Marvel‘s What If…? on Disney+ has done some weird mashups of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies before. But today’s episode, “What If… Hela Found The Ten Rings?” is out of left field. Basically: what if Thor but with Hela (Cate Blanchett), but also Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings? So yes, an unexpected mashup. But given that, how much of the What If…? Season 2 Episode 7 cast crossed over to animation from the movies?
Before we get into that, a brief bit of a recap about how the episode goes down. The branching point is actually from an unseen moment in Thor: Ragnarok, where Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins in live-action) banishes Hela after they conquer the nine realms together. Due to a little bit of impertinence from Hela, Odin steals her helmet and does the Mjolnir thing, but with “mercy” instead of “worthy” like with Thor. He sends her to Midgard, aka Earth, where she crashes down in China in the Middle Ages.
There, she meets Xu Wenwu (played by Tony Leung in live-action), the bearer of the Ten Rings. She first with him, he wants to team up with her. Instead, she escapes to Ta Lo, a mystical place where she trains and learns what she really wants: to control her own destiny.
Unfortunately, what Odin wants is conquest. So Hela leaves Ta Lo, battles her father by Xu Wenwu’s side, and ultimately reaches her ultimate form as, I don’t know, Hela the White or something. Odin steps aside and Hela and Wenwu team up to become the benevolent conquerors of the universe. The final scene sees them interrupting the moment when Thanos (Josh Brolin) adopted Gamora, presumably stopping that whole “Infinity War” thing from happening.
So given all that, how much of the Thor cast and Shang-Chi cast did voices in the episode? Let’s get into it.
What If…? Season 2 Episode 7 Cast: Who’s Who In The Cast?
First of all, yes, that is indeed Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett reprising her role as Hela in the episode. Pretty big get! Also back from the Thor movies is Idris Elba as Heimdall, who shows up in a few scenes in Asgard.
Otherwise? It’s voice actors all the way down. Odin is voiced by Jeff Bergman as in previous episodes of What If…?, instead of Anthony Hopkins. Xu Wenwu is voiced by Feodor Chin, who has previously worked with Marvel doing various voices on Hit-Monkey.
And as for the rest, you might be wondering why there’s no Michelle Yeoh, Fala Chen or any of the rest of the cast who lived in Ta Lo. Best guess beyond “they weren’t available” is that this takes place centuries before the events of Shang-Chi. While Ta Lo is a mystical realm, it’s not explicit that the people there age any differently from the people of Earth. Wenwu is near immortal thanks to the Ten Rings; Ying Li (Chen) and Ying Nan (Yeoh) are probably not.
So instead, we get a new cast of residents: Jiayi, voiced by veteran actress Lauren Tom; and Shunyuan, voiced by Michael Hagiwara. Tom has had a prolific career in The Joy Luck Club, as well as voicing Amy Wong on Futurama among multiple other roles. Hagiwara has also had a long career, though perhaps most notably to the point of this article, did the voice of Wong for the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
And the last name of note, Liv Zamora who seems to be a working voice actress, albeit with a blank IMDb page for the moment (you can check her out on Instagram).
What If…? Season 2 Episode 7 Cast List:
Here’s a full cast list from What If…? Season 2, Episode 7, if you prefer to read it in list style instead of written out, as above:
The Watcher…Jeffrey Wright
Hela…Cate Blanchett
Odin…Jeff Bergman
Xu Wenwu…Feodor Chin
Jiayi…Lauren Tom
Heimdall…Idris Elba
Shunyuan…Michael Hagiwara
Young Hela…Liv Zamora
Additional Voices: Vic Chao, David Collins, Terri Douglas, Karen Huie, Paul Kwo, James Taku Leung, Michael Ralph, Fred Tatasciore, Matthew Wood
What If…? Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
Sounds fun, right? But when can you watch it? The weird way Marvel and Disney+ are rolling out these episodes is one per day, over the holidays. So the answer is: pretty much non-stop.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Marvel’s What If…? Season 2, and when they premiere:
- Friday, December 22, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 1 – “What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?”
- Saturday, December 23, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 2 – “What If… Peter Quill Attacked Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
- Sunday, December 24, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 3 – “What If… Happy Hogan Saved Christmas?”
- Monday, December 25, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 4 – “What If… Iron Man Crashed Into The Grandmaster?”
- Tuesday, December 26, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 5 – “What If… Captain Carter Fought The Hydra Stomper?”
- Wednesday, December 27, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 6 – “What If… Kahhori Reshaped The World?”
- Thursday, December 28, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 7 – “What If… Hela Found The Ten Rings?”
- Friday, December 29, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 8 – “What If… The Avengers Assembled In 1602?”
- Saturday, December 30, 2023: What If…? Season 2, Episode 9 – “What If… Strange Supreme Intervened?”
