10 Best 'What If?' Marvel Stories You Must Read

What If...? Vol. 1 #7 (1978)

Pretty much everyone knows that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider while on a school field trip, but what would happen if somebody else got bitten instead? This has been explored throughout the Marvel Universe, but long before the debut of Silk, the concept was tackled in a multi-part story in the pages of What If...?

In the first alternate story, Flash Thompson is bitten by the spider, but Peter sees it happen and runs some tests. Flash then goes on to become a superhero while Peter becomes his biggest fan. He ends up getting killed while fighting the Vulture when he is dropped from very high up. Without the web fluid Peter developed, Flash was left without any means of slowing his fall.

In the next story, Betty Brant is bitten by the spider while Peter watches. She goes on to become a superhero while Peter helps her by designing a costume and web shooters. When a criminal she failed to stop killed Ben Parker, she punched him to death in a rage. Unable to face her murderous abilities, she abandoned the life of a superhero.

In the final story, John Jameson was bitten by the spider. When his father, J. Jonah Jameson finds out, he immediately promotes his son's new powers in the paper while encouraging him to become a superhero. Like Flash, he didn't have web shooters, which proved fatal when he dropped to Earth from a failed space capsule, which crushed him.