10 Best 'What If?' Marvel Stories You Must Read
1. What If... Spider-Man Had Never Become A Crimefighter?
What If...? Vol. 1 #19 (1980)
As any reader of Spider-Man comics knows, Peter Parker became a crimefighter after he allowed a criminal to escape his clutches only to find he had killed his beloved Uncle Ben. Remembering his uncle's words, "With great power comes great responsibility," Peter took to webslinging, and became a superhero.
What would have happened had he not let that criminal go by? Stopping his meant keeping Ben alive, which meant he might not go on to become a superhero after all. In this story, Parker took out the robber to make himself look good with the cops, and it worked.
He then went on to guest-host the Tonight Show, and signed a movie deal with Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman. After this, he became a superhero marketing agent with services provided to the Fantastic Four and Daredevil, but his actions came into conflict with J. Jonah Jameson, who was ultimately fired from the Daily Bugle.
Later, Parker was meeting with the writers about his next film when he was dropped through the floor. He was then faced with fighting a plethora of supervillains but had the assistance of Daredevil, and the pair managed to beat them all. When the mastermind was finally unmasked, it turned out to be none other than J. Jonah Jameson himself! He blamed Parker for ruining his life, and after thinking about it, he realized he was right. By not acting responsibly (as his uncle had taught him), he had caused the ruin of another man's life.