What If... Captain Marvel Had Not Died?

S.C. Ringgenberg's Mar-Vell What If? doesn't quite play fair with the reader. As you'll see, it's not so much a turning point as an additional plot point. There's a difference between postulating that Captain Marvel would have survived his cancer, and the out-of-nowhere idea that this would have caused a cosmic plague. The best What Ifs? are those that seem to progress logically from their turning point. This isn't that.

What If vol.2 #14 (June 1990)
Based on: The Death of Captain Marvel GN
The true history: Exposed to experimental nerve gas, Captain Marvel years later developed a cancer which proved fatal.
Turning point: What if Captain Marvel thought to get a check-up years earlier?
Story type: Momentary difference with side-orders of Slayer and Hockey Trade
Watcher's mood: Awkward voguing
Altered history: Mar-Vell detects his cancer years earlier, and immediately tells Rick Jones to make sure he's ok. No, it's not because he thinks cancer is a VD, but rather because of their symbiotic relationship. One check-up from the medical über medical team of Reed Richards, Don Blake and Dr. Strange, and Rick is given a clean bill of health. They then devise a treatment for Mar-Vell that takes his super-metabolism into account, bringing him to a timeless magical dimension, shooting him up with lasers, and guiding his mind into fighting off the illness.
Yes, the Marvel Universe has a cure for cancer, but it costs something like 10 jillion dollars. Mar-Vell returns to his life on Titan, but feels he shouldn't waste his new lease on life. He decides to end the Kree-Skrull War once and for all, using the immense power of the Omni-Wave to force a treaty. Back on Earth, the Silver Surfer, still trying to break Galactus' barrier at this point in his life, feels something is wrong. He visits Reed Richards and discovers that Mar-Vell's cure has unleashed a contagious and virulent cancer super-plague.
The Surfer vows to bring Mar-Vell back to Earth to help find a cure and Thor smuggles him off Earth via Asgard. He finds that the Eternals of Titan, as well as the Kree and Skrull Empires have all been infected. The Surfer eventually finds Mar-Vell and this being a Marvel comic, they fight. Eventually, Mar-Vell hears the truth and the cosmic awareness kicks in.
To add injury to insult, back on Earth, Ben Grimm has died. And to add insult to THAT injury, Reed Richards figures out how to cure the plague without Mar-Vell's help (something about using Rick Jones' anti-bodies cuz he hasn't succumbed). In short order, they've also found cures for other affected races, but Mar-Vell realizes his mutated plague-DNA cannot be allowed to remain in our universe. Dr. Strange takes him and his girlfriend to that timeless, empty place for the rest of eternity.
Epilogues... The Silver Surfer was given his freedom by Galactus, much like it happened in our world. The Kree's Supreme Intelligence kinda melted, bringing prosperity to the universe. Luke Cage took the Thing's place in the Fantastic Four.
And least believable of all, Rick Jones used his experiences to become a rocking unplugged music sensation.
Books canceled as a result: Captain Marvel's book would have ended soon enough anyway, but the death of Ben Grimm would have killed Marvel Two-in-One and the 80s Thing series it became.
These things happen: While Mar-Vell appeared to have been found alive in the Negative Zone recently, that turned out to be a Skrull impostor. Mar-Vell has been seen even more recently as a member of the Dead Avengers, but while the events of the Chaos War could be used to bring him back, there is no indication yet that he will.

Next week: What if the Fantastic Four had lost the trial of Galactus?
My guess: As a universe bitterly complains, Galactus gets into celebrity golf.