What If..? is helping to expand the multiverse concept in the MCU by exploring different timelines where things zigged instead of zagged with major movie moments. And comic fans know the upcoming animated series is actually based on a long-running Marvel anthology series of the same name.
The series debuted in 1977 and explored out of continuity what would happen if keystone moments in Marvel Comics history went one way instead of another. This concept would foreshadow major developments in later comic books and lay the foundation for the rise of the multiverse in the comics and the MCU.
10 A Way To Get Out Of Continuity
What If..? began in the mid-70s as a way to get around the constraints of continuity, writer Roy Thomas explained in an interview with Syfy Wire. Thomas had started to feel restricted by having to fit new stories into the framework already established in the first ten years of Marvel.
He thought an anthology exploring points of divergence of major moments in Marvel history, like the death of Gwen Stacy (one of the most heartbreaking deaths in Spider-Man comics), would be a fun inventive way to get around established lore without disrupting anything else.
9 Narrated By Uatu The Watcher
Roy Thomas did want to have a link to the main Marvel Universe, and chose Uatu the Watcher as the narrator of the What If..? series. Uatu is a passive observer, watching these stories unfold in the greater Marvel multiverse from his place on the moon.
He introduces and concludes every issue of the first volume of the series and much of the second. Despite his intent to never interfere in the course of human events, Uatu is nevertheless one of the most powerful cosmic beings in Marvel Comics.
8 What If Spider-Man Had Joined the Fantastic Four?
The first issue of What If..? appeared in 1977 with a story that quickly established the parameters of the premise – “What If Spider-Man Had Joined The Fantastic Four?” This goes back to the very first adventure of Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 when Peter Parker turned down an offer to join the Fantastic Four.
In this alternate tale, he joins the team, which then becomes the Fantastic Five. He helps the team in fighting Namor, the Sub-Mariner.
7 Spider-Girl And The MC2
While What If..? gave writers a chance to escape the bounds of comic continuity, in some cases, stories and characters created for the series found their way into the official Marvel canon. One example was Spider-Girl, the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson who first appeared What If? #105 in 1998.
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The character proved very popular, so much so that she would become the star of her own series and the launching point for the MC2 subline of comic books in the early 2000s. Spider-Girl would later become one of the best alternate versions of Spider-Woman and also interact with Earth-616.
6 Agents Of Atlas
Another group of characters who originated in What If..? and then later joined canon are the Agents Of Atlas. The team first appears in issue #9 of the series, where the Avengers come together in the 1950s because Captain America hadn’t been frozen in ice.
In the course of the story, World War II-era characters including Jimmy Woo come together to form the team. The team came into canon in 2019 in a new iteration composed of Asian and Asian-American superheroes. The squad includes Shang-Chi, one of the best Marvel martial artists.
5 Anticipating The Spider-Verse
The multiverse is at the heart of What If..? and the comic book anticipated the eventual rise of the Spider-Verse, which came into fruition in the 2010s. Issue #7 of the series asks the question of “What if someone else besides Peter Parker had been bitten by the radioactive spider?”
This conceit would come back in two different key comic book characters. One is Silk, who is revealed to have been bitten by the same spider as Peter. And comic fans know that Spider-Gwen is Gwen Stacy, who was bitten by the spider in her reality instead of Peter.
4 Jane Foster First Becomes Thor
Another major modern development of Marvel Comics is foreshadowed in What If..? #10 from 1978. In this story, Jane Foster finds Mjolnir instead of Dr. Donald Blake and thus becomes Thor. Jane Foster would become Thor in the main Marvel continuity in 2014.
When Thor was deemed unworthy, he loses the ability to lift Mjolnir. Jane discovers the hammer and becomes Thor, though her true identity is a mystery to both the characters in the story and the reader for some time.
3 Storm Fights Throg
One of the best Easter eggs in Loki episode five involved Throg, a frog variant of Thor. His brief appearance in the MCU opens the door to perhaps realizing the story of What If..? #12 where Storm becomes Thor and fights a frog version of Thor.
This story explored the concept of New Mutants Special Edition #1 which had the team, along with Storm and other X-Men, go to Asgard. Storm is already one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel Universe and was even more so with the mystical power of Mjolnir.
2 Foreshadowing The Clone Saga
Issue #30 of the series anticipated one of the biggest Spider-Man storylines of the 90s, The Clone Saga. That massive crossover was inspired by The Amazing Spider-Man #149, where the Jackal clones Peter Parker.
The clone died, but a retcon established that he didn’t. The clone became Ben Reily, the Scarlet Spider. The What If..? story established the clone as simply another version of Peter Parker who tries to live his life exactly as the original Peter does, leading to a confrontation between them.
1 King Loki
One of the best Loki variants in the MCU, the Boastful Loki from episode five, appears to have a version of Mjolnir. In What If..? #47, Loki discovers Mjolnir before Thor and becomes worthy of its power.
This tackles a major point of divergence in the comics from Journey Into Mystery #83, which is the origin of Donald Blake as Thor. This is one of the earliest stories to explore alternate versions of Loki, something that has become absolutely essential to his ongoing story in the MCU.
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