WHAT IF: John F Kennedy was replaced by a robot!

[starwolf_oakley]

For John F. Kennedy's centennial, here is a repost:

WHAT IF (Vol 1) #4 is one of the few stories (if not the only story) that turned out to be part of the "actual history" of the Marvel Universe. And it involves John F. Kennedy almost getting replaced by a robot.


That's NOT Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. It is William Naslund and Fred Davis. This adventure was mentioned during the start of the WINTER SOLDIER storyline.








Nashland!Cap signals the All-Winners Squad, but Adam II kills him in the process.



Adam II and Adam III appeared in CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY Vol 1 #627.


jkcarrier explains:
The story was intended to be canon from the start. There's an editorial page in the issue explaining it. Roy Thomas wanted to reconcile the discrepancy of Captain America being frozen in 1945 (as per Avengers #4) while still having adventures all the way up to 1949 (as per the original comics). He didn't want to skip that far ahead in the timeline in the regular INVADERS series, and there really wasn't any other place to run it, so the story ended up in WHAT IF.


Some of my JFK-related ramblings:

An Agent Carter story where Peggy Carter has to battle an evil android version of Candidate John F. Kennedy would be trippy. The main bad guy would be a more normal looking Adam, and the day is saved by Adam's "brother," Jim Hammond. They haven't brought Jim Hammond into the MCU, despite his "appearance" in THE FIRST AVENGER in a clear airtight tube. Also, would TNG's Brent Spiner playing Professor Phineas Horton be too "on the nose"?

I hope the MCU Spider-Man movies continue the tradition of Uncle Ben being played by an actor who also played John F Kennedy, as Cliff Robertson and Martin Sheen did. Who could play MCU Ben Parker in flashbacks? Rob Lowe? Greg Kinear? Patrick Dempsey?

Comments

[mr_cyn1cal]

Clearly, there is one truly great choice...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339304/?ref_=tt_cl_t12

[locuatico]

i thought Red Alert 3 already answered that question...

[starwolf_oakley]

???
Explain?

[locuatico]

in the game Red Alert 3 you have The Empire of the Rising Sun (Japan from a timeline were they become a superpower alongside the soviets and the allied forces).
There, it is eventually revealed that the President of the United States is actually a robot put in place by The Emperor's son (the emperor is played by George Takei, btw), during his short time in the United States.

[bradygirl_12]

Ha, yes, I remember this comic. 'Possibilities'.

I wonder why Adam II didn't try to replace Nixon, who was running for his first office in 1946 with a White House destiny? Tricky Dick too tricky for him? ;)

[thanekos]

With the retrospection of a shared universe, you could argue Nixon's implicit ties to the Secret Empire from that one Cap story stretched back that far and made any action against him a dicey proposition.

(There's a fic where those ties are a minor but notable element; if nothing else, it's good for having made a credible worldbeater out of political activist and C-list Iron Man villain Firebrand.)

[bradygirl_12]

Thanks, I'll check that out! :)

[cricharddavies]

Roy Thomas did a "one greater" version of this story in the second All-Star Squadron annual, where the JSA has to save the future presidents of the United States (through Reagan.) JFK, naturally, is in that one, too.

I'm surprised that no one posted excerpts from the "Who Killed JFK" issues of Shade, The Changing Man ...

[lbd_nytetrayn]

"Nashland!Cap signals the All-Winners Squad, but Adam II kills him in the process."

Then who's the Cap in the following pages?

[starwolf_oakley]

Jeff Mace, aka the Patriot. Sorry about that.