Marvel’s What If...? was inspired by a low-key gay icon and favorite of Stucky shippers

When Polygon asked Marvel’s What If...? production designer Paul Lasaine about the inspirations behind the Disney Plus series — the first animated production set in the same world as the Marvel Cinematic Universe — he had a name ready at once.

“It all started with J.C. Leyendecker, the 20th century American illustrator,” said Lasaine. “Super stylish. That was the basis for our the beginnings of our style. That really influenced the characters.”

Two other creatives working behind the scenes on What If...? — animation supervisor Stephan Franck and character designer Ryan Meinerding (who, as Marvel’s head of visual development also produces those painted concept art pieces you see in behind the scenes Marvel looks) — told Polygon they were all on the same page. The first place to look for the look behind What If...? was Joseph Christian Leyendecker, preeminent among America’s 20th-century cohort of commercial illustrators and inspiration to artists from Normal Rockwell to Alex Ross.

Franck cited Leyendecker third in inspirations for What If...?, after Marvel comics and the Marvel movies themselves. “People picked it up a lot on episode 1 because of the period stuff,” he said, “but it’s even beyond that. It’s in the abstraction of that approach, it’s in the shape language, there’s an elegance and sophistication to it that elevates it in a way that gives you this animated look that you’ve never seen before.”