| Posted: 05 January 2011 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | 11
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Greg Loboda wrote: "Of course, this "what if" did eventually come to pass in the mainstream continuity. How many other original "What If" stories eventually made their way into the "real" universe?" I was looking through my collection a short time ago and coming to a similar conclusion, Greg. Many ideas that were previously "unthinkable" and therefore grist for the alternate universe mill are day-to-day realities at the present-day Marvel. One of the big ones is issue #5, which gave us a grown-up Bucky as Captain America and Steve Rogers as the head of SHIELD. Hey, there's an idea...! What If #1 "What If Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four?" Would you believe the Avengers? What If #2 "What If the Hulk had the brain of Bruce Banner?" Again, we've gone back to this one a couple of times at least, for extended periods of time... What If #8 "What If the world knew Daredevil was blind?" DD's secret identity has been outed in-continuity more than once by this point. What If #9 "What If the Avengers had fought evil in the 1950's?" This was spun off into the Agents of Atlas series, albeit not directly. This reality was wiped out by Immortus in Avengers Forever. The Agents' reality is an entirely different, albeit very similar one... What If #12 "What If Rick Jones had become the Hulk?" Rick is now a non-descript Abomination knock-off known as A-Bomb. What if #23 "What If the Hulk had become a barbarian?" Would he have to wear a really princess-y looking tiara? What If #25 ends with Thor the gloomy, brooding ruler of his own kingdom. This was largely the premise of the Dan Jurgens run, if I recall correctly. What If #27 "What If Phoenix had not died?" We'd have Warsongs and Endsongs and... What If #28 "What If Daredevil became an Agent of SHIELD?" This sounds familiar to me. Has this one happened in continuity now? What If #30 "What If Spider-Man's Clone had lived?" What was it? Four years of Marvel continuity, done in one issue, with just about every plot twist anticipated, and a wacky fun ending to boot! That was a satisfying comic, all the more so for the interminably turgid tap-dancing and breast-beating that followed years later. What If #35 "What If Elektra had lived?" And so she did. And then she didn't. No, wait, she's up again... And now she's down... What If #37 "What If the Beast continued to mutate?" Well, he'd look curly, and cat-like, and be sort of gay... Homosexuality. That's a secondary mutation, don'tcha know... It says so right here in this comic book... What If #42 "What If the Invisible Girl Died?" Done once or twice before. Dare we do it again?? (shrugs) Prob'ly... What If #45 "What If the Hulk went beserk?" Would the whole world have declare war on him, I wonder? From the second series, we have such premises as "What If the X-Men Died on their First Mission," which we now know is exactly what occured, with Prof. X gathering a team of young men and women and leading them to slaughter before going right back out to do the same thing again in Giant-Size X-Men #1. Those wheelchair guys... What a bunch of *ssh*l*s... This also makes Marvel's premiere ensemble a bunch of crummy second choices. Remember, readers, Charlie went to Logan AFTER he thought the likes of Kid Vulcan, Darwin, and Petra would do better... What If #7 "What If Wolverine were an Agent of SHIELD?" The premise of a well-received run on the title by Mark Millar What If #14 "What If Captain Marvel Had Not Died?" Well, he didn't, see... Here, read this mini-series! And this one! And this one.. Well, no, wait, that's a skrull... Still, we milked that Kings Crossing cow for a good year or year and a half worth of stories... Issue #20 is almost hilarious in present context. "What If Spider-Man Had Not Married Mary Jane?" This isn't just a stolen premise. This IS NOW and ALWAYS HAS BEEN the continuity of the current Marvel Universe! Try this for fun: Look for this issue in the quarter bins. The next issue after it is the second part of the story. Next issue, behind it all... Who's that on the cover? Mephisto! Bwahahaha! Issue #24 may yet come to pass in the current Cursed storyline. "What If Wolverine were Lord of the Vampires?" Issue #30 "What If the Fantastic Four's second child had lived?" Again, this is the premise of the book now. She'd be a super-genius Claremont teen who wears Latverian armor from her elbows to her fingers and her knees to her toes. Because that's cool or something... Issue #32 Again, "What if Phoenix had not died?" I'm rusty on the mythology. Is it the story of the legendary fiery bird that it be beaten to death time and time again? Issue #51 "What If the Punisher became Captain America?" Well, he tried, anyways... Looked pretty silly doing so, too... Issue #52 "What If Doom became Sorceror Supreme?" Would he have to wear his girlfriend, I wonder? Issue #64 Again, the premise would be almost hilarious, if not so nearly tragic at the same time. "What If Iron Man Sold Out?" Issue #71 The retroactive comedy continues in "What If the Gamma Bomb Spawned a Thousand Hulks?" Issue #85 "What If Magneto Ruled All Mutants?" Sounds like it would be the House of M in one, easy-to-carry issue... Issue #114 is kind of sad, really- "Secret Wars- 25 Years Later!" That would be... two years ago, right? Even the more recent What If specials, such as 2004's "What If General Ross had become the Hulk?" seem to have become recipes for the epic storylines of the modern era... What If, ladies and gentlemen. The book that keeps on giving! A veritable House of Ideas in one title!
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