Shared Universe: Difference between revisions

 

'''Note: just because two or more works have had a [[Crossover]] does not mean that they share a universe.'''

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* A truly bizarre case is ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'' and ''[[Betterman]]'', which take place in the same universe despite the former being a [[Super Robot]] [[Reconstruction]] and the later a [[Real Robot]] horror series.

* ''[[Cromartie High School]]'' and ''[[Di Gi Charat]]''

* Studio Trigger has done this with their series [[Space Patrol Luluco]], where it's established that each one of their series takes place on their own planet.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Virtually all of the early [[Image Comics]] titles were set in the same universe, with the stars of any given book often making guest appearances in another. However, one of the core ideas of the company was and always has been creator ownership. This caused a [[Continuity Snarl]] no less than ''twice''; Once, when [[Rob Liefeld]] picked up his characters and left to create Awesome Comics (though he returned after Awesome folded), and again when Jim Lee took ''his'' properties, which encompassed about half a dozen titles, and made his Wildstorm Studios into a DC imprint.

** Currently, ''[[Invincible]]'' shoulders a lot of weight when it comes to establishing a larger Image universe. Characters from Kirkman's other books popping up frequently, and big events (like the funeral of the Guardians of the Globe or the Invincible War) feature just about anyone who's anyone in the company at the time. At one point Mark was even a member of the Pact, a team consisting of him, [[Noble Causes|Zephyr Noble]], [[Fire Breather]], and Shadowhawk.

 

== Fan Fiction ==

* The AU ''Shadowverse'' stories about [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] characters Lutecia and Vivio, created by [[Radiant Beam]], also involve many other writers who write about secondary characters in that universe. Each of the various authors tend to write around different themes (spy-thriller, emotional drama, political-thriller, etc) despite writing in the same AU.

* More than a decade after the release of ''Under The Bridge'', ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' fan fiction writers love to include enough elements from ''[[The Nowakverse]]'' into stories of their own, especially the main original characters.

 

== Film ==

 

== Literature ==

* The [[Cthulhu Mythos]] is a famous example of this; professional fanfiction set in his world is not only published, but was also acknowledged and supported by Lovecraft before his death.

* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] linked [[The Space Trilogy|his world]] to his friend Tolkien's [[The Silmarillion|universe]] in ''That Hideous Strength''.

* The Midnight Rose collective, a group of British SF writers, published several shared-universe anthologies in the early 1990s, with settings including ''[[Temps]]'' (tongue-in-cheek superhero stories) and ''The Weerde'' (shape-shifting aliens are the source of all the world's myths and conspiracies). Contributors included [[Stephen Baxter]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Mary Gentle]], [[David Langford]], [[Kim Newman]], and [[Charles Stross]].

* All of Simon R Green's series appear to inhabit the same universe

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' and ''[[Eureka]]'' share a universe with ''[[Alphas]]''.

* ''[[CSI]]'', ''CSI: NY'', ''CSI:Miami'', ''[[Cold Case]]'' and ''[[Without a Trace]]'' are all in the same universe.

* All the ''[[Law and Order]]'' series share a world with ''[[Homicide: Life On the Street]]'', due to [[John Munch]].

* The Filmways-produced ''[[Petticoat Junction]]'' and ''[[Green Acres]]'' were both set in the town of Hooterville, and characters from each gravitated to the other fairly regularly.

* "The Girls Of Hollywood High," the second of ''two'' [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot|Poorly Disguised Pilots]] (for a proposed series about Texan private detectives called ''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|Eyes Of Texas]]'') which aired as ''BJ And The Bear'' episodes, established that this shares a universe with another Glen A. Larson series - at one point the female PIs pay a visit to the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. John S. Ragin and Robert Ito turn up as the characters they play on that particular series, but Jack Klugman, alias ''[[Quincy]]'', is conspicuously ([[Creative Differences|and given how he felt about Glen Larson understandably]]) absent.

 

== Multi-Type ==

* [[Older Than Steam]]: Perhaps the oldest non-mythology example is the ''Jianghu'' (literally "rivers and lakes") fantasy world in which most Chinese [[Wuxia]] books, films, TV series, etc. are set. Jianghu dates at least to the 14th-century novel ''[[Water Margin]]''.

* Each ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' campaign setting is its own [[The Verse|'Verse]] (See the page on D&D for more information), and the associated novels have many different authors, though - like the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] - the writers usually have to clear their ideas through the universe's owner.

** ''Dungeons and Dragons'' also has all of the settings linked in ''[[Planescape]]'' and ''[[Spelljammer]]'', but those are rarely mentioned as existing except for their own continuities.

* [[Broderbund Software]] tried to work the Bungeling Empire into most of its early 1980s action games. ''Choplifter'' and ''[[Lode Runner]]'' had it [[All There in the Manual]]; ''Raid on Bungeling Bay'' had it in the title but wasn't really a sequel to anything.

* ''[[Space Harrier]]'' is set in the Fantasy Zone; several ''[[Fantasy Zone]]'' games reference it to various degrees. The culmination of this was the unreleased crossover game ''Space Fantasy Zone''.

 

== Webcomics ==

* Webcomics tend to be chock full of [[Crossover]]s and [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]], but very few non-[[Spin-Off]] comics have Shared Universes. Among those that do:

** ''[[Something Positive]]'' and ''[[Queen of Wands]]/[[Punch and Pie]]''

** Ryan North believes that his ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]'' and Andrew Hussie's ''[[Homestuck]]'' share a universe.

** The [[[International Comic Continuity]] International [[Comic Continuity]]] was created specifically to make a Shared Universe.

 

== Web Original ==

* "In My World" and "Inspector Dan Rather" seem to take place in the same over-the-top-ridiculous universe, although they are told from very different points of view and rarely overlap. [http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2004/09/rather_blames_r.html The only "Inspector Dan Rather" story not told from Rather's delusional point-of-view] seems to confirm this.

* Several "imprints" on the superhero fiction newsgroup rec.arts.comics.creative, notably the [[Legion of Net.Heroes]] and [[Academy of Superheroes]].

 

== Western Animation ==