The Marvel Universe is decades old and the stories, characters, dimensions, and history are well-known for those fans of the universe. So, every once in a while it’s refreshing to get a storyline features those amazing characters but with a different origin or future. This is what makes series such as Marvel: What If…? so much fun. The characters you love, but just slightly different, creating a future that could even potentially be doomed.
In this series we see Loki, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Kitty Pryde, America Chavez, and more work together to stop Doom and his ultimate plan. Authors Madeleine Roux, Seanan McGuire, Mike Chen, and Rebecca Podos craft stories featuring all-new versions of age-old characters that all lead up to DaVaun Sanders‘ final book and the culmination of this event.
Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy?
What If…? is not a new concept in the world of Marvel Comics, having first been introduced as a comic series in 1977. However, that does not stop me from wanting so much more from the concept. This time, Madeleine Roux tackles the first book in a series of books in an alternate universe of Loki being worthy. In this initial book in the series, Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy?, we see a different side of the Marvel Universe the truly landed on what it set out to do.
So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched the trickster god sow chaos. But . . . what if Loki saved Asgard from Tony Stark’s revenge?
Thor—Son of Odin, God of Thunder, Wielder of Mjolnir—is dead. And Loki is responsible.
It was meant to be only a joke—tampering with the Destroyer, changing Thor’s course to Midgard—a bit of mischief with a chance of maiming. But Loki’s harmless prank spiraled out of control, unleashing death and destruction on New York City and the heroes sworn to protect it. The city was saved, at the cost of Thor’s life.
Furious and heartbroken, the All-Father banishes Loki to Earth for his crime. Loki finds himself in a realm of boxed wine, instant noodles, and some sort of regional performance troupe known as the “Buffalo Bills.” It’s a meager existence, far from Asgard’s grand courts, but he finds his new friend, Brian the Gecko, a much more engaging companion than the sycophants back home. It’s a true meeting of the minds.
Loki is the God of Mischief—but he knows, deep down, that he never truly deserved to stand next to their father’s golden child, Thor, as two true sons of Odin. Yet he cannot endure his exile in peaceful isolation. A Valkyrie—Hel-bent on carrying out her oath to Thor—barges into Loki’s trailer home with his brother’s final words from the beyond: a plea to find a certain Dr. Jane Foster and pass the hammer Mjolnir on to its rightful heir.
While Loki struggles to fulfil his brother’s last request, the far-reaching consequences of his fatal prank return to haunt him. Blinded by grief over those he lost in the chaos wrought by Asgard, Iron Man vows revenge on those who consider themselves gods. Determined to protect Earth from the might of this unpredictable alien power, Stark forges Asgard’s own weaponry into a lethal suit of armor, set on eradicating any tether between their worlds—consequences be damned. When Asgard looks to Loki for salvation, he must answer the question: Am I truly worthy?
It might seem like swapping the roles of Thor and Loki is an easy undertaking, but the task at hand for Roux wasn’t an easy one. The author needed to create a new and compelling story that gripped us in new ways and kept us going through the book. Roux also was tasked with kicking off a series that would allow people to want to stick around for the following books. They did that and so much more.
In Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy?, it seems that Loki is up to his no-good life per usual, but by the end of this story you can see he is a changed god. You feel for the characters within the pages in a whole new light. Roux sucks you into this new, alternate universe, that I thought I would only enjoy on the fringe. However, what this book did was make me eagerly await what will come next in this unique universe.
Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy? is not only an amazing new story that can be read as a standalone tale, but kicks off the Marvel: What If…? series of novels in fitting fashion. Madeleine Roux crafts a story that feels fresh, while also bringing along the stuff we all love about these characters, only to switch a the smallest of things with larger and more significant outcomes. If the other books in this series are anything like Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy?, we are in for a fantastic ride.
Marvel: What If…Loki Was Worthy? is available at bookstores everywhere from Marvel / Random House Worlds. The audiobook, narrated by Oliver Wyman, is available via Libro.fm!
Marvel: What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings?
I didn’t really know what to expect from the second book in this Marvel: What If… series, but damn was I delighted when I closed the final page. Marvel: What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? by Seanan McGuire was a unique spin on one character we all know too much about, Spider-Man, and another that has really come to prominence (in the non-comic regular eyes), Scarlett Witch. This novel was a beautiful coming-of-age-story that sets the wheels even more in motion for the rest of the series.
So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched death court the Scarlet Witch. But . . . what if Wanda didn’t have to suffer her grief alone?
All Wanda has ever known is her friendly little neighborhood in Queens. As an infant, after her parents died, she was adopted into a family where her doting Aunt May and Uncle Ben would always be at the breakfast table. One that includes her idiot brother, Peter Parker, who thinks hiding a spider bite, joining a secret fight club, and becoming a super hero are somehow good ideas.
When Wanda’s own powers emerge, blood, chaos, and suspicion follow in their wake. But as she learns to harness her power under the guidance of Doctor Strange, Peter is standing beside her in the Sanctum Sanctorum. And as they try to protect New York City, the Parker siblings learn that with great powers, there must also come great responsibilities—and greater losses.
Reeling from tragedy, Wanda finds herself truly alone for the first time in her life. Peter is lost to his own grief, and so she must forge ahead on her own. But on her first solo outing, she runs into a mysterious speedster—a man named Pietro. And everything she has ever known shatters like glass.
Faced with unbelievable truths, Wanda is forced to choose between the life she knows and the life she could have.
It wasn’t until this story did I ever imagine what it would be like for Peter Parker to have a sibling and before diving into this story, I really had no idea how McGuire was going to manage making it feel real and original at the same time. The author crafts a story that makes sense, fits into this alternate universe, and has an emotional connection. The impact of their relationship as adopted siblings is not just a plot point, but leads the story in a direction that will be felt in the culmination of this series.
The first book in the series featured only a hint of The Watcher, merely as a setup for this series itself, but with Marvel: What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? we get a bit more of glimpse of the overall impact of America Chavez and it was fantastic.
Marvel: What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? is a wonderful coming-of-age tale filled with excitement, action, and an emotional core that will tug at heartstrings while keep you on the edge-of-your-seat. This story alone pushed me through to read the remaining books in the series.
Marvel: What If…Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? is available at bookstores everywhere from Marvel / Random House Worlds. The audiobook, narrated by Allyson Voller, is available via Libro.fm!
Marvel: What If…Marc Spector Was Host to Venom?
I mean Moon Knight already has a number of voices in his head, why not the voice of a symbiote. Marvel: What If…Marc Spector Was Host to Venom? by Mike Chen continues this Marvel: What If…? series into a direction that opens up the possibilities even further and the repercussions and horrible possibilities become even more evident.
So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched Marc Spector cheat death in the name of the Egyptian god Khonshu. But . . . what if Moon Knight was subsumed by a Venom from another universe?
Marc Spector is used to voices in his head. He’s used to waking up disoriented, unsure what his alters, Jake and Steven, might have been up to. He’s used to having an Egyptian god command him as Moon Knight, his avatar of justice and revenge. What he’s not used to: staring into the face of a literal out-of-body doppelgänger.
Another Marc crash-landed from an alternate reality, begging for help? Yeah, that is a new one, even for him.
But before he can really process anything beyond Khonshu’s incessant alarm bells, it becomes clear this other Marc didn’t travel solo. Some kind of alien—a symbiote named Venom—casts off its current host and begins to merge with Marc, forcing Khonshu away from his chosen champion and claiming Moon Knight for its own. The formerly stark white suit that struck fear into the hearts of criminals now looms as a jet-black shadow over friends and foes alike. Marc’s lethal prowess, fueled by Venom’s penchant for violence, carves a trail of chaos as they comb through the vigilante’s torturous past.
Yet a sliver of hope remains: Finally free of Venom’s control, the other Jake and Steven regain consciousness to find themselves in a strange reality, without their Marc but with a strange bird-like god insisting that “they will do.” Desperate, lost, and running out of time, the pair make a deal: become Khonshu’s new avatar to track Venom’s path of destruction, save this universe, and just maybe figure out a way back to their own.
One of the things I had to get over in this Marvel: What If…? series of novels was reading stories featuring characters that might not be my favorite, such as Moon Knight. But in order to get the full understanding of this series, you really can’t skip any of the books, hence reading this entry. Well, I struggled through this one.
In addition to not being the biggest Moon Knight fan, reading a multiverse story where a character, who already has multiple personalities ends up in the same universe as another version of his character and toss in the addition of the Venom voice in his head just made things ultra confusing and hard to follow at times. Plus, the vibe of the story was a bit different than the previous which didn’t help much.
Marvel: What If…Marc Spector Was Host to Venom? is very important book in this series, not just an entry to add more characters for the final showdown, but things take place between these covers that make a big impact in the overarching tale. If that wasn’t the case I might have skipped along to the next book.
While Marvel: What If…Marc Spector Was Host to Venom? was not my favorite of these books, it did serve Moon Knight and Marc Spector well. Seeing Venom take on a new host in Marc Spector was enjoyable, which made reading this story worthwhile. Mike Chen’s entry in the Marvel: What If…? series is important, just not for me.
Marvel: What If…Marc Spector Was Host to Venom? is available at bookstores everywhere from Marvel / Random House Worlds. The audiobook, narrated by Xavier Casals & Keith Szarabajka, is available via Libro.fm!
Marvel: What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force?
This Marvel: What If…? series is shaping up even more like the overarching feeling of The Infinity Saga of films, which each standalone story having meaning, but building towards something bigger. While the previous books set some things in motion, Rebecca Podos‘ Marvel: What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? really started to feel like its building to a culminating event in the final book.
So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched generations of mutants live in a world shaped by Jean Grey’s legacy. But what if . . . that legacy was cut tragically short, dooming the world to a future without the X-Men?
What if . . . a watcher must do more than watch?
The year is 1990: The X-Men all perished more than a decade ago, and Kitty Pryde is no hero. Emma Frost rescued Kitty from an obscure existence as a mere rebellious teen kicked out of boarding school, terrified of ever being discovered as a mutant. After growing up under the tutelage of the White Queen, Kitty is an apex predator of a superior species, yet she lives alone in a tiny, rundown apartment, preferring isolation to a knife in the back. What is her alternative? The world is what it is.
But sometimes Kitty isn’t so sure of that. Sometimes it feels like she phases right out of her own life. Breathe in: She’s suddenly surrounded by friends she’s never known, living out events that never happened. Breathe out: It’s all back to normal. Kitty always shoves these flashes down, until someone from that other life finds her. This familiar stranger, Betsy Braddock, is a rambling confirmation that something is wrong with their world.
Betsy has a wild theory and if it’s right, Kitty’s only shot at changing the present is to free-fall into the past. The girls follow a tenuous psychic trail back to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in its glory days and embed themselves with the X-Men. There they discover that the inflection point that will unravel their future revolves around a certain omega-level mutant, destined to become the Phoenix. But little do Kitty and Betsy know, they’re not alone in their search.
The year is 1975: Jean Grey has weeks left to live. The Whisperer is coming. He has recruited an ally and accounted for every foreseeable variable. He will leave nothing to chance. He will lead this reality to its Doom.
Like with the previous book, Marvel: What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? featured a main character that doesn’t draw me in, but felt necessary to read to understand the larger story being told. I was right, this story felt kind of like the culmination part one and Marvel: What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? will be part two. It’s a Kitty Pryde and X-Men story, but features way more of America Chavez and Doom than previous entries and spans across time and space adding to the overall arc.
Similar to the previous entry, as these books add more characters, timelines, and universes, things get a little harder to follow, but luckily this one sucked me in a bit more, making it a easier read. Kitty Pryde was a surprising main character, but Podos handle her character well. Not to mention Betsy Braddock, and even more page time for America Chavez and Doom.
Marvel: What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? surprised me in some ways, but also seems like it was a setup to the finishing slam dunk of Doom’s culmination in the final book. I had moments of confusion, but ultimately a good time.
Marvel: What If…Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? is available at bookstores everywhere from Marvel / Random House Worlds. The audiobook, narrated by Dani Martineck, is available via Libro.fm!
Marvel: What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed?
Let’s wrap it all up with the final book in the Marvel: What If… series with Marvel: What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? by DaVaun Sanders. While each author had a tough task in crafting these stories, Sanders by-far at the toughest of all. Sanders brings together four other books with varying stories together in a final tale that caps of the series, but was also a lot to take in.
So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have we watched Doctor Doom claw after power, dominion, and godhood. But what if there was a higher calling just out of his reach? What if he would tame the entire cosmos to claim it?
What if . . . a Watcher saved the Multiverse?
Victor von Doom was never one to simply accept his fate. He swept his way across the vast labyrinth of the Multiverse, altering the course of universe after universe. But their sacrifice was one he was willing to make. Every new world granted him the means to conquer his destiny and embrace something bigger than himself, a fate beyond the confines of his own reality. And at long last he has the final piece he needs to uncover the whereabouts of the person this was all for: a boy named Franklin.
America Chavez and Kitty Pryde are battered and broken. Thrown together by the wreckage of a shattered universe, they realize that even with the Phoenix Force barely contained within Kitty, they need a team. A team who has as much skin in the game as they do. So America must gather the nexus beings that survived Doom—Loki, the Scarlet Witch, and Venom-Moon Knight—to make one last stand.
Love is an immutable constant in all of reality. But it also is the catalyst for the greatest change. Taking up arms as Avengers of the Multiverse, the group must give up their comfort and security to find Franklin Richards before Doom. Can they save all of reality, or must they avenge everyone they’ve ever loved?
With each book in the series featuring a different Marvel character, in addition to The Watcher and Doom, it was nice to see most of them again in this final tale. However, that is a big task to take on, a lot of characters in one story (not to mention the few additional characters added to this book), and connect them all in a way that makes sense and gives the series its purpose. So, I will say that Sanders did what he had to do to make this all work, but for me it was a bit overwhelming.
I get what Marvel and Random House Worlds were setting out to accomplish with this series, a collection of books that feels similar to what we have gotten on the big screen with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this time across the multiverse featuring different versions of our favorite characters. Four individual tales then one tentpole book to cap things off. However, I don’t think it landed as well as the movies did as each character needed page time to make an impact and can’t just be part of a battle in the background without mention and we can see with out eyes. Therefore, at times I felt overwhelmed.
It was refreshing to see Kitty Pryde and America Chavez at the center of this all, not to mention Doom being the antagonist, setting itself apart from most other big storylines we have seen from Marvel over the years. While it might be necessary to read all four books in the series prior to reading this one, I can also see merit to jumping in here as you only really need to know the basics of each character to get this story and Sanders does enough to lay that foundation.
Marvel: What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? is an epic and fitting conclusion to the series of novels. DaVaun Sanders had the incredible task of wrapping things up in this final book and handles the task well. Overall the series features some excellent stories and others that are good, so in the end a success on Marvel’s and the author’s part.
Marvel: What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? is available at bookstores everywhere from Marvel / Random House Worlds. The audiobook, narrated by Kevin R. Free, is available via Libro.fm!
