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The Top 100 What If Countdown: Part 8

September 4th, 2006 by | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Just so the other Marvel alternate universes don’t feel left out, here are some quick reviews for a couple of them.

Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe: Fun, if it’s one of your first Garth Ennis stories. If not, you’ll be rolling your eyes.
Earth X: Strangely, I haven’t read it yet. One day.
Marvel Ruins: Depressing, hard to look at and pointless. A lot like the Steel movie.
The Last Avengers Story: You know why Kingdom Come worked? It knew who the Big 3 of the Justice League were and centered it on them. A brief cameo by Captain America, a vague explanation of Thor’s death as a flashback aside and absolutely no mention of Iron Man fails this comic. For shame, Peter David. For shame. Nobody cares about Henry Pym but you.

Now let’s get to what you came here for.

65) WHAT IF THE SILVER SURFER POSSESSED THE INFINITY GAUNTLET?

Issue: Volume 2, #49
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Scott Clark and Kevin West
Spider-Man death: Technically, yes
Background:Thanos had reached his goal and wielded the power of God himself through the Infinity Gauntlet. He fought the remainder of Earth’s greatest heroes with only a fraction of his full power, yet he still killed them off easily. The battle was all a plan by Adam Warlock in hopes to distract Thanos so the Silver Surfer could fly by and grab the Gauntlet off Thanos’ hand. He missed. Then a lot of stupid stuff happened. So if he did grab it, it would kind of have to make for a better story, right?

With a successful steal, the Silver Surfer stands before the depowered Thanos and Captain America. Adam Warlock (I keep trying to type “Adam Strange” when I bring him up) pops in to thank the Surfer and asks for the Gauntlet. The Silver Surfer refuses, as only the Silver Surfer can be trusted with such power. He takes the omnipotence, claiming it to be a burden that needs to be carried. First he undoes all of Thanos’ destruction. Earth is set back the way it was and all the heroes are resurrected. Terraxia is destroyed since she was never meant to exist.

Note Cap’s shield coming back together. Cool.

As the cosmic entities like Galactus and Eternity show up, Surfer insists that he will be no nuisance to them and will let them do what they’re supposed to do. Galactus points out that he knows Surfer and that he isn’t worthy of the power, but Surfer just considers it petty jealousy. He sends them all off.

Surfer makes Adam and Thanos his advisors. All the two ever advise is to either give up the Gauntlet (Adam) or give it to Thanos (Thanos). Surfer first uses his powers to make the universe peaceful. Disease is cured, the crippled can walk, Skrulls and Kree now have barbecues together, the hungry have food, the rich give to the poor, Death now appears as an alluring being that relieves her victims of fear. Surfer brings them to Hell where he confronts Mephisto with the offer to make him constructive to the universe. Mephisto refuses and attacks Surfer, pissing off our omnipotent friend enough to remove him from existence entirely. The Surfer, trying to get a grip on himself, goes back to his throne to think things over.

Adam and Thanos go to Dr. Strange, who understands what’s going on. Thanos suggests another hero onslaught, but Strange knows that won’t work. Besides, what if someone like Hulk or Dr. Doom gets the Gauntlet? (Awesome happens, that’s what!) Strange has his own plan and it appears as if Surfer, being omnipotent and all, is listening in. Surfer calls upon his advisors and they are shocked to find that he’s now 50-feet-tall to go with his godhood. He thinks about getting rid of randomness altogether, which shocks his advisors even further.

Dr. Strange shows up with Shalla-Bal, the Surfer’s long-lost love. Surfer shrinks back down and doesn’t seem very surprised by it. Shalla-Bal disapproves of his power because it separates the two of them. Surfer, in turn, shares half of his godhood to her. She continues to ask him to give up all the power, but since he refuses, she finds herself having to strike out at him. Surfer, furious, fights back. He gets ready to destroy her so she is no longer a threat to his rule.

Tearfully, a resigned Shalla-Bal says that she will still love Norrin Radd no matter what he does. This catches the Surfer off-guard and brings him back to sanity. He forsakes the Gauntlet as even if he has noble intentions, absolute power really does corrupt absolutely. Surfer thanks Dr. Strange for his help and says his farewell.

With Shalla-Bal under one arm, the Silver Surfer uses the Infinity Gauntlet’s power to destroy itself. The two of them have vanished completely, seemingly vaporized.

In the epilogue, we see a distant planet paradise. Shalla-Bal and a human Norrin Radd walk through their final godly creation, enjoying a mortal life of love and togetherness.

Now that is how the Infinity Gauntlet should’ve ended. I mean, Surfer’s uses of the Gauntlet could easily be undone and Mephisto being reborn isn’t hard to write. It’s nice to see omnipotence be given to someone who would do the kind of stuff most good people would (ie. cure all disease) for once, only to show how fast it could go all wrong. Expect to see another couple Infinity Gauntlet-based stories to show up on the list.

64) WHAT IF SPIDER-MAN HAD KEPT HIS COSMIC POWERS?

Issue: Volume 2, #31
Writer: Glenn Alan Herdling
Artist: Scott Alan McDaniel
Spider-Man death: No
Background: The Uni-Power, originally unleashed by astronaut Ray Coffin, grants its hosts the powers of Captain Universe, making them powerful on a cosmic level. It jumps around from host to host and in one story used Peter Parker. As Captain Universe, Spider-Man fought guys like Hulk, Magneto and the Tri-Sentinel. After finishing off the latter villain, the power left his body and went on to possess babies and animals for brief periods of time. But what if this power saw Peter Parker as the perfect host to protect the planet?

At first, the power makes Spider-Man a bit depressed, but he starts to get excited about it. Once he realizes what he can do with his powers and Mary Jane, he gets excited in a different kind of way. Go Pete!

We see how it affects Spider-Man’s crime fighting for the next few days. First he helps the Avengers easily take down Nebula in a fight that Spider-Man ducked out of in regular continuity because it was too big for him. Captain America and Thor both seem a bit concerned about Spider-Man’s power increase. Spider-Man defeats the Hobgoblin and tries to fix his mutilated face with his powers. By “winging it”, he accidentally gives him the face of Peter Parker! Spider-Man is challenged by Venom in the middle of a park. Spider-Man tries to take the fight away from innocents as Venom begins to strangle him.

Venom gives up his rivalry, since the symbiote senses how different Parker has become. Spider-Man offers him the role of the city’s street-level wall-crawler hero in his absence. Venom decides to take the offer and becomes fast enemies with the Hobgoblin. After all, Hobgoblin looks like Peter Parker and Venom resembles Spider-Man. It’s a therapeutic hatred.

Spider-Man holds his responsibility to Earth over his loved ones. He neglects Mary Jane and at one point flies out the window and into the sky, oblviously causing Aunt May to faint, because he senses the war in the Persian Gulf. Keep in mind, this is the early 90’s. Spider-Man neutralizes various tanks and tracks down Saddam Hussein (or a reasonable facsimile). Mary Jane chews him out over it, since he no longer cares about family. He has all this responsibility to the world, but none for himself. Regretfully, she leaves him and is saddened that he doesn’t even try to stop her. Instead, something she said struck a chord with Spider-Man and he realizes just how responsible his power makes him.

He barges into the Avengers Mansion and without even a simple explanation, makes it apparent that he needs Thor for an emergency as millions of lives are hanging in the balance. Thor knows he can trust Spider-Man and has him lead the way to Sudan, Africa.

Spider-Man wants Thor to help him make the deserts fertile. Thor refuses, as gods aren’t supposed to baby their people. This example does make Thor look like a total tool, though. Spider-Man uppercuts him into orbit, pissing Thor off something fierce. The would-be epic fight doesn’t go on too long as a blast hits Thor in the back and renders him unconscious.

It’s Dr. Doom, who has figured out the origins of Captain Universe. He uses Captain Ray Coffin, the original, as a hostage while wielding a gun called the Absorbascann. The Absorbascann can drain the powers of enemies (such as Thor) and transfer them to Doom himself. Captain Universe Spider-Man still lunges at Doom. Not only does Doom snap the neck of Coffin, but he gets a direct hit on Spider-Man with his Absorbascann ray. The two sources of Peter Parker’s abilities, the Spider-Man powers and the Captain Universe powers, have an out-of-body argument based on what just happened. The Spider-Man essence yells at him for allowing Coffin to die like that, but Captain Universe points out how unimportant he is in the big picture. “Trees must be sacrificed to save a forest.”

“You’re starting to sound like Doom! The individuals you’d expect me to sacrifice are the ones who made me the hero I am today! And if that’s what you’re asking me to give up – then you can go find yourself another patsy!”

Doom absorbs the Uni-Power and becomes Captain Universe… for all of two seconds. You see, this is the same Dr. Doom who had earlier teamed up with guys like Kingpin, the Wizard and Paste Pot Pete. In other words, it isn’t Doom at all. It’s just a stinking Doombot. The power goes back to Spider-Man who has no problems toasting a robot.

With both Doombot scraps and an unconscious Thor at his feet, Spider-Man comes up with a solution of how to handle things. He picks up Doom’s Absorbascann and uses it on himself. The Uni-Power explodes off of him and engulfs the entire planet in blue flame, catching every single person in its grasp. For a moment, everybody on Earth is connected as one soul and everyone reaches a greater level of understanding.

Thor helps up Peter Parker, who immediately realizes that he’s completely powerless. As the Watcher explains, the Uni-Power needed the humanity of Spider-Man’s essence to sacrifice itself for all living creatures. Peter mentions how he’s just an ordinary human, but Thor scoffs.

“Aye, human. But much more than ordinary.”

And so, we get our epilogue…

The ending was a bit weird, with not one, but two deus ex machinas, but then again, the whole Doombot thing really would just be nature taking its course based on regular continuity. There’s almost a Sentry vibe coming from this story, as Spider-Man’s spider-sense would constantly tell him dangers of the world and he just didn’t know when to stop. It’s always amusing to see Spider-Man jacked up with power, taking down his usual enemies like they were flies. I know I liked playing as Captain Universe Spidey in that old PS1 game.

63) WHAT IF WOLVERINE HAD KILLED THE HULK?

Issue: Volume 1, #31
Writer: Rich Margopoulos
Artist: Bob Budiansky
Spider-Man death: No
Background: Wolverine made his first comic book appearance fighting the Hulk and Wendigo while wearing a completely ridiculous outfit. First, he and Hulk took down Wendigo, but then they started fighting each other. Wolverine had the orders to bring Hulk in alive. Because of these orders, the fight went long enough that the two were interrupted by some cult crap. Here, Wolverine gets angry enough that he disobeys his orders and goes to town on the Hulk.

Ouch.

On the Hulk side of the story, there’s only one page of follow-up. It’s kind of sad if you think about it. Hulk’s declared dead and the only reaction we get for it is the various superheroes hearing the news and a brief scene of Betty crying into her father’s arms.

Wolverine, on the other hand, becomes a bit too egotistical. At a bar, he becomes a total braggart and buys all the women drinks. Soon he pisses off the entire bar and gets into a fight. When someone pulls a gun on him, he reacts by slashing him to death. His first civilian kill, Wolverine runs off to find James Hudson, leader of Alpha Flight. Hudson says that they will have to take this to court, but he’ll get Logan the best defense money can buy. It isn’t good enough and the betrayed Wolverine runs off as a fugitive.

Soon he is picked up by the Brotherhood of Mutants. I remember a later issue’s letter column pointing out that Magneto shouldn’t have been on Earth during this time, but we’ll ignore that. Magneto will give Wolverine sanctuary from the government, but he needs to help him out. Using a device to block out Xavier’s mental probing, Wolverine is to join the X-Men and screw them over.

Wolverine does a bang-up job, even though Cyclops is suspicious. During a fight against some Sentinels, Wolverine is saved by Jean and Iceman. As the X-Men celebrate victory through teamwork, Wolverine starts to feel guilt. That night he sneaks around the base to sabotage Cerebro. On the way back to his room, he runs into Jean.

THANK YOU, JEAN. Really, Logan, what were you thinking with that ugly thing? Even Wonder Man wouldn’t be caught wearing that mask.

Wolverine starts to have second thoughts, at least about handing over Jean to Magneto. He contacts Magneto and makes it clear that he doesn’t want Jean hurt. Magneto agrees, though chews him up for trying to dictate at him.

The next day, Wolverine cockblocks Cyclops by showing off his new mask to Jean. How the hell did he get that, anyway? He talked to her like 4 hours ago! No matter, it’s smackdown time as Magneto and his goons barge through the wall. These aren’t even Magneto’s cool minions either like Pyro and Quicksilver. No, we get Unus the Untouchable and Mastermind. Big fucking deal.

Brotherhood member Siren puts all the X-Men males under her control with her scream. Jean is immune to this, being a woman, and runs off to turn on the alarm to drown out Siren’s song. Wolverine tells her not to fight back, spilling the beans that he’s the traitor. Magneto sees what Jean is trying and tosses a big chunk at metal at her. Wolverine notices that Magneto’s throwing it way too fast to catch her and is really going for a kill. Utterly pissed off, Wolverine dives in the way and takes the hit himself. Jean gets the alarm going and the X-Men are freed of the mind-control.

The X-Men turn the tide until only Magneto is left. Magneto does the usual supervillain “ENOUGH!” attack, which is like the evil version of the superhero “THIS ENDS NOW!” tactic. You know what I’m talking about. Like if the Fantastic Four were pounding down on Doom from all sides, he could just spread his arms out, scream, “ENOUGH!” and suddenly everybody goes flying in the opposite direction. It’s a nifty power.

Magneto resolves to kill the X-Men before they can awaken, but Wolverine pops up and bum-rushes his former boss. He begins to disembowel Magneto for what he tried to do to Jean and reminds him that somebody who killed the Hulk (hey, remember that plot-point?) won’t go down so easily. Cyclops steps in and tries to stop Wolverine because he’s an X-Man and not a murderer. Dying, Magneto uses this distraction to his advantage.

HA! Yeah, like that’s going to kill Wolver—oh, wait. This is the early 80’s, isn’t it? Shit. Okay, so Wolverine’s dying and he tells the Jean that he’s sorry about what he did and how things worked out. After Wolverine falls dead, Xavier tells everyone, “Wolverine came among us as an enemy – and died an X-Man! He can have no better epitaph than that!” I can’t help but think that the line would’ve been more dramatic had he not shouted it out.

One look at Ultimate Wolverine suggests that this is Mark Millar’s favorite issue of What If. It is a better character introduction than the whole Living Island of Krakoa thing, at least. I also like that while Wolverine redeemed himself, he still does it in a way that makes him an ass. Iceman saved his life, but Wolverine never shows that he gives a shit about the X-Men, even in his final moments. He just got angry that Magneto attacked Jean. I also sort of liked how Hulk’s death, despite starting the chain of events, seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the story.

The issue also has a story about the Thing not joining the Fantastic Four and somehow being inadvertently responsible for preventing every major superhero from getting powers. Jerk.

62) WHAT IF… STARRING THE MIGHTY THOR: …AND WHO SHALL BE KING?!

Issue: Volume 2, #107
Writer: Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
Spider-Man death: No
Background: In Thor’s history, there was a time when he realized he would soon be taking over the reins of Asgard and Odin would step down. He asked Lady Sif to be his bride and sent Eric Masterson to protect Earth as Thunderstrike. It’s also worth noting that at the time, Loki had been condemned to live in Hell with Mephisto. Anyway, a valkyrie put Thor under a spell of temporary madness that ruined his chances with Sif and exiled him back to Earth. Seriously though, how awesome would it have been if he did rule Asgard? It’s a question I ask myself every night.

We start with Thor wearing a gold, kingly outfit, talking about how the universe will find peace with him at the helm of Asgard. He spies in on Thunderstrike’s exploits and sees him fighting Bloodaxe. A concerned Thor prepares to grab Mjolnir and lend a hand, but Odin pops in to say it’s not the way. Thor isn’t supposed to fight anymore. He’s just supposed to sit on the throne and do his royal duties. Besides, Thunderstrike wouldn’t appreciate having Thor bail him out every time things look hairy. Thor admits his folly and says his goodbyes to Odin, who has grown tired of cities and wants to trek on by himself.

Down in Hell, Mephisto and Loki are palling around. Mephisto is afraid that King Thor is going to destroy the balance of good and evil. Loki, meanwhile, has a plan. Without delay, we see it in action as the Avengers are called into action. They’re up against one big mother of a beast called Mangog.

Whoa. Not only is he more gog than man, but he and Fin Fang Foom buy underpants at the same outlet!

As it turns out, Mangog is an entire race of evil creatures (and I’m talking billions here) merged into one being with the strength of all of them. Oh boy. Odin beat him once somehow, which means Thor needs him ASAP to help out. Unfortunately, there’s no sign of him anywhere. Thor wants to go to Earth to help out, but instead, Sif and the Warriors Three go there in his name. Mephisto laughs at Loki’s failing plan, but Loki just notes that he hasn’t even begun to cause trouble.

Loki takes control of the Destroyer, an unstoppable suit of armor Odin once created to protect Asgard. Under the use of Loki, it causes destruction that’s moving in the direction of Thor. Thor can’t bear to see his soldiers go on a suicide mission against something like this, so he grabs Mjolnir and returns to his classic outfit. Mephisto looks on. From what he knows of the Destroyer, either Thor will die or he’ll win and be in no condition to continue ruling. It’s a win-win situation.

That’s when he discovers Odin standing behind him. Odin’s wanted a piece of Mephisto for quite some time, and now that Asgard isn’t his responsibility, he’s more than ready to collect. The two grapple and argue back and forth until they explode in light.

“Do you really think you can threaten Mephisto in his own realm?”

“Nay, threats are not my purpose! I merely wish to battle to the death – AND BEYOND!”

So for those having trouble keeping track, we have three big fights going on at once: Odin vs. Mephisto, the Avengers with the Warriors Three and Sif vs. Mangog and Thor vs. the Destroyer (controlled by Loki).

Thor puts up a good fight against the Destroyer, but as is, he just isn’t strong enough. What Loki forgets to realize is that as the ruler of Asgard, Thor is now host to what was once called the Odin-Power. In other words, he is Asgard Incarnate. The kingdom’s power is his to command. He absorbs power from the earth and with a berserk scream, smites the Destroyer. Loki’s soul rushes back to Hell to find Mephisto.

He gets rid of Mephisto AND Loki! Wow, that is a full day. Somebody buy this god a beer.

Back on Earth, Mangog continues to dominate the heroes. The only ones left standing are Thunderstrike and Lady Sif, who plan one last assault. Sif is seemingly about to proclaim her love for Thunderstrike, when all of the sudden, Mangog vanishes. The image of Thor’s head appears over the city, explaining that he transported Mangog to the same limbo where Mephisto and Loki are. I smell sitcom.

The day is saved, Thor and Lady Sif get hitched, Asgard is in good hands and things look pretty optimistic. Everybody’s happy, except for Thunderstrike, who can never be with the woman he loves. In other words, everybody who matters is happy.

The reason this issue made the list totally rests on the shoulders of Odin. He carried this one by being badass enough to forever rid us of two of the biggest assholes in the universe. He should just borrow a rocket from the Fantastic Four and tackle Thanos while he’s at it. If Frank Miller wrote a sequel where Odin goes after Osama Bin Laden, I know I’d read it.

61) WHAT IF STRYFE KILLED THE X-MEN?

Issue: Volume 2, #69
Writer: Mariano Nicieza
Artist: JR Justiniano
Spider-Man death: No
Background: During a story called X-Cutioner’s Song, the mutant named Stryfe came from the future, looking an awful lot like Cable. He infected Xavier with the techno-virus, delivering a slow and painful death. In return for doing this, Mr. Sinister delivered the bodies of Cyclops and Jean Grey to Stryfe. He kept them on his moon base and kept them breathing by telekinetically holding oxygen around their bodies. He also confronted Apocalypse, his rival from the future and beat him in battle. He stole Apocalypse’s Dark Riders (his henchmen) and returned to the moon. The team of Cable, Bishop and Wolverine went to save the captives while Apocalypse teamed up with the X-Men. The first act was to cure Xavier of the virus, which he did. Fun was had by all. In this issue of What If, we see the repercussions of what would have happened had Apocalypse failed in saving Xavier’s life.

Not only does Xavier die a painful death, but his psychic screams reach all psychics in the galaxy. This includes Stryfe, who loses concentration and accidentally allows his parents, Cyclops and Jean Grey, to die from lack of air. With them out of the way, the distraught Stryfe enters himself in the mix going on with Cable and the rest. Normally, the three heroes would’ve been successful, but Stryfe’s interference changes things. First, Wolverine is tossed out of generated atmosphere and ends up dying on the moon’s surface, much like Cyclops and Jean. Stryfe uses his telekinetic magic to keep Bishop’s powers in check so he can keep absorbing energy but can’t intentionally discharge it. Soon, Bishop explodes. Cable is merely taken prisoner.

Back at the mansion, Apocalypse has no apologies for his failure. Xavier’s dream was weak and therefore, so was Xavier. He insists the X-Men in the room – Storm, Beast, Cannonball, Polaris, Archangel, Iceman, Psylocke and Havok – join him, but they refuse. Apocalypse kills off a few of them and then takes control of Archangel’s metal wings to finish off another couple. Havok (no relation) is forced to kill Archangel. Then he and Storm go at Apocalypse for one last attack. It fails. Apocalypse leaves, having used little effort in victory.

At least he made it. The irony in this situation is that Xavier had X-Force locked up downstairs for their own protection, when they could have helped beat Apocalypse.

On the moon, Stryfe and his prisoner Cable argue. Stryfe insists that he’s the real one and that Cable is the clone, as if that wins him every dispute. Stryfe didn’t want his parents to die so quickly, though he did plan on murdering them… just after he could torture them a bit. Cable tries to get through to him that Stryfe shouldn’t care about revenge against his parents or himself. If anyone, Stryfe should focus on Apocalypse – the real enemy. Stryfe doesn’t listen to this and is alerted that Apocalypse is coming. He leaves Cable to himself.

I noticed two consecutive panels where the glowing eye of Stryfe switches. Good going, guys.

At the mansion, all the reserves and spinoff teams come together. Everyone from Strong Guy to Rogue to Jubilee is there. No X-Force or X-Factor or Excalibur. Just X-Men. On the way to the moon, Gambit and Forge argue over who should be leader. Since Forge insists Stryfe has some kind of dangerous time doohickey in his base and Forge is the expert on these kind of things, he gets the keys to the team at the moment.

Apocalypse is fighting Stryfe and the Dark Riders when the X-Men barge in. To Apocalypse’s advantage, it mainly becomes the X-Men vs. the Dark Riders. Apocalypse uses this scenario to pick off enemies and dominate. Stryfe tries to point this out to everyone, but nobody will listen. Stryfe doesn’t mention it, but this is pretty much what Cable warned him against. Desperate, he tells one of his men to release Cable.

Soon, Apocalypse is standing triumphant. The only others on their feet are some of the Dark Riders who have defected back to him. Cable arrives and doesn’t put up much of a fight. Instead, he says some cryptic stuff about the future and a point in how Apocalypse can never destroy dreams. Apocalypse holds Cable in one hand and with the other, he reaches out to Stryfe.

“I sense the bond between us, Stryfe. You and I have more in common than meets the eye. Join me!”

“No…”

“It’s time to put an end to the last gasp of Xavier’s dream.”

Stryfe removes his helmet. “No. Today I accidentally killed my parents.” With a psychic blast, he sends Apocalypse flying and seems to have torn open the blue giant’s chest. “I will not KILL my brother!”

The following night, Cable reflects on the story. He talks about things such as Stryfe’s sacrifice and how he still exists despite the time paradox of his parents and Apocalypse being dead. He never really believed in Xavier’s dream, but his parents did. Out of respect for those three, Cable names himself the new leader of the X-Men, though mixing Xavier’s ideals with his own. They’re still fighting for the peaceful co-existence of man and mutant… but if you get in their way, they’re not going to take your crap.

I have a total love-hate relationship with Cable. Loved him on the cartoon. He was one of the best things about that show. Hated how he and his creator helped sculpt the 90’s. Also hated him in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Even in the Cable/Deadpool series, I can think, “Wow, Cable’s coming across as pretty interesting here,” or, “Damn it, why is Cable hogging all the panel time? I want me some Deadpool!” Add this issue to the “love” list. I actually cared about what Cable was saying. In fact, all he really did in the entire issue is talk, and when Cable talks, all I hear is Lawrence Bayne’s voice. That’s a good thing.

Not to mention the X-Men cartoon also gave me an undying love for Apocalypse that no bad comic has ever taken away from me. That probably factored into this issue’s spot on the list.

Next on the countdown: Who knew Galactus was such a fan of Captain Marvel Jr.?

…whoa. Lawrence Bayne also did the voice of Gill in Street Fighter 3? That guy fucking rocks!

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7 comments to “The Top 100 What If Countdown: Part 8”

  1. That Thor one sounds great. The Spidey issue was the first What If I ever owned, and being too poor to get the Captain U stories from back then, was awesome and confusing. I didn’t even know that “uncle” meant “give up” back then. I thought maybe Eddie Brock had an uncle who raised him since he was maybe an orphan.

    How did you miss out on your chance to do a “WILD MAN OF BORNEO!” joke? I’m disappointed in you, V.


  2. I couldn’t figure out a decent enough reference to it. Plus I figured only 3 people would get it.

    On a similar note, when I read my first What If, the New Fantastic Four issue, Dr. Doom goes on this big speech that ends with him saying, “Save Doom.” I didn’t know “save” meant “except” at the time and wondered “Save Doom from what, exactly?”


  3. Thanks for reviewing one of the FEW good books with Stryfe in it. (The other being the “Cable and Kane’s Big Adventure” miniseries… …you know the one I’m talkin’ about.)


  4. I actually read the Silver Surfer What If issue before the actual Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Man, was I disappointed by the actual storyline. This seemed to have been written much better.


  5. Great stuff. Do you think you’ll ever do an article on the Infinity Gauntlet (since I read you did something on crossovers)?


  6. Infinity Gauntlet? I think that would be better for Wanderer to write about. He absolutely hates that series. To him, it might as well be called “Starlin’s Favorite Characters Absolutely Rule (featuring the Mentally-Challenged Marvel Superheroes)!”


  7. […] issue had Frank Castle as the symbiote’s host, where he ended up using it to meet his own ends. Another issue featured Spider-Man fighting evil at a cosmic level and allowing Venom to inherit his role as New […]