The Disney+ series' What If? recently introduced the multiverse to the MCU, revealing dozens of variant versions of classic Marvel characters including Spider-Man, Captain America, and more. Long-term fans of the comics, however, are very familiar with the concept of the multiverse.
In the pages of Marvel Comics, hundreds of variant universes exist, and many have been revisited multiple times, with some becoming almost as iconic as the "Prime" universe of Earth-616. Each of these alternate worlds is inhabited by its own sets of characters, showcasing some pretty unexpected takes on many classic Marvel heroes.
Updated August 24th, 2022, by Darby Harn: The Avengers: Secret Wars likely adapts the multiverse-shattering 2015 comic book event for the MCU and in doing so, will bring countless Marvel variants into live-action. The comic book storyline smashed together variants from across the multiverse into Battleworld, playing infinite versions of Thor off each other in the Thor Corps. The Maker, a Reed Richards variant from Earth-1610, likely appears as well given his prominence in the story. With MCU Phases 4-6 comprising The Multiverse Saga, the comics' best alternate takes on major heroes likely make their way into the franchise, including some characters as popular or more so than their original incarnations.
Captain Carter (Earth-TRN944)
Peggy Carter played a relatively small role in Marvel Comics given her importance in the MCU, but a powerful new variant instantly captures what makes her so compelling. The Captain Carter introduced in Marvel Comics recently takes many cues from the one appearing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but differs as well.
Captain Carter from Earth-TRN944 follows the same basic narrative as her MCU counterpart though her modern adventures take on a different dimension. She works for S.T.R.I.K.E., fighting superhuman threats in the United Kingdom alongside Lizzie Braddock, a variant of Captain Britain.
Blink (Age Of Apocalypse)
Blink died very soon after her first appearance in X-Men comics, during The Phalanx Covenant crossover. But readers soon received an even more powerful and arguably more compelling version. Blink reappeared in the Age of Apocalypse comic book storyline from 1994 as a dynamic powerhouse with a complex history.
Her close relationship with Victor Creed added dimension to both characters, and her unique teleportation powers created a unique visual that led to the storyline's most dynamic battles.
King Thor
Many powerful Thor variants exist in Marvel Comics, with King Thor perhaps the strongest. An older Thor from the far future where Gorr the God Butcher slayed all the gods, King Thor brought a grizzled and determined pathos to his quest to stop the villain from completing his mad quest through time and space.
King Thor wields a cybernetic arm taken from the Destroyer armor, making him even more powerful than his younger self. This version also appears in Secret Wars and likely does in live-action if the movie adapts the Thor Corps.
Bloodstorm (Earth-1298)
In the mainstream Marvel Universe, X-Men leader Storm nearly transformed into a vampire in Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #159 by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. With the help of her teammates, however, she resisted the transformation. On Earth-1298, better known as "The Mutant X Universe" these events played out differently.
Although Storm defied Dracula and reed the X-Men, she was fully transformed into a vampire along the way. Contrary to Storm's typical stalwart and regal presentation, Bloodstorm was self-serving, vengeful, and impulsive, establishing a darker mirror image of the classic hero.
Kate Pryde (Earth-811)
In Days Of Future Past, among the best X-Men comic book storylines ever, the world's mutant population was mostly exterminated, with survivors rounded up into concentration camps and guarded over by the deadly robotic Sentinels. Kate Pryde numbered among the survivors, with wisdom and determination earned through bitter experience.
Utilizing the powers of teammate Rachel Summers, future Kate went back in time, inhabiting her younger self to divert the events that lead to her future. While Kitty Pryde was the youngest and most inexperienced of the X-Men at the time this story was published, future Kate was a war-weary leader, foreshadowing her younger counterpart's future role in the mutant community.
Mar-Vell (Earth-10011)
The death of the original Captain Marvel counts among Marvel's greatest stories. In another universe, however, Mar-Vell made a deathbed pact with the ancient "Many Angled Ones", allowing him to corrupt the heroes around him and defeat the living embodiment of Death itself.
Effectively eliminating mortality from his universe, this world came to be known as "The Cancerverse", populated by twisted undying versions of Marvel's most well-known heroes. Where the original Captain Marvel accepted his mortality and faced death with grace and valor, his twisted Cancerverse counterpart became corrupted by his desire to live, eventually leading a perverted deathless version of the Avengers into the multiverse in a quest to eliminate Death from all worlds.
Iron Maniac (Earth-5012)
In a world ravaged by a war against the Super-Skrull Titannus, a powerful Iron Man variant watched as one by one his allies perished. This version of Tony then became much darker than his 616 counterpart, embittered by the loss of so many loved ones and determined to avenge them by any means necessary.
As a result, he went on to pillage the unguarded technologies of his world's deceased heroes, upgrading his armor along the way. Dubbed "Iron Maniac" due to his aggressive tactics, he eventually came into conflict with the Reed Richards of this world who, unable to kill Tony, instead transported him across dimensions, landing him in the mainstream Marvel Universe. The following "Iron Maniac Saga" stands out among writer Robert Kirkman's highly underrated run on the comic Marvel Team-Up vol. 3, a book that itself spawned numerous new branches of Marvel's multiversal tree.
Dreadpool (Earth-12101)
An alternate version of Deadpool driven mad by his belief that he and everybody he had ever met were entirely fictional beings, Dreadpool set about a campaign to eliminate all reality. Traversing multiple variant universes, he killed many alternate versions of Marvel's heroes and villains, as well as a number of classic literary characters.
Amassing an army of multiversal Deadpools along the way, he eventually landed in Earth-616 where he and his army of evil Deadpools went toe to toe with the Prime Wade Wilson's Deadpool Corps. Every bit as deranged as the original, but driven by a singular goal, Dreadpool ranks among the Prime Wade's greatest enemies.
Spider-Man (Earth-58163)
Rather than being hated and feared as they are on Earth-616, mutants rule the world in House Of M. In order to capitalize upon their societal advantage, the Peter Parker of this universe ed himself off as a mutant, with no one questioning his status due to his amazing abilities. This presents an intriguing Spider-Man closer to the version he nearly was before Uncle Ben died.
In this world, Peter became a celebrity professional wrestler before parlaying his public adoration into a career as a movie star. House Of M Spider-Man lived a life that the mainstream Parker could only have dreamed of, with all the power and none of the responsibility. Consequently, he slowly came to acknowledge that he was living a lie and was torn between his celebrity status as a "mutant" icon and his desire to help the burgeoning human uprising.
Maestro (Earth-9200)
In a desolate future ravaged by nuclear war, The Maestro seized control, regulating resources and ruling with an iron fist. In the post-apocalyptic world to which readers were introduced, most of humanity had been either annihilated or horrifically mutated, and the last survivors were ruled over by The Maestro.
The Maestro, easily among the strongest Hulk versions in Marvel Comics, possessed Banner's intelligence and Hulk's strength, but a completely twisted sense of morality. One of the first stories to depict the ramifications of a Hulk unchained, the story of The Maestro remains one of Marvel's most notable alternate futures.