Marvel has incorporated some of its What If series into the regular and Ultimate continuity.
We count down the best concepts that actually happened.
MarvelsWhat If…?series is one of my personal favorites.
Every issue is a crapshoot and youre usually going to either find something entertainingly good or entertainingly bad.
They even created an entire segment of standalone long-running continuity out of the Spider-Girl issue.
Now, a lot of these have become punchlines for years.
What If Spider-Mans Clone Had Lived?
What If the Hulk was a Barbarian?
What If Spider-Man Didnt Marry Mary Jane?
What If the World Knew Daredevil was Blind?
Instead, Hulk throws her out of harms way and dies in the ensuing fireball.
That leads to World War Caiera, as the vengeful queen gathers Hulks Warbound together and invades Earth.
They kill the Illuminati in mere minutes and dominate the rest of Earths heroes.
Caiera ends up enslaving the world so that they can honor her fallen king.
Years later, Caeira is informed that the giant stone statue of the Hulk is complete.
The one telling her this is her son, all grown up.
He isnt named and we barely get a good look at him.
All we know is that he looks like a green Nathan Explosion.
Well played, Pak!
Xaviernaut: Onslaught Meets House of MWhat If Professor X of the X-Men Had Become the Juggernaut?
All of this understandably drives Xavier just a little insane.
Xavier gets himself free and takes over Magnetos operation.
He ultimately takes over the world through both his invincibility and ability to predict the actions of his enemies.
Mutants rule over all and humans are treated like second-class citizens, just like in theHouse of Muniverse.
You know, without the Layla Miller plot gear.
8.Venom: Murderous VigilanteWhat If Spider-Man Kept His Cosmic Powers?
(What If volume 2 #31, 1991)What If Venom Had Possessed the Punisher?
It turns out Marvel tested this idea out in twoWhat Ifissues.
In the first one, Spider-Man keeps his Captain Universe powers from theActs of Vengeancecrossover.
Venom takes him up on the offer and goes around killing a whole lot of criminals.
Ultimate PunisherWhat If the Punishers Family Hadnt Been Killed?
They just dont die in the way were familiar with.
They dont stumble upon a mob hit and get gunned down, instead living to see another day.
It seems everyones in on it except him.
Castle starts up his one-man war on crime, though more obsessed with taking out dirty cops and judges.
Fast-forward years later when Ultimate Marvel introduced the Punisher.
His 616 story doesnt quite fit as well for a modern-day revamp, since Vietnam was too long ago.
Wolverine Leads the X-Men and I Guess Uncanny X-Force?What If Cable Had Destroyed the X-Men?
(What If volume 2 #46, 1993)What If Magneto Took Over the USA?
Er, at the time, I mean.
Two of them are currently dead and the other is going through circumstances at the moment.
So Cable has a hissyfit and assassinates his dad, proto-mom and Xavier.
Every X-Men villain is unchecked.
Some go to annihilate whats left of the team while others go mess with the Avengers and the like.
Either way, this mucks up mutant relations and brings us to aDays of Future Pastreality.
In all of this, Wolverine actually gets a pretty kicking story arc.
That goes to hell and Wolverine becomes more of a raving madman than ever.
He eventually smartens up and figures out a way to strike back against the Sentinels running the world.
Then again, nearly every named mutant is dead by this point, so beggars cant be choosers.
Crazy Phoenix Rules the WorldWhat If Storm Had the Power of Phoenix?
Storm takes Jeans spot when the X-Men escape to Earth and she ends up becoming the Phoenix instead.
Or the Phoenix becomes her.
Either way, Storm is way too powerful and forces the world to follow her vision of morality.
Most superheroes are kept in a tortured, freezing stasis where they cant interfere, but dont die.
In other words, the whole thing has gone to her head.
In the end, its still not the absolute worst Phoenix-relatedWhat If.
Ultimate WolverineWhat If Wolverine Had Killed the Hulk?
Theres merely one page dedicated to others mourning his death and hes never mentioned again.
Instead, Wolverines ego gets him in trouble when he kills a man in a bar fight.
In other words,any given day in Wolverines life.
He runs off and gets taken in by Magneto, joining the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Infiltrate the X-Men and betray them!
She finds out and gets rightfully pissed at him being a traitor.
He ends up betraying Magneto instead, leading to an ending where the two kill each other.
Bucky Barnes is Captain AmericaWhat If Captain America Hadnt Vanished During World War Two?
Steve Rogers becomes too old for the cowl and is asked to lead the new organization SHIELD.
The difference is that theres no status quo to rubber-band to, what with this being a non-canon comic.
Rogers keeps his role as Director of SHIELD while Rick Jones thinks about becoming the next Cap.
God, imagine if Marvel tried to pull that off afterFear Itself.
Coincidentally, the idea of Rogers retiring, Bucky taking over and then dying wasalsoused inHouse of M.
2.
Agents of AtlasWhat If the Avengers Had Fought Evil in the 1950s?
Namora shows up and helps them locate the Human Robot, but opts out of joining.
Then President Ike tells them to disband because the 1950s public just isnt ready for the likes of them.
The 50s Avengers made cameo appearances throughout the decades that followed, such as inAvengers ForeverandParadise X.
Then in the mid 00s, Jeff Parker reintroduced them with a slightly different origin.
Introducing the Mega Crossover Team-Up!What If the Avengers Fought the Kree-Skrull War Without Rick Jones?
Take him off the table and you get an awesome summer event story arc told in 35 pages.
By everyone I mean the Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom, Spider-Man, Namor, Dr.
Strange, the Inhumans, Daredevil, Black Widow, Black Panther and the Hulk.
You have all sorts of awesome subplots going on.
The Avengers are in space, fulfilling separate missions.
Captain Marvel is super-pissed over Ricks death and has a big fight to the death against Super-Skrull.
The Kree Supreme Intelligence has a battle of wills against Ronan the Accuser.
The remaining heroes all band together and board the Kree mothership, leading to an all-out melee.
That works for me.
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