Crisis Crossover: Difference between revisions

[[File:Crisis_Crossover_Mini_Marvels_9032CrisisCrossover 6474.jpg|frame| The ''[[Mini Marvels]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|sum it]] [[Discussed Trope|up]].]]

The original was ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]],'' the event which changed [[The DCU]] so much that its history is permanently defined as "[[Pre Crisis]]" and "[[Post-Crisis]]". It went from April 1985 to March 1986, tying in almost every other series DC published at the time.

After this, it became more and more popular, with not just Marvel and DC but other companies -- Malibucompanies—Malibu, Wildstorm, etc. -- getting into the act. Eventually, though, readers were sick of it, and it tapered off, before returning to the scene in 2004 when DC and Marvel both launched new Crisis Crossovers that started [[Metaplot|Metaplots]]s that are still running today.{{when}} Time will tell how long it takes for readers to get sick of it ''this'' time (if they aren't already).

The advantage of a '''Crisis Crossover''' to a publisher is that people reading the main story will want to read the various crossovers, thus increasing sales. The disadvantage is that people who only want to read one of the titles that cross over may be turned off by having to buy all the tie-ins to understand it, thus decreasing sales. In practice, it can go either way, but there's a reason the technique was abandoned for awhile.

* [[Fifth Week Event|Fifth Week Events]]s. Most comics come out monthly, most comics come out on Wednesday, and most months have four Wednesdays. Four times a year, however, there will be a month with a fifth Wednesday. Instead of moving titles around so that (for example) some comics that usually come out on the fourth Wednesday are pushed to the fifth, the publisher may just schedule an event for that week. Example: ''Sins of Youth''

* The current format is a expansion of the first type: There will be a core series, one or more spinoff series, probably some one-shots, and crossover into regular titles. ''[[Blackest Night]],'' for example, had a core mini-series, seven multi-issue spinoffs, a slew of one-shots (nominally numbered as "new" issues of long-dead series), and heavy crossover into both ''[[Green Lantern]]'' titles, among others.

When a comic slaps a big, visible "Crisis Crossover" logo on the cover, but only has a token [[Shout -Out]] to the Big Event that only peripherally affects the plot of the issue in question, that's a "[[Red Skies Crossover]]". When a [[Crossover]] occurs that involves a couple of characters and their support, but doesn't necessarily affect the large universe, it's a [[Bat Family Crossover]]. When the various sets of characters do not interact with each other but still deal with an universal threat, it's a [[Cross Through]].

=== [[DC Comics]] ===

* ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]'', of course. Also the trope namer. Before CoIE, there were [[Alternate Universe|two major and nearly a dozen minor separate DCU "Earths" (read: realities)]], each with its own continuity. They didn't cross over, except when they did (or when a DC writer forgot who was supposed to be on which Earth and a DC editor didn't catch the goof). Afterwards: one Earth, one reality, and the biggest [[Retcon|retconningretcon]]ning of past events ''ever''. Let one example serve for all: Pre-Crisis, there was Kara Zor-El, better known as [[Supergirl]]. During Crisis, she died. Post-Crisis, she had [[Ret -Gone|never existed]] due to the edict that, following the ''Man of Steel'' [[Continuity Reboot|reboot]], Superman was to the only surviving Kryptonian (although she did appear in the final arc of Pater David's ''Supergirl'', "Many Happy Returns"). To this day, nobody (save for a few people, namely Donna Troy and The Spectre) remembers her as she was then, though a new version of the character returned in ''Batman/Superman: Supergirl'' in 2005. The first act of the "Multiverse Saga" dealing with the "Death of the Multiverse".

* A year after ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]'', (1987) DC published ''Legends'', a crossover in which the evil god [[Darkseid]] tries to turn humanity against all its superheroes; it doesn't take. Looking back, ''Legends'' was most notable for launching the semi-humorous ''[[Justice League of America|Justice League International]]'' (the one with [[Blue Beetle]]) and the perennially popular supervillains-doing-espionage title ''[[Suicide Squad]]'', as well as starting the career of the third [[Flash]], Wally West. It also marked the post-Crisis debuts of [[Wonder Woman]] (after she was rebooted from scratch by George Perez and Greg Potter) and [[Shazam|Captain Marvel.]]

** In ''Cosmic Odyssey'' (ironically the only one that was self-contained), Darkseid, the [[New Gods]], and a group of super-heroes fight a giant shadow that Metron claims is the Anti-Life Equation's true form. Outside of [[Green Lantern|John Stewart]] (no, not ''[[The Daily Show|that]]'' one) acting like a rookie and causing an entire planet to explode due to his hubris, [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity|no one likes to talk about this story]] since making the Anti-Life Equation a giant shadow monster was a stupid idea.

** In ''[[Millennium (Comic Book)|Millennium]]'', the robotic Manhunters try to stop the Guardians of the Universe from giving a group of really bad ethnic stereotypes virtual Godhood; it doesn't work out. By contractual obligation, at least one secondary character from most of DC's titles turned out to be [[The Mole|the Manhunters' moles]],<ref>(In ''[[Superman]]'', basically all of Smallville but the Kents.)</ref>, which was never mentioned again afterwords.

** In [[Invasion (Comic Book)|Invasion]]!, a whole mess of alien planets get together and try to take over Earth to keep all the superbeings we keep producing under control; yet again, it doesn't work out. This crossover also introduced the Metagene [[Meta Origin]] concept in the DCU, as well as led to the launching of [[West Coast Team|Justice League Europe]] and L.E.G.I.O.N., a 20th Century ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' spin-off title known mainly for having [[Lobo]] and Brainiac 2 on the roster.

* 1991's ''War of the Gods'' wasn't a bad idea in theory: All the different godly pantheons in [[The DCU]] (the [[New Gods]], plus the Olympians, the Asgardians, etc.) have at it and the various divinely-powered superheroes ([[Wonder Woman]], Captain Marvel, etc.) get caught up in it. Unfortunately, writer George Perez made the mistake of double-booking himself drawing Marvel's ''[[Infinity Gauntlet]]'' and writing/drawing ''War of the Gods'' at the same time, leading to ''War of the Gods'' suffering from bad writing.

* ''Armageddon 2001'': (Again in 1991!) One of DC's top super-heroes will become the uber-villain "Monarch"! Except the ending (it was [[Captain Atom]]) gets leaked, meaning [[Shocking Swerve|a third string character Hawk became Monarch instead]]. Monarch promptly disappeared until three years later, when he was retooled as Extant and became a flunky for A-List hero [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]], who went evil in the wake of ''[[The Death of Superman]]''.

* 1992's ''Eclipso: The Darkness Within''. Over the summer, DC retconned a B-List villain from the '60s into a serious threat capable of possessing anyone -- upanyone—up to and including Superman. Very little changes, other than the {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice]] of Starman IV -- whose book had been canceled anyway (and it apparently [[Back Fromfrom the Dead|didn't take]])}}. Eclipso himself got a series out of it for about two years, notable as one of the few mainstream comic series with a villain as its protagonist at the time.

* 1993's ''Bloodlines''. Whether you like this or not all depends on if you're a fan of the [[Dark Age]]. This was a [[Cross Through]] of all of DC's Annual series for 1993. A race of [[Alien|Xenomorph-like]] parasites invade and start killing people by draining their spinal fluid. A small percentage of people, however, gained superpowers by this, leading to the creation of a new bunch of [[Nineties Anti -Hero|Nineties Anti Heroes]]. Nothing really changed and these new heroes were eventually reduced to [[C -List Fodder|cannon fodder]] for [[Infinite Crisis]], or else ending up in [[Comic Book Limbo]]. The only notable result from this crossover being [[Garth Ennis]]' ''[[Hitman (Comic Book)|Hitman]]''.

* DC ended up pressing the reset button again ''[[Zero Hour]]: Crisis in Time'' in 1994. [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] Parallax (a.k.a. [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]]) plans to destroy the entire DC Universe and remake it [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong|in his image]]. Unlike ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]'', ''Zero Hour'' ended up changing relatively little (aside from completely rebooting [[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|The Legion Of Super-Heroes]] and making [[Hawkman]]'s continuity [[Continuity Snarl|even more confusing]]) and a massive bus being dropped onto the Justice Society of America. And unlike ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]'', ''Zero Hour'' was met with mixed reviews.

* 1995's ''Underworld Unleashed'' saw Mark Waid killing off 90% of the [[Flash]]'s rogue gallery who he felt were too silly even for his masturbatory [[Silver Age]] tastes (though this didn't last long and Waid was proven wrong in a BIG way later on) and introducing Neron, the ''de facto'' Satan of the DC Universe proper. It also saw a ton of DC villains [[Deal Withwith the Devil|selling their souls]] for grim and gritty revamps, of which only a small handful actually stuck.

{{quote| Brian and I arranged for them to [[Death Is Cheap|lie low in hell for a little while]], if only to keep some knuckleheaded creator from, oh, say, turning Heat Wave into a ''living pillar of fire''.}}

* ''[[Final Night]]'' (Not to be confused with either ''[[Final Crisis]]'' or ''[[Blackest Night]]''), from 1996, is probably the most fondly-remembered crossover from the 1990s, most likely because the whole thing became one huge [[Author's Saving Throw]]/Last Hurrah for Hal Jordan (writer Karl Kessel agreed to write the story for DC on the condition that he could give Hal a mercy killing/[[Redemption Equals Death|heroic sacrifice death]]). An alien weapon called a [[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|Sun-Eater]] arrives in the solar system and, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|surprisingly enough]], [[Planet Eater|eats the sun]]. After Earth's heroes try to keep their sunless world alive, [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]] make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to rekindle the sun and redeem himself (of course, [[Redemption Equals Death]]). Also, the Post-Zero Hour Legion meets everyone in the DC Universe proper for the first time -- andtime—and before his death, Hal resurrects [[Green Arrow]] off-panel.

* ''[[DC One Million]]'' (1998) Another love or hate crossover: all DCU books stopped and became "<Title> #1,000,000" as the JLA and the rest of the DC Universe go into the future to fight Solaris the Sentient Sun, who wants to kill his creator Superman. As [[Grant Morrison]] stories go, you'll either love it or hate it. Solaris would later resurface, in slightly altered format, in the non-continuity series [[All -Star Superman]], where he played a major role in that series' final issues. This crossover is '''certainly''' part of the main DCU canon (Hourman One Million becomes a major player in JLA, JSA and his own book), but the fact Solaris gives us a "[[The End of the Beginning]]"/DistantFinale of ''[[All -Star Superman]]'' causes a minor continuity snarl.

* 1999's ''Day of Judgment'' featured a then unknown [[Geoff Johns]] writing a story where the demons Neron and [[Etrigan]] steal the nigh-omnipotent powers of the Spectre. [[Hilarity Ensues]], and the ghost of Hal Jordan ends up becoming the new Spectre. Led to the creation of the Sentinels of Magic - a group of DC's mystic heroes who then appeared absolutely nowhere.

* In 2000, in an effort to promote ''[[Young Justice (Comic Bookcomics)|Young Justice]]'', DC produced "Sins of Youth," a special Crisis Crossover in which Young Justice, the JLA, the JSA, the Titans and as many others as the pencilers could cram into frame descended on the White House lawn for a rally, only to face the mother of all [[Thirteen Going On Thirty/Fountain Of Youth|Fountain Of Youth]] plots wherein nearly every character present was aged or de-aged. It only interrupted the monthly run of YJ and crossed over into Superboy, and was over within a month real-time, but the scale of the story and the villains' plot was worthy of this trope.

* 2001 was the year of ''[[Our Worlds At War (Comic Book)|Our Worlds Atat War]]'' and ''Joker's Last Laugh'', occurring back to back much to the disdain of comic fans. ''Our Worlds'' featured an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] trying to destroy the universe via destroying Earth (with Brainiac-13 pulling up the rear to exploit the madness) and the entire universe teaming up in a galactic alliance to save the universe. Infamous for it's massive number of deaths (Guy Gardner, Martha and Johnathan Kent, Aquaman, Sam Lane, and Wonder Woman's mom Hippolyta), just about all of which were overturned, with Gardner and the Kents being upgraded to living within months of the storyline ending.

* ''Joker's Last Laugh'' was yet another crossover in 2001 (almost literally starting after ''Our Worlds At War'' had ended). This story had Joker infect all of the DC Universe's villains with chemicals turning them into Joker-lite mass murderers, after Joker is [[Induced Hypochondria|falsely told he has terminal cancer]]. Two notable scenes are when Joker [[Lampshade|Lampshades]]s previous crises by desiring red skies for his plan, and Chuck Dixon spending the entire storyline effectively cursing out readers for asking why no one kills the Joker.

* ''[[Identity Crisis]]'', in 2004, was the first book to use "Crisis" in its title since ''Zero Hour''. It was a crossover, but not necessarily a ''crisis'' crossover -- incrossover—in fact, it was a very low-key murder mystery far more concerned with buried secrets and the personal lives of heroes than with blowing stuff up -- butup—but it did end up changing things, due to the nature of the secrets revealed rather than any cosmic shenanigans. It's also notable as it deretconed back into existence many [[Pre Crisis]] story lines from the Silver and Bronze ages, but at the same time made them [[Darker and Edgier]]. It turned B-list [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] Villain Dr. Light into a [[Memetic Molester|rapist]]; [[Retcon|revealing]] that his "bumbling" and "pathetic" status was the result of a magically induced lobotomy. The story was eventually revealed to be the first part of a trilogy to "explore the DC heroes" in which they were put up against "a very personal threat". Its repercussions were felt throughout [[The DCU]] (leading to mini-Crisis Crossovers such as ''[[Secret Six|Villains United]]'' and the ''Day of Judgement'' sequel ''[[Shadowpact (Comic Book)|Day of Vengeance]]'') until they coalesced in:

* ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'', released in 2005-2006. Refugees from the original ''Crisis'', who had been watching the DCU since, had decided that the events of ''Identity Crisis'' and the things that followed were the last straw, and returned to the universe to "set things right". As their version of setting things right involved destroying reality and replacing it with a "better" one, the current inhabitants of the DCU were less than pleased with the plan. Fighting ensued, and in the end a "soft reset" occurred -- someoccurred—some things were changed but by and large, continuity remained the same (except for the [[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]], which received its second complete reboot) -- and the multiverse, gone since the [[Pre Crisis]] days, returned. Served as the second act of the "Multiverse Trilogy" as the "rebuild of the Multiverse" and the second act of the "Exploration Trilogy" by "putting the greatest odds against the heroes". Was immediately followed by:

* ''[[Fifty Two52]]'': Basically the final act of the storyline of [[Identity Crisis]] and [[Infinite Crisis]] (story-wise). Innovative for it's use of real time continuity, tossing [[Comic Book Time]] out the window in favor of the ''[[Twenty Four24]]'' approach, published weekly, from May 2006 to May 2007, each issue represents a week of time in-universe, covering the "missing year" of the DCU, as after [[Infinite Crisis]], all books were jumped forward "One year later". Writen by a "dream team" of four writers ([[Geoff Johns]], [[Greg Rucka]], [[Mark Waid]], and [[Grant Morrison]] each of whom contributed something to each issue.) it also followed the lives of minor characters of the DCU while the "Big Three" Batman, Superman, and Wonderwoman took the year off for various reasons, Widely considered to be one of the greatest story lines of the [[Modern Age]]. It also introduced the Modern Batwoman, and Renee Montoya as [[The Question]].

* ''[[Countdown to Final Crisis]]'' (2007-2008): Meant to act as a bridge between 52 and Final Crisis. It's remembered as "one of the worst comic storylines of all time" riddled with plotholes and bad art.

* ''[[Final Crisis]]'' (2008): Picking up at the end of the year-long weekly series ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' and a mounting sense of crossover fatigue among fans, it faced an uphill battle, but the strength of its writer and artist ([[Grant Morrison]] and J. G. Jones) saw it through to sales success. The newly reincarnated Darkseid [[Rescued Fromfrom the Scrappy Heap|accomplishes his goal of ruling the human race]] as he unleashes the Anti-Life Equation on Earth, plunging Earth into a black hole that threatens to destroy the Multiverse. The heroes save all of existence, but at the high cost of several high profile casualties (including [[Martian Manhunter]] and [[Batman]]) and lots of dead civilians who died while Darkseid reigned. Served as the final acts of the "Multiverse Trilogy" ("the [[Title Drop|Final Crisis of the Multiverse]]") and the "Exploration Trilogy" ("the day that evil won").

** ''Final Crisis'' itself is a ''huge'' crossover dealing with multiple stories. In addition to the event proper, there was ''Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge'' where the Flash's [[Rogues Gallery]] reject Libra's invitation to the new [[Legion of Doom|Secret Society]] and kill the murderous speedster Inertia just before the events of Final Crisis begins; ''Final Crisis: Revelations'' which takes place during Darkseid's siege of a controlled Earth as seen by the Spectre and the Question; and ''Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds'' (taking place after all the previously listed ) which has the titular [[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|3 Legions]] fighting against Superboy-Prime and a new Time Trapper and his army of villains before being revealed as an older version of Prime, which ultimately lead to Prime returning powerless to his reconstructed Earth (but having to face the sins of his actions while in the Multiverse).

* 2009 brought us ''[[Blackest Night]]'', (following the events of the epic ''[[Sinestro Corps War]]'' storyline that [[Ensemble Darkhorse|proved to be infinitely more popular]] than the Countdown event that was happening at the same time.) the culmination of a prophecy first mentioned in an [[Alan Moore]] penned back-up strip in "Tales of the [[Green Lantern|Green Lantern Corps]]" back during the 80s. The best way to describe it is as [[Space Opera]] [[X Meets Y|meets]] [[Zombie Apocalypse]]. As dead super heroes, super villains, and their families and friends are brought back to life by Nekron, the various color corps from Geoff Johns' run on [[Green Lantern]] must put aside their differences and fight to protect all life in the universe. While being heavily [[Green Lantern]]-centric, it crosses over with the entire DCU. Most books had at least one issue involved with the event.

* 2011's crossover is ''[[Flashpoint (Comic Bookcomics)|Flashpoint]],'' which is to [[The Flash]] what ''[[Blackest Night]]'' was to [[Green Lantern]]. Barry Allen has woken up to find reality changed around him; now he needs to find out ''what the heck happened?'' His discovery of the truth behind the altered world quickly leads to [[New 52|a line-wide reboot on a scale]] not seen since the original ''Crisis''.

* Bringing the tradition into video games, ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'' has a plot along these lines with [[Darkseid]] being somehow and involuntarily [[Fusion Dance|merged]] ([[Amalgam Universe|for the]] [[Justice League Unlimited|third time]]), now with Shao Kahn into an [[Humanoid Abomination]] who grinds the two universes into destruction just by ''existing''. Midway considers it an [[Elseworld]] for the DC side of the story, though they did write the ''Kombat'' side so as to implicitly fit in between ''[[Mortal Kombat 3 (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat 3]]'' and ''[[Mortal Kombat 4 (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat 4]]'' (as well as hand it a [[Continuity Nod]] in ''[[Mortal Kombat 9 (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat 9]]'': the Training Mode description for Shang Tsung's M-rated [[Captain Ersatz]] version of [[The Joker]]'s gun fatality is "Shang Tsung has picked up a few tricks from previous opponents."). In real life, the crossover had the effect of [[Warner Bros]]., DC's parent company, being allowed to acquire Midway's ''Mortal Kombat'' division (now named Netherrealm Studios) when Midway went bankrupt.

* ''Worlds Collide'' was a major DC Comics / [[Milestone Comics]] crossover, which had to be handled carefully, since the DC characters were comics in the Milestone universe. It was a scintillating series in that the differences between similar characters such as [[Superman]] and [[Icon (Comic Book)|Icon]] were examined. Perhaps the most entertaining was the relationship between [[Hardware (Comic Bookcomics)|Hardware]] and [[Steel]], who had the same abilities and skills, but were on opposite sides of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]. Recently, Milestone was folded into the DC universe, which seems even more poignant after the passing of [[Dwayne McDuffie]].

* The year 2004 had a rather ''small scale'' but uniquely memorable crossover between Superman and... Wildstorm Comics, ''[[Thunder CatsThundercats]]''. As odd as that may sound. It was a one shot crossover called ''[[Superman and The Thundercats (Comic Book)|Superman and Thethe Thundercats]]'' It involed a [[No -Holds -Barred Beatdown]] fight between Superman and Lion-O {{spoiler|and later Mumm-Ra}}. The one responsible for the whole mess being {{spoiler|[[Reality Warper|Mxyzptlk]]... [[Excuse Plot|naturaly]].}}

=== [[Marvel Comics]] ===

** To be fair, a few things did change following ''Secret Wars''. She-Hulk joined the [[Fantastic Four]], the stage was set for Magneto to lead the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] (reinforcing [[Not So Different]] between him and Charles) in ''[[Secret Wars II]]'', and [[Spider -Man]] got a new costume. And while ''Secret Wars'' wasn't the metafictional masterpiece that Crisis was, it was a blast. Sometimes you buy a comic to read good guys fighting bad guys.

* In 1989 came the ''[[Inferno (Comic Book)|Inferno]]'' crossover, in which demons from Limbo staged an invasion of New York City. The storyline was mainly an X-Book storyline, as ''Inferno'' resolved longstanding plotlines involving Jean Grey's [[Cloning Blues|doppleganger]] Madelyne Pryor, the Madelyne/Cyclops/Jean Grey love triangle, and Illyana Rasputin's [[Apocalypse Maiden]], but the effects of the X-Over was felt in just about every Marvel book published at the time, leading to the introduction of a new Avengers roster, the Thing being restored to human form,<ref>this occurred post-Inferno, but was the result of the Human Torch going to his overpowered Nova Flame mode during Inferno and being unable to power down; when Ben was tossed into the machine being used to restore Johnny's normal state, Johnny emerged in full control of his flame, and Ben emerged a normal human</ref>, and the Jason Macendale Hobgoblin becoming half-demon (after getting his ass kicked by Harry Osborn, while dressed as Green Goblin).

** The first installment, ''[[Infinity Gauntlet]]'', did the idea of a crossover right; only a few books were part of the crossover and almost all of them were books with a good reason to be part of the crossover, mainly those that dealt with things of a magical or cosmic bent ([[Doctor Strange]], [[Quasar (comics)|Quasar]], etc) that the main mini-series was about to begin with. There were only a few anomalies that didn't quite fit, like the Hulk or Cloak & Dagger. Unfortunately, the sequels [[Infinity War]] and [[Infinity Crusade]], roped-in practically every single other Marvel title whether it worked or not.

* 2001 brought ''Maximum Security'', in which a whole mess of alien planets get together to keep all the superbeings we keep producing under control; however, instead of completely borrowing DC's plot for ''Invasion!'', they simply designate Earth as a penal colony, drop off the scum of the universe to keep the superheroes busy, and have a ship in orbit keep everyone from leaving. The plot sickens when Ego the Living Planet begins assimilating Earth as his new body. Yet again, it doesn't work out -- butout—but the Kree are given a new [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] gimmick... until the next [[Cosmic Retcon]].

** First the [[Bat Family Crossover]] ''Avengers Disassembled'', where [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] start getting attacked on all sides out of nowhere. It's eventually revealed that the assault came from the Scarlet Witch, whose powers had grown to [[Reality Warper]] levels and driven her mad. She's stopped and placed in the care of her family (Magneto and Quicksilver), but the losses are so great that the Avengers disband (though a new team forms shortly afterward after a mass supervillain breakout).

** 2005 followed up with ''[[House of M]]'', in which Quicksilver manipulates Scarlet Witch to create "a perfect world", which gets over-ridden by Magneto's concept of a "perfect world" being one ruled by mutants. After much fighting, Scarlet Witch comes to the decision that mutantkind still would create a world of violence and hate, and she promptly depowers 90% of the mutant community. At a stroke, mutant-kind is reduced from a population of millions with strong political and economic support to less than 200 frightened heroes on the verge of extinction.

** ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'', in 2006. The deaths of the New Warriors and the city of Stamford, Connecticut at the hands of Nitro leads to a backlash against all heroes and a political push to get heroes to register their secret identities with the US Government, via the Superhuman Registration Act. Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic decide to back the new law and lead the charge to do so, while Captain America leads the anti-registration side of the super-hero community, as he sees the whole Registration Act as a bad idea. Needless to say, it all ends in horror as Captain America is defeated, denounced as unpatriotic, and assassinated, and Iron Man being handed full-control over SHIELD.

** This is followed by ''[[World War Hulk]]'', the follow-up to the ''[[Incredible Hulk (Comic Book)|Incredible Hulk]]'' storyline ''[[Planet Hulk]]'' where, days before ''Civil War'' happened, Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic shoot Hulk into outer space (because, frankly, the conflict was gonna have enough problems ''without'' having to deal with the Hulk). He ends up on a hellish gladiator planet, which soon explodes due to the ship Hulk was sent on blowing up. Needless to say, Hulk is pissed and fans get five issues of Hulk delivering karmic beatdowns towards Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and just about anyone else who gets in his way.

** ''[[Secret Invasion]]'', 2008: After the ninja assassin Elektra is killed ([[Death Is Cheap|again]]), the Avengers discover that it's actually an alien impostor ''pretending'' to be Elektra. Both characters and fans quickly started wondering who ''else'' could be a fake, fueled by [[Word of God]] explaining that the infiltration went back for years. On top of all the problems from the last few [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]] (Captain America dead, the Avengers fractured and preoccupied with fighting each other rather than actual threats, and the X-Men have had their power drastically reduced), throw in the [[Paranoia Fuel|paranoia]] of double agents and it sure would be trouble if the aliens decided to invade now that every force that could be expected to stand up to them has been crippled... Ultimately, while Earth wins, Iron Man is still blamed for FUBARing the superhuman response, S.H.I.E.L.D. is dissolved, and control of the rest is handed over to the media darling who killed the Skrull queen; the leader of the [[Boxed Crook]] team the [[Thunderbolts]]: Norman Osborn. That's right, the [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Green Goblin]] is head of the government's superheroes. Yikes.

** This led to a pseudo-example called ''[[Dark Reign (Comic Bookcomics)|Dark Reign]]'', which details Osborns tenure as the leader of the [[Darker and Edgier]] SHIELD called HAMMER, during which time he sets up and leads his own [[Evil Counterpart]] to ''[[The Avengers]]'' (as well as the [[X -Men]] and a couple of others), dressing up psychotic supervillains to disguise themselves as the heroes, whilst pursuing an agressive domestic and foreign policy and consolidating his power by allying with major players like Loki Namor, Emma Frost and [[Doctor Doom]] ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|and the Hood]]), whilst once again starting to descend back into Goblin-related madness. [[Word of God]] is this was not an "event" like the previous examples but it did lead to many mini-crossovers as pretty much every Earth-bound hero found themselves in conflict with the maniac plus it ticks most of the boxes anyway (save that its longer), and its worth mentioning because the conclusion to it was...

** And finally in 2010, we have ''[[Siege (Comic Book)|Siege]]''. [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] had previously moved Asgard to Earth, and Osborn and Loki aren't happy (Osborn because it's foreign territory on US soil, Loki because Asgard isn't in its own realm where it belongs). So Loki convinces Osborn it would be a ''wonderful'' idea to take his army and ''attack gods''. Naturally, Thor and everyone connected with the Avengers goes ''"[[Oh No You Didn't]]!"'' and goes to kick his ass. But the real problem wound up being {{spoiler|the Sentry: immeasurably powerful, mentally unstable (to put it mildly), and Osborn's no longer holding his leash.}} In the end, Osborn is ousted and the resurrected Steve Rogers (no longer [[Captain America (comics)]]) takes his place, beginning "The Heroic Age" by ending Superhuman Registration, formally reuniting the fractured Avengers teams, and bringing the Big Three (himself, Thor, and Iron Man) together on the same side for the first time since before ''Avengers Disassembled''.

** Also, in 2011 has a smaller example in the form of ''[[Spider -Man|Spider Island]]'' which will see everyone in New York receive spider powers. While this would normally be a [[Bat Family Crossover]] or just a regular storyline in ''Amazing [[Spider-Man]]'', a multitude of tie in mini series and one shots focusing on everyone from the Avengers to the Kung Fu heroes as well as tie in issues running in the monthly titles of both ''Venom'' and ''[[The Incredible Hercules]]''.

* 2012 brings us ''[[Avengers vs. X-Men (Comic Book)|Avengers Vs. X-Men]]'', where the Phoenix Force is returning to Earth and has chosen Hope Summers as its new avatar, leading the two major [[Super Team|Super Teams]]s of the [[Marvel Universe]] to clash over whether this will mean the resurgence of mutantkind (for the X-Men) or the destruction of humans and mutants alike (for the Avengers). Epic [[Conflict Ball]] ensues.

* Outside of the grand arc stretching back to 2004 (''that'' sounds familiar), Marvel also releasing [[Crisis Crossover|Crisis Crossovers]] for its cosmic properties (i.e. alien races and space-borne heroes who can't be expected to care about the political squabbles on Earth):

** While not directly related, this is now being followed in 2009 by ''[[War of Kings]]''. Part-way spun out from ''Secret Invasion'', one of the people replaced by a Skrull was Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans. In response, the Inhumans decide they can't live in hiding any more, so their giant city on the moon blasts off for outer space, and after picking off several leftover Skrulls they conquer the remains of the Kree Empire, who created them in the first place. This sets up a war between the Kree Empire and the Shi'ar Empire, itself now under the heel of the psychopathic [[X -Men]] villain Vulcan, with the Nova Corps, the Starjammers and the Guardians of the Galaxy caught in the middle.

** 2010 now has ''[[The Thanos Imperative]]''. A superweapon detonated at the end of the war has opened a rift in space known as the Fault. On the other side is a parallel universe that has been taken over by [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s (called the "Cancerverse", after how the monsters spread and corrupt). The heroes will have to join forces with Thanos, who had [[Death Seeker|been granted the death he wished]] in ''Annihilation'' and was resurrected against his will in order to fight a universe where life has won over death.

* [[Ultimate Marvel]] had one with ''[[Ultimatum]]'', meant to be the last title in the Ultimate Universe before it got relaunched as Ultimate Comics in 2009. The plot involves Magneto plotting revenge on the Ultimates for the murder of the Scarlet Witch, [[Kill'Em All|killing absolutely everybody in the process]].

** In 2011, [[Ultimate Marvel]] had ''[[Tonight Someone Dies|The Death of Spider-Man]]'' where, well, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Spider-Man died]]. It's running through ''[[Ultimate Spider -Man]]'' and ''[[The Ultimates|Avengers vs. New Ultimates]]'', but is something of an odd case as thus far the series have only intersected once (Spidey got injured in an Avengers/Ultimates fight) and have since remained separate. Nonetheless, it'll prompt a second linewide relaunch.

** Marvel has officially accepted JLA/Avengers as canon, since references to it are made in the Marvel Universe Handbooks, without actually naming the DC characters, of course.

** The actual crossover itself was recently integrated fully (as in, no denying it anymore) into DC continuity with the release of ''Trinity'' #7, with the Avengers being referred to as the "Others"; you can even see what seems to be a silhouette of [[Captain America (comics)]] in one panel (though it's just as believable to think that was the [[Flash]] - it's left rather vague).

* And as long as we're being complete, there was the [[Amalgam Universe]] story, in which both the Marvel and the DC multiverses face annihilation -- andannihilation—and so the two multiverses were forcibly merged for a short time to keep their worlds alive. (Amalgam Dark Claw = DC [[Batman]] + Marvel [[Wolverine]]; Amalgam Super Soldier = DC [[Superman]] + Marvel [[Captain America (comics)]]; Amalgam Amazon = DC [[Wonder Woman]] + Marvel [[Storm]]; Amalgam Lobo The Duck = DC Lobo + Marvel [[Howard the Duck (Comic Bookcomics)|Howard the Duck]]; Amalgam Captain Marvel = DC [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] + Marvel [[Captain Mar -Vell]]; et multiple cetera.)

** The Amalgam Universe had its own crisis crossover: [[Secret Wars|Secret]] [[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths|Crisis]] of the [[Infinity Gauntlet|Infinity]] [[Zero Hour|Hour]].

* Subversion: New England Comics ran a ''Crisis on Finite [[The Tick (animation)|Tick]] Crossovers'', which featured all 3 titles in the [[The Tick (animation)|Tickverse]]. The editors explained that having only 3 comics severely limited the number of money-making crossovers they could do.

* Parodied in ''[[Top Ten]]'', where a character has an Ultra-Mouse infestation in his mother's apartment. So, he hires the EX-VERMINATOR, who releases Atom Cats to deal with them, but with so many super-powered creatures in such a confined space, it turned into a "Whole Secret Crisis-War Crossover Thing" which eventually [[Cosmic Retcon|rewrote the time line]] so the Ultra-Mouse infestation never happened, and nobody even remembers it -- exceptit—except the EX-VERMINATOR, [[Shaggy Dog Story|who is thus pissed nobody will pay him]].

* Though ''[[Astro City]]'' is the only series in its continuity and thus incapable of crossovers, they still managed to play with this one. In "The Nearness of You", a man becomes increasingly obsessed about a woman who keeps appearing in his dreams. It turns out it's because a minor villain caused a [[Temporal Paradox]] that threatened the universe and required all of the heroes to stop it -- andit—and the woman is his wife who [[Ret -Gone|ceased to exist]] in the repaired timestream. Yes, the [[Crisis Crossover]] is relegated to a ''background reference.''

* ''When Bongos Collide'' was a crossover of Bongo Comics, which publish comics based on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It included ''Itchy & Scratchy'' #3, ''The Simpsons'' #5, and ''Bartman'' #3. It can be read in ''Bartman: The Best of the Best'' collection. Also, there were two series of ''Simpsons/[[Futurama]]'' crossover comics -- whichcomics—which reaffirm the [[Mutually Fictional]] nature of the two shows in the other's universe (though the crossovers take place in the ''Futurama'' universe, because it'd be easier to use its sci-fi nature to use the [[Trapped in TV Land]] and [[Refugee From TV Land]] plots to allow the meetings).

* In 2008, the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] got in on the act with ''Vector'', which told a single story starting in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', then moving in chronological order through Dark Horse's four ''[[Star Wars]]'' titles, before ending in a [[Wham! Episode]] in ''[[Star Wars Legacy]]''. And it was really good, too.

* The now-defunct [[Eclipse Comics]] got into the act with ''Total Eclipse'', written by Marv Wolfman. The story involved a villain named Zzed[sic], who was born many millenia ago during an event called the Total Eclipse (all the planets and moons of the Solar System aligned with thousands of planets, moons and stars across the galaxy). As a result, he has been [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|cursed with immortality]], and seeks only his own death, which he can only achieve by destroying all creation. [[Omnicidal Maniac|He has no problem with that at first.]] Unique in being the only [[Crisis Crossover]] to feature appearances by Miracle Man, [[Airboy]], Ms. Tree and Beanish of ''Tales of the Beanworld''.

* The long awaited [[War Of The Independents]] mini-series brings together creator-own characters as diverse as [[Gumby]], [[The Tick (animation)]], [[Scud the Disposable Assassin]], [[Cerebus]], [[Shi]], [[Bone]] and [[Hack Slash|Hack/Slash]]. Some of the same characters also appeared previously in the [[Normalman]]/MegatonMan special, [[Gen 13]] ABC, and [[Shi]]/[[Cyblade]]: The Battle for Independents.

** There is also [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|''Image United'']] a series which brings together not only Image's iconic characters, but also their creators to personally draw them in each appearance.

* Zenescope is currently in the middle of it's first ever [[Crisis Crossover]], ''The [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Dream Eater]] Saga''. A threat so major that even [[Card-Carrying Villain|Belinda]] and [[Ax Crazy|The Queen of Hearts]] are fighting against it.

* Boom! Comics was losing the license to the [[Disney Afternoon]] comics, so they went out with a bang. As such, ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animationanimation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' and ''[[DuckDuckTales Tales(1987)]]'' are crossed over for the last arc of the respective series.

* The 2nd part of the ''[[Time Bokan]]'' OVA in 1993 involves the Dorombo Gang from ''[[Yatterman (Anime)|Yatterman]]'' invading a city populated by other [[Tatsunoko Production]] characters, and who should show to stop them but the [[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]], Casshern, Hurricane Polymar, and Tekkaman?

* ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' features characters, [[Spin Offspring]], [[Expy|Expys]]s, and/or cameos from more or less everything [[CLAMP]] has ever written.

* ''[[Digimon Xros Wars: the Young Hunters Leaping Through Time (Anime)|Digimon Xros Wars theThe Young Hunters Leaping Through Time]]'' has one in it's final few episodes.

** Can also be applied to ''[[Scary Movie]]'' and it's sequels.

** It seems that [[Crisis Crossover|mashup]] parody movies is becoming a genre on itself.

* [[The Avengers (Filmfilm)|The Avengers]] movie in 2012 is a crisis crossover for all [[Marvel Cinematic Universe|Marvel Studios movies]] starting with 2008's [[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]]. However, this was the plan from the very start, as it was first set up in [[The Stinger]] of [[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]] and just building with each new film released in the next three years.

== [[Literature]] ==

* A [[Jane Austen]] version happens in ''[[Death Comes to Pemberley]]''. Wickham's situation ends up briefly binding ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' with ''[[Persuasion]]'' and ''[[Emma. (novel)|Emma]]''.

* ''[[Star Trek: Destiny]]'': An epic (and we do mean epic) trilogy of novels of the [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]], bringing together characters from ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|The Next Generation]]'', ''Titan'', ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'', ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' and ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' to tell the story of the apocalyptic final war between the Federation and the Borg.

* The [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'', ''The Last Hope'' is as close as you can get to a self-contained [[Crisis Crossover]], with loads of screentime for all past and present protagonists, the final battles with all the past villains, and cameos by nearly every ThunderClan cat from the [[Warrior Cats the Original Series|first arc]].

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' had the two-part Series 4 finale crossing over with spinoffs ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' and ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures (TV)|The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', and also brings in almost all of the Doctor's companions to appear in the revived series to date.

** Anniversary series ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (TV)|Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'' is explicitly shown through [[Time Travel]] in episode 40 to take place in the universe where the seasonal crossovers are set.

** ''[[Kamen Rider Xx Super Sentai: SuperThe HeroGreat TaisenSuperhero (Film)War|Kamen Rider X Super Sentai Super Hero Taisen]]'' is starting to look like this as well, with ''Decade'''s [[Legion of Doom|Dai-Shocker]] being ressurected, with their opposite number being the similarly-structured Dai-Zangyack Fleet {{spoiler|1=led by GokaiRed of the ''Gokaigers''}}. Both the Super Sentai 199 and the All Riders are at the very middle, wondering just what is going on.

* The ''[[Old World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|Old World of Darkness]]'' had a few thematic ones toward the end of its line, but an official one with the [[Time Of Judgment]] series of books, officially ending the old settings.

* ''[[The King of Fighters (Video Game)|The King of Fighters]]'' series of fighting games is a Crisis Crossover for [[SNK]] Playmore, featuring characters from ''[[Art of Fighting]]'', ''[[Fatal Fury (Video Game)|Fatal Fury]]'', ''[[Ikari Warriors (Video Game)|Ikari Warriors]]'' and ''[[Psycho Soldier (Video Game)|Psycho Soldier]]'', as well as creating several characters exclusive to the series (Iori Yagami, Kyo Kusanagi, and [[SNK Boss]] Rugal Bernstein being the most notable).

** The original plan for the overarching storyline was apparently to tie the entire series into the [[After the End]] settings of of games like ''[[Psycho Soldier (Video Game)|Psycho Soldier]]'', ''[[Fatal Fury (Video Game)|Garou: Mark of the Wolves]]'', and ''[[Fuun Series|Savage Reign]]'', but once the stories of the original characters began overshadowing those of the [[Canon Immigrant|canon immigrants]], most of that was retconned.

* The Subspace Emissary story mode in ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl''. It involves all of Nintendo's major heroes teaming up to stop the titular Subspace Emissary from destroying the ''Smash Bros.'' universe. However, unlike the typical Crisis Crossover, this explicitly takes place in an [[Alternate Continuity]] where the characters are all trophies that come to life and fight.

* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' has the evil god Chaos revive villains from ''[[Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|Final Fantasy I]]'' through ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'' in an attempt to sieze the Crystals and change history. Chaos' opposite number, the goddess Cosmos, calls on the heroes from the same games to unite and save the universe.

* ''[[Gundam vs. Series|Gundam Vs. Gundam NEXT]]'' has the [[G Gundam|Devil Gundam]] come to life and take over arcade games representing the entire ''[[Gundam]]'' franchise from [[Mobile Suit Gundam|the original series]] through ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', forcing the characters to team up to deal with the threat.

* This is arguably how ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' works, except it's ''also'' a Crisis Crossover between entirely separate companies. A more conventional Crisis Crossover would be the case if [[Gao Gai GarGaoGaiGar]] and Betterman ever were in the same game, since they were in the same Universe to begin with.

* The ''[[Nicktoons Unite!]]'' series serve as this for [[Nickelodeon]], with [[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]], [[Danny Phantom]], [[Jimmy Neutron]] and one or two other universes deal with a multiuniversal threat, differing each game.

* Inverted in ''[[Poker Night At the Inventory (Video Game)|Poker Night At the Inventory]]'', where Strong Bad, Max, The Heavy, and Tycho (from ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Homestar Runner]]'', ''[[The Adventures of Sam and& Max: Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'', ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'', and ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' respectively) team up to [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|play poker]].

* The most recent games in the ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom]]'' series are this for both Marvel and Capcom.

** The original ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes]]'' reused the plot of the ''Onslaught'' saga and adding in Capcom characters.

** ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom 2]]'' has a more straightforward plot where Ruby Heart was gathering characters from both companies to deal with [[Omnicidal Maniac|Abyss]].

** ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Video Game)|Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' will have a more involved plot, written by Marvel writers no less, detailing a threat which the heroes (and some [[Designated Hero|villains]]) must fight to save both universes.

* ''[[Mushroom Kingdom Fusion]]'' takes over a dozen video game mastcots and puts them all into a single game.

* In late 2008, ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' had most of its separate "themes" converge when [[Meanwhile in Thethe Future|simultaneous]] [[Temporal Paradox|paradoxes]] occur and the universe imploded. Eventually the characters managed to restart the universe, but most themes suffered a [[Continuity Reboot]] in the process.

* ''[[Least I Could Do]]'' parodied this with the storyline "Ultimate Final Civil War Invasion Crisis Thing", where the gaming webcomics (including ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' and ''[[Ctrl +Alt +Del]]'') are attempting to take out the "straight comedy" comics and reassert their dominance. Receives several [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]], such as when [[Questionable Content|Faye]] calls the plot weak, and Rayne counters "[[Final Crisis|So was a cosmic vampire, but that didn't stop]] [[DC Comics|DC]]."

* When Emily and Tesrin of ''[[All Over the House]]'' [http://www.alloverthehouse.net/2009/12/04/unscheduled-stop/ crash-landed]{{Dead link}} in ''[[The Life of Nob T. Mouse]]'', it kick-started a crossover that changed both comics permanently.

* ''[[The Crossoverlord (Webcomic)|The Crossoverlord]]'' is one between several superhero webcomics, including ''[[Lightbringer (web comic)|Lightbringer]]'', ''[[Mechagical Girl Lisa ANTA.N.T.]]'' , ''[[MindmistressMind Mistress]]'', ''[[Dasien (Webcomic)|Dasien]]'' and Dead Debbie from ''Indefensible Positions''. The sequel, ''[[Crossoverkill (Webcomic)|Crossoverkill]]'', retains Mindmistress and adds [[Energize]], Yuuki from ''Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki'', [[Essay Bee Comics Presents Fusion|Fusion]], Captain Perfect from ''[[Bad Guy High]]'', [[Majestic Knight]] and [[Magellan|Hoodoo]].

* Several in ''[[Marvels RPG]]''.

* ''[[Turtles Forever]]'': It deals with the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 (Animation)|2000 Shredder]] returning from his exile, taking over the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|1980s Shredder's]] [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|Technodrome]], and, after learning of the [[The Multiverse|TMNT Multiverse]], he plans to go conquer it, until [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|he learns that]] ''there are teams of TMNT in each and every reality''. He goes after the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage (Comic Book)|original Mirage Turtles]] in order to destroy all the Turtles, and three seats of Turtle Teams set off to stop him.

* The Phoenix Saga of the ''[[X-Men (Animationanimation)|X-Men]]'' animated series was a borderline example. Although there were no actual team ups, it used appearances of other [[Marvel Comics]] characters to emphasise the seriousness of the whole thing. [[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Captain Britain]] and [[Doctor Strange]] were seen reacting to the Phoenix and [[Spider-Man]] (albeit only his silhouette and his hand) and [[Iron Man|War Machine]] were seen protecting civilians in [[Big Applesauce|New York]]. In the sequel, the Dark Phoenix Saga, Doctor Strange briefly appeared again, along with [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]], a Watcher and Eternity.

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]