DC and Marvel Merger

[Artistsean]

What if DC and Marvel merged companies?
What if they then took characters that were mirrors of one another, kept one and got rid of the others.
Who would you keep in this union of comics?

What do you think this New Comic Universe would look like?
Would you keep Flash or Quicksilver, Aquaman or Namor?
What characters would you like to see occupy one universe? Who do you think would have cool interactions and relationships? Who would work well together and who wouldn't?

For example would the comic universe have Superman, the X-Men, Namor, Flash, Spider-Man, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, The New Gods, with robot Sentinels walking around?

Would some character's stories change to fit them in with another's? Like would Quicksilver become part of the Speed Force? Would the Inhumans be from New Genisis? Would Some DC metahumans become mutants? Would any character's origins connect somehow?

How would you do it, if you could unite the DC and Marvel Universe into one?

 

[Manic]

I'd keep both the Marvel Universe and DC Universe the same, and make them part of the multiverse. Nothing gets screwed over or merged, and writers could do crossovers whenever they wanted.

 

[Joker]

Yeah, that's probably how it would go down. Marvel would be Earth 53 or whatever, prevoiusly unknown, even to the Monitors.

 

[November Rain]

I'd swap around the obvious doppel gangers for a year or two years to see how they coped in their new universes...

see how captain america fairs up in gotham, or how spidey makes it in metropolis...

then i would play out how the individual characters and teams feel when the real counter parts return. Is the world better without superman or can't the dc heroes live without him?

I would also play quite long arcs where certain members are just taken out of both and left to chat to one another, incapable of harming each other. Will some choose to fight continually or have deep long discussions.

Can the marvel heroes be pursuaded to go good with chats with dc heroes or villains or will their plans of domination continue into another world?

Would heroes team up with other heroes, or other villains? Will some heroes start hating one another etc...

Ultimately what would happen would be something along the lines of one universe being turned into a relative haven and the other being turned into a hell mouth and thus seeing which heroes choose to stay where and why. Is maintenance of a good society more or less important than trying to clear up an impossible hell hole?

There is a mass of potential.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd just combine them. I don't see why everything from Marvel and everything from DC can't take place on the same Earth.

 

[Artistsean]

No reason, just thought it would be a fun question to ask with lots of possible answers. I like everyones answers too.

 

[William_C]

I'd swap around the obvious doppel gangers for a year or two years to see how they coped in their new universes...

see how captain america fairs up in gotham, or how spidey makes it in metropolis...

then i would play out how the individual characters and teams feel when the real counter parts return. Is the world better without superman or can't the dc heroes live without him?

I would also play quite long arcs where certain members are just taken out of both and left to chat to one another, incapable of harming each other. Will some choose to fight continually or have deep long discussions.

Can the marvel heroes be pursuaded to go good with chats with dc heroes or villains or will their plans of domination continue into another world?

Would heroes team up with other heroes, or other villains? Will some heroes start hating one another etc...

Ultimately what would happen would be something along the lines of one universe being turned into a relative haven and the other being turned into a hell mouth and thus seeing which heroes choose to stay where and why. Is maintenance of a good society more or less important than trying to clear up an impossible hell hole?

There is a mass of potential.

I got goosebumps just thinking about some of the things said here. I'd like to see a lot of rivalries between some heroes and villains a like. I think it could all happen on the same Earth, and could work. But at the same time, it could work as seperate universes too, and that could serve [imo] a more interesting story that would suit intergalatic villains and heroes.

 

[fifthfiend]

I'd just combine them. I don't see why everything from Marvel and everything from DC can't take place on the same Earth.

Just for starters that'd have you doing, say, Crisis on Infinite Earths at the same time as House of M. Civil War flat out can't happen because Batman and Superman aren't having that **** and once you've got Batman, Superman, and Captain America all on one side then who in the hell are you kidding that anyone else is gonna win that one? You can't exactly have the Avengers be the premiere superteam of their Earth and the JLA be the premiere superteam of their Earth when both teams are on the same Earth, so either you have to decide which one is the actual number one and which gets to be second-best, or you have to maintain some artifice of both being coequally premiere, which just kind of diminishes them both. ****, I'm not even going to try and figure out how you sort out Aquaman and Namor.

Ultimately you can just tell more stories from two separate Earths than you can from one Earth. You can't do a story in the DCMU where Lex Luthor is President while also doing a story where Tony Stark is the Secretary of Defense, or rather then it has to be a story about Lex Luthor making Tony Stark the Secretary of Defense, which becomes a much different story than either of the two stories you previously would have been able to tell. A lot of the stories told in either universe work because of the context of them being in that universe, and taking all the characters from both and putting them into a single shared universe creates a single context in which stories have to be made to work, which is different from either of the two previously established contexts.

...I think I mostly just repeated the same sentence in different ways a couple of dozen times but you probably see what I'm getting at.

 

[Artistsean]

I'm not even going to try and figure out how you sort out Aquaman and Namor.

I have a way, Namor was actually created first. Aquaman was created later.

Ultimately you can just tell more stories from two separate Earths than you can from one Earth. You can't do a story in the DCMU where Lex Luthor is President while also doing a story where Tony Stark is the Secretary of Defense, or rather then it has to be a story about Lex Luthor making Tony Stark the Secretary of Defense, which becomes a much different story than either of the two stories you previously would have been able to tell..

I actually think that might be a really cool story. Luther is already President when he makes Tony Stark Secretary of Defense. Many people are upset with Tony right now so it would be sort of like two villains running the Government.
But Luther was President and then not President way before Stark became Secretary of Defense.

A lot of the stories told in either universe work because of the context of them being in that universe, and taking all the characters from both and putting them into a single shared universe creates a single context in which stories have to be made to work, which is different from either of the two previously established contexts.

...I think I mostly just repeated the same sentence in different ways a couple of dozen times but you probably see what I'm getting at.

I agree that having them all in one world changes things a great deal and may not be for the better. I agree Civil War would have been hard to do. I see Civil War becoming more like Kingdom Come in that instance, with a three different groups instead of two. One supports the SHRA the other doesn't, and a third is Batman's group. I could however see Superman supporting the SHRA just because so many lives were lost. I also see maybe him being against SHRA but having Wonder Woman for it. Captain America would still be on his anti registration side while Iron Man would still be on his pro side. A major comflict could occur when one side uses kryptonite against Superman.
If the two comic universes were one there would have to be changes. Maybe have the JLA or the Avengers be the one team and have the greatest heroes in that team. Like have Captain America be on the JLA or have Superman be on the Avengers.
Just throwing out some ideas.
There are no wrong answers in this thread.

 

[fifthfiend]

I could however see Superman supporting the SHRA just because so many lives were lost.

Eh, Superman's not giving up the most consistently maintained secret ID in pretty much all of comicsdom because a supervillain did something supervillainous.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Marvel and DC universes amalgamating would be equivalent of introducing non-native species into Australia. Like the Rabbit that destroyed native marsupials...certain villains and heroes will simply be exterminated and others will fill their place.

If Punisher is let loose on DC's gotham, Joker will be dead in a few issues. Galactus, Mephisto and other God-like beings will have a smorgasbord on the new universe and vice versa.

This would be an awesome crossover as heroes fight for turf and new heroes take the place of old ones. That would be what would happen in reality....in comic reality ofcourse all the good guys would get along, and all the bad guys will join each other..

 

[Artistsean]

I do like that idea too. Fighting for turf would be cool to see. And not just like DC versus Marvel, it would be all at once like Civil War. Although I am not sure if Joker would be dead, but that would be a battle I'd like to see.

Eh, Superman's not giving up the most consistently maintained secret ID in pretty much all of comicsdom because a supervillain did something supervillainous.

Thats true, I hadn't thought of that. I was thinking of his stance in Kingdom Come and his falling in line in New Frontier (so that he can actually save lives).
But I agree, he wouldn't necissarily give up his secret id. Except to maybe the Government. But then he would be working alongside Captain America and Wonder Woman would be working with Iron Man, and I think so might Captain Marvel.
I also think Batman would go underground and start of be part of his own faction. Maybe join forces with Nick Fury and Winter Soldier.

 

[Aristotle]

This would be an awesome crossover as heroes fight for turf and new heroes take the place of old ones. That would be what would happen in reality....in comic reality ofcourse all the good guys would get along, and all the bad guys will join each other..

Little too early-90s grim'n'gritty for me. Plus a little too Stan Lee-inspired fan-service hero-fight.

 

[Aristotle]

Just for starters...I think I mostly just repeated the same sentence in different ways a couple of dozen times but you probably see what I'm getting at.

I think you also just summed up the biggest reason comics can't attract new readers.

I have a way, Namor was actually created first. Aquaman was created later.

DC fans will love your attitude.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ultimately you can just tell more stories from two separate Earths than you can from one Earth. You can't do a story in the DCMU where Lex Luthor is President while also doing a story where Tony Stark is the Secretary of Defense, or rather then it has to be a story about Lex Luthor making Tony Stark the Secretary of Defense, which becomes a much different story than either of the two stories you previously would have been able to tell.

Different stories don't necessarily have to be lesser stories. There are other stories you can't tell if the characters are relegated to two separate worlds too, unless you plan on dragging characters from one world to another on a whim, and then they'd have to be stories about those characters moving between worlds to some extent.

Besides, a story about Lex Luthor as President and Tony Stark as Secretary of Defense sounds pretty damn interesting.

 

[st barbara]

Marvel and DC universes amalgamating would be equivalent of introducing non-native species into Australia. Like the Rabbit that destroyed native marsupials...certain villains and heroes will simply be exterminated and others will fill their place.

If Punisher is let loose on DC's gotham, Joker will be dead in a few issues. Galactus, Mephisto and other God-like beings will have a smorgasbord on the new universe and vice versa.

This would be an awesome crossover as heroes fight for turf and new heroes take the place of old ones. That would be what would happen in reality....in comic reality ofcourse all the good guys would get along, and all the bad guys will join each other..

If Punisher were to be let loose on D C's Gotham he would be arrested within a page of his first appearence by Batman, have the snot beaten out of him, and then get handed over to the police for appropriate treatment as a criminal !

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Actually they've met before and as far as I recall he never was arrested for killing all of those mobsters and Joker goons.

 

[Aristotle]

He was beaten, though.