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{{trope}}
[[File:mutually_fictional_4153.jpg|link=Xkcd (Webcomic)|right]]
 
This is a special kind of crossover trope, where the characters from Show A will enter the universe of Show B--both shows of which are "real" to us. In other words, neither is a [[Show Within a Show]]. In addition to finding out that they're trapped in the universe of Show B, the characters of Show A discover that they themselves are the subject of a Show A in the universe of Show B. The characters from Show A are, in essence, ''simultaneously'' [[Trapped in TV Land]] and a [[Refugee From TV Land]]. This isn't [[Welcome to The Real World]], since both universes are depicted as being [[Up the Real Rabbit Hole|equally "real"]].
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Once upon a time, [[Milestone Comics]] and [[DC Comics]]' [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] [[Bat Family Crossover|books]] participated in a [[Crisis Crossover]], ''Worlds Collide''. The ''Blood Syndicate'' (essentially a [[Villain Protagonist|streetgang with powers]]) were the first Milestone characters to meet Superman, and although they thought he was just a local wannabe, they all immediately knew who Superman was, what he could do, etc. because Superman was a comic book character in the Milestone 'verse. ("Does your mama know you left the house looking like Clark Kent?!"). Superman doesn't have the same benefits, realistically, since the Milestone Comics characters were hardly a household name, and he's not much of a comic fanboy.
** [[Static (Comic Bookcomics)|Static]], an [[Ascended Fanboy]], lampshades this; he drops his knowledge of [[Post-Crisis]] Superboy's history, and explains "I read all your comic books! Don't ''you'' read all of ''my'' comic books? (Do I ''have'' comic books?)"
** In the wake of a [[Cosmic Retcon]], the two universes have now been merged with a new, shared history. Only a handful of people (including Superman) remember that they were ever separate.
* This happens to Superman a lot; it used to be that DC/Marvel crossovers operated under the conceit that the characters, if they didn't know of each other, at least operated in the same reality for the duration of the Crossover (Spider-man/Batman, for example), but after ''DC vs. Marvel/Marvel vs. DC'', they were explicitly separate realities. It is true that the Fantastic Four knew of Superman from the events of that crossover in ''Superman/Fantastic Four'', it was also established that Ben Grimm and Franklin Richards knew of Superman from the exploits of his comic book counterpart.
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== [[Fan Fiction]] ==
* [[Fanfic]] author Jared "Skysaber" Ornstead used this trope to invert the [[Self-Insert Fic]] trope of [[Author Avatar|Author Avatars]] knowing everything about the [[Trapped in Another World|worlds they visit]]; there's always a [[Show Within a Show]] based on his life in each one, and at least one of the characters is guaranteed to be a fan.
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' and ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]'' crossover [[Fanfic]] "Fictional", Harry is a servant created by Caster from the book series. A big part of the plot is Harry coming to terms that all of his hardships were [[Title Drop|fictional]] and how to deal with it after the obligatory freak out. And you know, deal with being a slave (*cough* Servant). Did I mention that he also has to hide his scar, because other people freak out when they meet Harry Potter too?
 
== [[Film]] ==
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"Yes, if you like," said Alice. }}
* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[The Number of the Beast]]'' introduces the concept of the "World as Myth" which supposes that all fictional universes are equally real and, moreover, are accessible to one another via interdimensional travel. The act of authorship is what creates said universes, which leads to the interesting notion that the characters in any given universe may be controlled, at any given moment, by an Author from another. Or that characters could, in theory, meet their own Author. The novel concludes in a [[Massively Multiplayer Crossover]] whereby the protagonists host a convention of characters from nearly every [[Science Fiction]] and [[Fantasy]] universe ever.
** The subsequent novels ''[[The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Literature)|The Cat Who Walks Through Walls]]'' and ''[[To Sail Beyond the Sunset (Literature)|To Sail Beyond the Sunset]]'' run with the concept to its logical conclusion, in which the characters wage running pandimensional battles against groups of agents from other realities, all competing to see which can rewrite history to their whims.
* [[Philip K. Dick|Philip K. Dick's]] ''[[The Man in Thethe High Castle]]'' contains a rather odd example. The novel is an [[Alternate History]] describing a hypothetical timeline in which the Axis won [[WWII]] and conquered the United States. And in the novel's 'verse exists another novel ''The Grasshopper Lies Heavy'', which is itself an [[Alternate History]] novel describing [[Real Life|a hypothetical timeline in which the Allies won WWII]].
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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