Comic book universes merging and splitting

[NetSpiker]

I'm interested in situations where fictional universes have merged together or split apart.

The DC Universe has many examples of this.

Fawcett Comics licensed Captain Marvel and his associated characters to DC in 1972 and Captain Marvel was fully integrated into the DC Universe in 1985.

Charlton Comics characters including Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, The Question and Peter Cannon were also integrated into the DC Universe in 1985. Peter Cannon, however, stopped appearing in DC Comics after the early 90s and is now being published by Dynamite Entertainment.

Milestone characters were always published by DC Comics, but existed in a separate universe. In 2009 a Justice League of America story arc placed them in the DC Universe as did the Young Justice animated series. They are back to being their own separate universe after the 2020 Milestone relaunch.

Wildstorm characters were originally part of the Image Universe when their series began in 1992. During this time, crossovers with other Image properties like Cyberforce and Savage Dragon occurred frequently. But after the Shattered Image crossover in 1996, Wildstorm became its own separate universe that had occasional crossovers with the DC Universe despite the fact that DC wasn't supposed to have a multiverse at the time. In 2011, it became fully integrated with the DC Universe.

While Spawn is technically still part of the Image Universe, crossovers became infrequent after the 90s. Spawn supporting character Angela was bought by Marvel Comics and integrated into the Marvel Universe, which retconned her to be the daughter of Odin.

A version of Conan the Barbarian, Godzilla, Fu Manchu, Rom and the Micronauts have been part of the Marvel Universe while Marvel held the license, but now Marvel is no longer able to refer to them or even reprint their appearances.

Lady Death was one of the main characters of the Chaos! Universe in the 90s, but was later split into her own universe in the 2000s, first by Avatar Press, later by Coffin Comics. When the Chaos! Universe was rebooted by Dynamite Entertainment, Lady Death was replaced by Lady Hel to plug the holes in continuity that would've been caused by Lady Death's absence. In the 2020s, the Chaos! characters were fully integrated into the Vampirella Universe.

In 2016, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Rom, Micronauts and M.A.S.K. became united as the Hasbro Universe, despite the fact that the earlier Infestation miniseries presented Transformers and G.I. Joe as existing in separate universes. When IDW lost the license to these characters, the Hasbro Universe was rebooted by Image Comics, this time only including Transformers, G.I. Joe and a new property called Void Rivals.

Formerly creator-owned superheroes Wildstar and Ant were eventually integrated into the Savage Dragon Universe after Erik Larsen bought them. Public domain superheroes such as the Bart Hill version of Daredevil also became part of the Savage Dragon Universe. However, these heroes sometimes make appearances in other universes due to being public domain.

Speaking of public domain, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Greek gods are integral parts of the Marvel universe where events very similar to the Dracula novel, the Frankenstein novel and the Iliad have taken place. The Greek gods and Frankenstein are also part of the DC Universe.

What do you guys think about the idea of universes incorporating characters from other universes or splitting apart? Do you like it or does it make continuity hard to follow? Are there any examples that I missed? What universes do you think will merge or split in the future?

[Alan2099]

You forgot Marvel acquiring the Ultraverse, publishing them for a short while, doing some crossovers, and then locking them away in a vault forever.

Also Liefeld's Image company getting kicked out and/or leaving Image (depending on who's story you want to believe.)

[Green Lantern wannabe]

Hello,

I have the original versions of Crisis on Infinite Earths, and I had been following the stories of the Superheroes on Earth 1 and 2 for several years. I liked Crisis and wasn't against merging the universes, but, after a while, the powers-that-be split the universe into several again. And, after a bunch of Crises, the law of diminishing marginal returns set in for me, so I didn't keep up with events.

I would love to retell the DC canon the way I like it told, but I don't have permission to do so.

[Captain Britain of Earth 20]

Here’s my ideas of merged universes:
1)Americas Best Comics & Fawcett Comics characters merged into one universe

2) New 52 & Ultimate Characters

3)Battlestar Galactica & Planet of the Apes

4) DMZ and Walking Dead

5) Wildstorm & Marvel universes (Could be something to make you think)

[shooshoomanjoe]

I'd love to see characters from Future Comics, Virtual Comics, Broadway Comics, Defiant Comics and Gold Key absorbed into Valiant Comics.

[red winter]

Here’s my ideal perspectives:
DC’s Earth two (not New52) & America’s Best Comics together then Liefeld’s Awesome Comics merged with the Ultimate universe just to see Supreme & Captain America meet up with Spellcaster & Scarlet Witch in the Ultimates plus, I would like Top Cow and the Amalgam to merge too. Not for nothing, all of them would rock

[Sharkerbob]

What do you guys think about the idea of universes incorporating characters from other universes or splitting apart? Do you like it or does it make continuity hard to follow? Are there any examples that I missed? What universes do you think will merge or split in the future?

I feel like this is one of those things that has effectively "calcified" by now, at least when it comes to the Big Two, and when it comes to merging entire universes together.

DC has absorbed seemingly at least half of all comic companies to ever exist, and as a result, has an absolute glut of "extra" characters running around, some of whom were clearly based off characters like Batman and Superman. While I would say it was better when DC had a multiverse where all those "extra" worlds had their own continuity, at this point, most of them have co-existed for so long, it's just part of the lore. However, by the time Crisis on Infinite Earths had hit, I think they hit the limit. Later merging WildStorm into their mix just really never jived well with me. Tonally, the two worlds are very different, in ways I don't think DC's previous integrations were so stark. Vertigo, as I understand it, was always part of the DCU, just not often referenced in the DCU proper for a long time, so when it also got folded in officially, it didn't feel as jarring.

Marvel screwed over the Ultraverse, and barely tried with CrossGen, and I also feel that would not have worked well if they had attempted a full merging.

However, in terms of the smaller scale, say, integrating a handful of unaffiliated characters into a shared canon, like Dynamite has done, or taking one or two characters from a company and integrating them into another company, like Angela into Marvel, I think that can make for an okay transition. Likewise, when Marvel 616 actually integrated newuniversal's Starbrand and Nightmask, I think that was actually really awesome how Hickman was able to slip the newuniversal lore into the big Avengers crisis plotline he was writing towards. It all depends on how they write it.

Ultimately, I think Image had the right idea, wherein there was a loose canon between the various studios. Each studio having their "alpha timeline", whilst there was a secondary canon where their worlds also all co-existed, and they just kind of handwaved any discrepancies for the sake of telling the crossover story.