What If... Spider-Man had kept his cosmic powers?
A common feature of
What If... was to do a story where a major crossover event turned out differently. The first issue of the relaunched regular series asked "What If... the Avengers lost the Evolutionary War?" and later issues offered alternate outcomes for events such as "Secret Wars" (#114), "Fall of the Mutants" (#101), "Inferno" (#6 and #37), "Atlantis Attacks" (#25), "Infinity Gauntlet" (#49 and #104), "Operation Galactic Storm" (#55 & #56), "Age of Apocalypse" (#77 and #81) and the Spider-Man "Clone Saga" (#86). It's thus a surprise to see there wasn't one focused on the core of "Acts of Vengeance" and we only get a look at an alternate ending to the story of Spider-Man's cosmic powers.
What If... #31
Writer: Glenn Alan Herdling
Penciler: Scott Alan McDaniel
Inkers: Col. Sanders III & Sam Delarosa
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colourists: Tom Vincent and Co.
Editor: Craig Anderson
Chief: Tom DeFalco
The opening scene with Captain Universe possessing the dog Casey features Glenn Herdling proposing to Laura - she said yes both here and in real life though I don't know which way round the proposals came. This scene helps the Watcher to (re)introduce the Uni-Power of Captain Universe and how it came to Spider-Man before explaining how in the regular reality the Uni-Power went on to mainly possess children and animals, leaving unexplored the potential of the power being held long-term by "a powerful, intelligent host. At least not in your reality...!" This story shows that potential.
The divergent point is straightforward - the power stays with Spider-Man after his battle with the Tri-Sentinel and as a result this story doesn't have to wade through retelling loads of existing comics. The only story I can spot from elsewhere is when Spider-Man teamed up with Avengers to fight Nebula, which is here handled in two panels as his powers provide both speedy resolution and concern for Thor and Captain America.
The theme is of the conflict between "With absolute power there comes absolute responsibility" and "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Over the course of this issue we see how cosmic Spider-Man steadily seeks to solve ever greater problems in the world, but things don't always go well. There's an early encounter with the Hobgoblin who, rarely for this era of Marvel, is presented as quite a serious threat, or at least he would be if not for Spider-Man's power level. Spidey tries to remove the physical changes made by demons, but only succeeds to turn Hobgoblin's face into Peter Parker's! (An existing spell by Doctor Strange means Hobgoblin thought he had a normal face and now thinks he has a monstrous one.) There's also a quick fight with Venom (who interestingly is drawn as he looked at the time of Acts of Vengeance rather than with the modifications Erik Larsen had made in the intervening two years), who is persuaded to reform and take Spider-Man's place as a street level crime fighter. This came over a year before the Lethal Protector phase of the character began, showing how many an idea was prefigured by
What If... (but also perhaps that's where some ideas should have been left).
However Spider-Man taking on the role of the world's protector is bringing personal changes, with both Mary Jane and Venom's alien symbiote no longer recognising the man they once knew so well. This brings a very poorly handled moment when Aunt May inadvertently discovers Peter's secret. Although the cosmic powers are more shocking than just being Spider-Man, it's become a bit too much of a cliché that upon learning her nephew's secret she would suffer a heart attack. Even before this he has been neglecting Mary Jane terribly and the marriage nearly collapses but eventually proves to be more durable.
In the original stories Spider-Man did wonder if he could have used his powers to stop Gaddafi and end apartheid. However this dated quickly as in the two years between then and this story the world had moved on a bit with South Africa now clearly in the process of dismantling apartheid (one of the key steps, the National Peace Accord, was signed only a few days before the issue went on sale) and Gaddafi had been surpassed as the west's main target in the Arab world. As is so often the case in comics, the actual names of leaders and countries are not used but the area is explicitly identified as the "Persian Gulf" and as Spider-Man soars into a capital city and locates the bunker the dictator is hiding in with his "Republican Guard" the artwork doesn't fail to disguise and instead gives us the wonderful image of Spider-Man capturing Saddam Hussein.
Spidey eventually tries to solve the problem of drought in the Sudan, forcibly recruiting Thor and this leads to a confrontation between the two about whether gods should allow people to seek their own destiny or intervene all the time. For a story exploring the real-world implications of having beings with such great powers, it's good to also get a realistic explanation as to why they don't set out to wipe out famine and the likes in the real world.
The finale brings a confrontation with Doctor Doom, who brings a hostage, Captain Ray Coffin who was the original wielder of the Captain Universe power. And Spider-Man doesn't hold back, leading to Doom snapping Coffin's neck, triggering the eventual confrontation between Peter's true side and Captain Universe, fought out as energy forms before bringing revelations about both Doom and what must truly be done with the Uni-Power. Thus he makes the final sacrifice by using Doom's weapon to release the power, creating a moment of universal unity, linking all minds together.
This obviously isn't a substitute for "What If... the Avengers lost Acts of Vengeance" but it was never meant to be and so shouldn't be approached in that way. Instead it's a good
What If... that takes the basic concept from a storyline and shows what more could have been done but also why the regular Marvel universe couldn't go there. Unlike a lot of
What If... stories it doesn't wind up with the gratuitous killing of characters for the sake of it or else being so tame as to produce a simplified alternative where a few identities, costumes and/or team memberships have changed but otherwise things are much the same. Instead it gives us a good exploration of the fundamental philosophical concept behind Spider-Man, turned up to the absolute degree.
What If... #31 has been reprinted in:
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