Best of "What If...?": #16

One-Shot (2007)
What if Wolverine was never deprogrammed?

Written by Jimmie Robinson
Drawn by Carmine Giandomenico

The savage mutant Wolverine is no stranger to death. Thanks to his razor-sharp claws and his ability to survive any injury, he has delivered and recovered from more than his share of mortal wounds. It therefore comes as a shock when the terrorist organization known as HYDRA succeeds in killing him.

More startling, however, is the revelation that an order of mystical ninja called the Hand has resurrected him. Motivated by the Hand’s brainwashing and assisted by HYDRA’s teleportation tech, the already bloodthirsty Wolverine has become an unstoppable killing machine. Most superhumans are now dead.

Kitty Pryde, one of the few superheroes left alive, has just been recruited by Captain America to help put Wolverine down at last. Despite Cap’s reputation as a master strategist, Kitty has good reason to doubt that any plan can survive contact with the man who was once her mentor…

“We were screwed from the start.”

Best of "What If...?": #22

One-Shot (2008)
The spider who went into the cold

Written by Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin
Drawn by Clayton Henry

Few know it, but Peter Parker, the spectacular Spider-Man, once carried out a black ops mission in Russia with Logan, the bloodthirsty Wolverine. Afterwards, Peter returned to New York and resumed his usual red-and-blue-clad heroics.

But what if Logan had asked Peter to first tie up just one loose end? And what if Peter had weighed his power to say no against his responsibility to say yes?

The forest ahead is blanketed with snow and mercenaries. Logan eviscerates the men who fire upon him while Peter merely binds them with his webs.

Logan warns Peter against pulling his punches just seconds before the sudden arrival of two of Russia’s own superhumans: the Crimson Dynamo and a woman whose powers resemble those of Logan’s fellow mutant Storm.

“Figures that Russian mutants would be crappy knockoffs of ours.”

But these agents are no pushovers. Peter receives several savage blows from the Dynamo before Logan manages to power down his heavy armor. Unaware of this development, Peter kills the Dynamo with a single punch…