Intercompany crossover

In comic books, an intercompany crossover (also called cross-company or company crossover) is a comic or series of comics where characters that are the property of one company meet those owned by another company (for example, DC Comics' Superman meeting Marvel's Spider-Man, or DC's Batman meeting Marvel's Wolverine). These usually occur in "one-shot" issues or miniseries.

Some crossovers are part of canon. Most, however, are outside of the continuity of a character's regular title or series of stories. They can be a joke, a gag, a dream sequence, or even a "what if" scenario (such as DC's Elseworlds).

Marvel/DC crossovers (which are mostly non-canon) include those where the characters live in alternate universes, as well as those where they share the "same" version of Earth. Some fans have posited a separate "Crossover Earth" for these adventures.[1] In the earliest licensed crossovers, the companies seemed to prefer shared world adventures. This was the approach for early intercompany crossovers, including 1976's Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and 1981's Superman and Spider-Man.

Besides the two Superman/Spider-Man crossovers, a number of other DC/Marvel adventures take place on a "Crossover Earth", but later intercompany crossovers tend to present the DC and Marvel Universes as alternate realities, bridged when common foes make this desirable, as the interest in overall continuity has become a major part of even crossover comic books.[2]

Characters are often licensed or sold from one company to another, as with DC acquiring such characters of Fawcett Comics, Quality Comics, and Charlton Comics as the original Captain Marvel, Plastic Man and Captain Atom. In this way, heroes originally published by different companies can become part of the same fictional universe, and interactions between such characters are no longer considered intercompany crossovers.

Although a meeting between a licensed character and a wholly owned character (e.g., between Red Sonja and Spider-Man, or Ash Williams and the Marvel Zombies) is technically an intercompany crossover, comics companies rarely bill them as such. Likewise, this is the case when some characters in an ongoing series are owned or to some extent controlled by their creators, as with Doctor Who antagonists the Daleks, who are not owned by the UK television network the BBC, even though the character of The Doctor is.

Published crossovers

Golden and Silver Ages

The Inferior Five #10 (Oct. 1968). Cover art by Win Mortimer & Tex Blaisdell.
The Justice Society of America was created in this issue, combining National Comics' Doctor Fate, Hour-Man (as it was then spelled), the Spectre, and the Sandman, and All-American Publications' the Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman. National and All-American, separate editorial imprints, shared the unofficial "DC" label due to joint publishing and distribution.

Unofficial

"The Monkey's Paw", a story from Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 (July 1963), featured a one-panel appearance, with his costume mis-colored, by the defunct Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel, who was not yet a DC character. The letters page of #113 (Oct. 1971) described it as "strictly a private joke" on the part of former Captain Marvel artist Kurt Schaffenberger. The story was reprinted in #104 (Oct. 1970) with the costume coloring corrected.[3]
The first DC Comics/Marvel Comics intercompany collaboration.
Writers during the 1960s and early 1970s sometimes engaged in a form of intercompany crossover with thinly disguised imitations of a competing company's characters, as opposed to parodies in satirical-humor stories. In this way, Marvel's superhero team the Avengers met a version of DC's Justice League of America (Squadron Sinister/Squadron Supreme) in The Avengers #70, 85–86, and 147-48. In Action Comics #351-53 (1967) DC's Superman met a villain called Zha-Vam, whose powers and name were derivative of Captain Marvel (then owned by Fawcett Comics) and of the magic word Shazam that gave Captain Marvel his powers. Superman similarly met versions of Marvel's Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and Sub-Mariner (The Kookie Quartet, Cobweb Kid, and Sub-Moron) in The Inferior Five #10 (Oct. 1968).
In the 1970s, the annual Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont was used as the setting of a number of superhero comic books published by both Marvel and DC Comics. Costumed parade attendees in these books were often depicted wearing the uniforms of characters from the other company. In the fall of 1972, writers Len Wein, Gerry Conway and Steve Englehart crafted a metafictional unofficial intercompany crossover spanning titles from both major comics companies. Each comic featured Englehart, Conway, and Wein, as well as Wein's first wife Glynis, interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade. Beginning in Amazing Adventures #16 (by Englehart with art by Bob Brown and Frank McLaughlin), the story continued in Justice League of America #103 (by Wein, Dillin and Dick Giordano), and concluded in Thor #207 (by Conway and penciler John Buscema). As Englehart explained in 2010, "It certainly seemed like a radical concept and we knew that we had to be subtle...and each story had to stand on its own, but we really worked it out. It's really worthwhile to read those stories back to back to back — it didn't matter to us that one was at DC and two were at Marvel — I think it was us being creative, thinking what would be really cool to do."[4][5][6][7][8] Other issues featuring the parade include Batman #237, DC Super Stars #18, Freedom Fighters #6, The Avengers #83 and #119, and Marvel Feature #2.
Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man one-shot (1976). Cover art by Carmine Infantino (layout), Ross Andru (finished pencils) and Dick Giordano (inks).

1975–1982

The first official intercompany crossover of recent decades. The villains are Doctor Octopus and Lex Luthor.
Superman and Spider-Man battle the Parasite and Dr. Doom, with the Hulk and Wonder Woman guest-starring
Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk
The two hottest-selling teams from each company battle Darkseid, Deathstroke the Terminator, and Dark Phoenix.
Superman and the Masters of the Universe

Unofficial

In DC Comics' Justice League of America #142 (May 1977), writer Steve Englehart re-introduced Mantis, a character he had created in Marvel Comics' Avengers, picking up the plot threads from her last appearance there and renaming her Willow.[14][15]
In X-Men #107 (Oct. 1977), writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum introduced the Imperial Guard, characters modeled after Cockrum's previous assignment, DC's Legion of Super-Heroes. Members included heroes with the powers of, and similar costumes to, the Legionnaires Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Timber Wolf, Wildfire, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, Star Boy, and Shadow Lass.

1983–1989

Justice Machine, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
Ms. Tree, E-Man's Michael Mauser
With Cerebus
With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Cerebus
With Flaming Carrot
With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
With Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
With Wolff and Byrd, Counsellors of the Macabre
With Jon Sable, Ms. Tree, Street Wolf
A race of aliens appearing various Marvel UK comics, including Doctor Who Magazine, The Real Ghostbusters, and Thundercats, and in the Combat Colin strip published as part of Transformers.

1990

With the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

1991

1992

With Cerebus

1993

With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Deathmate: Preview, Deathmate: Prologue, Deathmate: Red, Deathmate: Blue, Deathmate: Black, Deathmate: Yellow, Deathmate: Epilogue
With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

1994

Superman: The Man of Steel #35–36, Hardware #17–18, Superboy #6–7, Icon #15–16, Steel #6–7, Blood Syndicate #16–17, Worlds Collide #1, Static #14

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Miscellaneous crossovers

Collected editions

In video games

The concept of intercompany crossovers has also been explored in video games, usually in the form of having one video game company licensing its characters to another.

Early intercompany crossovers in games occurred by taking advantage of licensing for publishing rights. GORF in 1981, produced by Midway, has the missions Astro Battles and Galaxians, which make use of characters and names from Space Invaders (Taito Corporation) and Galaxian (Namco), which, at the time of the development of GORF, were licensed to Midway Mfg. In 1992, Tradewest released Battletoads & Double Dragon. At that time, Tradewest owned the rights for publishing of Double Dragon by Technos Japan and Battletoads by Rare Ltd.. Rare Ltd. developed the game, while Technos Japan was barely involved in the production.

In 1989, DIC Entertainment produced Captain N: The Game Master, a cartoon show that featured characters and settings from Nintendo franchises and other franchises appearing on Nintendo video game systems, possibly taking advantage of Nintendo's licensing system to publish games. Characters such as Simon Belmont, Dracula, and Alucard from Konami, Mega Man, Dr. Wily, and Dr. Light from Capcom, Malkil of Wizards and Warriors from Rare, and settings from Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy (by Square Enix, independent from each other at that time), Burger Time (Data East), and Faxanadu (Hudson Soft/Falcom) appeared in the series. The 1990 animated series The Power Team (part of the Video Power TV show) had characters from arcade games ported by Acclaim to the NES as well as games to which Acclaim had publishing rights. These games included NARC, Arch Rivals (Midway), Kwirk (Atlus), Wizards & Warriors (RARE), and BigFoot (based on the famous monster truck from the game by Beam Software).

The first major intercomany crossover properly licensed is the Marvel vs. Capcom series, which originally began in 1994 with X-Men: Children of the Atom. Capcom followed this act by teaming up with rival fighting game developer SNK in 1999.

After the successful Capcom/SNK crossovers, many others have appeared since then.

Midway Games' Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe pitted characters from Midway's Mortal Kombat video game franchise against DC Comics characters Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, The Joker, and others. This game was produced prior to the acquisition of Midway by Warner Bros. Since then, Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street (a WB movie) appeared in Mortal Kombat (2011) and Scorpion appeared in Injustice: God Among Us (2013). Kratos, from Sony's God of War franchise, appeared as an exclusive in the Playstation 3 version of Mortal Kombat (2011).

The games Super Smash Bros. and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale were made possible by the "second party" model, in which independent developers work closely with the console maker to ensure exclusivity and quality. In both games, other third parties also appear as guest characters.

Features characters from Taito and Namco.
Features characters and settings of games from Konami, Capcom, Data East, Rare, Squaresoft, Enix, Hudson Soft and Falcom.
Features characters of games from Midway, Rare, Atlus and Bigfoot 4×4, Inc.
Double Dragon characters were created by Technos Japan.
Akuma/Gouki from the Street Fighter series is a hidden character.
Anita from the Darkstalkers/Vamire series is a hidden character.
Marvel's Iron Man teams-up with the Acclaim Comics incarnation of X-O Manowar.
Characters from Banjo-Kazooie and Conker series, fully owned by Rare and in-development at the time of DKR release, appear along with Donkey Kong characters, owned by Nintendo.
Features characters from Nintendo, Hal and Game Freak.
Features characters from games by Nintendo, Hal Laboratory, Game Freak and Intelligent Systems.
The Game Cube version features Link from The Legend of Zelda by Nintendo and the Xbox version includes Spawn by Todd McFarlane Entertainment as playable characters.
Characters from different franchises by Konami, Takara and Hudson Soft are playable.
Features characters from games by Nintendo, Hal Laboratory, Game Freak, Intelligent Systems, Konami and Sega.
Features Lucasfilm's Star Wars characters.
Midway acquisition by Warner Bros. (owners of DC Comics) was a year later.
Ubisoft's Raving Rabbids characters are playable characters.
Features Kratos from Sony's God of War series.
Features characters from games by Capcom, Nippon Ichi Software, Namco Bandai and Gust.
Features Ezlo from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series.
Besides of Tekken characters by Namco, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions include characters by Sony and Sucker Punch.
Characters from AM2's Virtua Fighter series are playable characters.
Besides characters from Sony Computer Entertainment, it features characters by 2K Games, Sucker Punch Productions, Titan Studios, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Electronic Arts, Naughty Dog Inc, Ninja Theory Ltd, Konami and Insomniac Games.
Terry Bogard and Benimaru Nikaido from King of Fighters, have been licensed by SNK Playmore.
Features characters from games by Namco Bandai, Capcom and Sega.
Characters from AM2's Virtua Fighter series are playable characters.
Characters from AM2's Virtua Fighter series are playable characters.
Features Spawn by Todd McFarlane Entertainment as a playable character.
Characters from games by Nintendo, Hal Laboratory, Game Freak, Monoliftsoft, Intelligent Systems, Sega, Bandai Namco, Square Enix and Capcom have been announced.
The console version features Akuma from Capcom's Street Fighter.
Kratos from Sony Computer Entertainment's God of War series is a playable character on the PlayStation 3 version of the game.
The version of Freddy Krueger from New Line Cinema's A Nightmare on Elm Street remake is a downloadable character.
The classic version of the Predator from 20th Century Fox's film series of the same name is a downloadable character.
The version of Jason Voorhees from Paramount Pictures/New Line Cinema's Friday the 13th reboot is a downloadable character.
The version of Leatherface from New Line Cinema's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a downloadable character.
An Alien from 20th Century Fox's film series of same name spawned from Baraka (Mortal Kombat) is a downloadable character.
A sequel to Sticker Star and Dream Team

In films & television

The Simpsons has infrequently featured guest appearances from characters owned by other companies, examples include Jay Sherman from Sony Pictures Television's The Critic, Ren & Stimpy, and in the Flintsones a couch gag.

Crossover between Toho's Godzilla and RKO Pictures' King Kong.
Crossover between Harvey Comics' Casper the Friendly Ghost and Hanna-Barbera characters including Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound
Features guest appearances by Usagi Yojimbo
Features appearances by cartoon characters owned by Warner Bros., Turner, Universal, King Features and Fleischer Studios.
Crossover with characters owned by Disney, Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, Bagdasarian Productions, and others.
Features appearances by Tom & Jerry, Droopy Dog, Beetlejuice, the Care Bears, Wile E. Coyote's stunt double, and images of Betty & Veronica.
Features characters from PBS, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel children's TV shows.
Features guest appearances by characters from Usagi Yojimbo, Planet Racers, and Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.
Features appearances by movie monsters like the Metaluna Mutant from Universal's This Island Earth, Ro-Man from Robot Monster, and others.
Features children's TV characters owned by HiT Entertainment, Cosgrove Hall Films, Hanna-Barbera, and others.
Features appearances by video game characters owned by Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Namco Bandai, Konami, Atari, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros., and others
Features appearances by Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Milhouse van Houten from the Simpsons; Han Solo, C-3PO, and Lando Calrissian from Star Wars, and others
Couch gag features appearance by Adult Swim's Rick and Morty.
Features appearances by comic characters owned by Marvel Comics and DC Comics.
Features appearances by toy characters owned by Hasbro and Mattel.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Christiansen, Jeff (April 22, 2008). "Earth-Crossover (alternate earth)". Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Superman and Spider-man". Everything2. April 12, 2004. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  3. ↑ Voger, Mark; Voglesong, Kathy (2003). "Front Page Romance". Hero Gets Girl!: The Life and Art Of Kurt Schaffenberger. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 1-893905-29-2. 'That was sort of an 'in' joke.' [artist Kurt Schaffenberger] later told an interviewer. '[Editor] Mort [Weisinger] knew what I was doing. We both figured at that time that Captain Marvel was a thing of the past...He was colored differently – green instead of red, I think. But then when reprinted in a Lois Lane Annual [sic], they put the red union suit on him.'
  4. ↑ Larnick, Eric (October 30, 2010). "The Rutland Halloween Parade: Where Marvel and DC First Collided". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  5. ↑ Cronin, Brian (October 1, 2010). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #280". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Amazing Adventures #16". Grand Comics Database.
  7. ↑ "Justice League of America #103". Grand Comics Database.
  8. ↑ "Thor #207". Grand Comics Database.
  9. ↑ McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. The Yellow Brick Road from Munchkin Land to the Emerald City was also wide enough to accommodate DC and Marvel as they produced their first-ever joint publication...Roy Thomas scripted a faithful, seventy-two page adaptation of Dorothy Gale's adventure, while John Buscema's artwork depicted the landscape of Oz in lavish detail.
  10. ↑ McAvennie "1970s" in Dolan, p. 170: "The tale was written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru, both among the few [at that time] to ever have worked on both Superman and Spider-Man...The result was a defining moment in Bronze Age comics."
  11. ↑ Manning, Matthew K. "1980s" in Dolan, p. 194: "In an oversized treasury edition carrying a hefty $2.50 price tag, the Man of Steel paired for the second time with Marvel's iconic web-slinger...The issue came together thanks to the script of writer Jim Shooter, a bit of plotting assistance by Marv Wolfman, the pencils of longtime Marvel luminary John Buscema, and a veritable fleet of inkers."
  12. ↑ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 195 "Written by Len Wein and illustrated by José Luis García-López, the comic saw...Batman and the Hulk doing battle with both the Joker and Marvel's ultra-powerful Shaper of Worlds."
  13. ↑ Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 199: "The issue, written by longtime X-Men scribe Chris Claremont and drawn by Walter Simonson [was]...one of the most well-received crossovers of its time – or of any time for that matter – the team-up was a huge success."
  14. ↑ Cronin, Brian (September 15, 2005). "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #16!". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012. Englehart next began a run on Justice League of America, and in issue #142, Mantis showed up! Only this time, she was calling herself Willow.
  15. ↑ The transplanting of Mantis/Willow was acknowledged in the letters page of Justice League of America #146 (September 1977)
  16. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 267: "Fans were also treated to a companion special entitled Batman-Spawn...by writers Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant, and artist Klaus Janson.
  17. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 267: "This prestige one-shot marked Frank Miller's return to Batman, and was labeled as a companion piece to his classic 1986 work Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. The issue was drawn by Todd McFarlane, one of the most popular artists in comic book history."
  18. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 272: "Written by Peter David and Ron Marz with art by Dan Jurgens and Claudio Castellini, this four-issue miniseries event consisted of five major battles voted on in advance by reader ballots distributed to comic stores."
  19. ↑ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 311 "[JLA/Avengers] was an event that...proved to be one of the biggest and best of the DC and Marvel crossovers, incorporating many of the two companies' greatest heroes and villains."
  20. ↑ "Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator". DC Comics. May 23, 2007. Archived from the original on February 5, 2015.
  21. ↑ Lamar, Cyriaque (October 12, 2011). "The 10 Most Deranged Alien Crossover Stories". io9. Archived from the original on October 13, 2011.
  22. ↑ Dooley, Chris (August 16, 2007). "Spider-Man/Red Sonja #1 Sells Out". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015.
  23. ↑ Brady, Matt (August 12, 2007). "WW: Chicago - Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Coming in November". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 25, 2007.
  24. ↑ Renaud, Jeffrey (August 21, 2007). "Mano-A-Mano-A-Mano: "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  25. ↑ Unholy Union at the Grand Comics Database
  26. ↑ Rogers, Vaneta (September 27, 2011). "Long Live the Legion...and Prosper! Writer Talks Trek/LSH". Newsarama. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Batman '66 Meets Steed and Mrs. Peel". DC Comics. July 6, 2016. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016.
  28. ↑ Thomas, Roy; Moorcock, Michael; Cawthorn, James (w), Windsor-Smith, Barry (p), Buscema, Sal (i). "A Sword Called Stormbringer!" Conan the Barbarian 14 (March 1972)
  29. ↑ Thomas, Roy; Moorcock, Michael; Cawthorn, James (w), Windsor-Smith, Barry (p), Buscema, Sal (i). "The Green Empress of Melniboné" Conan the Barbarian 15 (May 1972)
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