History ComicBook / WhatIf

Notable issues include:

In 2021, [[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 an animated series]] based on the title premiered exclusively on Creator/DisneyPlus, specifically exploring possible outcomes within the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. Various actors from the MCU films reprise their roles for the series.

See: WhatIf, the trope, and ''Blog/WhatIf'', a blog on hypothetical science questions by the author of ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}''.

For the Creator/{{DC|Comics}} equivalent, see ''Creator/{{Elseworlds}}''.

** In "What If Dr. Strange Had Been a Disciple of Dormammu?" (V1 #18), a young and arrogant Strange turns to dark magic to regain the use of his hands and becomes a sinister magician. He and Dormammu eventually do battle with Strange realizing the demon was using him and taps into his inner nobility to defeat him. Realizing how wrong he was, Strange embraces becoming Sorcerer Supreme to atone for his actions.

* ElvisLives: Played with in "What If Thanos changed Galactus into a human being?" (v2 #34). Thanos turned a defeated Galactus into an amnesiac with a body resembling Elvis and dropped him in a trailer park. The country woman who finds him helps "Elvis" remember who he was and his "purpose." [[spoiler:When Comicbook/AdamWarlock finds him after beating Thanos, "Elvis" is happier as the "King of Rock and Roll." Having the good woman and her son as support didn't hurt either.]]

** In v2 #84, "What if Shard had lived instead of Comicbook/{{Bishop}}?", Shard's execution of Magneto and employment of of the X.S.E's ruthless, bordline fascist methodology policing of mutant-kind doesn't inspire humanity's trust like she expected. It inspires them to wipe out mutant-kind ''completely'', with the last panel depicting a statue of Shard surrounded by mutant heads and bodies on spikes with a plaque commemorating her for having the courage to turn on her own evil race.

** In "What if the Fantastic Four had not gained their powers?" (v1 #36), Reed Richards properly checked the radiation shielding on his spaceship, so the ComicBook/FantasticFour never get their powers. As it turns out, this has absolutely no bearing on their ability to kick Mole Man's ass.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In "What if the Avengers fought Galactus?" (v2 #41), Galactus turns his energy absorption device on [[spoiler:that universe's Uatu]], replenishing Galactus, but leaving the World Devourer confused as to why he did it. It allows Galactus and the Silver Surfer to leave on much more peaceful terms as they both try to seek out a reason for all of this.

* RefusalOfTheCall: In "What if the All-New All-Different X-Men had died on their first mission?" (v2 #9), a new team is formed comprised of ComicBook/{{Beast|Marvel Comics}}, Namorita, Warpath (going by his late brother's code name Thunderbird) Wolfsbane, ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} and the Comicbook/ScarletWitch. However, Pietro and Wanda turn down the invitation at the end due to other commitments, but promise to come running when called on.

** Daredevil murdering the Kingpin, leading to Karen Page being killed by an assassin and Matt himself dying in a [[TakingYouWithMe suicide attack]] on Hobgoblin, leading to Richard Fisk becoming the new Daredevil.(#2)

** "What if the Avengers had fought Galactus?" (v2 #41) has the point of departure be the Fantasic Four's spaceship crash landing upon reentry, killing them all. As a result, Doom becomes an ally of the West, Namor [[LossOfIdentity still has amnesia]], Captain America is never found, and the incident that the issue is named for: the Avengers[[note]]Iron Man, [[Comicbook/AntMan Giant-Man]], Comicbook/TheWasp, Comicbook/{{Quicksilver}}, Comicbook/ScarletWitch, Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}}, Thor, [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], the Hulk, and even the Swordsman[[/note]] becoming entangled with the Galactus incident. The result from ''that'' is [[spoiler:the Silver Surfer joining the Avengers after being released from Galactus' controll, and Galactus' hunger being satiated... at the cost of the Watcher's own life]]. Uatu even points out that [[spoiler: his counterpart's death was why he was so reluctant to share this particular story for so long]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: Bucky's counterpart from ''What If... Captain America Fought in the Civil War?'', is a sadistic monster of a man who orders his solders to kill every man, woman, and child with a complete lack of remorse akin to that of the ComicBook/RedSkull.

* AbsenteeActor: The Watcher disappears from his role after vol. 2 #76, due to the events of ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' #400, which saw Uatu temporarily cast out as a Watcher.

* Volume 1, issue 34 and Volume 2, issue 34 were both special issues full of [[CrackFic one-page gags]] like "What if ComicBook/DoctorStrange were an [[StageMagician ordinary magician]]?", "What if ComicBook/ThePunisher were a stern yet fatherly type?", "What if ComicBook/WonderMan were a [[ComicBook/WonderWoman Woman]] and [[ComicBook/LukeCage Power Man]] were a [[ComicBook/PowerGirl Girl]]?", and "What if the ComicBook/FantasticFour were all bananas?"

* YouWannaGetSued: The punchline to the gag about "What if Wonder Man were a Woman and Power Man were a Girl?"

* BestOfAllPossibleWorlds: Even if things seem to be going well at first, they frequently end up worse than the "real" version of events. (There are, however, enough exceptions that listing them all individually would take up too much space.)

* FusionDance: In "What if the Hulk kept the intellect of Bruce Banner?" (vol. 1 #2), thanks to various events, it's up to the Hulk, Professor X and Mr. Fantastic to stop Galactus when he first appears. They use a machine that fuses them into the being known as the X-Man.

* CurbStompBattle: At the end of "What If Kingpins Assassins had Shot Mary Jane instead of Aunt May" (vol 2008 #5), Kingpin's got a man holding Aunt May hostage and plans to beat Spider-Man to death, assuming he won't risk May by resisting. Spider-Man proceeds to punch a hole straight through his gut, then asks Kingpin's man if he loves Kingpin enough to share his grave. He does not.

* TheseHandsHaveKilled: In ""What if Spider-Man Became a Murderer?" (vol. 2, #72), Spider-Man accidentally beats the guy who killed UIncle Ben to death. Afterwards, the guilt causes him to be incredibly anxious about potentially harming people, either as Spider-Man or as himself, and he even considers letting himself be killed by the Lizard to stop the menace he feels he poses to the people around him. [[spoiler:However, he realizes that if he wants to makes Ben's death mean something he has to embrace Spider-Man and come clean about what he did, so he turns himself in to the police]].

* CurbStompBattle: At the end of "What If Kingpins Assassins had Shot Mary Jane instead of Aunt May" (vol 2008 #5), Kingpin's got a man holding Aunt May hostage and plans to beat Spider-Man to death, assuming he won't risk May by resisting. Spider-Man proceeds to punch a hole straight through him, then asks Kingpin's man if he loves Kingpin enough to share his grave. He does not.

* PoisonousPerson: In "What if Captain Marvel had not died?" (v2 #14), [[ComicBook/CaptainMarVell Captain Marvel]] was cured of cancer. Unfortunately, everyone around him starts getting sick with cancer and it's contagious. He caused plagues on Earth and among the Skrulls and the Kree before he realized what was going on.

* RetCanon: Several stories introduced ideas that subsequently became canonized in the mainstream Marvel Universe, such as [[ComicBook/ScarletSpider Spider-Man's clone actually having survived]], Jane Foster becoming Thor during Creator/JasonAaron's ''ComicBook/{{Thor 2014}}'' run and a group of obscure Golden Age characters banding together as the ''ComicBook/AgentsOfAtlas''. Perhaps the most notable example is ''What if ComicBook/TheInvadersMarvel had stayed together after World War 2?'' (v1 #4), which detailed how William Naslund (a.k.a. the Spirit of '76) and Jeffrey Mace (a.k.a. the Patriot) became the new Captain America after Steve Rogers was frozen, with a boy named Fred Davis taking over as the new Bucky. The issue was later adopted wholesale into the mainstream Marvel continuity, with it being used to retroactively explain that the post-war comics featuring Steve and ComicBook/BuckyBarnes (as the {{Retcon}} that Steve had been frozen before the end of the war hadn't been thought of until the 1960s) had actually starred Naslund or Mace as Cap and Davis as Bucky. And, as mentioned above, Spider-Girl and the entire [=MC2=] continuity owe their existence to the series.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler:"What If Gwen Stacy Had Lived" ends with JJ Jameson crashing Peter Parker's wedding with several cops and evidence the Green Goblin sent him which shows that the groom is actually Spider-Man. Peter is forced to flee rather than see anyone potentially get hurt...but Robbie Robertson quits the ''Bugle'' in disgust and swears to Gwen that they're going to take the ''real'' story of Peter Parker to the ''other'' papers and leave the ''Bugle'' unfit for fish wrap. Jameson stands alone, his vicdtory over Spider-Man having caused the loss of a close friend, and soon, perhaps his reputation as well]].

** In the "What if all of the ComicBook/FantasticFour [[IdenticallyPoweredTeam had the same power]]?" issue (v2 #11), two of the universes end this way, one has an outright DownerEnding, and one has an unambiguously happy ending. In the universe where they all become Human Torches, a stray spark during a battle with the Miracle Man results in a fire that kills a little girl; the team quit superheroing as a result, with Sue becoming a nun, Reed throwing himself into his labwork, and Johnny focusing on exploiting his fire immunity to become a professional racecar driver--only Ben Grimm eventually resumes the mantle of the Human Torch and joins the Avengers. In the universe where they all become Comicbook/MisterFantastic, Ben and Sue find their powers "ugly" and "stupid" and so they refuse to become superheroes; instead, they pursue a normal life together and get married, causing Reed to become a bitter recluse who stays in his lab--only Johnny gets a happy ending, using his powers to become a wealthy and much-admired entertainer.

* WhamShot: The last shot of "Paper Hearts" from v2 #100 has Rogue discovering (in horror) what was in Comicbook/MisterSinister's mysterious box, what was his greatest secret: [[spoiler:[[BreakingTheFourthWall a bunch of Marvel comics.]] [[MindScrew And yes]], this includes ''this very issue''.]]