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| − | | Gallery = ''What If?'' is an experiment: take a significant event in the Marvel Universe and speculate about what ''might have'' happened if it had had a different outcome. Each issue offers a look at characters we know in situations they might never really face. Each story takes place in a separate reality that doesn't affect the central continuity, so there are no rules and no limits. Characters can die--and often do. |
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| − | What If? Vol |
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+ | | New Header1_5 = What If? 2005; What If Captain America Vol 1 1.jpg |
| + | | New Header1_6 = What If? 2006; What If? Avengers Disassembled Vol 1 1.jpg |
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+ | | New Header1_7 = What If? 2007; What If? Planet Hulk Vol 1 1.jpg |
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+ | | New Header1_8 = What If? 2008; What If? House of M Vol 1 1.jpg |
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+ | | New Header1_9 = What If? 2009; What If? Secret Invasion Vol 1 1.jpg |
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+ | | New Header1_10 = What If? 2010; What If? Iron Man Demon in an Armor Vol 1 1.jpg |
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+ | | New Header1_11 = What If? AvX Vol 1; What If AvX Vol 1 1.jpg |
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+ | | New Header1_12 = What If? Age of Ultron Vol 1; What If? Age of Ultron Vol 1 1.jpg |
| − | + | | New Header1_13 = What If? Infinity; What If Infinity - Thanos Vol 1 1.jpg |
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| − | + | | New Header1_14 = What If? 2018; What If? Spider-Man Vol 2 1.jpg |
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| − | What If Infinity - Thanos Vol 1 1.jpg|{{Cvd|What If? Infinity - Thanos Vol 1}} |
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| − | What If Infinity - Inhumans Vol 1 1.jpg|{{Cvd|What If? Infinity - Inhumans Vol 1}} |
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| − | What If Infinity - X-Men Vol 1 1.jpg|{{Cvd|What If? Infinity - X-Men Vol 1}} |
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| − | What If Infinity - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 1.jpg|{{Cvd|What If? Infinity - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1}} |
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| − | What If Infinity - Dark Reign Vol 1 1.jpg|{{Cvd|What If? Infinity - Dark Reign Vol 1}} |
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| − | </gallery> |
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| + | |New Header2_1 = Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow Vol 1; Spider-Man Spider's Shadow Vol 1 1.jpg |
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| − | | title = Further Information |
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| − | ==Background== |
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| − | In the early 1960s, [[Martin Goodman]] told [[Stan Lee]] to reinvigorate the Marvel Comics line. Among his other decisions, Lee set all the stories in a single shared reality. Events in one title could affect characters in another, and heroes (or villains) in one narrative could show up elsewhere. When Lee wrote nearly all the stories himself, keeping things straight was difficult but not impossible. With multiple writers, the problem got worse. After decades of varying success, the internal consistency became harder and harder to maintain. Too, the accumulated history made it increasingly difficult for writers and artists to do anything truly creative. ''What If?'' represented a first step away from this dilemma. |
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| − | =={{c|What If? Vol 1|Volume 1}}== |
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| − | The framing device for the first ''What If?'' series is its narrator, the nearly omniscient [[Watcher (Uatu)|Watcher]]. He presents each story as set in a parallel universe where the events actually happen. Up until the crucial moment, however, the previous history applies; in other words, the new story is based on all the old stories. Nine issues also included "Untold Tales from the Marvel Universe," mostly about the [[Eternals]]. Many issues included a second (often humorous) story, such as, "What If ... the Spider Had Been Bitten by a Radioactive Human?" |
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| − | As an example, {{c|What If? #1}} asks, "What If Spider-Man Had Joined the Fantastic Four?" In the early days, [[Reed Richards]] and [[Susan Storm]] quarreled frequently. At one point Sue seriously considered an offer of marriage from [[Namor]]. In the original continuity she turned him down, but in this story she accepts. From that point on, the "mainstream" continuity ceases to apply. Because she leaves the [[Fantastic Four]], Reed recruits [[Spider-Man]] to take her place (hence the title). |
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| − | The first series ran for 47 bimonthly, double-sized issues. Declining sales (as well as a scarcity of good plots) led to its cancellation after the October 1984 issue. |
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| − | =={{c|What If? Vol 2|Volume 2}}== |
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| − | A single ''What If? Special'' appeared in June 1988. Sales must have been good, because a new series began in July 1989. At first it featured the Watcher and stories that split from the mainstream continuity with a single event, just as Volume 1 did. This time the writers and artists asserted their creativity and gradually disassociated the title from the mainstream continuity. The Watcher dropped out in issue #77. The cover itself changed in issue #88, announcing only that a particular character would appear. A story might split from an earlier ''What If?'' reality or take place in an alternate reality entirely, thus having no direct connection at all to the mainstream. In other words, the stories used unfamiliar settings for characters who might or might not be familiar. Anything was possible. |
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| − | During this time Marvel resolved the continuity issue. Events that contradicted the mainstream reality, or didn't fit into it at all, were explained away because they happened in other realities (see [[Multiverse]]). The original, mainstream reality became [[Earth-616]], only one among many. Any sort of story could happen in any sort of reality. |
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| − | The second series ran for 114 monthly issues. It was cancelled after the November 1998 issue. |
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| − | =={{c|What If? Vol 3|Volume 3}} and {{c|What If? Vol 4|Volume 4}}== |
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| − | In February 2005 and again in February 2006, Marvel published six ''What If?'' issues. Volume 3 looked more like Volume 1, with the plot summarized in the title, such as ''What If Doctor Doom Had Become the Thing?'' Volume 4 went in a new direction, putting popular characters in historical situations. The framing device in Volume 4 also changed: the stories are presented as multimedia documents found by a hacker (whose handle, fittingly enough, is Watcher). In both volumes, each title is #1, so there is no series per se. |
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| − | In August 2005, Marvel published ''Wha...Huh?!'' a spoof of ''What If?'' |
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| − | =={{c|What If? Vol 5|Volume 5}}== |
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| − | After robust sales of Volume 4, Volume 5 got the green light and began appearing in November 2006. These issues were tied to important storylines: '''''Age of Apocalypse''''', '''''Avengers Disassembled''''', '''''Spider-Man: The Other''''', '''''X-Men Deadly Genesis''''', and '''''Wolverine: Enemy of the State'''''. This series also sold well. |
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| − | ==External Links== |
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| − | * [http://jakanapes.com/Alternity/category.php?catId=28 Alternity] |
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| − | }} |
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