WHAT IF...? #1
Volume 1 · 1977-1985
- Published
- February 1977
- Cover price
- $0.50 USD
- Edition
- —
- Era
- Bronze
- UPC
- JPCOOPER Contact
- Key issue
- No
Creators
- Writer
- Roy Thomas
- Penciler
- Jim Craig
- Inker
- Beast (Hank Mccoy), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Chameleon (Dmitri Anatoly Nikolayevich Smerdyakov), Deathlok (Luther Manning), Doctor Spectrum (Kinji Obatu), Golden Archer (Wyatt Mcdonald), Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Hyperion, Invisible Girl (Susan Richards), Iron Man (Tony Stark), J. Jonah Jameson, James 'Bucky' Buchanan Barnes, Killraven (Jonathan Raven), Lady Lark (Linda Lewis), May 'Aunt May' Parker, Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards), Pablo Marcos, Puppet Master (Phillip Masters), Red Ghost (Ivan Kragoff), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Sub-Mariner (Namor Mckenzie), Thing, The (Benjamin Grimm), Toro (Thomas Raymond), Vision, The, Vulture (Clifton Shallot), Watcher, The ( Uatu), Whizzer (James Sanders)
- Letterer
- John Costanza
- Cover artist
- George Perez, Joe Sinnott
- Editor
- Roy Thomas
Market value & tracking
See the value & track your collection
Sign in free to view live prices and price history — and log your copies, grades, costs and photos for this comic.
Synopsis
What If Spider-Man Had Joined The Fantastic Four?
In this landmark first issue, we are greeted by Uatu the Watcher, who explains to readers that several alternate realities exist. In each alternate reality, there is a divergence between what has happened and what could have happened.
The Watcher focuses on an alternate reality in which Spider-Man attempts to join the Fantastic Four to solve his money problems. Originally, Spider-Man is turned down by the group, but in this alternate reality, they allow Spider-Man to join, causing the birth of the Fantastic Five.
With Spider-Man on the team, his association with the Fantastic Four grants him acceptance from the population, unlike his mainstream counterpart, who is labeled a menace by the Daily Bugle.
The Fantastic Five begin taking on several villains, including the Vulture, the Red Ghost, and his Super-Apes. While Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Human Torch, and Spider-Man go on these adventures, the Invisible Girl often stays behind to monitor things from the base.
Sue is eventually seduced into meeting Namor, the Sub-Mariner under the control of the Puppet Master, to get revenge on the Fantastic Five.
After freeing Sue and Namor from the Puppet Master's control, Sue decides that she loves Namor and wants to stay in his kingdom with him after months of neglect from the Four, thanks to Spider-Man's inclusion in the group. Accepting her request, Namor conditions her body so that she can breathe underwater (a permanent process). The remainder of her former comrades leave in defeat, and Spider-Man regrets joining the group.