The most important event in Spider-Man‘s entire origin is when his Uncle Ben is killed by a burglar who breaks into their house, but that is completely changed in one bizarre story where Peter Parker is the brother of Thor. Uncle Ben’s death teaches Peter the idea of great power coming with great responsibility. It’s an iconic part of his character, but it could have gone very differently.
While most issues of the classic Marvel Comics series What If? focus on a single alternate reality, but 1982’s What If? #34 is chock-full of potential stories, with 74 in total contained within the issue. In a one-panel comic, “What If Odin were Peter Parker’s Uncle?” artist and writer Fred Hembeck quickly and hilariously changes Spider-Man’s origin in a major way by simply changing Aunt May’s love interest. Instead of Aunt May marrying Uncle Ben as usual, she instead falls in love with none other than Thor’s father, Odin.
On the night the burglar breaks into the Parker residence, doesn’t discover feeble old Uncle Ben. Instead, he runs into Odin, one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe. Naturally, Odin easily defeats the burglar, which completely changes Peter’s view on superheroics. He even states that, thanks to Uncle Odin, he doesn’t have to learn about crime or injustice or care at all.
Uncle Ben is one of the most important parts of Peter Parker’s history. Peter Parker had a difficult life. He grew up as a poor kid without his parents. When he finally got power, he believed he should use it to benefit himself first and foremost. This led to him infamously allowing a thief to escape, who’d later break into the Parker home and killed Uncle Ben when he was caught. This is the iconic moment when Peter finally learns that his power must come with responsibility. But all of this is lost when Peter can depend on Odin’s power instead.
With the burglar captured by Odin, Peter never learns his biggest lesson about responsibility. As he says in the comic, “With Uncle Odin around, I needn’t worry about crime or injustice.” Instead, Peter just wants to focus on his show business personality. In his main continuity origin, his fame continues to grow after he uses his power to win wrestling matches. For being a single-panel comic, this has some surprisingly dark implications. Rather than becoming the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter would grow up to be a selfish and self-absorbed celebrity who only cares about benefiting himself.
Without Uncle Ben, Spider-Man wouldn’t be the hero that he is. He’d just be some spoiled celebrity and the world would be a much worse place without him. So, while goofy scenarios like this can be intended for comedy, the actual implications of them can be surprisingly dark. Without the tragic death of Uncle Ben, Spider-Man wouldn’t be the hero that the world needs and everyone would be worse off for it. While it might be fun to see Spider-Man as the brother of Thor, it’s just not worth it in the long run.