It doesn't necessarily follow that Flash's costume design would be so close to Peter's, though. From 2018,
What If? Spider-Man #1, "What If Flash Thompson had become Spider-Man?" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Diego Olortegui, inks by Walden Wong.
I might as well be wishing for a pony here, but I wish
What If? still had regular numbering, instead of a big pile of #1's or event-related mini-series. This particular issue was after, um, whatever mini-series where the original Nick Fury
got sent to live on a farm upstate was made "the Unseen," to live on the moon and bear witness like the Watcher used to; which included
What If? hosting duties again. (It was
Original Sin, and the numbering on that one looks a mess.) Oddly enough, Marvel had done a version of Spider-Flash before, in
What If? #76: Peter takes a bit more hands-on approach to deal with him there, and that was the last issue of that series with Uatu hosting.
The trigger event of Flash attending a certain science fair, leads to him getting the powers, at least two deaths, and a lot of excessive force: Flash wasn't a scientist, so his Spider-Man doesn't seem to have webs. Still, he seems more accepted as a hero, in large part by the endorsement of J.Jonah Jameson, despite the fact that Flash had not saved JJJ's son John. (It's unclear if Flash had tried and failed, or wasn't there.) Peter Parker was still taking pictures of Spider-Man, since he needed the money for Aunt May's blood cancer treatment. But, when the isotope needed for that is stolen by the Master Planner, Peter follows a tracker he had placed on Spider-Man, to Flash's trailer-park home, and discovers Flash's secret. Flash does not take it well, as he had a lot of resentment towards "smart guys" turning people against him, and lashes out, killing Peter with one punch.
Stunned, Flash tries to redeem himself by tracking down the Master Planner and getting the isotope; but long-time readers would remember, the Master Planner was Doctor Octopus! Flash takes out a load-bearing pillar in the fight, setting up the traditional "Spidey lifts heavy stuff" moment, but not by overcoming self-doubt like Peter had to, but by acknowledging he was not a hero, and would have to make amends. In the end, Aunt May is saved, if devastated at the news that Peter was dead; and Flash turns himself in to face the music. (I feel like Flash wouldn't really defend himself, but probably wouldn't serve a lot of time: the government or S.H.I.E.L.D. or something would put him to work.)
5 comments:
I would guess Flash didn't try to save John Jameson (especially since Peter needed webs to latch onto the shuttle), but I also find it hard to believe Flash survived long enough to reach the "Master Planner" story. Peter won a lot of fights by outsmarting his enemies, and that. . .is not a path open to Flash. Like, trapping Sandman in an industrial vacuum cleaner? Flash ain't figuring that out.
Good point. Yeah I see Flash bulldozing his way through most situations and villains rather than outsmarting them. Maybe eventually he’d mature enough to smarten up some, but yeah, he’d be bound to make enough mistakes that he’d probably not have a long career as a superhero, at least not on his own. Maybe that’s where he’d eventually get involved with the military/government
Honestly, this kinda feels like a much more realistic version of how Flash as Spider-Man would be & that’s probably due to Conway writing this than anything else, although I can see a more modern writer keeping the same dark tone.
Flash would absolutely be recruited by SHIELD and then the Thunderbolts based on his being incarcerated at the end. I’m sure eventually he’d learn to forgive himself and develop as a person, or at the very least, try to anyway.
I can’t be the only one to think that whole Original Sin was a lot of nothing burger designed to move classic Nick off the board in order to make the MCU version the new default Nick Fury. They totally handled that whole thing wrong, though at least The Orb got his day in the sun and we got the whole Man on the Wall idea that quickly got abandoned despite the potential.
I definitely agree with you about the whole numbering system issue. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’ll go away or be fixed anytime soon.
I think the only Original Sin stuff I bought were the issues of Deadpool and Daredevil that tied in, neither of which were very good (the DD ones revolved around a reveal Matt's mom had tried to hurt him as a baby because of post-partum depression and his dad had to punch her once to stop her?)
My one consolation as far as numbering is they seem to have ditched the decimal point nonsense they were doing for most of the 2010s. You know, issue 10.1, 16.5, whatever. Sometimes it wasn't even a number, it was like, "7.Alpha".
For me personally, most of those (That Deadpool one might be the lone exception) Original sin “reveals” were not only totally unnecessary, but also extremely out of character for most of the people involved. Just felt forced.
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