10 Incredibly Weird Comic Book Timelines
1. Marvel What If...The Marvel Bullpen Had Become The Fantastic Four
The Marvel What If line has produced some amazingly stupid stories. A stupid story is ok sometimes; you don't always want a complex look at justice or vigilantism or the balance of good or evil. Sometimes you want a story about Punisher being a hall monitor or one where Conan the Barbarian is a pimp.
The Marvel What If series was produced solely for the purpose of looking at multiple timelines. Occasionally the What If timeline would become part of the Marvel prime timeline, as is the case with What If Jane Foster Became Thor?
But perhaps the weirdest, certainly the dumbest, story produced from the What If line was issue 11 where we find out what would happen if the Marvel bullpen became the Fantastic Four.
Cue obligatory Stan Lee cameo.
Secretary Flo Steinberg, Vice President of Marvel Comics Sol Brodsky, artist Jack Kirby, and editor Stan Lee receive the powers of the Fantastic Four when a mysterious box is delivered to Marvel headquarters and promptly shoots the foursome with cosmic rays.
This sudden influx of super powers doesn't make the team better publishers, they in fact spend most of their time hunting skrulls instead of doing their jobs.
It's all very strange but a small part of you wonders if Mr Fantastic-Lee is out there in an alternate timeline appearing in movies.