Marvel’s 'What If…?'; Here are 5 unique storylines from original comics series

Marvel Cinematic Universe's fourth phase has begun in full swing and has left the audiences impressed with their shows and movies. MCU is all set to release their fourth series and their first-ever animated series titled What If...?. The show is an animated anthology series created by A.C. Bradley for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. The series explores alternate timelines in the multiverse that show what would happen if major moments from the MCU films occurred differently. Here are five unique storylines from the original comic book series to read.

1.What If...? #1 (Vol.1) What If Spider-Man Had Joined the Fantastic Four?

This was the first edition of the series and introduces Uatu the Watcher. The Watcher focuses on an alternate reality in which Spider-Man attempts to join the Fantastic Four as a solution to his money problems. Originally, Spider-Man is turned down by the group, but in this alternate reality, they allow Spider-Man to join, causing the birth of the Fantastic Five. The Fantastic Five takes on a number of villains, including the Vulture and the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. While Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, and Spider-Man go on these adventures, the Invisible Girl often stays behind to monitor things from the base.

2. What If…? #31 (Vol. 1) - What If Wolverine Had Killed the Hulk?

In this reality, Wolverine disobeys his order to capture Hulk and instead kills him. Wolverine then goes to celebrate at a tavern where a bar fight ensued and in the heat of the moment, unsheathed his claws and killed a civilian. James Hudson tells him he had to go through the judicial system, Wolverine disagrees flees the base but is picked up by Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He joins them to infiltrate the X-Men camp, However, Wolverine's growing affection for Jean Grey doesn't let him go through with the plan and Wolverine turns his back. With Magneto the only one left, Wolverine attempted to kill him but was stopped and when Magneto pretended to be unconscious he used his powers over metal to turn Wolverine's claws on himself and he skewered himself with them, killing him.

3. What If...? #40 (Vol.1) What if Dr. Strange Had Never Become Master of the Mystic Arts

 In this reality, Mordo contacts the netherworlds before Strange ever arrives and becomes the minion of a dark entity. However, he plays the good boy in front of the Ancient One. Strange eventually arrives and the Ancient One teaches him to find his inner strength and fight against his inner jerk. Strange does a lot of meditation and realizes he can still do some good, so he leaves the Ancient One to go teach medicine. Mordo, for his part, completes his training and basically takes Strange's place in the timeline, earning the weird house, the manservant, the cloak of levitation, and the Eye of Agamotto, and fighting all the mystical threats Strange would have. Meanwhile, Dr. Strange is having nightmares and can't get a proper night's sleep. Mordo enters his dreams, or rather, the dream dimension, to fight Nightmare. But wouldn't you know it? Nightmare is exactly the entity Mordo made a deal with. 

4. What If...? #27 (Vol.1) What If the Phoenix Had Not Died?

Uatu ponders over the story of Jean Grey as the Phoenix and recalls her journey alongside the X-Men. He sees an alternate reality where she did not die. In this alternate reality, she was reborn again and when the X-Men are called to battle Galactus and Terrax in the Shi'ar galaxy, she unleashes the Phoenix force. She stops Galactus and is thanked by Lilandra for this. She begins to be overwhelmed by the Phoenix force and destroys asteroids and a small star. Upon returning to the X-Mansion, Shadowcat chastises her for destroying another star. Jean again delves into the Dark Phoenix form and destroys Shadowcat. The X-Men try to stop her and she kills Polaris as well. Cyclops tries to stop her and she kills him. This causes her to be engulfed in the Phoneix force and she destroys the Earth, ever-expanding to consume the Universe and beyond.

5. What If…? #3 (Vol. 1) - What If the Avengers Had Never Been?

Hulk's departure from the Avengers caused a rift that led to the end of the Avengers since they felt they couldn't go after him. Stark contacts Rick Jones to find the Hulk, while Thor went back to Asgard and Jan and Hank went back to being "normal" people. In  Earth-616, Namor and the Hulk teamed up and challenged the Avengers to a fight to the death, though in Earth-776, the Avengers were disbanded. Stark accepts the challenge and builds Iron Man armour for Hank, Jan and Rick so they can all stand up to the Hulk and Namor together. The three are unable to control the armour and Iron Man overrides the limits of his own armour, and transfers more than the maximum amount of energy into it, setting him up to fight one final ultimate battle.

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