Since 1977, Marvel Comics have both regularly and irregularly thought of what would happen had certain stories happened a different way in a series called "What If...?" Soon, that question will be posed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a new animated series coming to the Disney+ streaming service. The first episode confirmed for the series will be what if Peggy Carter became the first super soldier. There is a lot of potential with the series, and I wanted to share the stories I think would be interesting, would like to see done, and my own thought process of how said events would go.
WHAT IF BETTY ROSS BECAME THE HULK?
The idea of Betty Ross becoming a Hulk has been done in both the mainstream and Ultimate Marvel comics, but what if she had been the one originally exposed to gamma radiation instead of Bruce Banner? The relationship that would be most affected in this situation would be with Betty and her father, General Thaddeus Ross. If Betty went on the run (with or without Bruce), Ross' tactics in trying to find the Hulk would probably just be as obsessive, but more likely as a father than a military man. Then again, Ross has been shown to lie to Betty, as he did in "The Incredible Hulk", not telling her that he wanted to find Bruce to weaponize the Hulk. Ross may convince Betty to work with him to help her try to understand the Hulk, hiding his true intentions.
WHAT IF CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS NEVER FOUND?
Without Captain America being revived in the 21st century after being frozen in ice during World War II, the MCU would be a very different place. It wouldn't be an overstatement that the MCU's moral compass would be lost. With a bunch of hotheads like Tony, Thor, Natasha, and Bruce, the Avengers may really be as dangerous as Ross viewed them to be in "Civil War". While I could see the team being able to thwart the Chitauri invasion without Cap, the events of "Winter Soldier" may have been the true turning point. Bucky wouldn't have had his old memories stirred up, but more importantly, would Fury have been able to trust anyone else with what he found out about "Project Insight"?
WHAT IF LOKI TOOK CONTROL OF NICK FURY?
When Loki arrived on Earth in the first "Avengers" film, he used the Mind Stone placed in his scepter to take control of some who were present, including Erik Selvig and Clint Barton. Nick Fury was also there, only to be shot by the controlled Barton. But what if Loki didn't just try to take Fury out, but wanted him as another minion? Loki could potentially have even more of SHIELD at his disposal to use to create a portal with the Tesseract for the Chitauri, with less opposition to stand in his way. Would anyone within SHIELD like Coulson or Hill go underground and try to recruit the Avengers themselves? Would anyone even realize what was happening within SHIELD until Thor arrived to find Loki? Going off that, would Thor even have allies to help him against Loki's plans?
WHAT IF TONY STARK USED EXTREMIS?
Tony has said it himself that he's a mad scientist. He's been known to take risks and use whatever he has at his disposal to further his mission to protect the people; the best example is using the Mind Stone to create Ultron, which obviously didn't go so well. But in another potential instance of something not going well, what if Tony had decided to look more into Extremis after the events of "Iron Man 3"? He may perfect it the best he could and use it on himself. On one hand, it would be a way for him to defend himself in case he's unable to access his armor, but Tony would most likely also be able to craft an armor that amplifies the Extremis, powering the suit or making more weapons based around it. Of course, the biggest drawback would be the psychological effects. Based on what we've seen with Killian, Savin, and other Extremis users, they seem to have a few screws loosened, as well as violent tendencies. Even Pepper had to collect herself after the brutal way she killed Killian while she was under Extremis. Tony's relationships with Pepper and the other Avengers could be greatly affected with his Extremis use.
WHAT IF HULK NEVER LEFT EARTH?
In Hulk's last scene in "Age of Ultron", he chooses to close himself off from the world and drift wherever the Quinjet takes him. But what if Bruce was able to take back control, transform back and follow Natasha's directions to get back to them? Where would Bruce and Natasha's relationship go from there? Furthermore, how would Hulk's presence affect "Civil War"? It's easy to see Bruce choosing Cap's side based on his distrust of Ross alone. But who's to say Tony wouldn't be able to sway Bruce over to the Pro-Registration side? Tony's been able to convince Bruce to do things before, such as their creations of both Ultron and Vision. Whichever side he would choose, it's a sure thing the airport battle would have been a lot more one sided with a Hulk thrown in there. This would also affect Thor's story in "Ragnarok". Without Hulk on Sakaar, would Thor's escape be easier, harder, or possible at all? Would Hela have had no true obstacles in her way?
WHAT IF HANK PYM WENT SUB-ATOMIC?
To stop a missile, Janet Van Dyne as the Wasp shrank down to sub-atomic level in order to disable it and save scores of people. In doing so, she was lost in the Quantum Realm for 30 years. But had Hank Pym's suit regulator not been damaged, what if he had gone through what Janet did? Janet's very intelligent in her own right, but I have a feeling the biggest secrets of the Pym Particles would be lost with Hank. Hank also made many mistakes after losing Janet, both in raising Hope and his business practices. Would she be more open with Hope compared to her father? And with Janet most likely the beneficiary of Hank's assets, including Pym Technologies, she would probably run things much differently, probably grooming Hope to take over rather than Darren Cross. Admittedly, Hank and Scott Lang get screwed in this scenario. No Cross means no recruitment of Scott, who most likely ends up barely scrapping by after getting out of prison. No Scott also means he doesn't travel to and from the Quantum Realm and wouldn't entangle with Hank like he did with Janet. So yeah, Hank would pretty much be trapped forever.
WHAT IF THE AVENGERS REMAINED ASSEMBLED?
Aside from Tony finding out Bucky killed his parents, the Sokovia Accords introduced in "Civil War" was the focal point that fractured the Avengers. Tony rallied half the team to sign while Steve was against government oversight. But what if things happened in a way that they were able to see the other's way? Maybe Tony missed Miriam Sharp and wasn't swayed into thinking about accountability. Or maybe Tony chose his words more carefully when convincing Steve to sign while in Berlin. How would the Avengers fair working with the government or working in the shadows? And more importantly, would a more united front have prevented Thanos from achieving his goal?
WHAT IF SPIDER-MAN JOINED THE AVENGERS?
Yes, Tony officially declared Peter an Avenger in "Infinity War", but Peter had an opportunity to join prior to that. This scenario is asking what would happen had Peter accepted Tony's offer at the end of "Spider-Man: Homecoming", which in he had rejected the offer feeling he wasn't ready yet. Peter also assumed it was a test, not knowing there was a press conference waiting for his debut. It's also worth noting that Peter revealing his identity was a potential ending considered for "Homecoming". So what if Peter took that leap? How does a 15 year old kid handle the spotlight as a publicly known superhero and member of the Avengers? How would this affect Aunt May, Ned, and his other friends? Based on what happened when Peter revealed his identity in the comics, it probably wouldn't go well.
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