No More DCU

[Dr Will Hatch]

Imagine an alternate universe where the writers and artists at DC never got to form a DC universe. No crossovers were allowed. (Comic book) Batman and all related characters only existed in their own, self contained universe. Ditto to Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Latern...yadda yadda yadda.


How would these comics be different? Would they be generally better or worse than the path DC ended up taking? How would adaptations(movies, cartoons, games, etc.) be different?

[Radical]

There'd be no Justice League, for openers.

[Sharkerbob]

While there wouldn't be actual crossovers (unless they were allowed to make it "intercompany" like DC/Marvel crossover stories or Elseworlds), I suspect they would do what DC and Marvel always do with one another: ape each others characters. Superman might not exist in the Batverse, but there would probably be like a "Super Sentry" or someone who is an obvious Superman clone to do those stories with. The main difference here, of course, being that Super Sentry is forever an occasional supporting character for Batman, rather than having his own book. Likewise in the Superverse, I see there being a Dark Man or someone who is an obvious Batman clone, who becomes an occasional supporting character for Superman.

I think this sort of helps and sort of hinders the respective worlds. On the one hand, more so than most superhero universes, even moreso than Marvel, DC has always had this very hodgepodge feel to it of lumping together things that just very obviously don't fit together. Ergo, it can sometimes take away from certain heroes, particularly people like Batman or Green Arrow, I feel, when there are big logical fallacies between, say, their Justice League versions versus their normal books. I can't take Batman seriously anymore because DC has wanked him up so ridiculously past what I feel should be his natural limits, and at the same time chumped out the rest of the DC Universe, just to make Batman look good. Batman would be better served in some ways, I think, if he remained in his own world without constantly getting yanked into the higher superhero stuff.

On the other hand, I have always enjoyed seeing these very different elements interact. As much as I liked Batman and Superman the animated series, Justice League will always be my favorite of the DCAU/Timmverse, just because of all the different characters interacting. As much as it irritates me from a logical standpoint seeing Batman and Superman work together, I really love the character interaction that's developed between the two over the years. They really are terrific foils for one another, and I think the characters would be poorer for lacking that kind of relationship.

[SuperCooper]

The Dark Knight Returns would probably have a veeeeery different ending.