Marvel Comics Celebrates WHAT IF...?'s 50th Anniversary With Wild New Variant Covers

Marvel Comics Celebrates WHAT IF...?'s 50th Anniversary With Wild New Variant Covers

Marvel Comics has shared a first look at its latest Marvel Stormbreakers variant covers, this time celebrating 50 years of What If...? with some wild new takes on our favourite heroes.

By JoshWilding - Mar 27, 2026 06:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics

This May, Marvel's Stormbreakers shatter the Multiverse with new What If...? variant covers. The latest monthly cover collection from Marvel's elite artists celebrates 50 years of What If…? storytelling with imaginative new twists on many of our favourite heroes.

From dramatic transformations to outrageous power swaps, these eight pieces "reflect the endless creativity and spectacular talent of the current class of Marvel’s Stormbreakers," as Marvel Comics puts it. 

Chosen for their remarkable art, notable achievements, and boundless imagination when bringing the Marvel mythos to the page, these creators represent the future of comic book artistry and embody the raw talent to shatter the limits of visual storytelling.

The daring questions asked on these variant covers include...

  • What if… Captain Marvel was a Skrull?
  • What if… Daredevil's accident gave him the Hulk's powers?
  • What if… Iron Man's Extremis was a symbiote?
  • What if… Punisher had Magik's Eldritch Armor?
  • What if… Rogue became the Sorcerer Supreme?
  • What if… Wolverine controlled his adamantium like Colossus?
  • What if… the X-Men were heralds of Galactus?
  • What if… the Spider-Man’s greatest foes, the Sinister Six, were his greatest allies?

The current class of Marvel's Stormbreakers include Alessandro Cappuccio (Ultimate Wolverine), Netho Diaz (X-Men), Simone Di Meo (X-Men of Apocalypse), Juan Frigeri (Ultimates), Gurihiru (Jeff the Land Shark), Jonas Scharf (Ultimate Endgame), Geoff Shaw (Wade Wilson: Deadpool), and Luciano Vecchio (Uncanny X-Men).

First launched in 2020, Marvel's Stormbreakers evolved from Marvel's Young Guns program. Over the past 15 years, Marvel has selected and recognised 36 up-and-coming artists who have gone on to draw some of Marvel’s greatest events, iconic series, and beyond, solidifying their place as luminaries in the industry, including Steve McNiven, Jim Cheung, Sara Pichelli, Ryan Stegman, and more.

Also part of the 50th anniversary celebration are a series of all-new What If...? one-shots! Announced last month, the new one-shots shake the foundations of every corner of the Marvel mythos with startling shifts to iconic storylines, kicking off in June with What If...? Unanny X-Men #1, where Gerry Duggan and Jan Bazaldua ask "What if... Cyclops had stayed with Madelyne Pryor?"

Also coming that month is Torunn Grønbekk and Sergio Dávila's What If...? Thor #1, where they ask, "What if... Thor got Spider-Man’s symbiote suit?"

Check out these newly revealed variant covers below. 

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WHAT IF…? UNCANNY X-MEN #1
Written by GERRY DUGGAN
Art by JAN BAZALDUA
Cover by LUCAS WERNECK
On Sale 6/3

WHAT IF…? THOR #1
Written by TORUNN GRØNBEKK
Art by SERGIO DÁVILA
Cover by LUCAS WERNECK
On Sale 6/17

About The Author:
JoshWilding
Member Since 3/13/2009
Comic Book Reader. Film Lover. WWE and F1 Fan. Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and ComicBookMovie.com's #1 contributor.
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