It's more of a case of old unused character concepts being brought back, but I am in the middle of rewriting the Comic stuff anyway.
Trying to Please Everyone: Or Converting multiple Pop Culture Utopias into a Timeline.
- Thread starter Marco Incognito
- Start date
History of the DC Universe(The Iron Age): 1985-1989
History of the DC Universe: The Iron Age
The successful revitalization of the Silver Age Teen Titans led DC's editors to look for ways to do the same to other characters. The result was the Wolfman/Pérez 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Designed to revitalize the characters and help to retcon several complicated backstory and continuity errors. It was also DC's 50th Anniversary. Different alternate Universes had been introduced with Earth one being the setting of the Golden Age stories and Earth Two as the setting of the Silver Age stories. This was seen as confusing as readers often found it difficult to keep track of the two versions and the continuity of the two separate worlds. It was decided the two would be merged into one world with a new history. The Multiverse would also be simplified.
Several alternate universes had been introduced in the past 50 years. Some would become common tropes such as Earth three, in which Heroes and Villains were reversed, or Earth X where the Axis had won World War II. Others were intentionally created by DC to represent the Universes of other companies in the event of crossovers and later when those companies were merged into DC. This included Charlton Comics and Quality Comics. With Fawcett no longer able to support itself outside the UK, the rights to Captain Marvel were sold. Marvel Comics(wanting to have a character with that name and banking on his popularity) and DC(wanting to absorb an old competitor) both placed their bets. The bidding process occurred during DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and the bidding swung in DC's favor. Captain Marvel appeared in a few issues of Marvel's Captain Britain series and that was it, culminating in a small cameo where he was depicted being killed off by that arc's enemy the Fury, who murdered all the Heroes of another Universe. DC fully integrated Fawcett and made the "Fawcett Universe" Earth 5 in the Multiverse. Earth 5 had previously been the setting for a story in which Batman was sent to an alternate world to stop his parent's killer, indirectly inspiring Earth 5's Bruce Wayne to become Batman. It was also previously confirmed that Krypton did not exist in that Universe(or had been destroyed with no survivors). This explained why there was a lack of Superheroes aside from the Marvel family on that Earth. Earth 8. meanwhile had through crossovers been confirmed to be the Marvel Universe.
The Anti-Monitor fights heroes from multiple Earths.
Crisis on Infinite Earths begins with a massive wave on Antimatter destroying Earth 3. The Supervillain counterparts of the Justice League, the Crime Syndicate, attempt to save as many people as they can, commenting on the irony of their last moments spent being heroes while their lives were spent as villains. Luthor and his wife Lois send their son, Alexander Luthor Jr, into another universe to protect him as the universe is destroyed. He is adopted by the Monitor and grows quickly under his care. The Monitor recruits several heroes and villains alike to place "Tuning Forks" across the Universe and across time to protect them from the Anti-matter wave released by his alternate universe counterpart, the Anti-Monitor. This brings in characters from across DC's history, as heroes from each time period such as World War II, the Wild West, and various Pasts and Futures. When the villain Dr.Light is killed, the Monitor takes his powers and gives them to the Japanese Businesswoman Kimiyo Hoshi, as light is needed to power the Pillars at the right moment. The Monitor is killed when the Anti-Monitor possesses his assistant Harbringer, but this turned out to be part of his plan. His death allows him to give his life force to merge Earth one and Earth Two, sparing both. Other Universes also begin to merge, bringing those worlds into conflict. A group of Heroes travels to engage the Anti-Monitor in battle. They are able to force him to retreat but at the cost of the Silver Age Superman's life. This led to the original Superman taking up the mantle.
Believing the Anti-Monitor to be dead, the gathered Super villains from each world launch a massive attack on the alternate universes now that they are all threatening to merge. Barry Allen, the Flash, having followed the Anti-Monitor, is able to sabotage the Anti-Monitor's cannon, which had it fired, would have destroyed the Universe, dying in the process. The Spectre interrupts the fighting between the Heroes and the Villains, revealing the Anti-Monitor to still be a threat. The Heroes and villains team up. The villains go to prevent the experiment by the scientist Krona which originally created the multiverse and with it the Anti-Monitor, while the Heroes go to battle the Anti-Monitor at the Big Bang before he could prevent the universe from coming into existence. An explosion occurs and the Heroes are knocked back. The Villains also fail, being subdued by the Oans. The Anti-Monitor makes one final devastating assault on Earth where he is finally defeated.
In the aftermath, the new History incorporated legacy into the new Universe Post Crisis. Several writers wrote final stories to the original universe, which were released under the banner of Zero Crisis, the idea being that those stories are how the Universe would have unfolded had there been no Crisis to alter history. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster returned to pen The Last Superman Story. Originally intended to be the conclusion to the Silver Age Superman, it was instead decided to be the end of the original Golden Age Superman that the duo had created, because Alan Moore demanded he write such as story(OTL he allegedly threatened to kill Curt Swan if he didn't get to write it). Moore was appeased by being given permission to write a story for the Silver Age Superman's ending: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? At the same time, Frank Miller penned, The Dark Knight Returns, as an ending to the silver age Batman. All the "Zero Crisis" Stories took place on the newly Designated Earth 3, while the Crime Syndicate and their world was labeled as "Earth minus one."
For Barry Allen's last story(as he had died in the Crisis), The Trial of the Flash was released. Cary Bates had several plans which he was able to implement after Crisis on Infinite Earths due to the permission to write the "What If Barry Allen Survived?" story as part of Zero Crisis. It included Flash being found guilty of a crime he didn't commit and going "on the run." This kicked off a new story arc which had Flash continuing to do his good deeds as a wanted man with an arrest warrant hanging over his head. Bates liked "the delicious irony of a Flash who ends up joining his own Rogues Gallery." An extra issue helped show the Flash's life continue as if he had not died, showing the family he had with Iris. Bittersweet after the character's death in the Crisis.
Cover to the Trial of the Flash
Hardcover
To introduce the new Universe, a series titled The History of the DC Universe was released. The series was written by several creators including John Byrne and Frank Miller. In this new reality, Superman and Batman were legacy characters. Superman and Lois married and had two children, Jonathan and Lara. Jonathan had a career as Superboy growing up in the 50's before becoming Superman II in the 1960's. Lex Luthor also had a son, allowing his normal role to be taken while Luthor became the Ultra-Humanite in this new setting. The older Superman and Lois came to reside on the Kent farm while Jonathan Kent as Superman II had his own adventures in Metropolis. Part of Jonathan's backstory involved him fighting in Vietnam and falling in love while recovering from his wounds as he had not yet reached the full extent of his powers. This meant Jonathan Kent had a girlfriend and Fiancee named Lei Mei. Kara Kent meanwhile acted as Supergirl in this reality, her personality being very different from the original. She has black hair instead of blonde. Later on she changed her name to Power Woman when she became an adult in universe, this is due to the characters now aging in real time.
Batman went through a similar transformation. In this new continuity he was previously married to Julie Madison and fathered, a son, Bruce Wayne Jr, with her. However, his attraction to Selina Kyle, Catwoman, led to their divorce with Bruce Wayne Jr remaining in his custody. In the 1960's, The first Robin, Richard Grayson, became the new Batman while Bruce Wayne Jr became became Robin II. Dick Grayson was still a former member of the Teen Titans, and was married to Starfire.
The DC Universe was divided between Pre-Crisis and Post Crisis given the massive changes to the company. Many consider this the start of the Iron Age.
The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, two of the most influential Graphic Novels in Comic History, both debuted at around the same time.
The House of Thunder from Twilight of the Superheroes
Alan Moore also popularized the character of Swamp Thing. After he left that book, Rick Veitch took over as of issue #64. He was able to get in a story in issue #88 in which Swamp Thing is revealed to be the cupbearer who offered Jesus water when he called for it from the cross. When Veitch left the book in 1989, Neil Gaiman took over and initiated a crossover featuring all of the DC Universe's plant-themed heroes and villains. Seeds for this had already been planted in a couple of Gaiman-written comic issues featuring Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue. This led to a reformation for Poison Ivy, since she could not longer claim to fight for plant life when Swamp Thing, the Avatar of the Green, fought to save humanity. Poison Ivy thus reformed and eventually began a relationship with Harley Quinn in the 90's. Moore also wrote for the Question for a time, ironically making the character more like Rorschach and telling a story of the hero trying to prevent a father from murdering his own daughter(This story is similar to an OTL Vigilante story written by Moore, now it features the Question instead, who is more brutal. This story also butterflies away the controversial The Question #26 in which the Question let a murderer fo simply because it was Christmas).
The late 1980's saw the cancellation of several long running World War II Comics that had been running since the 1960's, many of which had grown to over 100 issues such as Sgt. Rock, G.I. Combat, The Unknown Soldier, and Weird War Tales. The reason for this was simple, the Cold War was ending, and peace was on everyone's mind.
After the Crisis, DC released several mandates. There was no plan to bring back Barry Allen as many of the writers believed this would sour his death. Wally West would continue to be the Flash(No new 52 Wally West is introduced ITTL). Bart Allen was introduced as the perpetual kid Sidekick and new Kid Flash, though he would get his own series after he became old enough to become the Flash, taking over from Wally. A DC editorial mandate was handed down concerning the Joker. The Joker had recently made three Iconic appearances, The Dark Knight Returns, the Killing Joke, and A Death in the Family. In those stories he had been killed, crippled Barbara Gordon, and murdered the second Robin Jason Todd. DC felt that using him too much took away from the character's appeal and feared oversaturation. Originally he would only appear in big events in Batman's life or in cameos, though this only applied to Comics. Other media appearances were fair game. Another rule was that Joker's origin could never be confirmed, as it added to his mystery. However, a surprising idea was greenlit. The Joker would die in the event Last Laugh. This choice was made largely due to the feared oversaturation of the character and he was given a final send off, where he is accidentally killed while Batman was trying to save a young boy named Tim Drake from being turned into a mini Joker.
Science Fiction Writer Larry Niven took over Green Lantern and wrote "The Green Lantern Bible", which established the Post-Crisis history of the Green Lantern Corps, and incorporated hard science fiction concepts into the Green Lantern mythos. This almost included making Guy Gardner an alien but this was cut. The Mandate basically made the Bible law for a time until Gaiman would receive permission to contradict the contents.
The event known as Legends depicted Darkseid, now only a spirit following his death, attacking Earth by having his henchman Glorious Godfrey turn mankind against the Superheroes, using his ability to control anyone who hears his voice, and then sending Brimstone to attack Earth. This led to the formation of the Suicide Squad as well as a New Justice League made to answer to the UN called Justice League International. Kevin Maguire was pulling double duty on this series and the Wild Card Series with Kurt Busiek, which introduced the titular new Superhero(who fittingly would have the Joker as a villain prior to his death, along with the Royal Flush Gang).
DC became a Subsidiary of Time Warner in March 1989. The company began publishing hardcover series and collections or important issues in a character's run following the success of the Batman films. This also led to old and rare stories being seen by fans when included in these collections and a preservation effort began, leading to color restoration by long time colourist Bob LeRose. This also led to a rise in some of the more unrecognized talent.
British writers such as Moore, Gaiman and Morrison had been gaining traction in the Comic Industry since 1984, and had gotten their start writing Non Superhero-and Horror franchises, leading to a revival of those genres. The resurgence of more sophisticated horror-fantasy led DC to launch the Vertigo imprint for mature readers in 1993.
British writers such as Moore, Gaiman and Morrison had been gaining traction in the Comic Industry since 1984, and had gotten their start writing Non Superhero-and Horror franchises, leading to a revival of those genres. The resurgence of more sophisticated horror-fantasy led DC to launch the Vertigo imprint for mature readers in 1993.
Last edited:
Sonic in Film & TV: 1994-2015
Sonic in Film & TV
Sonic the Hedgehog(1993-1994)
Sonic SatAM debuted in 1993. All characters more or less resembled their OTL counterparts except for a more fully cyborg Bunnie and a non cowardly Antione, being much more bold ITTL. Super Sonic also appears ITTL. The intro us also different. The show continued towards a season three, with Snively working with Ixis Naugus as the main villains. A new character is introduced in the magician Nate Morgan, who is a tall and lanky black man. Mobius is revealed to be Earth all along. The series concluded with a film(Sonic SatAM's plans nix the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog as that was originally conceived as a prequel to Sonic SatAm before going wackier. Instead more effort is put towards SatAM's development, since the two were originally conceived as one show anyway).
Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World(1995)
In 1994, MGM optioned the rights to produce a Sonic the Hedgehog film. With Pen Densham (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) as executive producer, MGM commissioned had Richard Jeffries(The Vagrant) write the script. The film was titled Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World. It revolved around Josh, the son of a divorced couple, who plugged in the Sega Saturn containing the then recent Sonic Mars, into his father's computer. He was also writing a school paper on a test pilot killed in a freak accident named Sonic(the original concept for Sonic's backstory). Sonic then entered the real world via CGI. At first, Sonic and Josh become good friends, but Sonic begins to cause problems in the city, often accidentally. Dr.Eggman then entered the world and tries to take over, turning an amusement park into his base with his badniks. He then uses the technology left by Josh's scientist father to create a virtual reality, leading him to mind control children who he lures to play it. Sonic and Josh team up to fight Dr.Eggman but are sucked back into the game console. Sonic is able to defeat Eggman, forcing him to retreat. Josh returns home. The film was released by MGM. It received mixed reviews. This film's existence butterflies away OTL's Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, most of the animation scenes that would have gone to that film are instead used for Sonic: Armageddon.
Sonic the Hedgehog: the Movie(1996)
Sonic the Hedgehog: the Movie improved Sonic's popularity in Japan and led to a full series. This being after the end of the acclaimed Sonic SATAM and the continuation of the series, as well as after the underperforming 1994 film.
Sonic: Armageddon(2002)
In 1999,Ben Hurst, one of the Writers of Sonic SatAM, pitched the a movie to revive the Saturday Morning Universe. Ken Penders was brought onboard and did some storyboards. The film was released as Sonic Armageddon in 2002. Storyboards by Penders have been shown. Production on Sonic X was delayed as Sega didn't want to have two different versions of Sonic running concurrently, though the film's "Finale" status meant there were no planned sequels. Among the elements in the film are Mobius being destroyed. Roboticization was much more gruesome than in any other medium beforehand. Snively is the supporting antagonist and is now a cyborg, with Metal Sonic appearing as the main antagonist.
Storyboard Art by Ken Penders for Sonic Armageddon
Sonic X(2003-2005)
A new Sonic Anime appeared due to the absence of a follow up to Sonic SatAM. Sonic X had a cast of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans. Eggman being the only human character. It was Largely an adaptation of the video game series, but taken into a somewhat darker direction. The X was meant as a reference to that of Megaman X, namely in greater world building and focus. The series did very well and became the definitive Sonic anime, usurping the spot held by its predecessor Sonic series. The character Nezu does not exist ITTL and his design is isntead a form Sonic briefly takes akin to Super Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog(2015)
Due to the failure of the 1994 film, it took many years for another attempt at a Live Action Sonic film to materialize. Sony finally agreed to produce it. Several scripts were submitted but those who had submitted them were often busy, such as Brad Bird who was committed to Tomorrowland, Wernick & Reese, who were busy with Deadpool. Phil Johnston, who was busy with Zootopia, and David Barenbaum. Finally Brad Bird hopped on to write when Tomorrowland was cancelled. Tim Miller also joined production. Sony pushed for a PG-13 rating but it was Miller who vetoed the idea to make it more faithful to the games and get a wider audience. Paul Rudd was cast as a grown up Josh Wachowski. Revealing the bold decision of making the game a loose sequel. Chris Pratt, and Chris Evans also featured in the film in cameos. Ben Schwartz was always considered for the role of Sonic, though Rudd would have voiced Sonic as well as play Josh had Schwartz not been available. Production of the film took place in Atlanta. Dr.Eggman was played by Jim Carrey, who watched the cartoons, Video Game cutscenes(and the Sonic parody Real Time Fandub) to prepare. He was able to sneak in the line "I've come to make an announcement during a scene as he was encouraged to ad lib most of his lines." Another improvised line is a coffee machine he called "The Mean Bean Machine." He is also referred to as Dr. Eggman a few times by Sonic.
Since the film was a sequel of sorts to the 1994 film, the design of Sonic needed to match the classic look. Yuji Naka made a Stan Lee-style cameo in the film when Sonic is testing his speed and briefly ends up in Japan. The film also begins with Schwartz performing a harmonized version of the Sega opening theme. The film featured the Echidnas as antagonists(a take that to Ken Penders). They were an ancient civilization that was recently revived, with Sonic being sent to another universe, seeking a way to return to protect his friends. Other Sonic characters appear briefly trying to fight the Echidna race and even Knuckles has a difficult time against the main antagonist. The film used "Gotta Go Fast" by Chizzy Stephens as the soundtrack and bits of other famous Sonic soundtracks, though Riff Raff also contributed to the soundtrack. Super Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds also appear in the film. Crazy Carl also appears more in this film. tails also appears in the film though still very briefly. There is also a bigger reference to a chili dog, which Sonic eats in two seconds followed by another one during a conversation. Sonic also uses the line "We're total Badasses." instead of "we're a couple of loose cannons".
Sonic the Hedgehog(1993-1994)
Sonic SatAM debuted in 1993. All characters more or less resembled their OTL counterparts except for a more fully cyborg Bunnie and a non cowardly Antione, being much more bold ITTL. Super Sonic also appears ITTL. The intro us also different. The show continued towards a season three, with Snively working with Ixis Naugus as the main villains. A new character is introduced in the magician Nate Morgan, who is a tall and lanky black man. Mobius is revealed to be Earth all along. The series concluded with a film(Sonic SatAM's plans nix the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog as that was originally conceived as a prequel to Sonic SatAm before going wackier. Instead more effort is put towards SatAM's development, since the two were originally conceived as one show anyway).
Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World(1995)
In 1994, MGM optioned the rights to produce a Sonic the Hedgehog film. With Pen Densham (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) as executive producer, MGM commissioned had Richard Jeffries(The Vagrant) write the script. The film was titled Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World. It revolved around Josh, the son of a divorced couple, who plugged in the Sega Saturn containing the then recent Sonic Mars, into his father's computer. He was also writing a school paper on a test pilot killed in a freak accident named Sonic(the original concept for Sonic's backstory). Sonic then entered the real world via CGI. At first, Sonic and Josh become good friends, but Sonic begins to cause problems in the city, often accidentally. Dr.Eggman then entered the world and tries to take over, turning an amusement park into his base with his badniks. He then uses the technology left by Josh's scientist father to create a virtual reality, leading him to mind control children who he lures to play it. Sonic and Josh team up to fight Dr.Eggman but are sucked back into the game console. Sonic is able to defeat Eggman, forcing him to retreat. Josh returns home. The film was released by MGM. It received mixed reviews. This film's existence butterflies away OTL's Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, most of the animation scenes that would have gone to that film are instead used for Sonic: Armageddon.
Sonic the Hedgehog: the Movie(1996)
Sonic the Hedgehog: the Movie improved Sonic's popularity in Japan and led to a full series. This being after the end of the acclaimed Sonic SATAM and the continuation of the series, as well as after the underperforming 1994 film.
Sonic: Armageddon(2002)
In 1999,Ben Hurst, one of the Writers of Sonic SatAM, pitched the a movie to revive the Saturday Morning Universe. Ken Penders was brought onboard and did some storyboards. The film was released as Sonic Armageddon in 2002. Storyboards by Penders have been shown. Production on Sonic X was delayed as Sega didn't want to have two different versions of Sonic running concurrently, though the film's "Finale" status meant there were no planned sequels. Among the elements in the film are Mobius being destroyed. Roboticization was much more gruesome than in any other medium beforehand. Snively is the supporting antagonist and is now a cyborg, with Metal Sonic appearing as the main antagonist.
Storyboard Art by Ken Penders for Sonic Armageddon
Sonic X(2003-2005)
A new Sonic Anime appeared due to the absence of a follow up to Sonic SatAM. Sonic X had a cast of anthropomorphic animals instead of humans. Eggman being the only human character. It was Largely an adaptation of the video game series, but taken into a somewhat darker direction. The X was meant as a reference to that of Megaman X, namely in greater world building and focus. The series did very well and became the definitive Sonic anime, usurping the spot held by its predecessor Sonic series. The character Nezu does not exist ITTL and his design is isntead a form Sonic briefly takes akin to Super Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog(2015)
Due to the failure of the 1994 film, it took many years for another attempt at a Live Action Sonic film to materialize. Sony finally agreed to produce it. Several scripts were submitted but those who had submitted them were often busy, such as Brad Bird who was committed to Tomorrowland, Wernick & Reese, who were busy with Deadpool. Phil Johnston, who was busy with Zootopia, and David Barenbaum. Finally Brad Bird hopped on to write when Tomorrowland was cancelled. Tim Miller also joined production. Sony pushed for a PG-13 rating but it was Miller who vetoed the idea to make it more faithful to the games and get a wider audience. Paul Rudd was cast as a grown up Josh Wachowski. Revealing the bold decision of making the game a loose sequel. Chris Pratt, and Chris Evans also featured in the film in cameos. Ben Schwartz was always considered for the role of Sonic, though Rudd would have voiced Sonic as well as play Josh had Schwartz not been available. Production of the film took place in Atlanta. Dr.Eggman was played by Jim Carrey, who watched the cartoons, Video Game cutscenes(and the Sonic parody Real Time Fandub) to prepare. He was able to sneak in the line "I've come to make an announcement during a scene as he was encouraged to ad lib most of his lines." Another improvised line is a coffee machine he called "The Mean Bean Machine." He is also referred to as Dr. Eggman a few times by Sonic.
Since the film was a sequel of sorts to the 1994 film, the design of Sonic needed to match the classic look. Yuji Naka made a Stan Lee-style cameo in the film when Sonic is testing his speed and briefly ends up in Japan. The film also begins with Schwartz performing a harmonized version of the Sega opening theme. The film featured the Echidnas as antagonists(a take that to Ken Penders). They were an ancient civilization that was recently revived, with Sonic being sent to another universe, seeking a way to return to protect his friends. Other Sonic characters appear briefly trying to fight the Echidna race and even Knuckles has a difficult time against the main antagonist. The film used "Gotta Go Fast" by Chizzy Stephens as the soundtrack and bits of other famous Sonic soundtracks, though Riff Raff also contributed to the soundtrack. Super Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds also appear in the film. Crazy Carl also appears more in this film. tails also appears in the film though still very briefly. There is also a bigger reference to a chili dog, which Sonic eats in two seconds followed by another one during a conversation. Sonic also uses the line "We're total Badasses." instead of "we're a couple of loose cannons".
Last edited:
Still happens though it will go a bit differently once I cover it since there were many scrapped concepts for it.
History of the Marvel Universe(The Iron Age): 1985-1989
History of the Marvel Universe: The Iron Age
This is the beginning of a battle not too out of place within the company's own pages. A battle that would shape the landscape of the industry we know today. It all started with Godzilla and Coke.
In 1984, An American remake of Godzilla titled Godzilla 3D was released. New World Pictures, Roger Corman's production company known for making B Movies, funded the film, as did the Coca Cola Company, which appeared frequently in the film in blatant product placement. The film was New World's biggest hit to date and now that they were on top, they had their pick of the cream of the crop. They made an odd choice for a company to buy: Marvel. It is said that Roger Corman, after getting off the phone, loudly proclaimed. "Ladies and Gentlemen. We just bought Superman!". When someone tried to correct him, saying they'd just bought Spider-Man, he responded that he knew the difference. He was referring to the company publishing Superman as part of the licensed deal they made and still believed the company still owned Superman.
Jim Shooter
With new owners, Marvel's Jim Shooter and John Romita Sr attempted to convince New World to scale down the number of titles as this was overwhelming readers. New World refused and instead demanded 10 books, creating new characters themselves. The increased workload started a war between Jim Shooter's team and the rest of Marvel's. Shooter was fired and replaced with Tom DeFalco. DeFalco is seen by many as keeping the company alive during this time.
The Storyline Mutant Massacre involved the Fury from Alan Moore and Alan Davis's Captain Britain run and its creator Mad Jim Jaspers, returning as the antagonists. The Fury and Jaspers found their way to the main Marvel Universe and began a path of destruction. The Fury by its nature adapted to kill anything it saw, making it a formidable foe. The Fury merged with X-Men villain Nimrod, a future Sentinel from the Days of Future Past universe, and began to target Mutants, leading to an X-Men and X-Calibur Crossover to defeat this new enemy. Claremont used this to compete with DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, as a result the event impacted all titles[1]. This included an early cameo by Mad Jim Jaspers at Magneto's UN Trial to set up this story. Claremont also wrote Excalibur: Special Edition pencilled by Rick Leonardi, featuring Shadowcat and the Phoenix force. This led into Rachel Summers being abducted and taken to the dimension of Mojo World, the series showing what happened to her while there and her rescue.
Claremont and Byrne wanted to expand the idea of the students at the Xavier Institute and did so in a new series they called X-Factor. The first issues of X-Factor featured a mysterious master of the group known as the Alliance of Evil. With the aid of Louise Simonson and Bob Harras, the four men created a new villain named Apocalypse. Apocalypse was revealed to be the mastermind behind the Weapon X program (a plan fitting an immortal mutant with advanced technology and a penchant for playing god), as well as the third Summers brother who was sent back in time (explaining his and Mr. Sinister's obsessions with the Summers bloodline). Weapon X was also given backstory connecting it to being responsible for the creations of Captain America, Nuke, and weapons 0,01, and 07. On X Factor, Dazzler and Jean Grey's sister Sara Grey were made members, due to a scene where the Phoenix had altered Sara's genes in Bizarre Adventures #27, making her a mutant.
Byrne left X-Men to to write an Invisible Woman mini-series with Mary Wilshire. The series had Sue's powers mutate so that she could now become intangible instead of just invisible, but with the caveat that she couldn't actually control the intangibility. This led to her falling into an alternate dimension where she could remain tangible, but where her only chance to return home would not come about for another 40 years. The series chronicled Sue's life for the next four decades as she met a handsome warrior and battled a group of villains called the Shadow Knights. John Byrne would then shift to write She-Hulk after the completion of She-Hulk: Ceremony.
Other Teams were also changing. The West Coast Avengers series ended, leading to the main Avengers title alternating between the two teams. James Hudnall's run on Alpha Flight had the team dealing with Zeitgeist, a serial killer obsessed with murdering superheroes. Zeitgeist infiltrated Alpha Flight HQ and killed Goblyn before being taken down. Individual heroes were not spared either. Spider-Man faced the Hobgoblin in battle, leading to a mystery surrounding who he was(later revealed to be Roderick Kingsley). Dwayne McDuffie was brought in to write the Armor Wars arc of Iron Man. The arc involved Stark's technology being stolen and sold, leading him to track down the thieves and buyers. The Punisher had gotten a hold of an Iron Man Armor and painted it black. After the Punisher was defeated, the Iron Man armor was confiscated and worn by James Rhodes to save Iron Man during a crucial battle. James Rhodes became "War Machine" from then on. Warren Ellis started his run on Doctor Strange. Ellis took the character into a less superhero-oriented direction, towards fantasy and horror, and finally in his run in 1989, John Byrne had Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne being remarried.
New World began to suffer financially. Many commented that this was no surprise. Shooter referred to New World as a company built on the back of a Coked Up Lizard. By 1989, New World was looking for buyers for Marvel in the hopes of saving itself. This was when Shooter stepped in. Shooter and several investors came together to make a bid towards Marvel, planning to buy the company back. While they almost didn't make it, falling short by one and a half million dollars, an extra bid, brought on by an extra donation from Stan Lee, who commented that he received that amount of money just for still being alive, helped meet the amount. Shooter was now back in charge as the owner of the company.
Shooter was convinced to bring to life Marvel TV Shows, as many offers had been brought to them and he had received deals from various companies. Radio City became an investor towards Shooter's Marvel TV shows. New World attempted to buy back the license, now seeing the potential in the Characters they had previously struggled to prophet from but it was too late and Radio City refused to part with Shooter's scripts for the shows. Marvel received the license to two more prominent franchises of the era: Nintendo and Professional Wrestling. While hardly the likes of Star Wars or Godzilla, Marvel had experience creating series from very little such as ROM: Spaceknight, a Parker Brothers toy. The result was... a failure. The Comics bombed. No one really cared about Comic adaptations of these franchises. It was a dark stain on Shooter's return and was quite possibly what killed License Comics being produced by the big two. For the foreseeable future, both Marvel and DC would be restrictive in licensed works, allowing Independent Comic Companies to rise up on the back of the licenses.
Footnotes
[1] Marvel was doing well at the time and had no need for a massive reboot and so did a massive event impacting all titles loosely instead. This butterflies away Marvel's New Universe, since sales were high on the time and launching something completely different didn't appeal to them.
This is the beginning of a battle not too out of place within the company's own pages. A battle that would shape the landscape of the industry we know today. It all started with Godzilla and Coke.
In 1984, An American remake of Godzilla titled Godzilla 3D was released. New World Pictures, Roger Corman's production company known for making B Movies, funded the film, as did the Coca Cola Company, which appeared frequently in the film in blatant product placement. The film was New World's biggest hit to date and now that they were on top, they had their pick of the cream of the crop. They made an odd choice for a company to buy: Marvel. It is said that Roger Corman, after getting off the phone, loudly proclaimed. "Ladies and Gentlemen. We just bought Superman!". When someone tried to correct him, saying they'd just bought Spider-Man, he responded that he knew the difference. He was referring to the company publishing Superman as part of the licensed deal they made and still believed the company still owned Superman.
Jim Shooter
With new owners, Marvel's Jim Shooter and John Romita Sr attempted to convince New World to scale down the number of titles as this was overwhelming readers. New World refused and instead demanded 10 books, creating new characters themselves. The increased workload started a war between Jim Shooter's team and the rest of Marvel's. Shooter was fired and replaced with Tom DeFalco. DeFalco is seen by many as keeping the company alive during this time.
The Storyline Mutant Massacre involved the Fury from Alan Moore and Alan Davis's Captain Britain run and its creator Mad Jim Jaspers, returning as the antagonists. The Fury and Jaspers found their way to the main Marvel Universe and began a path of destruction. The Fury by its nature adapted to kill anything it saw, making it a formidable foe. The Fury merged with X-Men villain Nimrod, a future Sentinel from the Days of Future Past universe, and began to target Mutants, leading to an X-Men and X-Calibur Crossover to defeat this new enemy. Claremont used this to compete with DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, as a result the event impacted all titles[1]. This included an early cameo by Mad Jim Jaspers at Magneto's UN Trial to set up this story. Claremont also wrote Excalibur: Special Edition pencilled by Rick Leonardi, featuring Shadowcat and the Phoenix force. This led into Rachel Summers being abducted and taken to the dimension of Mojo World, the series showing what happened to her while there and her rescue.
Claremont and Byrne wanted to expand the idea of the students at the Xavier Institute and did so in a new series they called X-Factor. The first issues of X-Factor featured a mysterious master of the group known as the Alliance of Evil. With the aid of Louise Simonson and Bob Harras, the four men created a new villain named Apocalypse. Apocalypse was revealed to be the mastermind behind the Weapon X program (a plan fitting an immortal mutant with advanced technology and a penchant for playing god), as well as the third Summers brother who was sent back in time (explaining his and Mr. Sinister's obsessions with the Summers bloodline). Weapon X was also given backstory connecting it to being responsible for the creations of Captain America, Nuke, and weapons 0,01, and 07. On X Factor, Dazzler and Jean Grey's sister Sara Grey were made members, due to a scene where the Phoenix had altered Sara's genes in Bizarre Adventures #27, making her a mutant.
Byrne left X-Men to to write an Invisible Woman mini-series with Mary Wilshire. The series had Sue's powers mutate so that she could now become intangible instead of just invisible, but with the caveat that she couldn't actually control the intangibility. This led to her falling into an alternate dimension where she could remain tangible, but where her only chance to return home would not come about for another 40 years. The series chronicled Sue's life for the next four decades as she met a handsome warrior and battled a group of villains called the Shadow Knights. John Byrne would then shift to write She-Hulk after the completion of She-Hulk: Ceremony.
Other Teams were also changing. The West Coast Avengers series ended, leading to the main Avengers title alternating between the two teams. James Hudnall's run on Alpha Flight had the team dealing with Zeitgeist, a serial killer obsessed with murdering superheroes. Zeitgeist infiltrated Alpha Flight HQ and killed Goblyn before being taken down. Individual heroes were not spared either. Spider-Man faced the Hobgoblin in battle, leading to a mystery surrounding who he was(later revealed to be Roderick Kingsley). Dwayne McDuffie was brought in to write the Armor Wars arc of Iron Man. The arc involved Stark's technology being stolen and sold, leading him to track down the thieves and buyers. The Punisher had gotten a hold of an Iron Man Armor and painted it black. After the Punisher was defeated, the Iron Man armor was confiscated and worn by James Rhodes to save Iron Man during a crucial battle. James Rhodes became "War Machine" from then on. Warren Ellis started his run on Doctor Strange. Ellis took the character into a less superhero-oriented direction, towards fantasy and horror, and finally in his run in 1989, John Byrne had Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne being remarried.
New World began to suffer financially. Many commented that this was no surprise. Shooter referred to New World as a company built on the back of a Coked Up Lizard. By 1989, New World was looking for buyers for Marvel in the hopes of saving itself. This was when Shooter stepped in. Shooter and several investors came together to make a bid towards Marvel, planning to buy the company back. While they almost didn't make it, falling short by one and a half million dollars, an extra bid, brought on by an extra donation from Stan Lee, who commented that he received that amount of money just for still being alive, helped meet the amount. Shooter was now back in charge as the owner of the company.
Shooter was convinced to bring to life Marvel TV Shows, as many offers had been brought to them and he had received deals from various companies. Radio City became an investor towards Shooter's Marvel TV shows. New World attempted to buy back the license, now seeing the potential in the Characters they had previously struggled to prophet from but it was too late and Radio City refused to part with Shooter's scripts for the shows. Marvel received the license to two more prominent franchises of the era: Nintendo and Professional Wrestling. While hardly the likes of Star Wars or Godzilla, Marvel had experience creating series from very little such as ROM: Spaceknight, a Parker Brothers toy. The result was... a failure. The Comics bombed. No one really cared about Comic adaptations of these franchises. It was a dark stain on Shooter's return and was quite possibly what killed License Comics being produced by the big two. For the foreseeable future, both Marvel and DC would be restrictive in licensed works, allowing Independent Comic Companies to rise up on the back of the licenses.
Footnotes
[1] Marvel was doing well at the time and had no need for a massive reboot and so did a massive event impacting all titles loosely instead. This butterflies away Marvel's New Universe, since sales were high on the time and launching something completely different didn't appeal to them.
Last edited:
To ask some pop culture questions, how are these people doing ITTL?
For AH,com ITTl, Eyes Turned Skyward could be this in timeline form:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com
Think Big: A 1970 Flight Schedule for NASA's 1969 Integrated Program Plan
The story of spaceflight told through missions and programs that did not happen - that is, the great majority of them.
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com
I'm...not so sure about the updates regarding this website, honestly. A little too "meta" for my liking.
As for comics, maybe have Herge live long enough to finish "Tintin and Alph-Art"?
As for comics, maybe have Herge live long enough to finish "Tintin and Alph-Art"?
That could work.For AH,com ITTl, Eyes Turned Skyward could be this in timeline form:
Think Big: A 1970 Flight Schedule for NASA's 1969 Integrated Program Plan
The story of spaceflight told through missions and programs that did not happen - that is, the great majority of them.
I kind of agree. I only started covering it because I was in a private conversation where so many alternate History.com ideas were pitched that I wanted to get them out there before I lose track of them.
For the Comics yes Herge will live long enough to finish Tintin and the Alph-Art.
Sacha Boren Cohen's character Alex Krickler was expanded on instead of Borat, which the Krickler character became, being from Moldovia instead of Kazakhstan. Cohen's other character Kristo Shqiptari is also popular. Cohen was not removed from the 84th Oscars, allowing him to appear in Navi makeup on stage with Ben Stiller. The Ali G Show is intact ITTL.
Jack Black has had some of his film roles removed such as his role in Peter Jackson's King Kong and Goosebumps, but is still doing well as a comedic actor and musician. A minor note is he voiced a character in "See Me, Feel Me, Gnome Me," an episode of Powerpuff Girls. His Tenacious D and Kung Fu Panda roles remain.
For Dane Cook, the incident on October 30th, 1992 never happens due to scheduling being better, allowing the group to play earlier. He still rises as a comedian and the Aurora Theater shooting doesn't happen, meaning he doesn't make a joke about it.
Phil Hartman, aside from likely not portraying Bill Clinton on SNL. Hartman is still a popular character until he was given his own show The Phil Show, as part of the Variety show format, clashing frequently with Jay Leno in ratings. Hartman is not killed by his wife. His wife instead murdering Andy Dick(Hartman's NewsRadio costar who introduced her to cocaine). Brynn than seeks help rather than commits suicide. Hartman does not die, meaning he continues appearing on NewsRadio and the Simpsons. This led to a Live Action Troy McClure Movie(with live Action Simpson characters making cameos). Something Hartman wanted to do before his death. He even bought the film rights to make it happen. Hartman also produced two of his own movies. Mr.Fixit, which is was explained by Hartman OTL as: "a sort of a merger of horror and comedy, like Beetlejuice and Throw Momma From the Train", adding, "It's an American nightmare about a family torn asunder. They live next to a toxic dump site, their water supply is poisoned, the mother and son go insane and try to murder each other, the father's face is torn off in a terrible disfiguring accident in the first act. It's heavy stuff, but it's got a good message and a positive, upbeat ending." He also made a film on his character Chick Hazard, Private Eye. Finally, he voiced Zapp Brannigan on Futurama for the show's run, the character created specifically for him.
Robin Williams has a few more roles under his belt in addition to the OTL Mork, The Richard Pryor Show(" Pryor I Doubt Fire makes a good Shampoo"), Genie and others. His added roles include the American Doctor Who, The Riddler in Batman Forever, and Gendo Ikari in Evangelion. Williams struggled with something. He was treated better as the Genie than OTL, and returned for to role a few times, though ITTL, there is only one Aladdin sequel, basically being Aladdin and the King of Thieves with some of Return to Jaffar thrown in. Robin Williams overcame his cocaine addiction following the 1982 death of Cathy Smith, whom Williams had been celebrating with. This was a wake up call. Robin Willians checked himself into a mental hospital in 2014.
John Belushi, averting his death due to Bernie Brillstein refusing to give him money like he did the first time but not the second time. This was also due to Cathy Smith overdosing instead. Bill Wallace found Belushi trying to revive Smith. Belushi went on to do several films such as Moon Over Miami, Noble Rot, The Joy of Sex(which put him in a Diaper) and Ghostbusters(which he did before the Joy of Sex ITTL and played the role of Peter Vankman). He also did a film on drug trafficking and appear on an episode of Police Squad! which OTL had the gag of the guest star dying right away, and was cut after his actual death.
Eddie Murphy appears as Winston Zeddmore in Ghostbusters and has a more prominent role. He also appears in a Star Trek Film(paralleling his almost role in Star Trek IV should that film still exist). His career is somewhat saved by the Adventures of Pluto Nash not existing. Murphy won an academy award in 2007 due partly to Norbit not existing to tarnish perception of him. Murphy hosted the 84th annual Academy Awards. Films made ITTL but not OTL, include Miles and Me with Halle Berry, Pryor(in which Eddie Murphy played Richard Pryor's father. With Lee Daniels and Mike Epps playing Pryor). Murphy performed much more in Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary Special, telling jokes and reprising his iconic characters. Overall his status can be summed up as respected but still known as an SNL cast member.
Chris Rock is largely same as OTL more or less though he did not host the 2005 Oscars, and may or may not hosted in 2015 since he was chosen largely to balance the complaint of the actors being whiter than a yeti in a snowstorm fighting Tilda Swinton. A complaint which likely wouldn't exist ITTL.
What is the status of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise ITTL? Were there any films that jumped the shark?
I will ask the same question again: for texas chain saw massacre, child's play, and scream.
The series diverges around the Third Film where Wes Craven uses his "Freddy enters the real world and goes after a film crew making a Nightmare on Elm Street film" in the third movie, with Johnny Depp appearing(He was almost asked but wasn't and admitted he's have said yes if he was asked). When the series starts to jump the shark later on, Peter Jackson makes a sixth film about Freddy trying to be scary again as most kids no how to beat him(planned idea with some elements of this working their way into Freddy vs Jason). Freddy vs Jason happens much earlier than OTL as does the sequel, Freddy vs Jason vs Ash. That film also had a sequel which is essentially a Horror Megacrossover of survivors from all three franchises united to kill off Freddy and Jason for good. Both killers(and Ash) then show up in Dead by Daylights and as guest stars in Mortal Kombat X, and in MK 11(with Ash. The guest stars are grouped in DLC packs so you can get Freddy, Jason, Ash, together). So it's not so much that the movies jump the shark but more that the shark bit down on Freddy and he gouged its eyes out while it tried to drown him.
Both became anthology series after wrapping up their stories and seemingly killing off their villains for good(Christopher Lee plays Dr.Loomis here, which is a role he regretted turning down). Myers stayed dead, but Jason did not and returned as an undead wearing a hockey mask. Jason was killed but Tommy Jarvis went mad and became the new Jason. The real Jason however, was resurrected by Freddy in Freddy vs Jason and the rest is history. Tommy Jarvis returns in Freddy vs Jason vs Ash: The Dream Warriors. and has his showdown with classic Jason, killing him. Michael Myers was revived in Hellraiser vs Halloween to battle Pinhead. As mentioned before classic Jason appears in Dead by Daylights (rights issues prevent his inclusion OTL), and Mortal Kombat, along with the "Legally published" Terrodrome with other killers. Michael Myers also appears in Dead by Daylights with Laurie Strode and Haddonfield. Jason appears with Tommy Jarvis and Camp Crystal Lake. Rob Zombie's first Halloween movie reboot still exists. The sequel however does not.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre ends on the Second Film and was largely untouched since then barring Video Game appearances. Child's Play likely had one film(since his revival each time becomes more and more contrived). A remake does exist(if not just to maintain those Chucky killing the cast of Toy Story posters). Scream still exists. I'm not sure when the series would end, possibly at only one film. They do appear in Dead by Daylights(as opposed to the original character version created due to copyright issues).
So. I know this is pop culture. But I was wondering, could we ask about other companies. I have two in mind, one of them did pop up in pop culture a fair bit.