Marvel is no stranger to alternate universes and redesigning their characters in different ways across a multiverse. It’s fun to reimagine iconic characters in different contexts and undergoing different kinds of challenges. They even have the What If…? line of stories to play out major Marvel moments where things go a little differently.
However, this also opens the door to some fairly weird reinterpretations. Every once in a while, creators put a superhero in a completely different setting to see how things play out–and stuff can get pretty wild. Sometimes, you get just a downright strange interpretation of a favorite Avenger.
10 Iron Man As Doctor Doom Involves Mind Transference And A Joke On Tony’s Alcoholism
In a What If? story by David Micheline, Bob Layton, and Graham Nolan, the reader is shown what might have happened if Iron Man had become Doctor Doom. Given both characters’ propensity for a metal suit of armor, this isn’t too hard to imagine. It is a little strange that the cover blurb titles it as “Demon in an Avenger,” making a joke on Iron Man’s old “Demon in a Bottle” storyline.
The story itself involves Victor Von Doom tricking Tony Stark into transferring his mind into Doom’s body and having his memory wiped. Meanwhile, Doom’s mind is sent into Tony’s body. Tony Stark is sent to Latveria in Doom’s body, and the Doom inside Stark’s body is raised as Tony Stark and put in the lap of luxury. Tony ends up making Doom Industries, a rival to Stark Industries. It ends with the two going to war, with Tony Stark making a gold-and-red variant of Doctor Doom’s armor, and Doctor Doom making a green-and-grey variant of the Iron Man armor.
9 Deadbeat Husband Wolverine From The Earth X Trilogy
Alex Ross and the late great John Paul Leon’s legendary Earth X trilogy places the reader on a different Earth on which superpowers have proliferated throughout the entire population, and the Celestials are soon returning to wipe out humanity. It takes place in a potential Marvel Comics future, where Mr. Fantastic has become Doctor Doom, Thor has been gender-flipped by Loki, Captain America is still fighting the good fight, Spider-Man is overweight and retired, and Wolverine is a deadbeat husband to Madelyne Pryor (whom Logan thinks is Jean Grey).
Wolverine watches the world pass him by on the television, while his hair greys and balds and he packs on the pounds. He constantly demands that Madelyne brings him another beer until Madelyne finally tires of him. She leaves Logan and reveals that she was Madelyne Pryor, not Jean Grey, all along.
8 Spider-Man As The Punisher Is A Bizarre Inversion Of The Character
In another What If? title, this time by Carl Potts and Juanan Ramirez, the reader is treated to what would have happened if Spider-Man had killed the burglar who shot Uncle Ben instead of letting him live. In this reality, Spider-Man becomes a spider-powered version of the Punisher, killing his foes instead of catching them for the police. Instead of web-shooters on his wrists, this Spider-Man has wrist guns.
In this reality, Spider-Man kills the Sinister Six and even saves Gwen Stacy by killing the Green Goblin. After this, Peter Parker reveals his identity to Gwen and retires to live a normal life with her–a strangely happy ending for this darker version of the character.
7 Dr. Thing Is Doctor Doom As The Thing And The Thing Becomes The Hulk
In another reality, Ben Grimm is unable to go on the flight with the Fantastic Four on the Marvel-1 rocket. Instead, Doctor Doom goes on the fateful flight and is given the rocky form of the Thing. Doctor Doom, colloquially known as Dr. Thing, swears vengeance on Reed Richards and kidnaps him. Meanwhile, Ben Grimm got a job at Gamma Base, where the Marvel-1 rocket had crashed. He goes out to check on his friends as the gamma bomb detonates, turning Ben Grimm into the Hulk-like creature called Grimm.
He gets into a fight with Dr. Thing, and Grimm beats Doom into a retreat. Grimm then goes onto join the Fantastic Four.
6 Greenskyn Smashtroll, The Hulk From A Medieval Superhero Team
In an alternate history story called Avataars: Covenant of the Shield by Len Kaminski and Oscar Jimenez, the reader is introduced to Greenskyn Smashtroll, a green-skinned troll with a tragic backstory who resembles the Incredible Hulk. He goes onto join a group called Champions of the Realm alongside Medieval counterparts to the Human Torch, Iceman, Namor, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch.
There is also a medieval Captain America called Captain Avalon, and he and Greenskyn notably made an appearance in the LEGO: Marvel Superheroes 2 videogame.
5 Commie-Bashing Captain America William Burnside Who Thinks He’s Steve Rogers
In retconning the 1950s era of Steve Rogers out of Marvel History, Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema created William Burnside, a man crazed by a recreation of the Super Soldier Serum who thinks he really is Steve Rogers. In his first Marvel Age appearance, he is a vicious racist Cap and the Falcon have to subdue.
In 1950s Marvel comics, this version of Captain America, alongside “Bucky” Jack Munroe, targeted suspected dissidents to the American government in a McCarthian crusade. They exposed people they believed communists and had them arrested. Since then, Burnside has become a semiregular villain to Captain America, but Jack Munroe was killed by the Winter Soldier while he was under the control of Aleksander Lukin.
4 The Questionable Scarlet Witch And Quicksilver From The Ultimate Marvel Universe
In the Ultimates Marvel Universe, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are known as Wanda and Pietro Lensherr, and they are unambiguously the children of Magneto. They still join the Ultimates, the Ultimate Universe’s counterpart to the Avengers.
However, the major quirk in this version of Wanda and Pietro is that it’s heavily implied that the twins are in an intimate relationship. Ultimate Wanda dies in Ultimates 3, and Ultimate Pietro is killed on Earth-616 (the mainstream Marvel Universe) in an experiment carried out by Ms. Sinister.
3 Cannibal Hulk From The Old Man Logan Future Is A Disturbing Character
In the future painted by Mark Millar, Steve McNiven, and Dexter Vines’ Old Man Logan, the supervillains finally win the day and carve up the United States as they see fit. Logan is mind-controlled into killing the rest of the X-Men, and he retires in shame and starts a family.
However, Logan’s family is kidnapped and eaten by the Hulk Gang, an inbred family started by the Hulk in his abusive relationship with his cousin, She-Hulk. This version of the Hulk ends up fighting Logan and eats him. However, Logan’s healing factor allows him to survive and carve his way out of the Hulk’s back.
2 The A-Ben-Gers Are Just All The Avengers As Uncle Ben Parker
This version of the Avengers was created as part of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s 2015 Secret Wars event. The A-Ben-Gers are a group of Avengers who are also each a version of Ben Parker, Peter Parker’s uncle. They were created by Rob Guillory.
They fought in Hell’s Kitchen’s Kitchen against the Heralds of Galactus but were ultimately defeated.
1 Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham Was A Spider Bit By A Radioactive Pig
The most famous and beloved strange twist on an Avenger is, without a doubt, Peter Porker aka the Spectacular Spider-Ham. This version of Spider-Man was created by Tom DeFalco and Mark Armstrong and famously appeared in 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse.
This version of Spider-Man started as a spider who was bitten by a radioactive pig and became a hybrid of both. He fights crime in his own reality in a delightfully cartoonish way. Notably, there are other heroes like Spider-Ham in his native universe. There is Miles Morhames, another Spider-Ham. There is another version of Miles Morales called Moles Morales, who is a mole, and a version of Kamala Khan called Hiss Marvel.