The What If...? concept might be owned by Marvel, but Star Wars is better placed to own the What If...? concept. In 1977, Marvel had another of its revolutionary, industry-shaking brainwaves, and released the very first What If comic book. Each story would rewrite a key moment or feature of established canon, then examine how Marvel history plays out differently. Almost 50 years later, Marvel Studios enjoys an overwhelming presence on both cinema screens and the Disney+ streaming service, and an animated What If...? anthology premiered in 2021 alongside Phase 4.

What If...? begins with everyone's favorite immortal voyeur, Uatu the Watcher, witnessing the infinite diverse realities that comprise the MCU multiverse, narrating the events before him. The Disney+ cartoon asked questions such as "What If... Thor Grew Up An Only Child?" and "What If... Ultron Won?" Alas, such ambition couldn't prevent a decidedly mixed response.

Related: Every Way What If Just Insulted MCU Characters

Where Marvel's history shuffling shenanigans stuttered, Star Wars might fare better. Another huge Disney-owned property, Star Wars occupies its own corner of Disney+, with shows such as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka filling the void while the galaxy stays far, far away from the big screen. Though a comic book idea originally, the current Star Wars landscape lends itself beautifully to a What If-style anthology series.

Marvel's What If...? Didn't Entirely Work

The Watcher's eyes glow as his mouth opens in shock in Marvel's What If...?

What If...? drew plenty of eyes, and many episodes enjoyed widespread acclaim - the finale and Doctor Strange's time-bending tragedy especially. There's a novel enjoyment in seeing Marvel's most famous superheroes (many voiced by their familiar live-action actors) thrust into offbeat situations involving zombies, intergalactic Las Vegas parties, and increasingly violent ways for Tony Stark to die. Nevertheless, What If...? cannot be considered a runaway success for Marvel, with the Disney+ series dogged by recurring criticisms week upon week.

What If...? stands accused of two overriding problems - the first being a lack of commitment to the multiverse. When Marvel fans learned What If...? was in the works, they anticipated wild crossovers between universes, where writers made the absolute most of the format by blending places and people that could never mix in regular continuity. The Watcher's opening narration before each episode promises exactly this, describing the MCU multiverse as a "prism of endless possibilities." What If...? fulfilled that promise... but only in its final two episodes. Most stories stayed firmly within one specific timeline that had been subtly altered from the prime MCU - Peggy replacing Steve, Odin handing Loki back to the Frost Giants, etc.

The second major What If...? criticism concerns the abundance of changes (sometimes bordering on insults) to MCU canon. The drawback of altering one point in history is that everything before said point must remain unaltered, but What If...? played fast and loose with this rule, under-powering Captain Marvel, turning Thanos into a punchline, and giving Tony Stark the longevity of a Spinal Tap drummer. These deviations undermined the alternate MCU stories What If...? was trying to tell.

Related: Star Wars: Visions Understands The Force Better Than The Sequel Trilogy

Star Wars' Universe Suits The What If...? Concept Better

An image of Mos Eisley in Star Wars

Marvel's What If...? promised multiverse madness, but gave audiences rewritten histories. This isn't a problem for Star Wars, since the multiverse simply doesn't exist over there. Viewers wouldn't be expecting a Luke Skywalker variant teaming up with Sith Rey against a semi-mechanical Darth Maul. Instead, each installment of a Star Wars What If...? Disney+ series would make specific changes to George Lucas' timeline, such as "What If Luke Skywalker Actually Went To Tosche Station To Get Power Converters?" and "What If Jar Jar Binks Was A Sith Lord?"

The expansive nature of Star Wars mythology makes the property an even better fit for this format. Every significant event in Marvel's MCU takes place within the space of a few years, and usually on Earth. Nowhere is this clearer than when Iron Man 2Thor and The Incredible Hulk are all popping off simultaneously. Star Wars is far more abundant in both eras and settings, covering multiple generations and hopping from one planet to another. Changing one key event in Star Wars wouldn't just mean replaying A New Hope with a different protagonist - every What If...? scenario would have rippling ramifications throughout the galaxy and across different eras, meaning a Star Wars Disney+ series could deliver the "endless possibilities" Marvel's What If...? promised.

In comparison to the MCU, Star Wars offers a more eclectic roster of characters (both major and minor), as well as a broader collection of storylines to fiddle with. Marvel's What If...? could only meddle with the core MCU storyline - Ultron, Thanos, the Infinity Stones, etc - but Star Wars offers new adventures on each planet, avoiding the What If...? repetition trap.

Star Wars What If...? Would Be Less Restricted By Canon

The Mandalorian Ahsoka Holding Grogu

Marvel's What If...? made the mistake of setting each story within a different parallel universe, but also confirming prime MCU reality existed on the same spectrum. In a roundabout way, this entrenched What If...? in MCU canon - a canon writers very clearly wanted to drift away from. Such an issue wouldn't arise in a Star Wars What If...? series, since every episode would represent one perspective of the same history - closer to Marvel's What If comic books of old. Star Wars offers the What If...? concept true creative freedom.

Related: What If: What Worked & What Didn't?

The release strategy of Star Wars in 2021 also benefits What If...?'s anthology format. For the most part, the MCU is chronological, with each release more or less continuing from the next. This made it all the more glaring when, for instance, Captain Marvel was made to look comparatively feeble to her live-action self. Star Wars, on the other hand, constantly dances around its own timeline. Disney's plans for a future Star Wars trilogy are currently up in the air, but the current Disney+ slate indulges in a plethora of varying periods. The Mandalorian happens shortly after the original trilogy, The Bad Batch follows the prequels, Andor is a prelude to Rogue One, etc. With Star Wars already unrestricted to a specific timeline, regaling fans with "what if" scenarios comes more naturally than in the rigid MCU.

Star Wars Has Already Proven A What If...? Series Would Work

A ronin with a red lightsaber in Star Wars: Visions.

For those requiring further proof of how well a Star Wars Disney+ What If...? series could work, there are already at least two shining examples. Star Wars: Visions is a collection of animated anthology stories from Japanese anime artists, all inspired one way or another by the Star Wars mythos. The collection was widely acclaimed, and hailed for adapting its source material with a respectful reverence. Meanwhile, What If...? was putting Thanos to work as a bartender. Disney need only revisit the essence of Star Wars: Visions and replace the anime-original characters with familiar faces like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo to create the ideal What If...? TV series.

Reaching further back to the pre-Disney years when Legends canon was actual canon, the Star Wars Infinities comic series was effectively What If...? for the galaxy far, far away. Issues covered topics such as Luke Skywalker's torpedoes missing their mark at the end of A New Hope, and Han Solo failing to save a freezing Luke on Hoth. Star Wars Infinities provides an excellent basis for the kind of tantalizing possibilities a modern animated series could provide, and with 20 years of extra material to work with, the idea would work even better today. Star Wars What If...? is a proven hit just waiting for the green light from Mickey Mouse.

More: How Star Wars Can Adapt The Thrawn Trilogy (Without Creating Plot Holes)