Thunderbolts: What If...?
The Beetle upgraded, from What If 64.
Cap oversleeps but still meets Zemo, from What If 68

"What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?" - What If...? Volume 1, Number 10 (August 1978)
"What If...Iron Man Lost the Armor Wars?" - What If...? Volume 2, Number 28 (December 1989)
"What If...Iron Man Went Public?" - What If...? Volume 2, Number 64 (August 1994)
"A Fighting Chance" - What If...? Volume 2, Number 67 (November 1994)
"Liberty's Sword" - What If...? Volume 2, Number 68 (December 1994)

Notes: The What If...? stories are set in alternate universes created when one critical event happens differently than in the MU proper.

When Jane Foster, not Don Blake, discovers Mjolnir, she is transformed into "Thordis" and follows much of Thor's early history. A single panel recaps her battle with the Radioactive Man.

Tony Stark’s battle to recover his technological secrets (see "The Armor Wars") goes awry, and Iron Man ends up in thrall to Justin Hammer. When AIM knocks Hammer off, Stark escapes and rounds up a squad of armored villains to battle AIM. Lots of high-tech villains appearance, including The Beetle.

Things don't go much better for Tony in another variation, where he makes his Iron Man technology public. Armored law enforcers known as the Iron Guard make superheroes obsolete, until a technology escalation threatens to lay waste to the civilized world. When Magneto comes forward to enforce order, Stark, James Rhodey, the X-Men, and a new team led by Spider-Man step forward to stop him. With another brief appearances from the Beetle.

In an alternate universe where Captain America was not found by The Avengers, the Red Skull successfully leads his “Fourth Reich” in conquering the world. In 1994, Dr. Doom finds and restores Cap for his own purposes. Soon Cap joins a band of renegade heroes called the X-Patriots in an attack on the Skull. The Skull is aided by Baron Von Strucker and Baron Zemo. Hawkeye is seen in flashback.

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This page was revised on December 9, 2008

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