What If #17: Ghost Rider, Spider-Woman, & Captain Marvel were villains

[lordultimus]

In the first story, Satan (later retconned to be Mephisto) allows Johnny Blaze's foster dad Crash Simpson to live his record-breaking attempt to jump cars. Satan shows up after to collect Johnny's soul early, turning him into the Ghost Rider. The Ghost Rider kills Crash in front of his daughter and Johnny's girlfriend Roxanne, then runs off while he still has some control over himself. Over the next few months, the Ghost Riders kills criminals to collect their souls for Satan. He is finally confronted by Roxanne, who has tracked him down after realizing who he really is.







The second story has Spider-Woman still the amnesiac Arachne, a pawn of the Hydra agent Count Vermis, who promised her that he would uncover the secrets of her past. In a Hydra mission to rescue Arachne's lover, the Hydra agent Jared, Nick Fury throws Jared in front of him to block a venom blast, killing Jared.



Arachne flees, realizing that Hydra is her only protection now. SHIELD manages to track her down, capturing her while Vermis manages to escape. At Arachne's murder trial, Vermis is called by the defense, who testifies that she cannot be tried in a court of law, claiming that she is not a human but a mutated spider. Arachne calls him a liar, and since she realizes that none of them care about her, the only way to discover who she is is if she's free.





The third story begins with Mar-Vell battling the Kree Sentry robot awakened by his superior Yon-Rogg, trying to stop it from destroying a nuclear base, thereby ruining the Kree's intelligence mission.





Since Mar-Vell couldn't destroy the robot without being branded a traitor, with the help of the base's head of security Carol Danvers, he manages to magnetize the Kree Sentry robot to a launching missile, where it explodes in space. It remains intact but nullified, away from where Earth scientists can reach it. Yon-Rogg shows up and battles Mar-Vell, but without taking a breathing serum or wearing a helmet he begins to suffocate and ends up executed by Ronan.

Comments

[jgeils]

Gee, I hadn't realized Carmine Infantino died back in 2013. I'd hoped he was just living outside the spotlight like Steve Ditko.