranding was maybe supposed to last just one week. On the other hand, it’s also feasible that Marvel stopped the promotional stunt sooner than expected due to the backlash.
Either way, Marvel fans are relieved now that normality is restored and are sharing their happiness online.
The real Captain America is back.
Never take him away again!
The nightmare has ended.
We’ll have to see if Marvel repeats the trick next week for episode 2, which imagines a world where T’Challa becomes Star-Lord. It feels like that would be a safer move, though, given that everyone would no doubt be on board with a tribute to the much-missed Chadwick Boseman.
There were various reasons why fans didn’t like the Captain Carter rebranding. Some didn’t appreciate Sam being replaced so soon after he officially became Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, while others just didn’t get how the switch made logical sense – Peggy is British, after all. But clearly, the change was just temporary and everything’s back to normal. Nothing to see here any more people, move along.
What If…? continues next Wednesday on Disney Plus.