They're not canon since they are alternate universes and power levels vary depending on comic universes because of independent writers.
On the other hand they are part of the 616 comic timeline up to the point of divergence (like possible futures only the divergence is in the present of the comic) so they are the same version of the characters with the diverging point being decisions made that change the course of their history.
But they are also made for the specific purpose of being continuity free and made for the writers to go as buck wild as possible without a second thought of timeline consistency or character assassination since they're specifically made not to be canon.
I see we do count MCU's what if feats to be canon to the characters from the MCU since they are timeline variants of those versions. But then again those as well have inconsistent power settings and out of character moments from the MCU versions (like Vision being able to one shot Thanos and Pre-Ragnarok Thor easily fighting toe to toe with an angry Carol who in the primary MCU timeline dominated Thanos physically etc.)
What is the consensus of this. Are they just as applicable as the 616 comic feats or are they stamped non-canon by already being out of character and different enough to be divergent timelines, non-canon and thereby dismissible.
Ok, but as far as the case by case basis goes what’s the line being drawn here with what wouldn’t be accepted? All these what if and possible future realities (Age of Ultron/Days of Future Past etc.) started out as the 616 canon but diverged so like with the What If comics they’re meant to tell “out there” stories where characters are allowed to be as inconsistent and out of character as possible so by that definition they would already be far different than their 616 versions despite being part of that canon, hence why I’m split on this.