The Ultimate Crossover Universe

The Core Media Forum
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A while ago, we were talking in this Forum about crossovers and Alternate Universes. I’ve been thinking about that since then…

Most of us fanfic writers enjoy having characters from different series meet. Either we have them cross universes to meet, OR we write them as existing in the same world to begin with.

In that way, we are, effectively, creating our own universes (or, if dealing with multiple Parallel Earths, MULTIverses.) Most of us do it piece by piece. Say, we write about how Disney’s GARGOYLES would fit into the same world as REAL GHOSTBUSTERS. Then, later, we might write also a Batman/Gargoyles team-up, further adding characters to the mix.

But I’ve ben thinking, wouldn’t it be easier to do it the OTHER way around? That is, to figure out what a universe that contained ALL (or at least, MOST) fictional characters would be like first, THEN work into inserting each series, one at a time?

That is my goal with this article. I’m going to set up a “Timeline” for such a world. And I’d like help from you guys.

How does this work? Ok, first I’m going to make a list of ALL the forms of fiction that Mankind has created thru its existence. Next, I’ll figure the elements they have in common, and list those too. Sort of set up a “timeline” for this universe. Finally, I’ll list those characters that I feel would be most prominent in it. (Not ALL of them, of course!)

You people can help by telling me if I’m missing some genre, or telling me about characters I should include, or give me ideas.

Note: this is about CHARACTERS, not SERIES. In other words, no “you cannot include (for example) STAR TREK because in episode blah of series blah they said something that contradicts what you’re saying.” What matters here are the ESSENTIALS of each series, the stuff you can’t change without changing the series, not minutia. In ST’s case, it would be things like The Federation, Starfleet, the Enterprise, its crew, etc; not the fact that Cohrane invented FTL travel, or that the Vulcans helped him, etc. Got it?

Also, for my purposes, only series involving (or at least mentioning) Earth qualify. So no Final Fantasy, for example. We’ll have to put those characters in another dimension within this same Multiverse.

One problem might be MULTIPLE versions of one character- like Hercules, for example. The mythological Herc was NOTHING like the one from the TV show! I guess we’ll have to go with the most commonly-accepted versions in such cases.

Another is level of reality. I like the Powerpuff Girls, but they belong in a reality that is TOO absurd to be real! (One solution is to say that they exist within Toontown, from WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?)

Finally: should I include characters that are TOO obvious? Many series are about character types that the world doesn’t know about, like aliens or vampires. But, certain characters are just too noticeable- if included, you would have to go, “why is X character public, but not Y?” Example: Superman is an alien, everybody knows that. BUT, that means that the public would KNOW about aliens being real. That contradicts both MEN IN BLACK and X-FILES. On the other hand, how can I leave SUPERMAN out? He’s THE greatest fictional character ever! What’s YOU guys opinion on this?

OK, here’s my Fiction Source list:

-Mythology
-Knighthood Novels
-Faery Tales
-Classic Literature
-Dime Novels (westerns)
-SF Novels
-SF magazines
-Comic Strips
-Comic Books
-Movies
-Radio plays
-TV Shows
-Animation
-Anime
-Role-Playing Games (tabletop)
-Video Games
-Trading Cards
-Internet Comics

Opinions?

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Example: Superman is an alien, everybody knows that. BUT, that means that the public would KNOW about aliens being real. That contradicts both MEN IN BLACK and X-FILES. On the other hand, how can I leave SUPERMAN out? He’s THE greatest fictional character ever! What’s YOU guys opinion on this?

The easiest way is a simple retcon, keeping Superman’s origins secret. There would be a limited number of people who would know that Superman is an alien (Supes’ closest friends, the MiB, possibly members of the Syndicate), and the others might just see him as a metahuman/mutant.

And heck, making MiB and X-Files connect isn’t that hard, if you’re willing to do some fudging of X-Files canon. Having the MiB as the “shadowy conspiracy” that Mulder’s been after his whole life wouldn’t be too hard, or perhaps having the Syndicate as a counter-agency for the MiB that Alpha set up before he was exiled.

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You like big projects, doncha Wil?

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Demigod: Yup. :slight_smile: But this one would be useful to many of us, I hope. Even if someone doesn’t agree with ALL my ideas, SOME might be useful for their fics.

Domadragoon: Good ideas. As I said, only the main elements of a character matter here. BTW, in the early issues of the John Byrne Superman Comics, people didn’t know he was an alien (neither did he!)

Tomorrow I’ll post my first version of the Timeline.

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It’s a big project, but I know you can do it Uncle Wil. :slight_smile:

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Where could my baby and her friends fit in? big puppy eyes

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Izlude: Why, on the International Underground Fighting Circles, of course. (Those DO exist, you know.) Along with MORTAL KOMBAT, DARKSTALKERS, and all the other Fighting Game characters. (Hmm… I wonder if GI JOE/COBRA would also be involved with them? All those high-skill recruits must come from SOMEWHERE…)

(Sorry, gang, too busy today with some work, cannot post next part of article. Tomorrow, then.)

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Oh oh oh, GI-Joe’s villans and the ones from Street Fighter (mainly M. Bison and his crew) would all be part of some Shadowloo or Cobra esqe syndicate that was hell bent on taking over the world, just like any respectable group of villans.

which means Joe and Guile would get crossovers! Hooray! This game is fun, lets play some more!

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Well, since you’re apparently working on a timeline at the moment, I’ll wait until you’ve posted it to comment…
Then I could see if I can add something that you’ve missed…

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  • Resident Evil. There’s always a freaky little town that’s destined to become nuked.

  • Funny notice: New York is a base for (pretty darn many, I admit, but I’ll mention a few groups/individuals)

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

  • The Ghostbusters

  • Spider-Man

  • Batman (Gotham was a part of NY in some continuity, I recall)

  • Avengers

  • FF

  • Respective villains…

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Just wondering if you could include Monkey Island in there.

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Mabat: You’re right, a LOT of characters in many series reside in NY. That means they would’ve likely encountered, or even influenced, each other. Example: When the Gargoyles were suspected to exist in NY, the Ghostbusters would’ve very likely been called to investigate them. Same with the TMNT. This IS credible- after all, in the real world, NY is pretty much the center of the civilized world. As I said, we’ll have to figure how (and where) everyone fits in this world AFTER we’ve stablished the facts- tha’ts the point of this article.

You do remind me of one important fact, however: FICTIONAL CITIES. Small places like, say, Twin Peaks can be inserted with little problem- just remove some unimportant real world town. Cities, however, have more influence in the real world, especially large ones like Gotham and Metropolis. Again, we’ll have to think about this.

Interesting Fact: Both Gotham and Metropolis are based on NY city, and both are supposed to be close to it. (In New Jersey, maybe?) 8P

Darkness beckons: Monkey Island? What is that from?

OK cracks knuckles let’s continue!

Let’s look at what each genre has to contribute:
(PS. The Timeline comes later.)

-Mythology: Mythology ties together many series, because it includes characters known by most of humanity, like Hercules or Odin. As I mentioned above, there are MANY versions of these characters… Using the ones from the original myths is probably the best way to fit most series that use them together. HOWEVER, there are a few problems with mythology:

*Since mythologies were originally religions, most of them deal with things like Creation, the Fate of the World or Life After Death. Obviously, not all them can be correct at the same time! The best way to deal with this is to assume that the myths are only PARTIALLY true. Yes, mighty supernatural beings appeared in humanity’s past and were worshipped as gods; then humanity created legends surrounding them. Some of the “deities” themselves might’ve come to believe them, but in general only the ones dealing with the characters themselves are correct. We can assume the World was created as science indicates, that there is no written Fate and that human spirits go to where his or her beliefs take them when they die, be it Heaven, Hades, Limbo, etc. (Btw, this is the version used in the THOR comics.)

*The above fact leads to the next: What about Christianity?? (and by inference, Judaism and Islam?) Well, the way I see it, there are two types of religion: the mythological ones that worry about mundane things like explaining the forces of nature (Thor was the explanation of Thunder for the Norse) and the ones that focus on deeper spiritual issues. My explanation above is for the first group. We can assume that there ARE, however, truly cosmic, spiritual forces in the universe, and religions like Christianity, Buddism, etc. are all different ways people interpret them.
But you may ask, WHERE does that leave the characters that are supposed to be Angels, Demons, etc? Actually, I have a solution to that. One of the ancient mythologies, Zoroastrism, actually bears similarities to Judeochristianity: a God of good and a Lord of Evil, angel-like servants, etc. My idea is that these beings, rather than accept humanity stopped worshipping them, instead decided to present themselves as THE figures of Christian belief! In fact, they’ve been doing it for SO long they’ve forgotten it’s all a lie themselves! This would explain things like the (funny, but absurd) movie MY DATE WITH AN ANGEL!

*Ancient mythology often claims things that are absurd on the face of it, like Atlas holding the Heavens (later, the World) on its shoulders. Again, those are just people’s exaggerations of the legends.

*Ancient myths also included some, err, questionable stuff (like Incest! Yes, Zeus and Hera were SUPPOSED to be Brother and Sister!!) o_o Again, we can just assume those parts are false… or that they were the result of different moralities in ancient times, and just, uhh, avoid mentioning them in our stories… :eek:

My list of Mythologies:
-Asirian-Babylonian
-Egyptian
-Zoroastrian
-Greek-Roman
-Norse
-Finnish
-Celtic
-Chinese
-Japanese (not Shinto-Buddism!)
-Polynesian
-African
-Vedic (Not true Hinduism!)
-Aborigin?
-Native American
-Inuit (Eskimo)
-Aztec (Maya? Inca?)
-Caribbean

Any I’m missing?

More later!

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Sounds interesting so far.

And on another note, I think Metropolis is a real city. I don’t know where, but I heard that somewhere.

Someone who cares more than I do, look it up! :hahaha;

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Monkey Island is a series of games set in the swashbuckling age of the pirates. There are four in the series so far, don’t remember the first two too much except they were good. It’s sort of a comedy rpg where you play Guybrush Treepwood, pirate, puzzle solver, but a big geek. He has no muscle whatsoever, but that doesn’t matter because while they fight with swords, what actually wins are crushing insults like “I’ve got muscles in places you’ve never even heard of,” or witty comebacks like “Pity none of them are in your arm.” Actually most are better I’m just too tired to think them up. It’s made by Lucas Arts.

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you forgot parasite eve. speaking of which is there a chance of aya and eve apearing in this fanfic? :moogle:

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GG: Yes, there’s a real Metropolis on the US, on Illinois if I recall. And they HAVE accepted the Superman character as their local mascot. However, the Metropolis in Superman is supposed to be on the East Coast.

Darkness: I would have to read more about Monkey Island to tell if it’s realistic enough to be included. (Even if the games are too silly, a more serious version, invented by us, might exist in this world. Same with other silly characters.)

Caith Sith: Yes, the PE characters might exist in this world (I have to study that whole “intelligent mitochondria” concept better first, tho.) Oh, and this is NOT a Fanfic by itself; it’s a Common Background for ALL Crossover stories, mine and everybody else’s (who wants to use it.)

More tonight.

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Heh…I loved PE. Never before has a game made me wish I paid attention in Biology.

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Having the real Monkey Island would probably be a bit of a stretch. Since the villian of the series is the Demon Zombie Ghost Pirate LeChuck, who just keeps coming back game after game. I suppose that could be worked into some sort of legend (or something) of the Carribean (where the series is set).

But over all the series is probably TOO comic to be a proper part of this timeline. Since it contains countless refernces/ideas of modern day things. (Like timeshare property, lawyers, themeparks, etc)

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Don’t forget the occasional break of the fourth wall. But you could make the characters more serious. Anyway, for info on all of them go here

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In the absolutely worst case, we could make video game characters like Monkey Island’s fit in as… video game characters!! Remember, SEVERAL series are about video game characters that are, somehow, sentient, existing in the Internet or a related dimension. Examples include: Code Lyoko, Digimon, Reboot, Captain N, and Kidd Radd. More on this later.

Damn! Next part of the article NOT ready yet. grumble grumble Tomorrow, then!