10 Best 'What If?' Marvel Stories You Must Read
5. What If... The Avengers Fought The Kree-Skrull War Without Rick Jones?
What If...? Vol. 1 #20 (1980)
The Kree-Skrull War was one of the biggest conflicts in Marvel history. It was literally intergalactic, and the Avengers got mixed up in the middle of it. Back when it happened in the regular continuity, the only thing that brought it to an end quickly was Rick Jones.
He managed to tap into the Destiny Force to summon forth a horde of Golden Age heroes to fight the gathered aliens making him something of a deus ex machina, which means he was vital to the whole plot. That begs the question, what if he wasn't around for that final battle?
In the story, Ronan kills Jones soon after capturing him, which enabled the conflict to continue. Professor X used all of his psychic powers to rally the combined forces of Earth against the Skrull armada while Princess Anelle began a rebellion against her father on the Skrull homeworld. At the same time, the Supreme Intelligence used Jones' remains to become a completely new being able to break free and destroy Ronan.
With Ronan gone, a peace was found between the various combatants. Anelle took over her father's role as the leader of the Skrull while the Supremor (The Supreme Intelligence's new identity) handed over command of the Kree to Mar-Vell and all was right in the cosmos... except for Rick Jones... that guy was dead.