LogFAQs > #957296430

Canon is like the scoring system in sports; it's what gives it purposes. If you took points and victories out of sports, it would just be a bunch of people passing around a ball. Canon is the thing that gives a story meaning, the thing that says, "Yes, this was worth your time."

I've read a few of the What If? comics. They basically amounted to, "Oh, this character would have totally died if things had been different. That's right, your favorite hero is dead. (But not in the main continuity.)"

If they're using it to test the waters for an actual movie, that's smart. Let's have Captain America's girlfriend as his successor in a series of World War II era movies. But if it's just a cash-grab, I fail to see the point. You risk over-saturation of your product something that, by its own admission, contributes nothing to the overall story.