What If's You'd like to read

[Artistsean]

All very great ideas, especially how different the Sentry would have turned out with Spider-Man guiding him.
I could see him getting in WAY over his head, and maybe needing help from his friends like the Avengers to run things.
It would be fun to see Spider-Man, public enemy #1 becomes Earth's big hero. Go from being essentially a loner to running the largest homeland security operation. And like with some political figures, despite all the good he does or tries to do, I can still see the Bugle and Jameson complaining endlessly about him and the job he is doing.
Did he and MJ break up before or after Secret Invasion? If not before, this would change her life too. He would be over worked and over stressed trying to run everything because its his RESPONSIBILITY now. MJ might be left alone a lot more I guess. Aunt May?
His identity would have to be made known to a lot of people since Peter couldn't live his life and secretly be Spider-Man running everything.
Or could he?
I am not sure what the BIG over all story would be, like Dark Reign was, but I think in the end Peter would give up being Director of W.E.B. to Steve Rogers. And be glad to have all that pressure off his shoulders.

 

[Artistsean]

What If: The Supreme Intelegence Downloaded himself into Ultron?

I would imagine he would build an army of Ultrons and control all of them like he lead the army of Kree. maybe he would use his Kree technology to upgrade Ultron,

 

[Artistsean]

What If... Charles Xavier wasn't a jerk?

 

[ever lovin hulk]

i have a few
what if the hulk wore the symbiote?
what if the hulk became juggernaut?
what if quicksilver became paralysed?
what if mary jane was bitten by the radioactive spider?
what if aunt may was bitten by the radioactive spider?
or some funnies
what if wolverine was gay?
what if beast had a drug problem?
what if sabertooth was vegan?
what if sub mariner was a weak swimmer?

 

[Artistsean]

What If Peter told his Aunt May and Uncle Ben as soon as he got home after being bitten by the radioactive spider?
Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider at the science exhibit and on his way home he discovers that he has gained amazing powers like spider-sense, agility, strength, and others. But instead of keeping it secret Peter tells Aunt May and Uncle Ben as soon as he gets home.
"Aunt May, Uncle Ben! Look at this!"
Where would the story go from there?
Would Uncle Ben teach Peter about power and responsibility?
Would Aunt May be too worried about Peter's safetly to let him use them to help anyone?
Would Peter fight crime?
Would Uncle Ben die?
Would Peter even become Spider-Man?

 

[Artistsean]

What If: Norman Osborn Remembered?
Norman Osborn remembers most, Spider-Man reveled his identity to everyone on live TV.
But for some reason he can't remember who Spider-Man really is, an neither can anyone
else Osborn talks to. This story takes place after Norman headed HAMMER and after his
incarceration and break out. Osborn, using his contacts, figures out Spider-Man must have
erased everyone's memory. And to do that he must have used something or someone very
powerful. He finds one of his secret bases where he keeps his weapons. There he gets new
gear and becomes the Green Goblin once again. But for this he will also need Norman Osborn.
Through a series of investigations and confrontations Norman, and the Green Goblin, find out
that Reed Richards and Dr. Strange were involved. Eventually Norman breaks through and
remembers it was Peter Parker. Norman breaks out his super special Green Goblin armor
and weapons, its finally time. Its finally going to happen. He is going to kill Spider-Man.
Green Goblin attacks Peter at his apartment. He confronts Peter, "Surprised?" They fight,
Norman keeps trying to rub it in that he knows who Peter really is. Spider-Man tells him how,
before he erased everyone's memory, Norman knew. He actually knew for a really long time,
since Peter was in college. Osborn tries to not act shocked. But this does set him back a bit.
Peter uses this to his advantage, just like his usual banter. He was out gunned at first and
surprised. But Peter manages to remove Osborn's new armor and punch him a few times
for good measure before sending him packing back to the Raft. While being hauled away
Osborn reminds Peter that he knows his identity now, "Watch your back. I'll be in your
nightmares!" Later, that night, Peter gets Reed and Strange back together and they erase
Osborn's memory... again. Back in prison Osborn spreads the word that he knows who
Spider-man really is. Just when he is about to tell he suddenly forgets.
"I knew. I followed the trail, what was that trail, back to him and found out who he was.
I attacked him out of costume. Who is he? Why can't I remember?"
This time Peter also asked them to erase any memory of how he found out who Spider-Man really is too.

 

[Artistsean]

What If: Charles Xavier never started the X-Men?
What would the Marvel Universe look like today? What saved days would have never happened? Where would each X-Men be now? Would Charles Xavier be able to walk? Would Cyclops still be under the influence of Mr. Sinister? Would Colossus be a weapon of the Soviet Union? Would Wolverine still be with Alpha flight? Would Storm still be living as a Goddess? What about Beast or Ice Man? Would Magneto still be a terrorist? Or would he have still started the Brotherhood of Mutants? Would mutants be feared and hated even more or without the X-men would humanity barely know about them?

What If: The Frightful Four?
In Fantastic Four #41-43 the Wizard and the Frightful Four brainwashed the Thing and the Human Torch, he thought, and went after the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic next. The brainwash machine manipulated the minds of the Thing, supposedly, Johnny, making them more aggressive, selfish, mean, angry, it basically elaborated on their darker personalities making them dominant traits. the Frightful Four lost out, Johnny wasn't really brainwashed and because of that Sue was able to mess up the machine, and the FF won and saved the day. But what if they didn't?
What if the Wizard was able to actually brainwashed Johny Storm?
From there Johnny was able to bring the Wizard Sue. This is the moment the Watcher appeared, because it was this action and what happened next that would change things forever.
With her especially on their side the Frightful Four was able to capture and ultimately brainwash Reed Richards as well. Now Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben, were all, essentially, villains. But what the Wizard and the rest of the Frightful Four thought would be a good thing ultimately proved to be anything but.
With their personalities altered Ben was now a brutish jerk. Johnny was a cruel boy who liked to play with fire. Sue not only became selfish and manipulative but was able to tap into her powers full potential. Reed became vain, selfish, incredibly manipulative, distant, and hateful. The four saw no need for the original Frightful Four, Sand Man, Trapster, Medusa, and the Wizard. So they killed them, only the Wizard was able to escape.
The new Frightful Four became Earth's deadliest threats. Sue had affairs with Black Panther, Namor, Dr. Doom, and even Ben, just to make Reed jealous. Reed would always plot and often try to kill Sue, Ben, and Johnny. Reed destroyed Dr. Doom and took Latveria as his own. Upon Reed's orders the team even attacked and killed the Watcher, taking his base on the moon and all his inventions.
Johnny would occasionally randomly attack the people of New York with fire balls. The team prayed on the people of Earth and fought amongst themselves all the time. Each member thought they should lead the team.
When Galactus came to Earth the FF destroyed him and his herald, the Silver Surfer, and took his technology for their own.
All the many years the Frightful Four existed the only thing stopping them from fully taking over everything was the heroes of the city like the Avengers, who now included the combined might of the regular Avengers, Spider-Man, and the X-Men. And secretly the Wizard, who had escaped death those many years ago, teamed up with the Inhumans. Heart broken over the loss of his love Medusa Black Bolt and his team, Triton, the Seeker, Maximus, Gorgon (who found the Wizard), Karnak, and the Wizard (who had started a new team he called The Fantastic Five, which included Hydro Man, Red Ghost, Thundra, and Titania.) and Dragon Man would finally destroy the Frightful Four once and for all. Once the attack on the team, at their New York base, started the Avengers got involved. Suddenly it was an all out war.
In the end, however, Reed pulled out a weapon he had taken from the Watcher, alien technology that the arrogant Reed Richards assumed he understood and could handle. the weapon not only was too much for him, it seemingly destroyed him, Sue, Johnny, and Ben.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

What If the cosmic rays that gave The Fantastic Four their powers also turned them evil.
What If The Secret Wars never happened.
What If Captain America received different powers from the Super Soldier Serum.
What If Henry Pym created Ultron armor instead of creating Ultron.

 

[ThDWgeek]

One storyline that'll hardly stick "What If writers let Spider-man's life move on?"

 

[Artistsean]

What If... Cable was Never Sent into the Future?
What if Scott and Jean (it was Jean and not Madeline right?) never had to send their son, Christopher Charles Summers who would have become Cable, into the future? He would not have been infected with the Legacy Virus, I don't think he would have been cloned to make Stryfe, he wouldn't have had to become such a bulky gritty warrior he became because of the post apocalyptic future. What would have happened to him? My guess is he would become the most powerful mutant, at least on level with Franklin Richards. And he would have become the Pheonix or something.

What If... Mister Sinister was Successful in his plans with Scott and Jean?
Mister Sinister was always trying to manipulate Scott and Jean, and their DNA, to create the perfect mutant. But while he was successful in creating Cable, Cable was sent into the future and his plans ultimately resulted in failure. But what if he was completely successful? Would he have created the perfect mutant? An army of the perfect mutant? Killed Apocalypse? Killed Xavier?
Would it have become the Age of Sinister?

Spoiler

Mr. Sinsiter's story began in the 19th Century when he was called Nathanial Essex. He met the mutant Apocalypse, who gave him great power and knowledge of mutants and evolution in exchange for his servitude to Apocalypse.
Mr. Sinister planned to create a perfect mutant, a living weapon to destroy Apocalypse. He found the offspring of Scott Summers and Jean Grey would produce such a mutant. So he manipulated everything to produce this Mutant Weapon.
This mutant killed Apocalypse, and Charles Xavier. Mr. Sinister cloned the Mutant Weapon and created an army of him. With the army, and with Apocalypse and Xavier out of the way, it was easy for Sinister to take over America, and then the world.
Now the X-Men and all mutants and humans live in an Age of Sinister.
And this is where the story would begin. Sinister is now ruler of the world like Apocalypse was in Age of Apocalypse, but Sinister also is constantly experimenting on the populace and their genes. He creates Morlocks and such, alters their powers, gives powers to the powerless, whatever he feels like. He is the ruler, his soldiers are clones of what would have been Cable, or Mutant X, or Stryfe. He also has other mutants in his employ like Toad (who is now a very powerful and dangerous threat), the Nasty Boys, and some human bad guys turned into mutants. There is, as always, a rebellion and this group contains members of the X-Men, the Brotherhood, the FF, and the Avengers, as well as some former bad guys. I'd imagine that Essex would have killed the major threats like Hulk or Captain America, but maybe Iron Man, Spider-Man, Magneto, and others are still alive. And maybe he keeps some as prisoners for genetic experiments like Hulk and Cap. Can the Rebellion topple the regime? Can Essex and his army of Cables be stopped?
Essex, being a powerful geneticist, has made several clone bodies he can go into at will... in case one body dies, or he needs many hands. He also uses Sentinels as a peace keepers too.
Cyclops/Scott would probably have a huge role in the story... Jean Grey too. But are they the leaders of the rebellion or are they zombie soldiers for Sinister?
In this story even the heroes we know can be different. Genetically altered, maybe Spider-Man has four arms. Maybe Iron Man has super powers know, Colossus like powers. Maybe Cyclops doesn't need a visor, but his eye beams are stronger. Maybe Exxex looks more like Apocaluypse now, or like the High Evolutionary.
Gambit is still working for Sinister. He is one of his top generals.
The Cable cloned soldiers not only have Cable/Nate Grey's powers, but also Captain America's abilities from the super soldier serum, and Wolverine's metal bones.

What If.. Mr. Sinister (the original idea):
" Dave Cockrum and I were over ideas and what we were coming towards was a mysterious young boy - apparently an 11-year-old - at the orphanage where Scott ( Cyclops) was raised, who turned out to be the secret master of the place. In effect what we were setting up was a guy who was aging over a lifespan of roughly a thousand years. Even though he looked like an 11-year-old, he'd actually been alive since the mid-century at this point - he was actually about 50 [...] He had all the grown up urges. He's growing up in his mind but his body isn't capable of handling it, which makes him quite cranky. And, of course, looking like an 11-year-old, who'd take him seriously in the criminal community? [...] So he built himself an agent in a sense, which was Mister Sinister, that was, in effect, the rationale behind Sinister's rather - for want of a better word - childish or kid-like appearance. The costume ... the look ... the face ... it's what would scare a child. Even when he was designed, he wasn't what you'd expect in a guy like that."
I'd like to see this idea in a comic.

What If... Guy Smith died? What if Tyke Alicar died?
X-Statix had a storyline where Tyke Alicar, Guy Smith, or Eddie Sawyer was going to die. SPOILER: [BLACKOUT]Eddie dies.[/BLACKOUT] But the writer has said he wonders what would have happened if she lived. There are also alternate covers, never used, that feature the X-Statix team if she lived.
So I think they could do two What If stories. One where Guy dies and one where Tyke dies and we can see what would have happened from there?

 

[Artistsean]

What if Peter Parker reveled he was Spider-Man... 5 years later.
5 years ago Peter Parker reveled to the world that he was Spider-Man. At the time it seemed like his life was over. His aunt nearly died, MJ was in harms way. All his enemies came after him. Everyone around him, even him, seemed in danger. But being an Avenger had its advantages, they came to his aid. Aunt May was placed under their protection. Peter sadly pushed MJ away, their marriage ended despite both of them being in love still. 5 years later life is very different for Peter. Still an Avenger Peter spends most days at the mansion. On his off days he will be hanging out in a Spidey T-shirt working in his lab. He and Stark, he and Pym, and he and Reed, have all had major experimental, inventions, and other scientific breakthroughs. As Spider-Man he has had some major breakthroughs as well. No longer hiding his identity and now part of the Avengers permanently Jameson had to stop his attacks. Peter was no longer hiding and is now a member of a high profile superhero team, the public wasn't listening any more. (The public's trust was gained like it was gained for the Vision.)

Peter has been in some headline news relationships with other superheroes, other Avengers. He and Ms. Marvel (now Captain Marvel) is the most recent, there was also he and Silver Sable, in the past there was he and Spider-Woman (mostly created by the media because of their names, and then they actually tried dating). His shortest superhero relationship was with Black Cat.
Peter now walks down the street in his Spider-gear unmasked just like he was Captain America or Iron Man. He doesn't need any job since Peter Parker is now on the Avenger's pay role. Still, he longs for the days where he and MJ were married, and Aunt May knew about him being Spider-man. They all lived in the Avengers mansion, and life was happy.

The idea is that in a few years Peter's life would had become different but fine if he did reveal his identity. Not saying thats definitely what would happened but its a different take than his life would be disastrous.

 

[Artistsean]

This might be a spoiler for anyone who hasn't read Earth 2 yet...

What If: Marvel's Earth 2?
What if the Avengers died? While fighting the Kree/Skrull War that took the battlefield to Earth, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Ant Man, Wonder Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and other Avengers died in battle but in the end stopped the war and saved Earth and its people. Their bodies were buried in the Avenger's Mansion which has now become a mausoleum. Now that the Avengers are gone Earth looked for new heroes, new Avengers. They found them in the Thunderbolts. These are heroes who were villains and saw the Avenger sacrafice themselves to save everyone and were inspired. Unlike the regular Thunderbolts these Earth 2 versions actually want to be heroes from the start. They aren't hiding, after saving the day from the Wrecking Crew they announce to the press that they are former super criminals who want to protect the world from now on. While some are similar like Baron Zemo being the new Citizen V (although he has the Pheonix Force... maybe), there are others who are new like the Absorbing Man who takes the place of Thor. The Earth 2 Thunderbolts are much more heroic, in their actions and their appearance. Baron Zemo looks like a Captain America/Superman type and has the power of the Pheonix Force to make him as powerful. He has fully renounced his family and their Nazi ways. The chaos magic from Scarlet Witch found a new body in Moonstone. Absorbing Man, already made by Asgardian Magic found traces of Gamma Radiation from the Hulk's death and absorbed it making him stronger and bigger. He wears traditional Asgardian Armor. Once more accepted SHIELD gave access of Stark's and Pym's technology to Beetle, his armor is now vastly the most advanced technology ever and allows him to shrink and grow as well as fly, protect his body, blast repulsar stingers, etc. Not on purpose but his new armor looks like a combination of Ant Man, Giant Man, Yellow Jacket, Iron Man, and his own Beetle armor. Namor has joined the Thunderbolts as well, he wears a uniform in honor of his fallen friend Avengers. Songbird has undergone major training to become a living weapon in hand to hand combat, possibly even getting the brainwashing training. Beetle has also included a device on her new costume/armor that would allow her to use Pym Particles to shrink like the Wasp to the size of a bird. Swordsman, tries to fill the void of Hawkeye. Etc. I will probably name more examples later. Similar to the Earth 2 from DC these Thunderbolts get their powers through different means than the 616 versions. They do eventually get acceptance, its different than the 616 version who automatically got it and then lost it. These guys didn't get it at first because the public knew who they really were.
But suddenly, during a major battle similar to the Kree/Skrull war the Thunderbolts were blasted into another universe, ours. The 616 Marvel universe. They run into the Avengers who have already met the Thunderbolts, the 616 versions, and don't trust these alternate versions. Likewise the Thunderbolts thought these Avengers must be Skrulls invaders. When they first met they battled, got off on the wrong foot. But then they realized that they both had honorable intentions. Still not crazy about each other they went their separate ways. Later Zemo and Beetle discussed a plan with the reas of the team they figured out. To help save this new 616 world they must do evil and look like the bad guys they once were. If they do not look like horrible killers, monsters, and despots, and commit horrible crimes and destruction their new home would be destroyed.

 

[KevanG]

i have a few
what if the hulk wore the symbiote?
what if quicksilver became paralysed?

They did these two in the old what ifs

The first was what if Spider-man didnt get rid of the symbiote. It eventually bonded to him and killed him then took over the hulk who went on the warpath eventually destroying MT Rushmore before he was stopped.

Quicksilver was paralysed in one what if where Magnetos first daughter, the one who died in a fire when he lived with his wife after WWII lived.

I miss the what if comics. Id love to see a new ongoing but theyve done so many that the stories would just be rehashed.