At last, the worlds of Disney and Marvel collide as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and more become your favorite super heroes! Brace yourself for the most unexpected and hilarious mashups of our time - beginning with a surprising take on the OLD MAN LOGAN saga! In the near future, chaos rules as Pete-Skull has turned Duckburg into a super-hero-less Wasteland. Only Old Duck Donald can turn the tide - but he's given up his battling' days and prefers naps over fighting villains! Next, when Donald chaperones Huey, Dewey and Louie on an archaeological trip to search for ancient Viking artifacts, he finds more than he bargained for - including an enchanted cane that gives him the power of Thor! Meanwhile, The Chronicle newspaper reporter Minnie Mouse is tasked with an exposé on a new hero on the scene in Captain Marvel! But just wait until Minnie discovers Captain Marvel's incredible secret! Mickey has stretching powers! Minnie can turn invisible! Goofy can burst into flame! Donald has become some kind of rocky…Thing! Fantastic! No, wait…Mickey is Iron Man! Donald is Thor! Goofy is the Hulk! Minnie and Pluto are the Wasp and Giant-Man! Or maybe Goofy is Spider-Man?! Who can possibly keep track?! Collecting MARVEL & WHAT IF...? DONALD DUCK BECAME WOLVERINE, MARVEL & WHAT IF...? DONALD DUCK BECAME THOR, MARVEL & WHAT IF...? MINNIE BECAME CAPTAIN MARVEL, MARVEL & WHAT IF...? MICKEY & FRIENDS BECAME THE FANTASTIC FOUR, MARVEL & WHAT IF...? MICKEY & FRIENDS BECAME THE AVENGERS, MARVEL & WHAT IF...? DONALD DUCK BECAME IRON MAN and MARVEL & WHAT IF...? GOOFY BECAME SPIDER-MAN.
This graphic novel was an interesting read for me. While the animation feels slick and true to the style of Disney/Marvel graphic novels. I also feel that they watered down the villains/heroes in a lot of the stories. For instance, in What If Donald Duck was Iron Man?, while I like the concept of the story and how they took elements from the first movie and attempted to elevate the origin story, it fell flat because not only did Donald Duck not have the qualities of Tony Stark/Iron Man, but the villains were one-note (which granted all of the villains were one note and half were featured by the Beagle Brothers). There was so much potential this graphic novel had and for me, it fell flat.
However, there were positives. I love how the creators did integrate other characters from Mickey Mouse and Friends into the stories. For instance, a lot of the stories starred Donald Duck and Goofy. Often times, we see Mickey Mouse take the prominent role, so the fact that he wasn’t the main character in every story was a nice change of pace for me. Also love how they had female characters centered. While it would’ve been nice to see more Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck what if..stories, essentially due to the fact that Stan Lee created Marvel for a girl he liked at the time. It was nice to see them represented, especially Daisy Duck as Lady Sif, when Donald Duck was Thor. They were able to get a little more fleshed out, however the story themselves felt a little rushed and wish we got more grounding in the stories and more layers in the villains.
I was expecting more from this graphic novel, but honestly Goofy as Hulk and Spider-Man was something I did not think would work because Goofy is one of the more lovable characters in the Mickey Mouse and Friends club. I didn’t think it would work, but surprisingly it did and Spider-Goofy was a classic story. What If…Goofy was Spider-Man? Was the highlight story because we were able to bring it back to 2002’s Spider-man, though I did want to see more of the struggle Goofy goes through, similar to Peter Parker, but liked the vibe and art style of this story.
Overall, this graphic novel I would recommend to young readers just getting into Marvel. However for avid Marvel readers…not so much.
I like both things enough for this to be a fun and goofy diversion. Donald Duck comics especially have always been peak. So most of these just using Donald as different characters in the lead is peak.
Better in concept than in execution. The idea of mixing Marvel and Mickey seems like it should work, and a couple of the stories are entertaining. But the overall feel was kind of underwhelming. Cute, but not memorable.
Donald Duck Became Wolverine, ☆☆☆ Donald Duck Became Thor, ☆☆☆ Minnie Became Captain Marvel, ☆☆☆☆ Mickey & Friends Became The Fantastic Four, ☆☆☆ Mickey & Friends Became The Avengers, ☆☆☆ Donald Duck Became Iron Man, ☆☆☆☆ Goofy Became Spider-Man, ☆☆☆