Saturday, April 26, 2008

What If... #41

Going through my stack of purchases from last week's convention, I made a startling find- an issue of "What If..." that's actually good. No, I can't believe it either. To mark this momentous occassion, I present to you:

What If... The Avengers Had Fought Galactus? So big a question, it required 43 pages. And seriously? I had a tough time limiting the amount of scans to just those here- lots happens.

This reality is a bit different- the Fantastic Four died in the crash of their rocket ship. This has a flow-on effect to other heroes. Human Torch never cures a homeless Namor of amnesia, and with no Namor, noone revives Captain America from his icy sleep. The Avengers in the above picture are pretty much it, with the inclusion of Iron Man.

The story begins with some strange occurances in the sky- first the atmosphere appears to be on fire, then it becomes a sea of floating rocks. Eventually The Watcher reveals himself to the Avengers as being the one behind it. He's created these illusions to try and hide Earth from the Silver Surfer. It doesn't work though, and it falls to Iron Man to try to stop the herald before Galactus is summoned.

The Surfer's taken out, but too late!

Avengers vs Galactus, round 1.

Galactus does everyone a favour and knocks out Hawkeye, because really- that was just embarrassing. Iron Man had a good run at the Surfer though, so lets give him a try.

Retreat! Retreat!

Galactus: 2 Avengers: 0

Regrouping at Avengers Mansion, team leader Goliath makes a dramatic decision:

All Avengers together for the first time ever. This should be awesome. Let's see who turns up.

Thor! And he brought a friend. Who else is coming?

Wait, what do you mean that's it? That's all the Avengers, together, for the first time? Wow, that's really lame.

Meanwhile, the Silver Surfer has been cruising around the city, observing people. It would seem he's having a few doubts about his job.

We'll check in on him again a bit later, because now it's time for:

Avengers vs Galactus, Round 2.

Their previous encouter not having gone so well, the heroes elect to target their foe's machinery instead.

Not a bad idea, though comparing the damage Thor is doing to the damage Hawkeye is doing? Yeah, arrows are a pretty lame super power. Galactus summons some robotic help, calling down the Punisher from his ship.

That alien suit is pretty tough, and makes short work of Quicksilver. But thankfully for everyone (especially Hawkeye) the Hulk turns up.

It seems the Watcher had telepathically sent the "Avengers Assemble" call to the Hulk. In further non-watching activity, the Watcher sent Iron Man up to Galactus's ship to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier. Iron Man lasts 3 panels before he's zapped by the ships auto-defenses, so that ends that.

Time to check back on the Silver Surfer. He's still debating his purpose, even saving people from falling debris caused by the battle. Do the Avengers try and talk to him, maybe building up his new found good will? No, they piss him off.

So begins an epic fight between SS and Thor.

Speaking of Thor, it's a good job he brought a friend along, because Hercules is the only one that's any good against Galactus.

That's awesome, though possibly below the belt. The rest of the team are total lame ducks, and all get knocked out.

But wait, what's this? An ex-Avenger has heeded the call. It's the mighty Swordsman! Errr...

heh, Galactus made a funny.

With everyone being trashed, The Watcher makes a decision to grow a pair, and intervene.

It looks impressive, and admitadly Galactus gets thrown through a building, but when all you've ever done is watch, well, how good are you really going to be in a fight? About 3 panels worth of good. Then comes the really interesting part:

Galactus fricking eats the Watcher. Holy shit!

Oh yeah, and there's that fight between Thor and the Silver Surfer, where Thor does what someone should've done 20 pages ago and actually talks to his foe.

It's all too late though. The fight's over, the Watcher's eaten, and Galactus has spared the planet. Time to depart, though the events have made the Surfer curious.

Galactus takes the body of the fallen Watcher back to his brothers

...and you have to ask yourself- just how awesome would it be if Galactus abandoned his planet eating ways, and instead embarked on a quest to hunt down and eat all the Watchers?

Because I think that would rule.

1 comment:

Esbat said...

Now that seems like a bad ass What if, good find.