When Marvel Studios rolled out the massive slate of film and television projects making up the MCU’s Phase 4 at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con – that feels like a decade ago, doesn’t it? – perhaps the most surprising reveal was an animated series based on a cult favorite comic book series.
Marvel’s What If…?, which is now available on Disney+, offers a re-imagination of some of the biggest moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Essentially, the series shows how events we all saw occur in the movies played out in other realities, in other corners of the multiverse. In other words, it follows the same template as the comic book which inspired the series.
Launched in 1977 as a double-sized 50-cent comic, What If…? showcased an alternate take on a different Marvel Comics story in each issue. What if Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four that time he broke into the Baxter Building back in the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man? What if Captain America hadn’t fallen into the ice near the end of World War II? What if the Watcher were a standup comedian?!
(Yes, somehow Marvel actually published that one.)
In the letters column of the very first issue (“Why Not?” may be the best letters column name in Marvel history, by the way), “Rascally” Roy Thomas, the legendary Marvelite who conceived the idea for the series and scripted many of the early chapters, wrote how the concept was inspired by Stan Lee’s approach to storytelling in the nascent days of the Marvel Age. In 1965, when Thomas arrived at the Marvel offices as a diehard comics fan looking to study at the feet of the new masters, he became tied at the hip to Stan “The Man.” No one worked closer with him than Thomas, who would succeed Lee as writer of the Avengers and eventually replaced him as Editor-in-Chief when Stan was bumped to publisher.
One of the aphorisms Thomas picked up from Stan was the “What If?” maxim, which he explained in more detail from that 1977 column:
“The way he would plot most of those early issues, he said, was simply to ask himself the kinds of questions the readers must be asking themselves. What if, for instance, Thor and the Hulk fought it out to see which of them was the most powerful? What if the Fantastic Four went broke?”
Years later, Thomas used that as the jump-off point for a comic that would offer up new spins to some of the most important stories in the Marvel canon. The original What If…? series was not always a light affair. Many of the storied ended in tragedy that varied in size from personal sacrifice to cosmic genocide; others were a bit silly. But as Thomas wrote in that very first issue, “That’s the nice thing about the ‘What If’ idea. You can take it anywhere.”
All that said, here are nine wild, weird and wonderful What If…? comics stories to dig up and enjoy!
What If…? #3 (Vol. 1) – What If the Avengers Had Never Been?
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would feature prominently in several What If…? stories, but this one was the best scripted tale. Co-written by Jim Shooter and Gil Kane (who also penciled the story that was inked by a young Klaus Janson), it showed how a simple question by Giant-Man could lead to the Avengers splitting up right after the Hulk bailed.
Left on his own, Tony Stark is forced to come up with a desperate plan to stop the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, who have reluctantly teamed up to exercise their bad intentions on humanity. After convincing young sidekick Rick Jones and the now-retired Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne to put on custom suits of armor he built, Iron Man leads the team into battle. During the fight, which features some epic Kane layouts, Stark gives up the remaining power in his suit to recharge Giant-Man’s so he has a chance to stop the Hulk and Subbie. Without that power, the chest device that kept Stark’s heart beating stopped. Iron Man had made the ultimate sacrifice. As MCU fans know, it would be the first time, but not the last, he would do that.
What If…? #10 (Vol. 1) – What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?
This was one of several OG What If…? stories that would eventually happen in the primary Marvel world of Earth-616. Here, it’s Jane Foster, in a Norwegian cave, who finds the cane that turns out to be Mjolnir, the enchanted hammer of Thor. Thordis, as Jane calls herself, runs into trouble with the gods rather quickly: Loki manipulates Odin into banishing Thordis to Earth, making the God of Mischief Asgard’s favorite son.
While all that’s happening, Sif and Dr. Don Blake suddenly become an item as Sif tries to connect with Blake’s disguised true self, that of the Mighty Thor. The story ends with Mjolnir back in the hands of Don Blake, who transforms into Thor and Odin admitting he badly misjudged Jane Foster. Jane was no longer Thordis, but she is a goddess, because something else Odin admits at the end is that he has feelings for her. So yes, she winds up marrying Odin! Yeah, it’s a little creepy.
What If…? #11 (Vol. 1) – What If the Original Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four?
The flat-out weirdest of the early What If…? books, this story takes place on an Earth where the FF are actually four members of the famous Marvel bullpen – Stan Lee as Mister Fantastic, “Fabulous” Flo Steinberg as the Invisible Girl, Sol Brodsky as the Human Torch, and Jack Kirby as the Thing!
It was as meta as any comic Marvel had put out. In the story, the Fantastic Four comics exist, but on that world, the people that created the comics are actual superheroes. Even comic book villains like the Sub-Mariner have real-life counterparts. It’s an incredibly goofy story that also features the original “Secret Invasion” by the Skrulls, but part of the reason it’s so memorable is that it was written and drawn by the “King” himself. Up to that point, it had been eight years since Kirby had drawn an FF story. This wild and wooly alternate reality tale would mark Kirby’s return to the characters (outside of some covers) he helped create back in 1961. It would also be the last time he worked on the First Family of Marvel.
What If…? #13 (Vol 1.) – What If Conan the Barbarian Walked the Earth Today?
The first dozen issues of the first iteration of the series had leaned heavily on Spider-Man, the FF and the Hulk for inspiration. But by issue #13, Thomas trotted out his favorite Cimmerian for a tale he had long wanted to do.
Here, the timeline diverged when a frayed rope snapped and Conan fell through the Well at the Center of Time that was controlled by the wizard Shamash Shum-Ukin. It dropped him in the middle of Manhattan, where he encounters punk rock musicians, gets confused for Schwarzenegger and Stallone, and strikes up a, ahem, friendship with a female cabbie named Danette. Thomas, the longtime scripter of the Conan comics, even linked his arrival to the infamous 1977 NYC blackout.
No one ever drew Conan as well as legendary artist John Buscema did, and this issue features some of his best work. The contrast of Conan against the concrete jungle of Manhattan and all its dangers proved to be a great showcase of Buscema’s linework. Often, What If…? stories had grand, galactic consequences. But Conan’s adventure in the Modern Age is a remarkably intimate tale that holds up as well as any other issue in the series.
What If…? #19 (Vol. 1) – What If Spider-Man Had Never Become a Crimefighter?
In the Marvel Universe, there’s no dead like “Uncle Ben” dead. Ben Parker’s murder at the hands of a burglar that Peter Parker failed to stop in a moment of selfishness came to define Spider-Man’s mission statement: “With great power there must also come great responsibility.”
This comic showed how different Peter’s life would have been had he stopped the burglar back at the TV network studio and prevented his uncle’s death. But the big twist is what a miserable person Peter Parker turned out to be. Instead of fighting crime with his powers, he turns to acting and becomes obsessed with fame and fortune. He turns his back on Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who wanted him to use his intelligence to pursue a career in science.
Eventually, he becomes a promoter for other heroes like the FF, the X-Men and Daredevil, but years of self-serving actions and sheer greed come back to haunt Pete in the end. It’s none other than J. Jonah Jameson, driven to insanity by Spider-Man’s ruthless pursuit of glory, who winds up showing Peter how he threw away all his potential. Yeah, it’s a complete downer of a story, which happened often in this series (though there was a slightly less depressing version of a “What If Uncle Ben Lived” story in issue #46). But it was a solid example of what was the unofficial What If…? mission statement: Showing how a split-second decision could start a domino effect and completely upend one’s destiny.
Still, seeing Peter Parker turn out like this remains a real punch to the gut.
What If…? #27 (Vol. 1) – What If Phoenix Had Not Died?
This issue is in the running for the most bleak installment of the series. In this alt-world, Jean Grey does not die on the blue area of the moon as in Uncanny X-Men #137. Here, she is given a psychic lobotomy by the Sh’iar after the X-Men are beaten by the Imperial Guard (similar to the original ending Chris Claremont/John Byrne had planned before Jim Shooter intervened).
After several years, the Phoenix force is reignited during a battle with Galactus and Terrax. Jean stops them both, but just as it happened before, she would soon be overtaken by Dark Phoenix. The most shocking moment in the story comes when Jean incinerates poor Kitty Pryde in front of the rest of her shocked teammates. She winds up killing them all as well, before eventually consuming the Earth and, finally, the universe. You know, I get that the code of the Watchers is just to observe. But if ever there was a time for Uatu to make an exception, it probably would have been here.
What If…? #31 (Vol. 1) – What If Wolverine Had Killed the Hulk?
This 1982 issue was released just seven months before Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s groundbreaking Wolverine limited series. The Canadian mutant was quickly ascending to comics’ A-list, and this comic only bolstered his cred with fans.
Leaning into the berserker rage aspect that made Wolverine the most dangerous X-Man, the story pivots at a key moment from the character’s debut appearance in The Incredible Hulk issues #180-182. As the two battle in the Canadian wilderness, something inside Wolverine snaps. Instead of trying to just beat the Hulk, he goes for the jugular in a very literal sense. Thanks to some carefully inserted expository dialogue from writer Rich Margopoulos, we learn that Logan’s adamantium claws can’t do much damage to the Hulk’s ultra-tough skin. His neck is a different matter.
Kudos to Bob Budiansky, a workhorse artist for Marvel back in the Bronze Age, for expertly illustrating the brutality of Wolverine’s fatal attack on the Hulk without resorting to a bloody scene. From there, the story shows how Logan’s deadly temper leads him to kill a civilian. Now an outlaw, he joins with Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and is sent to join the X-Men with the goal of betraying them. But just as in Marvel world we know, Logan develops feelings for Jean Grey. When Magneto attacks, Wolverine can’t stand by and let her be hurt. The fight ends with both men killing each other. Wolverine dies a hero. (Remember, this was 1982, so writers hadn’t “powered up” Wolverine to the point where his healing factor had made him virtually invulnerable.)
The story was a fairly by-the-numbers production, but it had great significance. The depiction of Wolverine killing one of Marvel’s big guns – the Hulk had his own television show at the time and his comic was a top seller – was a signal of Logan’s soaring popularity.
What If…? #44 (Vol. 1) – What If Captain America Were Revived Today?
The original “hero out of time,” Cap was a favorite of writers who pitched What If…? stories. This one takes a detour at the moment in Avengers history (Avengers #4 to be precise) where the team was due to discover Steve Rogers frozen in ice. In this reality, they don’t find him. But a Captain America does come out of suspended animation in this alt-world; the bad news is that it’s the lunatic 1950s version of Cap who is revived.
A little backstory: William Burnside and his “Bucky,” Jack Monroe, were created by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema during their halcyon 1970s run on the Captain America title as a way to retroactively explain away the 1950s-era Cap comic book adventures. The homemade super-soldier serum Burnside created gave them powers to pretend to be Cap and Bucky, but it also made both men insanely dangerous. The FBI put them in suspended animation to take them off the board.
In What If…? #44, Burnside and Monroe are awakened by members of a corrupt group looking to seize power in America. With Cap on their side, free speech and activism are soon wiped out in the U.S. The country becomes a fascist state with open racism and xenophobia, with illegal immigrants vilified for allegedly taking jobs from “real Americans.” The group’s motto? America First. If all this sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve perhaps recently seen a popular Cap meme surface as real-life political debates mirrored what happens in the story.
When the real Steve Rogers is discovered, it is that passionate speech he gives that convinces people that the real Captain America has returned. For its powerful themes and its enduring relevance, this story is a strong contender for the best What If…? story of all time.
What If…? (Vol. 2) #20 – What If the Amazing Spider-Man Had Not Married Mary Jane?
More than a decade before Joe Quesada ordered the undoing of the Peter Parker/Mary Jane wedding, writer Danny Fingeroth and artist Jim Valentino split up the beloved couple. This is the only issue on this list not from the first What If…? volume (in fact, it’s the only two-parter in the series’ history). The What If…? series has always found great success in using Spider-Man’s personal life for its alternate scenarios. “What If Gwen Stacy Had Lived?” from the first volume is a great example. This tale was especially bittersweet.
The turning point here occurs in events first detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #292, as Spidey fought Spencer Smythe’s Spider-Slayer robot. In the original timeline, Peter was able to prevent MJ from being hurt. In this reality, she almost died. That forced Peter to decide that it’s too dangerous for MJ to be in his life, so he says “no” at the altar.
Enter Felicia Hardy.
The Black Cat and Spidey soon reconnect and actually get married in a shotgun wedding, but because Peter is worried about his secret identity, no one knows they are husband and wife. Until, that is, when Felicia decides to confront Mary Jane and rub her nose in the fact she’s wearing Peter’s engagement ring. A shady character overhears and figures out Spidey’s secret identity, which soon ends up in the Vulture’s deadly hands.
The highlight of this story is how unhinged a jealous Felicia becomes. She knows she’s the “fallback girl” for Spidey, that MJ will always be his true love. And it drives her mad. The Cat dies in the end, but finds redemption before she does by saving Mary Jane’s life. In this world, though, there is no second chance for Peter Parker and Mary Jane as they go their separate ways.
But shockingly, there is a happy ending for Spidey as he winds up finding love with a most unlikely person: Silver Sable!
What are your favorite What If…? stories from the comics? Let’s discuss in the comments!
And for more on the show, check out our article on how to watch Marvel's What If…?, dig in on the returning cast from the movies (and those who didn't return), or watch the show's executive producer discuss the ripple effect that making Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa become Star-Lord instead of Black Panther has on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.