7 Horrific What If…? Stories To Read This Halloween

What If…? offers Marvel Comics fans fun chances to see what could have happened if popular stories had ended differently. While many of these were fun tales that offered an angle fans might not have expected, others were terrifying tales that took fans into nightmare worlds where the worst imaginable outcomes were reality. This is even more horrific when one considers that every story told is canon, creating an alternate Earth that Marvel could, if they so desired, return to in the future, even with the often downbeat endings. These featured deaths of beloved heroes, mutations that changed them forever, and even Earth-shattering conclusions.

From heroes who destroyed the Earth to beloved characters becoming grotesque monsters, here are the scariest What If…? stories in Marvel Comics.

7) What If… Beast and Thing Continued To Mutate

In What If…?: Vol. 1 #37, the two main stories were “What If The Thing Had Continued To Mutate?” and “What If The Beast Had Truly Become A Beast?” The Thing story was from a Marvel Two-in-One story in which the Thing was mutated, and Captain America and Giant-Man (Bill Foster) helped him find a cure. In this story, Thing ran away before they could, and he mutated into a grotesque creature. There was a happy ending, since he finally reverted to a human and lived happily ever after. However, before this happened, The Thing became nightmare fuel for readers.

Beast comes from Amazing Adventures Vol. 2 #11, where he uses his mutation formula but becomes blue and furry. This spins off from that and asks what would happen if it also caused him to become a savage Beast. Hank almost killed his friend, Angel, while Beast was in a rage. The ending of this horror story wasn’t as positive, as Beast never found a cure. However, he was taken to the Savage Land, where he could live in freedom. While Thing’s story was body horror, Beast’s was more tragic as he lost his brilliant mind.

6) What If… The Marvel Super Heroes Had Lost Atlantis Attacks?

The issue titled What If… The Marvel Super Heroes Had Lost Atlantis Attacks? was actually part of the story titled, “What If… Set Had Come to Earth?” This was What If…? Vol. 1 #25, which asked what would happen if the Avengers and other Earth’s heroes hadn’t stopped the Atlantis invasion, and Set arrived on Earth.

This is one of the Earth-ending apocalyptic What If…? stories, featuring the deaths of almost every Marvel hero and villain on Earth. Quasar was launched into the Dark Domain, and Namor died in an explosion. Set’s demons ate The Thing and incinerated Doctor Strange. Soon, more and more heroes died, and all hope seemed lost. There were heroes left to fight in the end, but none were strong enough to stop Set and the brides he chose to bear his children.

5) What If… the Hulk Went Berserk?

Hulk has gone off the rails more than once in regular comics. World Breaker Hulk destroyed the Illuminati before surrendering himself in the end. There have been many instances where he lost control, including when he became Maestro in one world. However, in 1984, What If… Hulk Went Berzerk was released as issue #45. This took a different look and went back to the start, asking what would happen if Hulk didn’t save Rick Jones from the gamma explosion.

In this world, Banner didn’t get Rick to safety, and they both were caught in the explosion. Both survived, but Hulk could now communicate telepathically with Rick. When General Ross orders Rick to be tortured to get to the Hulk, the boy dies, and when Hulk realizes his only friend is dead, he goes savage. The entire story is not only scary, but it is tragic as Hulk only wants to avenge a young man murdered by the U.S. military. It leads to the deaths of several beloved heroes and a final, tragic end for Hulk himself.

4) What If… Wolverine Was Lord Of The Vampires?

There are a lot of What If…? issues about the X-Men, which is ironic, since the mutants already have a ton of regular crossovers on alternate Earths in their own comics. There was a horror-centric issue in What If…? Vol. 1 #24 that supposed that Wolverine became the Lord of the Vampires. In X-Men #159, the X-Men battled Count Dracula to save the life of Storm, and succeeded. Just when Dracula seemed to have the upper hand, Storm broke his control and helped beat him. However, this issue asked what would have happened if she hadn’t.

Instead, in this world, Dracula killed Storm and turned her into a vampire. After this, he turned Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler into vampires as well. The problem is that Wolverine was too mentally strong, and he killed Dracula, taking his place as the ruler. He quickly turned his mutant allies and began his hostile takeover of the world. This was a pure horror comic, with the vampire mutants slaughtering everyone in their path and only Punisher and the ghost of a dead Doctor Strange standing in their way. The ending was perfect, and the scary story had a fitting conclusion.

3) What If… The Avengers Had Become Pawns Of Korvac?

What If…? Vol 1 #32 was titled What If The Avengers Had Become Pawns of Korvac. This clearly took place during The Korvac Saga in Avengers #167-177, where Korvac wiped out the Avengers, then finally brought them all back thanks to his love for his wife and the ultimate sacrifice. However, this alternate take asks what would have happened if Korvac’s wife had supported his decision and he had taken a different path.

This was a pure nightmare tale, as Korvac forced his will on the world, even banishing Doctor Strange, Phoenix, and Silver Surfer from existence. He then brought the Avengers back to serve as his personal army to fight the forces of the universe, including the Watcher, Galactus, Eternity, The Stranger, and others. Even Watcher, at the end, said this was the most “terrifying” reality he had ever witnessed, as Korvac ended all reality.

2) What If… Dracula Transformed Blade Into A Vampire

This was a special What If…? spinoff, and it was a straight-up horror comic book. What made this scary story so great was that Marv Wolfman wrote it, and he was the man who made Tomb of Dracula such a huge horror hit years ago. The book was a special release on Blade’s 50th anniversary. This allowed Wolfman to return to that world and ask what would have happened if Dracula had succeeded in turning Blade into a full-fledged vampire.

In What If…? Dark: Tomb Of Dracula #1, Dracula turned Blade, but like in the issue where he turned Wolverine, he learned he couldn’t control the Vampire Hunter, even after Blade changed. Not only that, but Blade still had his allies, who no longer trusted him but were willing to help him do what was needed to destroy Dracula and himself. This was a genuine horror comic, with some dark, bloody scenes, and a nice return to form for Marvel’s horror line, thanks to Wolfman and artist David Cutler.

1) What If… Phoenix Had Not Died?

One of the scariest Marvel What If…? comics ever published was in the first run of the series, with the 1981 issue #27 titled What If Phoenix Had Not Died. This picked up during The Dark Phoenix Saga and supposed that Jean Grey had a better ending, and didn’t have to sacrifice herself to save the X-Men in the battle with the Imperial Guard. Here, Jean didn’t die, and instead of killing her, the Shi’ar found a way to suppress the Phoenix Force inside of Jean. By doing so, they took away everything that made Jean Grey strong.

However, ironically, the Shi’ar asked the X-Men for help when Galactus invaded their world, and when Terrax tried to kill Cyclops, Jean rekindled the Phoenix powers again. However, she eventually lost control again, destroyed another galaxy, and when she killed Kitty Pryde, there was no turning back. This showed how dark Phoenix could be, and the destruction she could cause, proving the Shi’ar were right in the original storyline. It was a sobering message for readers.

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