Top 10 Most Terrifying Marvel 'What If' Comics 

That last one 'twilight zone' twist of thinking maybe Franklin was the reason it all happened is really messed up

Back in black is nothing compared to spider's shadow. That one is one where spiderman never took off the venom suit, and he turned into an even more darker scarier version of the back in black spiderman. To the point where even his suit changed into a more menacing look.

People forget, like a lot, that Peter HOLD BACK his punches. He does not have to be MAD to kill. He just has to lose focus for a second. He is arguably one of the strongest heroes in the Marvel Universe when not holding back.

Marvel Ruins will always be the one that takes it for me, it’s so dark and morbid I remember reading it and feeling a sense of dread the whole time

I love the subtle character writing in the last one. Reed breaks entirely and begins physically abusing his son in the middle of the sentence. What is that sentence, if he could have finished it? "She's killing Uncle Ben". Peter's closest friends and allies are triggered by his trauma too.

thumbnail is not featured in video, not cool

If we count Spider-Verse shorts and One shots are "What Ifs", than I want to suggest the story of Patton Parnel from Edge of Spider-Verse #4. Monsterous Spider-Creature version of a peter with serious school-shooter vibes, child abuse, body horror, murder. It's just creepy as hell.

I'm surprised "What If Spider-Man Kept the Symbiote" didn't make the list, but the last one and many others were messed up.

What about the one where What if Charles Xavier found the jem of cyttorak instead of Cain Marko?

I'm not complaining, but Wolverine has been front and center this year in plot armor comic vids.

I think my biggest was the one where the Avengers lost Galactic Storm. That one started with the destruction of Earth and only got worse from there. The one where the High Evolutionary managed to set off the Gene bomb was bigger in scale but much less of a mass tragedy, paradoxically enough. In it, the accelerated evolution of the Earth's peoples instead took on a course all its own, the various superpowered beings developing further and closing down factors that prevented the further evolution of the bulk of humanity. In time, the Heroics (led by Wolverine) ended and/or absorbed all the major powers of that universe, including taking out Galactus. That last got mentioned as it's always been held true by the powers in the know that Galactus' end heralds the finale of the universe. This was proven true when the Powered Ones merged with/overtook Eternity Itself before doing the same to Death. The All-in-One promptly stepped outside the collapsing universe and became the genesis of another. As all that had happened, the human race had transcended limits and individuality long before and merged with the planet, making the Living Earth which remained in the emptiness where the Universe had once been. All that remained... was the High Evolutionary, long since ignored, abandoned, and out-evolved. Oh, well. At least he has a nice view... and nothing else.

Assassin Spider-Man is GOATED and probably The STRONGEST Variant outside of those cosmically or mystically enhanced

You know what would be terrifying? If a symbiote attached to Darwin. Think about it the symbiote would take on the adaptability trait making it immune to practically anything. This makes it even worse if said symbiote was on an evil person beforehand.

Glad to see several other comments mention What If Wolverine Was Lord of the Vampires? That had some seriously chilling moments. Still my favorite.

People forget how fuckin POWERFUL Spider-Man is. He holds back even against some of his strongest enemies bc he could easily kill them. It's always so satisfying to see him take the gloves off sometimes.

My favorite What If titles have always been “what if the avengers lost operation galactic storm” and “what if the punisher killed Spider-Man” Oh and the Time Crisis series…

Ngl I wanna see this be a Multi-Part series. Cause there's alot of scary What Ifs. There's one having Sabertooth be a slasher villain stalking Jubilee.

Wolverine becomes Lord of the Vampires. He can't lose. He can only sacrifice himself.

“I-run man” 😂

That Bruce Banner Starman What if would actually be a REALLY Compelling Original Character🤔

Love this list. Also have #1. Remember buying it...and reading it over and over.

One of my favorite What Ifs was what if Professor Xavier had found and put on the Juggernaut arm bands instead of his half brother. It turns out that the things change his attitude, make Professor X into a more hardened person, a person willing to become a dictator. It also means he never loses the use of his legs. Eventually, he become ruler of the world, with mutants as the upper class and normal humans as the lower class, sort of like how Magneto wanted to do so often in the past. There is a war of course, and nukes are used. The blasts are limited in number, so only a percentage of the population is killed. The lingering radiation increases the numbers of mutants born to normal humans. Eventually machines are invented that clean up the fallout, but by then the number of mutant to normal births are definitely weighted in the mutants favor, meaning it is only a matter of time before there are no more normal humans left. Professor X the Juggernaut dictator isn't as oppressive or cruel as many others would might be, although he still pulls no punches in dealing with challenges to his rule, or in doing what he thinks needs to be done. The combination of unmatched mental powers and nearly unlimited physical strength and durability simply can't be beat. His rule is harsh, but fair, to the point that most every other mutant supports his rule. The world is reshaped, humanity is gone, and in it's place are mutants, lead by a benevolent dictator.

Marvel Ruins, Spider-Man Darkhold, and Marvel Zombies were pretty creepy stories to me.

I don’t understand how Magneto didn’t just rip the adamantium out of wolverine’s body

I love seeing supers with altered personalities, or just sides they never show.

that was great!

What if the Venom symbiote merged with the Hulk?

Hey "What If" y'all didn't put stuff in the title card that isn't even featured in the video? Other than that gripe, this was a really fun video!

Loved that last one. it was a 2 parter - 1 evil and 1 where she was amazing.

You know the story’s f’ed up when doctor doom’s the good guy.

These are some great What If... stories that I've never read!!

this vid was super cool

18:55 oh lord give me strength.....

I wanna see a what if they kept the symbiotes ability true if they had venom and carnage would have been unstoppable. No they didn't keep it true because they are supposed to take on traits of those they bond with. Look at all the mutants they bonded with. There power would have been unmatched.

I love all of these

For me, the most horrifying “What If” is where the avengers lose the battle for the serpent crown. Set manages to enter our world with the help of its seven “brides” (She-Hulk, Dagger, Jean Grey, Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman? Thundara? Storm) Most heroes are killed during an assault. All the rest of humanity (including remaining heroes) are turned into lizard like worshippers. Only exceptions on earth are Thor, Doom, One of the Phoenixes, Hulk, Cloak, Wolverine, Sabretooth and some hippie nature guy. Quasar survives in alternate dimension. In the end all remaining unchanged earth heroes are killed by the brides or Set (except Thor who is pulled into Mother Earth). Set gets imprisoned in Orb of Agamotto by Captain Universe empowered Quasar where they fight for the rest of time. The seven brides give birth to Set’s progeny; the child snakes then _eat_ their mothers after which they go to find new dimensions to conquer!!! Oh, I think the Silver surfer survives and guards the Eye of Agamotto

Not exactly a What If Story but the Darkhold comic where Spider-Man goes around New York to save people from a disease called the Unraveling-- the disease makes the person forgetful and unravels their very atoms, making their limbs just fall off while they are conscious but cannot move. Spider-man, doesn't know that he has the sickness and he has been going out there trying to fix things but eventually forgetting it and coming back to his wife Gwen's rotting corpse and apologizing for being late then doing it all over again. In the end he uses Reed Richards as a never dissolving web fluid to web every thing back into it's place.

No way Suzy EASILY defeated Dr Doom This is the same man who ripped out Thanos’ spine for having to much ego

How come Johnny Storm wasn't mentioned in the Fantastic 4 story?

I actually have that Number one comic. It's very good

I loved the What If's and Elseworlds books they were so interesting

I thought for sure Marvel Zombies, and What if the Alien Symbiote bonded with Peter?

I don’t think you quite understand the word “scary”! The what if comic where wolverine clawed sabretooth through the head, causing him to lose his memory, and he is stalking jubilee, and psylocke around the X-mansion trying to kill them was scary! It was volume 87 “screams in the night”

I got a few old What ifs... for you, that would be good for this. What if Professor X became the Juggernaut. What if The Fantastic Four all had the same Power And What is the Marvel Super Heroes had lost the Atlantis Attacks. (One of my all time favorites. )

Right out the gate wolverines heal factor would probably keep a symbiote from binding with him, no matter how bad it likes him hahahaha

Being on the most formidable hero's Spider-Man as a less passive or all together anti hero would be horrifying. With the proper armor he would be unstoppable.

Assassin spiderman sounds so cool

Those were some COOL stories, seriously, I think I even lost track of time watching the video.

Hey great video

Back in black was him beating the marshmallow fluff out of kingpin for shooting Aunt May....

Wolverine 5'3 300 lb solid muscle and can hit harder than Kingpin without the clause improve upon that you got something juggernaut run in fear of 😇

If you are counting down from 10, the halfway mark is 6, not 5.

Venom Galactus is the GOAT.

It’s truly scary when Spider-Man stops holding back his punches..

Plz make a video on thanos joining the avengers it sounds really cool

“I’ll never betray America! I’ll die before that!” *proceeds to betray America under the threat of death*

Basically, Namor becomes an analog for Superman in this "What If..." as he becomes the last son of Atlantis.

The one where Abraham erskine never died was also scary in certain ways

What If: Screams in the Night. If you know you know....

Darkest ones I saw when I read them [What If was my fave magazine]: Avengers were pawns of Korvac [who causes "All to become Nothing"] What If Hulk went Berserk [that should've been on this list, TBH] Wolverine: Agent of Hydra/Hand FF's Suzy [I thought she's actually an alien from the Negative Zone that infected Sue, she didn't know it] World War Hulk leading to Skrulls' Not-So-Secret Invasion Prof X became Juggernaut Spider-Man becomes "The Other" (Peter David wrote that one, it's crazy) Peter Parker becomes a SPIDER-Man, and has a son who's the same (that one was really dark) Ultron "marries" Danger [it's much worse than they depicted here!] And finally...Sabretooth hunts down Jubilee, and shreds a bunch of XMen along the way.

Whenever Spider-Man loses his humanity it is always bad for everyone. He is much like the hulk in that manner

"Yeah spider man holds back how overpowered he is." Bro he still could get merced by most of the other heros lmao

I like the what if Phoenix lived marvel comic..

Are you looking for narrators or voice actors? Would love to be involved! Love the channel and it’s content.

In all seriousness, Kingpin actually suffered WORSE in the mainline story. Parker merely wanted Kingpin dead in the whatif, Parker wants Kingpin to suffer a fate worse than death in mainline. And it's also very clear how much more he cares for his aunt based on his reactions after: He accepts Jane death and turns himself in, while he literally makes a deal with the devil to save his aunt.

Every time I see one of these “Scariest What If’s” and What If the Hulk had evolved into the Maestro? is not on it, I wonder if we’re all reading the same comics?

What about what if zombies where Peter eats ain’t may??

But can't Franklin just alter reality to bring his family back?

If the danger room became a sentient AI has Cerbro become one too? It would make sense given how much psychic energy goes through it.

Franklin Richards could just bring back his family

Nobody gonna talk about wolverine having that DAWG in him. Smoking all the ops and the only thing that could kill him WAS HIM

"What if...comics were as cool as they used to be"

I have all of these comics. Some of my favorite books.

What If scary story was Wolverine becoming a vampire. After Dracula bit Storm, Storm bit wolverine and the rest of the X-Men. Dracula thought he controlled everybody. But his control didn’t work on Wolverine. Wolverine killed Dracula to became king of the vampires and literally turned everyone, hero and villain on earth a vampire. Betrayals, death, undying horror, the Earth being destroyed for living creatures. This truly qualifies as one of the most horrifying outcomes as anything that lands on earth will be destroyed to join the undead vampires. It’s only a matter of time before they go out to the galaxy.

6:38 what did you call him😂

Magneto could have just torn out Wolverine's Admantium skeleton instantly he did it before.

I'm surprised the quantum virus wasn't mentioned, that story is truly horrifying

The one where Captain Marvel became the Phoenix was messed up

Honorable Mentions: What if the Avengers became the pawns of Korvac? What if the X-Men lost Inferno? What if Wolverine became lord of the vampires? What if the marvel super heroes lost Atlantis Attacks?

You don't know what scary is bro

6:52 Neymar lol

The best what if comics are supposed to end and feel like the last one.

A spiderman who is no longer cracking jokes is a very scary man indeed.

What if the X-Men lost inferno was pure nastiness, with wolverine possessed the demons killed almost every hero, in the end Dr strange and Rachel summers had to summon the phoenix force to cleanse earth of the demons.

I loved the series and I love infinity ultron

Wait what?! HOW is Spider-Man The Other storyline not in here?!

Danger and Ultron run through the X-men? Umm...Where is Magneto? He would trash them in a second.

The dark series where the Marvel universe becomes zombies, except for a select few. Zombie Spider-Man kills and eats Sandman's family. Sandman finds the *real* Spider-Man, and, thinking it's the zombie version, bellers "you ate my family, let's see how you like eating ME!"...and pours his entire sand-transformed self down Spidey's throat! Naturally, Spidey's stomach explodes, leaving a rather macabre scene where Peter Parker is dead, his abdomen hollowed out, ribs blown out, and his lower jaw missing...and he's partially covered in sand.

Check out What If we lost Atlantis Attacks the entity Set kills everything and the ending is awesome.

A lot of people in the comments clearly haven't heard of the 'what if' series and think this includes one offs

the "Submarine-er" jesus...

The end of the last story reminded me strongly of "Alien", not only because of Xenomorphish lil Suzie.

i prefer the WHAT IF versions.

9:52 yooo Trevor met spiderman?

"telaporting logan out of magnetos range and back again" gee didnt know they could telaport him all the way to another galaxy. Ya know since magneto has effected the magnetic fields of other planets from earth.

Was there a What If where Ultron had killed off all humans except for Ant Man, and put his mind into an android body and made him relive his death over and over? ... or am I having a Mandela effect memory? I can't find this story anywhere, but I swear I read it years ago. 🤔😵‍💫🤷

I'm still waiting for this list to have the Venom Wolverine on the thumbnail

For a truly bleak, grimdark "what if...?" story I would recommend... | What If...Vol 1 - 94 | >> "The Juggernaut: Kingdom Of Cain: Wanderings"

Idk how about you but i wasnt scared or smth, but the thing that rlly scared me is Savage Spiderman

The way the narrator said submariner made me laugh.