The Marvel What If series were stories that explored hypothetical scenarios such as What If Wolverine Had Killed The Hulk? In What If There Was No Fantastic Four, The Watcher says the FF “have been a mighty force for good, and through their heroic deeds they have become legends in their own right! But what if things had turned out differently? What if these four bold heroes had not banded together? What effect would that have had on your world?”
Instead of deciding to come together to to use their powers to help mankind, Benn Grimm or The Thing doesn’t want any part of it. Instead, The Thing goes on a rampage from city to city, causing a certain Peter Parker to run away and skip his science hall exhibit. With no bite from a radioactive spider, there is no Spider-Man (and while we’re at it, no 30th anniversary of Spider-Man either).
If that’s not enough, the havoc that The Thing is wreaking leads to there being no Thor, Iron-Man and The Hulk. The Fantastic Four Three try to contain The Thing while the army order a cosmic-powered ray-cannon to be fired at him.
The Thing survives but the others are knocked out temporarily and lose their powers. The Thing goes into hiding as others speculate he was disintegrated by the ray-cannon.
