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Wow, that was one hell of a trailer for Marvel's What If...? season 3, debuting on Disney+ in just over a month. Wait, you haven't seen it yet? Oh friend, do yourself a favor and check it out here:

There is just a mess of comic book cool in every frame of that video - from White Vision's return to Cowboy Shang-Chi to the Avengers creating a goshdarn Voltron. But perhaps the absolute most incredible thing we just watched came at the very end of the video, when the trailer took the time to introduce us all to the first-ever appearance of Ororo Munroe, AKA the X-Men's Storm, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And as if that isn't already enough to glue Marvel fans' faces to the screen, she's coming in wielding one of the MCU's most iconic weapons - Mjolnir itself.

Ok, it's hard to know where to even begin with breaking this down, but let's start by addressing the angry nerd inside all of us. Yes, you can technically make the case that Storm has appeared in the MCU before, via the cross-company multiverse. Fox's X-Men movies are confirmed to have existed in the sprawling matrix of realities encompassed in the MCU, so too are both the original X-Men animated series and its Disney+ followup, X-Men '97. However, this is the first time that Storm will appear in a "mainstream" MCU project since the interconnected universe began with 2008's Iron Man.

(Yes, I know the whole point of What If...? is that the episodes aren't "mainstream," but it is a Marvel Studios-first show nonetheless.)

All that said, though, we won't know if this version of Storm will make it into the MCU saga currently ongoing in its bigscreen adventures. For one thing, the fact that Ororo is wielding Mjolnir hints at the idea that this is a universe where neither Thor or Jane Foster are using the Hammer of Thunder, and with at least one of those characters still active in Marvel's Phase 6, it seems that that universe is a different beast. Further, it sure sounds like X-Men '97's Alison Sealy-Smith is providing the voice for Storm here, as was rumored but unofficially confirmed by Marvel for days before the trailer's release.

Does this mean the Storm we just saw is from the X-Men '97 universe? We'll just have to wait until the next season of What If...? to find out.

What If...? season 3 debuts on Disney+ December 22, 2024.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters