I had an idea for one, awhile back: a young Magneto and his family manage to escape the Holocaust by fleeing Germany before the war, settling in Brooklyn in the 1930s.
Long story short, as you might guess, he ends up becoming the “Bucky” to Captain America.
And, after Cap’s “death,” it’s Eric and the Human Torch (I) who end up raiding Berlin at the end of the war, and capture Adolf Hitler.
Eric ends up sparing Hitler’s life—thwarting him from committing suicide by ripping the pistol out of his mouth, along with some of his dental work—in what quickly turns out to be something less than old-fashioned heroic magnanimity. “No…I want the world to watch you hang.”
Which they do, at Nuremberg, and via the newsreels—with Eric himself assisting, at his request, laying and cinching a noose of steel cable around the Fuhrer’s neck on the gallows. An act of justice, a personal act of vengeance for Eric’s fallen friend…and a very pointed act of showmanship for “the men who come after.”
In an epilogue, some time in the future, Steve Rogers is finally found, and thawed out, and has his shield returned to him by an old friend—the now silver-haired second Captain America.
The Thor comics did this about a decade or so ago when they did a King Thor arc.
I remember one story was a young kid from a religious family who instead of just hero-worshiping Thor starts actually worshiping Thor. The father and son fight about and if memory serves the son is put into peril and the father has to decide who he is going to actually pray to for help–the one who moves in mysterious ways or the one that may actually be able to save his son.
Radioactive spider bites Frank Castle instead of Peter Parker.
The Waynes take the front door and not the back door in leaving Zorro, and so never encounter Joe Chill, but all three die in a subsequent car accident. In a world without Batman and his cohort, Ra’s al Ghul and Kobra have divided Europe and Asia between themselves. Hugo Strange is President of the United States. The Joker let off a nuclear device which wiped out Gotham City. White Martians disguised as superheroes have occupied the Southern hemisphere. Can a circus performer named Richard Grayson save the world?
Getafix never invents his secret potion. The village of Asterix the Gaul is occupied by Legio III. Can Vitalstatistix and Panacea convince Caesar to restore Gallish liberty?
I read a version of this a while back in which the Norse gods were actually magical creations of the Nazis and their powers were fuelled by human sacrifice - hence the death camps.
In the 2099 Marvel line (which I loved), Thor and the other Asgardians hadn’t been seen in years. But more people seemed to worship them than belonged to any other religion. When Spider-Man 2099 shows up, people begin worshiping him as a god. There is a small group called Knights Of The Banner. They don’t hail a flag. They worship Bruce Banner as the Hulk.
Re Realistic Physics
Gaiman’s Marvelman/Miracleman did this. MM wasn’t hugely muscled. He looked like a gymnast or olympic swimmer. In one issue where he and his wife test his powers, she suggests that he is using telekinesis or something. ‘Your muscles aren’t nearly big enough to lift that car. And why didn’t it just tear apart when you lifted it by the front end? And how come you didn’t sink into the ground when you held it over your head?’
Back To The OP
I’d like to see stories where Doctor Doom is wholly on the side of good.
I’d also like to see stories where the classic heroes of Marvel and DC shape world events rather than just reacting to them. In a world with Superman and the Spectre do the Allies need an atomic bomb? Dissatisfied with the government Steve Rogers doesn’t give up being cap and become Nomad. He runs for President.
I’m not familiar with that one, but I’m not sure it goes to my point: I figure Batman can still be as dark as ever, in full MY PARENTS WERE MURDERED mode; it’s just that his usual passion for Gotham is now for Metropolis, and he grimly dedicates himself to thwarting local ne’er-do-well Lex Luthor – while Superman, who’s maybe as cheerily reassuring as usual, shows up whenever Commissioner Gordon shines a light in the sky because some criminal has escaped from Arkham or whatever.
So what happens if circus acrobat Dick Grayson gets orphaned in Gotham City – and adopted by upbeat Clark Kent, instead of downbeat Bruce Wayne? What happens if photojournalist Jimmy Olsen is captured by crooks he’s investigating – except his innocuous wristwatch invariably alerts a bone-breaking ninja to his location and predicament instead of always summoning a nice-guy do-gooder?
I’d also like to see a story in which Bruce Wayne’s life proceeds as usual. But that night when looking for inspiration for a costume, an eerie clown doll that belonged to Thomas Wayne and scared the hell out of kids falls out of a closet. Bruce decides to fight crime as The Laughing Man. On one of his first outings, he ends up at Axis, which is doing transgenomic research. A man dressed as the Red Hood falls into some chemicals and emerges as a hideous, insane freak who is The Batman.
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.
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.
Bruce Wayne just convinced himself the story of Joe Chill shooting down his parents in an alley was true: actually the young Bruce killed his father himself with his father’s old service revolver after stumbling in on his parents having sex and thinking Thomas was murdering Martha, only she was also hit and died. That necklace of pearls we always get to see bursting and rolling down the street? That’s a symbol right there. That kid is messed up, I tell ya, and there’s a reason he doesn’t like guns. Actually, I’d be very surprised if at least a variant of this idea hasn’t been used already.
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.