# Elseworlds and What-Ifs the comics ought to do **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556 "2016-08-02T16:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/41 "2016-08-04T05:27:38Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > 12 part mini-series: Lex Luthor goes back in time and prevents Krypton from exploding but gets stuck there. Has to deal with being treated as an “ape-man who can barely walk in their gravity”. Jor-el takes credit for saving Krypton. Jor-el isn’t happy about it, but its the only way to unite the splintered government. > > …eventually gets back to Earth and finds it overrun by Starro. Deals with that. > > …has Justice League adventures as he pretty much has to fill Superman’s shoes to keep the Earth together. Becomes a great hero. > > …deals with the LSH’s formation being screwed up in one issue. > > …finally has to face a one man Kryptonian invasion force in the name of Kal-el. I forgot…develops an archenemy whose identity is hidden, but with the Batman, the only man he trusts with his secrets, the World’s Finest Team capture this villain. Batman: “Who is he?” Lex: “The most dangerous man alive.” (Pulls mask off. Reveals a young Lex Luthor. End issue #8) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/42 "2016-08-04T08:29:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “Thor Meets Captain America,” by David Brin. Identified within an hour; I love the Dope! ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/43 "2016-08-04T09:01:25Z")
“What if… Longshot wielded the power of Thor?” A: A very, very impressive mullet, that’s what if. More interesting perhaps is what if Ghost Rider possessed the power of Thor? Elseworld stories about Green Lantern’s power ring going to someone else other than Hal Jordan are easy to contemplate. But, assume Abin Sur survived his crash, and went back into space to do his job properly (patrol all of sector 2814 instead of hang out on Earth). With no Earth-centric Green Lantern and Hal Jordan just a pilot, we have no Green Lantern in the Justice League, no Parallax, no re-ignition of the Sun, no Hal Jordan Spectre, no Kyle Rayner, and so on. We probably have Krona or Nekron lording over much of the universe, too. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/44 "2016-08-04T16:18:54Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > Isn’t there a well know comic writer doing something like this, seeing how far he can take the character and still have him be Batman? Instead of a Bat, he sees a suit of armor and becomes the Knight, or he looks out the window and become the Moon, and so on. > In his Dial H for Hero series, China Melville created a version where he saw an open window- and became The Open- Window Man! Who actually was a surprisingly creepy and effective hero. Wish I could remember the name of the one shot parody with The Envelope, a man emotionally scarred by an envelope. Mad’s Batman parody had a baseball bat as a logo which I thought was funny… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/45 "2016-08-04T16:37:06Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Wish I could remember the name of the one shot parody with The Envelope, a man emotionally scarred by an envelope. > Mad’s Batman parody had a baseball bat as a logo which I thought was funny… I always loved [this](https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1058240.html) homage, which starts off as too sincere and promptly wanders off. (_“Some moron threw it!”_) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/46 "2016-08-04T17:24:49Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > What if, instead of Superman and Batman surviving the “golden age” it had been, say, Flash and Green Lantern? Then Supes and Batman were reimagined for the Silver Age. There was a multi-part story (not comic) about this some time back in one of the glossy “fanzines.” It wasn’t Alter-Ego. It told the story of what happened if M C Gaines bought out National rather than National buying out All American. Flash and Green Lantern continue on, but Superman and Batman get canceled. Wish I could find a link. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/47 "2016-08-04T18:38:20Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > There was a multi-part story (not comic) about this some time back in one of the glossy “fanzines.” It wasn’t Alter-Ego. It told the story of what happened if M C Gaines bought out National rather than National buying out All American. Flash and Green Lantern continue on, but Superman and Batman get canceled. Wish I could find a link. It seems this was called “The Secret History of All American Comics” by Bob Rozakis. It appeared in some issues of Alter Ego around #80 as well as contemporaneous issues of Back Issue both from TwoMorrows. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/48 "2016-08-04T21:10:16Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Wish I could remember the name of the one shot parody with The Envelope, a man emotionally scarred by an envelope. > Mad’s Batman parody had a baseball bat as a logo which I thought was funny… Well, _Dial H_ had [Open Window Man\*](http://www.thechrisbennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-05-08-at-11.00.55-AM.png): after his parents were killed he gazed at night out of an open window planning his crusade against villainy, and was struck by an inspiration. \*His powers are actually pretty useful: he can use any open window anywhere as a portal to any other open window. Even a picture of a window will do, as long as it’s open. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/49 "2016-08-05T07:26:56Z")
**OldGuy** are you the OldGuy from the DCMBs in the early 200s? That is a pretty impressive citation. > [@furryman](#): > > Wish I could remember the name of the one shot parody with The Envelope, a man emotionally scarred by an envelope. > Mad’s Batman parody had a baseball bat as a logo which I thought was funny… DC’s Bombshells features Batwoman, who is a member of the WW2 Women’s Baseball League and knocks out adversaries with a baseball bat. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/50 "2016-08-05T14:34:08Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > An episode of SUPERFRIENDS brought up what _should’ve_ been explored at great length: dying alien Abin Sur tasks his power ring with finding the strongest-willed man on the planet to be the new Green Lantern, and so of course summons – Lex Luthor. Actually, that episode has Lex and the Legion of Doom going back in time to _replace_ certain heroes. Lex convinces Hal to get out of his test rocket seconds before Abin Sur lanterns it to his crash site. Also, Cheetah wins the Paradise Island tournament to become Wonder Woman, and Kal-El’s rocket is knocked off course soon after it leaves Krypton. So really, that’s Abin Sur’s fault for not checking ID. 🙂 There was a great Elseworlds title called _[Riddle of the Beast](http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/jla-riddle-of-the-beast-0)_ that threw everything into a high-fantasy world, with the main character being an orphan boy named Robin Drake. That story is everything I love about Elseworlds titles. I would like to see more stories set in that world. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/51 "2016-08-05T20:05:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Also, [Hush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush_(comics)) is different twist on the “opposite Batman” idea, except that instead of cops killing his criminal parents, he kills his own wealthy socialite parents to make himself an orphan. [Surgeon mummy Plato trenchcoat guy](http://www.peteandkellie.com/images/misc/shortpacked1407301735-2014-08-06_batman_villains.png)’s name is “Hush”, because that makes _sense!_ There actually _is_ a character like this in [_Marshall Law_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_Law_(comics)) called “The Private Eye”. The super-heroic alter-ego of billionaire Scott Brennan (although the Marshall remarks scoffingly at one point that his “secret identity” is the worst-kept secret in San Futuro), Private Eye had his family’s faithful butler murder his parents in front of him in a dark alley, and uses hidden evidence of this to blackmail the butler into eternal servitude. Private Eye also has a sidekick, “Emergency Ward”, who, in a grim jab at DC’s _A Death in the Family_, seems to die both tragically _and_ frequently. Private Eye orchestrates these deaths not to increase comic book sales, but to ensure that doctors can harvest the Emergency Wards’ organs and keep Private Eye fit and healthy. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/52 "2016-08-06T18:40:00Z")
Batman has turned the Justice League into totalitarian dictators, it’s up to the Joker and a small band of re-imagined supervillains to stop them. Actually sort of like Suicide Squad except your actually rooting for the villains. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/53 "2016-08-06T20:25:48Z")
What if… Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive pigeon? And you think all that webbing leaves a mess all over town… ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/54 "2016-08-07T00:38:26Z")
I’ve also had a few Batman micro-“what ifs” come to mind, over the years—mostly when I was bored, or waiting in line, or something. Like… -Joe Chill used a jackknife, not a gun. (I was calling this one the “NRA Batman”) Or, -A character-driven one where Bruce’s parents were badly _wounded_, but not actually _killed_ in that mugging. So, you might have a shaken but not completely traumatized Bruce, inspired to combat crime, but not as “_Batman_,” or a considerably mellower Bat, and very possibly thus a considerably less capable one, as he’d had less obsessive drive and even less of an excuse to spend years obsessively molding himself into The Dark Knight. Thus, a situation where Gotham and the JL has a [Batman closer in attitude to the 60s version, or the modern Flash.](http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/digs-this-day.jpg) And, if you wanted to play up the comedic angle, Batman living in his parents’ basement. Or having to juggle a charade of mild-mannered Bruce Wayne and his duties as Batman when his folks are in-town visiting from Key West. 😃 Or, -Baby Kal-El’s rocket crashes on the Wayne Estate, with the happy couple of course deciding to adopt him—it’ll be easier to cover up, too, as Martha had just gone into labor, they can just claim she’d had twin boys. Or, to be _really_ screwy, Baby Kal-El’s rocket crashes on the Wayne Estate…and Batman decides to adopt and raise the alien foundling as his ward. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/55 "2016-08-07T02:23:08Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > -A character-driven one where Bruce’s parents were badly _wounded_, but not actually _killed_ in that mugging. So, you might have a shaken but not completely traumatized Bruce, inspired to combat crime, but not as “_Batman_,” or a considerably mellower Bat, and very possibly thus a considerably less capable one, as he’d had less obsessive drive and even less of an excuse to spend years obsessively molding himself into The Dark Knight. Alan Brennert beat you to it, in DETECTIVE #500: the Phantom Stranger takes Batman and Robin on a journey to another world – one where Thomas and Martha Wayne will soon be murdered by a mugger, leaving an orphaned Bruce to grow up bitter and alone and swearing vengeance against criminals and angry all his life. Batman of course wants to prevent that horrifying crime, but Robin keeps arguing that this world is going to _need_ a Batman, who could accomplish a great deal of good: stopping so many other criminals, saving so many other lives. Heck, look at this star chart: this is apparently a parallel universe where there never even was a Krypton! This world may need a Batman _more_ than ours does! At the last moment, our hero ultimately chooses to save the Waynes – and returns to his own world, never to know the fate of the kid. We, though, do: he learned what death was, in that alley; and learned that it could be averted. And we see him hitting the books and hitting the gym, studying criminology and spinning through the air: he’s going to choose the exact same path, but not out of grief or guilt or vengeance; out of awe, and mystery, and gratitude. Quoth his father, _“Maybe we ought to get mugged more often.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/56 "2016-08-07T03:29:58Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Batman has turned the Justice League into totalitarian dictators, it’s up to the Joker and a small band of re-imagined supervillains to stop them. Actually sort of like Suicide Squad except your actually rooting for the villains. Not particularly, no. More like the [certain versions](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Crime_Syndicate_of_Amerika_(Antimatter_Universe)) of the [Crime Syndicate](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Crime_Syndicate_(Crisis_on_Two_Earths)), the [Justice Lords](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_Lords_(DCAU:_A_Better_World)), or the [Injustice Justice League](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League_(Injustice:_The_Regime)). Or even the [Squadron Supreme](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Squadron_Supreme_(Earth-712)). ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/57 "2016-08-07T03:41:27Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > -Baby Kal-El’s rocket crashes on the Wayne Estate, with the happy couple of course deciding to adopt him—it’ll be easier to cover up, too, as Martha had just gone into labor, they can just claim she’d had twin boys. [Also sort of been done](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Kal-El_(Speeding_Bullets))…at least once, as I’m pretty sure there was at least a short story where the Waynes raised Kal alongside Bruce. (Maybe it was a single-page in a special/annual?) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/58 "2016-08-07T04:43:56Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Not particularly, no. > > More like the [certain versions](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Crime_Syndicate_of_Amerika_(Antimatter_Universe)) of the [Crime Syndicate](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Crime_Syndicate_(Crisis_on_Two_Earths)), the [Justice Lords](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_Lords_(DCAU:_A_Better_World)), or the [Injustice Justice League](http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League_(Injustice:_The_Regime)). Or even the [Squadron Supreme](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Squadron_Supreme_(Earth-712)). I wonder if the Joker ever had a lucid moment and actually sided with Batman (or acted as a crime-fighter on his own), to fight some evil entity that even he could not tolerate? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/59 "2016-08-08T01:00:34Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I wonder if the Joker ever had a lucid moment and actually sided with Batman (or acted as a crime-fighter on his own), to fight some evil entity that even he could not tolerate? Happened in the BATMAN/CAPTAIN AMERICA team-up: the Red Skull gets halfway through his plan to deploy the [del]Manhattan Project’s[/del] Gotham Project’s atomic bomb against an American city before – well, as the Joker puts it, _“I may be a criminal lunatic, but I’m an American criminal lunatic!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556/60 "2016-08-12T20:35:09Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I envision a superheroine who’s a 5-foot-nothing 95 lb waif, who is super-strong but suffers from limitations of that sort: She can only throw a punch at human normal speed and her fist and arm only weigh so much; and she can only pick up so much weight before she overbalances and is pulled off her feet. So her costume includes steel-and-lead gauntlets and boots to help her utilize her strength more effectively. > [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > She-Hulk’s costume when she was super-super strong did this. Oh, I never saw that; gotta link? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elseworlds-and-what-ifs-the-comics-ought-to-do/761556.md?page=4)