Marvel Celebrates The 50th Anniversary Of What If? With New Alternate Universe Stories

Believe it or not, Marvel’s long-running What If? collection turns 50 this 12 months. That’s rather a lot of alternate universe superhero tales. But there’s nonetheless loads extra floor left to cowl, as Marvel reveals a model new batch of What If? comics publishing in Summer 2026.

There’s no specific unifying theme this time round. These What If? books stick with the traditional formulation, with every exploring realities the place iconic Marvel storylines performed out in a different way. For instance, one of these points is titled “What If… Cyclops Had Stayed With Madelyne Pryor?”, revealing a world the place Cyclops by no means left his spouse and baby to reunite with the newly resurrected Jean Grey. For rather a lot of X-fans, Cyclops ditching his household stays a black mark on the character’s legacy even a long time later, so we think about there’s going to be rather a lot of curiosity on this story.

Art by Lucas Werneck. (Image Credit: Marvel)

Other intriguing titles on this What If? lineup embody “What If… Thor Got Spider-Man’s Symbiote Suit?” and “What If… Cassandra Nova Killed Charles Xavier?” The full lineup is beneath:

“What If… Cyclops Had Stayed With Madelyne Pryor?” by Gerry Duggan & Jan Bazuldua (June)
“What If… Thor Got Spider-Man’s Symbiote Suit?” by Torunn Grønbekk & Sergio Davila (June)
“What If… The Ultimate Universe Surved Secret Wars?” by Alex Paknadel & CAFU (July)
“What If…The Radioactive Spider Bit Jessica Jones?” by Justina Ireland & David Messina (July)
“What If…Kraven Survived His Last Hunt?” by JM DeMatteis & Yildiray Cinar (July)
“What If… Captain America Was Unfrozen in 2099?” by Marc Guggenheim & Ron Lim (August)
“What If… The Runaways Hadn’t Run Away?” by Rainbow Rowell & Zulema Scotto Lavina (August)
“What If… Cassandra Nova Killed Charles Xavier?” by Ashley Allen & Sumit Kumar (August)

Art by Mahmud Asrar. (Image Credit: Marvel)

This new What If? line kicks off with the launch of What If… The Uncanny X-Men #1 on June 3 and continues via August. Which What If? ideas intrigue you most? Let us know in the feedback beneath.

In different Marvel information, the writer not too long ago revealed new particulars about two of its largest 2026 storylines, Avengers: Armageddon and Queen in Black.

Jesse is a mild-mannered workers author for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your mental thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.