Editing Flash Thompson (section)

===''What If?''===
{{Main|What If (comics)}}
In "What if the Radioactive Spider Had Bitten Someone Else?", Flash is one of three characters bitten by the radioactive spider which is behind the Spider powers; the other two are [[Betty Leeds]] and [[John Jameson (comics)|John Jameson]]. After inadvertently killing the wrestler [[List of Spider-Man supporting characters#Other|Crusher Hogan]] in the ring due to his underestimation of his new strength, Flash begins to fight crime under the name '''Captain Spider''', but his career comes to a brutal stop when he fights the [[Vulture (Marvel Comics)|Vulture]], is knocked out of the sky. Without any web-shooters to save him, he falls to his death. Only Peter bears witness to his demise.<ref>''[[What If (comics)|What If?]]'' #7</ref>

In "What if Peter Parker Had to Destroy Spider-Man?" a darker twist to the "Captain Spider" story is depicted, with Flash still possessing his aggressive, selfish bully attitude from his early appearances. As Peter witnessed the spider-bite, he becomes Flash's confidant, and Flash pressures Peter to make Flash a costume and weapons. Not wanting Flash to harm anyone permanently, and motivated by his concern for innocents after [[Mary Jane Watson]] is killed in a botched burglary, Peter devises the web-shooters, but Flash uses his powers to become a super-criminal called The Spider. A pep talk from [[Aunt May]] and [[Uncle Ben Parker|Uncle Ben]] inspires Peter to do something, beginning with him inadvertently saving Otto Octavius from the accident that transformed him into Doctor Octopus in canon. With Octavius's aid, Peter uses his scientific genius to create a robotic exo-skeleton similar to Doc Ock's familiar tentacles, along with other methods that allow him to counter Flash's powers and incapacitate him. Later, [[Mister Fantastic]] removes Flash's powers (noted to only be possible because Flash was captured early enough that the changes weren't infused into his DNA) and remarks that Peter has a bright future ahead, using technology rather than biological powers.<ref>''What If?'' vol. 2 #76</ref>

In "What if J. Jonah Jameson Adopted Spider-Man?", JJJ adopts Peter after Chameleon's attempt to hijack a [[NASA]] shuttle resulted in the deaths of Aunt May, John Jameson, and Chameleon himself. Jameson hires Flash to be Peter's bodyguard, writing off their antagonism as youthful energy. Because Jameson remains convinced that Spider-Man is to blame for the shuttle accident, he hires Spencer Smythe to create the Spider-Slayers, only for Peter to sabotage them in secret. At the demonstration, Flash notices that Smythe has also created the [[Scorpion (Mac Gargan)|Scorpion]] suit and takes it for himself, hoping to protect Spidey and possibly become a hero in his own right. However, the serum affects Flash's mind, causing him to go berserk, and Peter (now maskless) goes to try to bring him down. Blinded by rage and addled by the serum, Flash refuses to believe that "Puny Parker" could be Spider-Man and attacks, nearly killing Peter until Jameson intervenes using a remote-controlled Spider-Slayer robot and shoots Flash with an antidote dart.<ref>''What If?'' vol. 2 #82</ref>

In ''What if Flash Thompson became Spider-Man?'', the [[Nick Fury|Unseen]] depicts another example of a timeline in which Flash Thompson is Spider-Man. In this timeline, just as Peter did, Flash starts out in wrestling before taking on a 'heroic' role when he stops the burglar who would have killed Ben Parker, with J. Jonah Jameson finding solace in praising Spider-Man as a hero after the existing system fails to save his son from the shuttle accident that Peter would have saved him from in canon. Flash eventually drops out of school to act full-time as Spider-Man, living in a [[trailer park]] with no apparent official income. Peter still becomes Spider-Man's photographer through more conventional methods, but when May Parker suffers serious complications and requires a rare drug to treat her disease, Peter tracks down Flash to ask for his help, only for Flash to accidentally kill Peter when he throws him into the wall of his trailer in a rage in the blind belief that Peter was making him look bad out of jealousy due to their history. Forced to face the fact that he is actually a brutal criminal rather than his perceived role as a hero after seeing the error of his ways, Flash takes action to confront Doctor Octopus and acquire the medicine for May, but subsequently turns himself in for Peter's death.<ref>''What If? Spider-Man'' vol. 2 #1</ref>