The third issue of What If? was the first one that really showed what the title could do. First of all, it had a powerhouse team: Jim Shooter and Gil Kane. Second, it had a great concept: What if the Avengers had never been? Yes, this had already been part of the story from last issue, where Hulk having Banner’s brain meant he wasn’t a raging dickhead and therefore it wasn’t necessary to form The Avengers to stop his rampages. But here, we see the team members picking up towards the end of Avengers #1–they’ve stopped Loki, but thereafter, rather than continue to work together and go after Hulk (who leaves after Loki is vanquished), they decide to go their separate ways.
What follows are some very cool ideas, like Iron Man giving armor to Hank Pym, Rick Jones, and Janet Van Dyne, to basically form an Iron Man army.
Technically, then, The Avengers did form. Just very differently.
Then Sub Mariner coaxes Hulk to help him wage war on humanity–so they do end up going after Hulk after all. Note that Hulk and Namor teaming up is what happened in Avengers #3. So, thus far we are three for three on What If? stories that actually came true in the 616.
And of course, tremendous Gil Kane art.
And the big, heavy ending this time is that Iron Man dies.
On the letter page, Marvel hypes a Conan-based issue of What If? as coming soon. It won’t come soon. It will arrive in late 1978.
