What if the Punisher had killed Daredevil?

[history79]

9 pages of 28

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

What If... I loved that series in its prime, but man, it was usually so bleak. Writers always seemed to take out their frustrations by killing characters they'd never be allowed to kill in the real M.U. With Spidey at the top. :)

[sinanju]

Yeah, the What If series apparently existed to demonstrate that the Marvel Universe was the best of all possible worlds. Without exception, any change proposed, always ALWAYS resulted in some horrible outcome. Even if the character in question came out better (Ben Grimm wasn't a rocky monster, Bruce Banner wasn't the Hulk, etc) even their happiness was generally shortlived as the world went to hell on a rocket sled around them.

[dustbunny105]

The one where Rogue killed Thor, then was overcome by his conscience and took his place as a hero ended okay, didn't it? I mean, not so much for Thor, obviously, but everything else worked out, as I recall.

[sinanju]

I don't remember reading that one. So, okay, maybe it didn't _invariably_ show that the Marvel Universe was the best of all possible worlds, but that was the way to bet.

There was one exception..

[steverodgers5]

I believe Frank Miller did one in the original What If series where Elektra wasn't killed by Bullseye and got to live happily ever after with Matt. But that was the very rare exception..

[jmacq1]

There are a lot of them that end with the world dying in some way shape or form. There are quite a few "bittersweet" ones too. But yeah, a lotta people die in just about all of them.

[zylly]

I actually heard a theorized explanation for that, once. Basically, it came down to "the last thing you want to do is make the readers think they could be reading about a better universe than the mainstream books."

[beyondthefringe]

Makes sense. Because otherwise, they might have to admit they were wrong with how the original story turned out. And we all know that most of the time, confidence is the key. Until it leads to retcons.

[jlbarnett]

there were a few with good ends though

[zylly]

Yeah, particularly in the second volume, though several notable ones in the first as well. I'm just repeating a theory I read.