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chriscdcase95 · 2 years ago

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My Marvel/DC crossover AU No One Asked for

Read the title. Here’s the layout.

This is an AU I’ve been sitting on for about two or three years now, and often revisit to make some changes. While this isn’t something I really shelved, I am unlikely to write any of the stories down.

I still keep a lot of what I did write in my notes. From this AU I wrote down several prompts, some of which I already shared in other posts.

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1. You'd think combining the Arrowverse and DCEU alone is gonna be a hassle, but when I wrote things down, the actual changes are pretty small.

The main events of the Arrowverse, DCEU, and MCU remain otherwise the same, there are a few small adjustments made here and there. Some suspension of disbelief is required. Birds of Prey was the hardest one to adapt.

Most changes are “Who plays what character ?”

Of course, because this is a fanfic AU, we can just say "The Other Darin" trope is at play. Henry Cavill’s Superman ? Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman ? Same deal as Eric Norton/Mark Ruffalo’s Banner, or Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle’s Rhodes.

With that all said, this AU treats Grant Gustin's Barry Allen is treated as the “canon”. The indefinitely postponed upcoming Flash movie is disregarded entirely. We all know why.

Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor is also treated as his "canon" character, but he initially had the same traits and role as Eisenberg’s Luthor. I like to think Eisenberg!Luthor was fronting as “the eccentric young mogul” while Cryer’s represents Luthor going masks off.

Some fan casting is bigger issues. Mostly "casting" Diana Laurel Lance, between Katie Cassidy or Jurnee Smollett, for far reasons too complicated to discuss here.

And finally, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is treated as canon.

2. “But where was X superhero during Y's events ?”

A lot of these events would have coincided with each other.

In this AU, Iron Man/2, The Incredible Hulk and Thor would have taken place between/around the first two seasons of Arrow. The present day events of Man of Steel would have coincided with The Avengers. Batman V. Superman and Suicide Squad would take place around the time of The Dark World and The Winter Soldier.

Age of Ultron would coincide with Zack Snyder's Justice League - also taking place between seasons one and two of The Flash, and before Supergirl's first season.

Up to speed, Barry ?

So, here’s some of the prompts I came up with for the AU.

1. Unlike Supergirl, Superman wasn't an active superhero when Kara came to Earth, but it was around the time Clark was wandering the world. During this time, Clark reached out to the Danvers family to help him understand his powers, much like the Arrowverse.

As it so happens, Carol Danvers turns out to be Jeremiah's sister, which is how they help Clark understand his powers. Clark would build a bridge of trust with the Danvers' and brought Kara to them, as he wasn't in the right headspace to look after a child. As a result ? Kara grew up with Carol Danvers as an “Awesome Aunt”.

We’d also have a Superman prequel, also serving as a Captain Marvel crossover. For such as a story, I’d picture Ronan as the de-facto Big Bad, showing him falling out of favor with the Kree, before joining Thanos.

2. I wrote a post based on this AU, but I had this one idea of various WLW prompts for Diana/Wonder Woman. You can read the long version here.

It focused on what Wonder Woman was up to over the decades, especially those she romanced. The most prominent being Wondercarter, Wonderwidow and Superwondercorp.

In this version of Captain America: The First Avenger ? Wonder Woman was considered a battlefield urban legend, and a partial inspiration for the super soldier project. After the events of Agent Carter, Diana would become acquainted with Howard and Maria Stark, and ends up staying with Peggy and Angie as a temporary house guest on the Stark Estates.

How long Diana was involved with them isn't elaborated, but I see Tony having memories of an “Aunt Diana” babying him from when he was a little kid. Cuz we all know she would.

I don't see Tony reuniting Diana until well after he becomes Iron Man. Probably after Civil War or Infinity War. At the very least, Diana ends up another one of Morgan Stark's honorary aunts. Diana would totally be one of those aunts who’d tell Tony’s people embarrassing stories of him from when he was tot.

Another idea I had involved Sarah Rogers being Steve Trevor's sister, and her naming her son after her late brother. But I was pretty iffy about that. It came off as too nepotistic, and I felt Diana should have minimal, if any ties to Steve Rogers. Wonder Woman being the inspiration for the super soldier project should be enough, right ?

3. This one's gonna get me fucking lynched...

So, it's come to my attention that The Batman 2022 was considered as a DCEU prequel early in development. At the risk of being mauled by both Battinson and Batfleck stans, I'm applying that here.

In this AU, an altered version of The Batman occurred, the main difference being it was set in the late 90′s to early 2000′s. Technology adjusted accordingly, and the Riddler’s platform is old web forums, such as IRC chat (or if set around 2003, MySpace).

Anyways, Battison would have represented Bruce Wayne in his early career as Batman when he first became a symbol of hope, while Batfleck represents his “Broken/Fallen Hero” stage. After all, you can't have a “Fall From Grace” period if you never had anything to fall from...

*prepares myself for the pitches and torchforks*

4. As I said above, the “present day” events of Man of Steel would have taken place alongside The Avengers.

Zod's attack on Metropolis occurs at the same time as the Battle in New York. Neither Zod, nor Thanos and Loki were aware of each other beforehand; it was just dumb luck their invasions occurred at the same time! Still, people initially thought Zod, Loki and the Chitauri represented the same threat.

Any attempts by S.H.I.E.L.D or the Avengers to look into Superman yields the same results as this scene.

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As with the DCEU, Superman was a controversial figure at first, with the Avengers having mixed thoughts about him. Unlike Batman, they didn't act on their suspicions, beyond a few cautious encounters.

Iron Man 3 would have taken place between Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. Superman tried to to look into “The Mandarin”, and teamed up with Steve and S.H.I.E.L.D to do so, but they kept running into dead ends. They were unaware of Aldrich Killian’s conspiracy until after the fact.

5. This is also something I covered in my Wonder Woman WLW prompts.

This AU's Infinity War takes place alongside Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's retroactively implied that recreating the universe is what led to this world merger.

Certain members of the Justice League - Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, and Cyborg - anyone not with the Paragons, join the fight against Thanos, though don't do enough to affect the outcome.

Out of them, Wonder Woman is the only survivor of The Snap and she helps the surviving Avengers - especially Natasha - and what's left of S.H.I.E.L.D hold down the fort for five years.

WonderWidow ensues.

The Paragons survive the Snap because of their multiversal adventure; when they return to the recreated Earth, five years have passed. Agents of Shield is also canon to this AU, and its characters survive the Snap due to the time travel in season seven, returning to a Post-Blip world.

The final fight with the Anti Monitor would have occurred at the same time as the one with Thanos. As with Infinity War, any members of the Justice League not fighting the Anti Monitor, join the fight against Thanos, albeit not affecting things in a significant way. The events of a Post Endgame/Crisis world remain unchanged, with minor exceptions.

But also Supercorp is canon here because I said so.

While I’m at it, let’s talk the Superwondercorp arc I wrote.

Diana settles in Star City for a short “vacation” after keeping the world together for five years. There, Diana starts a love affair with Kara and Lena. Diana has an arc about opening her heart again, so soon after losing Natasha; whenever she loses a lover, it usually takes years or decades for her to open up again. When she develops feelings for Kara and Lena so quickly, she feels like she’s “betraying” Natasha.

Diana would later get involved when Gorr the God Butcher steps into the picture, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

6. Birds of Prey was the hardest to include in this AU due to how radical difference between takes on the characters in the DCEU and Arrowverse.

Here's what I'm working with.

With Helena Bertenili, I lean to her DCEU counterpart as being her “canon” character. Since I place Birds of Prey in a Post-Crisis/Endgame era, we could handwave it as being her history changing when the world's restored.

With the Black Mask, I had an (admittedly contrived) solution. This AU would have two Roman Sionis' - Sr. (Peter Outerbridge) and Jr. (Ewan McGregor).

McGregor's Sionis is written to be a decade or so younger than he is in Birds of Prey. Junior was far from Roman Sr's favorite child, alluding to his daddy issues Harley mentions. Following Roman Senior's downfall, Junior becomes obsessed with upstaging his father as the Black Mask, leading him to be the monstrous crime boss he was in Birds of Prey.

Then you got Dinah Laurel Lance, and her fan casting. I'm still flip flopping between Katie Cassidy and Jurnee Smollett, for reasons too complicated and distracting to go over here.

The solution I'm leaning to is having Smollett's Dinah being a multiverse displaced individual, and she's adjusting to this new world when her Earth was destroyed by the Anti Monitor.

7. Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises had history. Stark Industries bought stakes in Wayne in the late 90's and early 2000's, when Bruce wasn't as active with the company, but that partnership slowly dissolved when Obediah Stane was in the picture.

When Tony went public as Iron Man, along Stane’s crimes being exposed, Bruce Wayne cut further ties with Stark. Such a relationship would bring unwanted attention to the technology Wayne Tech is developing, putting too many identities at risk. Afterwards the only ties they had was that many Wayne employees were former Stark employees.

This becomes a problem when Quinten Beck enters the picture.

Beck reaches out to a few disgruntled ex-Stark employees, many of which are working for Wayne. As part of the Mysterio conspiracy, they embezzle a billions from Wayne Industries, and steal its technology. As a distraction, they stage a heist on Wayne Tech, and frame the Joker for the deed.

Bruce isn't made aware of this until Mysterio goes public, quickly recognizing Beck as an former Stark employee he turned away due to him being a “flight risk”.

Come Far From Home/No Way Home, Batman is going into detective mode uncovering and dismantling the Mysterio conspiracy. This is part of what exonerates Peter, along with Matt Murdock’s own “investigations”.

During Peter’s case, Batman tries to reach out to him; but Peter knew Batman's reputation (which has become more sketchy following BVS), and became very defensive in their encounter, despite Batman avoiding his past mistakes.

Even so, Bruce had to attend a number of legal proceedings, regarding the Wayne employees, and he'd have to go underground as the investigation got too close to exposing the identities of his associates.

As a joke, we'd have a scene where Bruce (Affleck) and Happy (Favreau) are both at a meeting with Matt (Cox) and Foggy (Henson). It really doesn't amount to anything but a throwback to 2003's Daredevil; “Hey, look! It's the old Matt and Foggy interacting with the new ones! Ain't that a hoot ?!”

While much of the Mysterio conspiracy was exposed by the trial and investigations, the only member to escape was William Ginter Riva. The last we see Riva, he's bound, gagged and being dragged through a warehouse by a couple of thugs towards the Joker, whose not amuse that Batsy hospitalized over something he didn’t do.

The Joker then pulls out a crowbar and prepares to show Riva how he previously Batman off the deep end...

8. As for this AU’s No Way Home. This one was a lot of fun.

Peter has a little more public support here than he did in NWH, with several members of The Avengers and Justice League publicly vouching for him. Especially after Murdock and Wayne’s investigations.

Coincidentally, Peter's identity is doxxed the day after Kara Danvers revealed her own identity to the public. When Peter is exonerated, Kara and Catco become Peter's most vocal supporters, countering Daily Bugle. Kara - as Supergirl - even interviews Peter and those close to him after his trial as a show of solidarity.

Jameson tries to interview the elderly Steve Rogers, hoping that an “old and wizened soldier” (who previously fought against Spider-Man) would appeal to his audience...only to hastily cut the interview short when Steve ultimately speaks in Peter's favor.

When Hardy’s Eddie and Venom are pulled into this world, they end up settling into Star City, working for Catco as a reporter. Mainly because, I just wanna see the dynamic Eddie and Venom would have working for and/or with Kara. Especially in a world where not only aliens are public knowledge, but are active members of society.

I wrote another post - “What if No Way Home Had More Visitors ?” - and while this AU had nothing to do with that prompt, I’d probably carry some ideas here; such as Topher Grace's Eddie/Venom being pulled into the MCU, as is Dane DeHaan's Harry Osborn, and possibly TASM's Gwen and George Stacey. Another thing changed is the villains (and Toby and Andrew's Peter) were trapped in the MCU longer than a few days. Let's say a month. Long enough for the Green Goblin to become a bigger menace than he already is. Throughout, I see the Goblin going about facing Sam, Bucky, The Defenders, what's left of Team Arrow, the Bat Family. He’s even prepping his weapons with kryptonite incase Kara or the Kents wanna throw hands.

Peter trying to cure and fix the villains also takes place over a longer period. If L-Corp had a branch on the East Coast, I can see Lena starting a partnership with Stark Industries following Tony's death.

When word reaches Kara (one of Peter's most vocal public supporters) and Lena, they let Peter set up shop in their labs. Eddie and Venom would actually be part of the story, working for/with Kara. The fact that Lena is a practicing witch could be used to play her up against Steven.

I don't see the Avengers or Justice League helping with the Statue of Liberty fight, if only because (much like Peacemaker) by the time they arrive, Peter’s already beating down the Goblin. Hardy's Eddie/Venom, may have helped...preferably if Grace's Eddie/Venom was part of the Goblin’s squad.

9. Now you may be wondering how this AU affect the multiverse ? I had a few ideas.

I had this one joke in mind were Toby and Andrew's Peter(s) remark Batman and Superman existing in their worlds too; it being implied that either Burton's Batman would be in the Raimiverse, or The Dark Knight Trilogy being in the Webbverse, etc.

Part of this joke is Toby's Peter doing some investigating in the MCU, and comes across Nelson and Murdock Law Office. It'd be implied that Daredevil 2003 is part of the Raimiverse. Seeing them at their offices, he briefly mistakes Happy (Favreau) and Bruce Wayne (Affleck) for Foggy and Matt, before being corrected. In another joke, Toby’s Peter would see a mugshot of Adrian Toomes, once momentarily mistaking it for his worlds Bruce Wayne before correcting himself.

10. My latest prompt for this AU involves Wonder Woman in Thor: Love and Thunder. And before you ask, I wouldn’t Diana and Thor aren’t rebounding off eachother here. Any relationship they’d have wouldn’t go past platonic.

Considered Diana having some involvement with The Eternals, but I couldn’t think of a way to write her in. With Love And Thunder at least, Diana has something to do, even if she doesn’t drastically change the story.

After spending some time in Star City, Diana goes on tourist travels, paying New Asgard a visit. It just so happens to be when Gorr abducts the Asgardian children. As Wonder Woman, she joins the fight with the Shadow Demons, before joining Valkyrie, Thor, Jane and Korg on the rescue mission.

Besides rescuing the children, two things catch Diana’s attention. 1. The existence of the Necrosword, especially since as far as she knew, she was the “God-Killing Weapon”. And 2. The fact that Omnipotence City exists and her father, Zeus, is alive.

Zeus has a slightly bigger purpose, and the “don’t meet your hero” thing strikes harder for Diana. It goes without saying that the heroic stories of Zeus that Diana (and Thor) grew up had a few embellishments. But this Zeus is a little more nuanced than being a “Fake Ultimate Hero”.

The heroic Zeus stories were broadly true, it’s just this Zeus is a foil to Thor and his arc. Zeus is what Thor could have become if he didn’t humble himself. And after driving off Darkseid, as well as Ares' fall from grace, Zeus is also what Thor would have become if he kept up his maladaptive coping habits post Infinity War.

Another change is that Thor and co wouldn’t leave thinking Zeus was dead; before they escape, Diana tells an injured Zeus off. Zeus tries to appeal to Diana as her father (and offers her her picks of men and women in the gods orgy). Diana rebuffs Zeus, declaring “I am going with them. I am gonna be what the Amazons were made to be. What you made me to be.”

Diana leaves Zeus in his humiliation....only to become another target of his revenge.

Beyond that, I see Diana being “heart” of the team. With her history of love and loss, she would understand what Thor, Jane, Valkyrie are going through and have gone through. She even tries to appeal to Gorr when she learns how his god failed him. Even so, I don’t think it would affect the outcome that much.

Beyond the Zeus plot, Diana would ultimately be another voice to say what they need to hear, and the ear to listen to their problems. I did consider a Diana x Valkyrie subplot, but even that doesn’t drastically affect anything.

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As of this post, the AU is currently on hold.

I’m still mulling over new ideas, but besides Black Adam I have nothing new from DC to work with, or to include in Wakanda Forever. Especially between seasons of The Flash and Superman & Lois. And especially with James Gunn apparently rebooting the DCEU.

So pending new releases, that’s all for now.

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