DC And Marvel Screw With The Multiverse, And JOKER Knows It

If there’s one thing comic book fans all love, it’s a good crossover. No longer do readers need to debate over whether or not Batman could defeat the Hulk in combat or what it would be like for the Joker to meet up with Carnage – crossovers let Marvel and DC fans finally see these impossible scenarios in action. Even so, the way in which these crossovers take place has changed over the years. Some storylines simply claim the characters live side by side (but rarely interact). Others claim the heroes exist in different universes but can cross over via dimensional portals.

As a rule, however, most superheroes and supervillains forget about these cross-company team-up once they’re over – with one exception. It might sound crazy, but Batman’s arch-nemesis the Joker actually remembers his adventures with Marvel characters – and gleefully references them!

To delve into how the Joker’s twisted mind can keep track of all of these crossovers, it’s worth exploring how Marvel and DC currently explain how their merged stories work. Originally, when Marvel and DC collaborated to produce such classics like Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man or Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk, it was simply established that the characters all co-existed in the same universe and never bumped into each other since they were too busy with their own adventures.

This premise was even carried into the modern era when Batman teamed up with multiple Marvel heroes, including Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man. Spidey and Batman’s team-up actually also led to a collaboration of two other comic book icons – Carnage and the Joker. In Spider-Man and Batman, Carnage’s human host Cletus Kassidy gets a chip implanted in his brain that seemingly removes his psychotic impulses. The experiment’s success encourages Kassidy’s doctor to take him to Arkham Asylum where she performs the same surgery on the Joker, rendering him harmless.

However, it turns out that Kassidy’s symbiote shorted out the chip as it was being implanted. Wanting to meet his hero the Joker, Kassidy played possum until he got to Arkham and then transformed into Carnage, slaughtering several guards and taking the Joker with him. He then used his symbiote to “cure” the Joker of his anti-psychotic microchip, restoring the Clown Prince of Crime to his familiar insanity.

Unfortunately, the Joker found Carnage a disappointment when he found his benefactor was only interested in killing people – not psychologically torturing them first. According to Joker, he was the “Orson Welles” of crime and chaos, while Carnage was simply chaos’ “David Hasselhoff” or “Dolph Lundgren.” Furious, Carnage turned on the Joker, but both of them were beaten by Batman and Spider-Man.

Up to this point, it appeared that these Marvel/DC adventures took place in alternate universes separate from the main continuity. Later, however, it was established that all of these crossovers were actually the responsibility (or fault) of a character jointly created and co-owned by DC and Marvel – Axel Asher (aka “Access”). A seemingly ordinary college student from the Marvel Universe, Access later found out that he was the “cosmic hall monitor” between the DC and Marvel Universes, assigned to keep characters from either universe from crossing into the other.

Access had the power to cross back and forth between the Marvel and DC universes at will. He could even travel up and down the timestreams of both realms, allowing him to journey to Marvel’s Old West and meet the Two-Gun Kid or move forward into DC’s 30^th century and see the Legion of Superheroes in action. In later adventures, Access discovered he had an even more bizarre power – he could touch characters from either universe and merge them together into an “Amalgam” – creating an all-new character with a fabricated history.

Unfortunately, Access’ powers came at a cost – if he stayed in one universe for too long, he would inadvertently start causing crossovers and merging the universes together. This could result in the Marvel and DC characters beginning to co-exist (and believing they’d always co-existed). In a worst-case scenario, Access could accidentally cause the universes to “amalgamate” and turn into a completely different “Amalgam Universe” where characters like Super-Soldier and Dark-Claw replaced Superman and Wolverine.

Because of this, Access was forced to constantly wander back and forth between the DC and Marvel Universes, never staying in one spot (or one time) too long, lest he starts causing crossovers. Of course, accidents did happen, which explained how the early Marvel/DC crossovers happened – Access had inadvertently temporarily merged the DC and Marvel Universes to the point where the characters thought they’d always lived in the same universe.

Fortunately, Access was usually able to sort out the mess and even mentioned offhand that he’d managed to sort out the second Batman/Spider-Man team-up against Ra’s al Ghul and the Kingpin without anyone noticing he was ever there. He also discovered that his powers caused people to forget about him or about the crossovers themselves, creating a safety feature to prevent the universes from getting too screwed up. Nevertheless, there were heroes who recognized him, including Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man, who often sought out his help.

However, even some of these heroes tended to forget about their encounters with DC or Marvel characters… although one character seemed to retain very clear memories of these reality rewrites. In the very first issue of Marvel vs. DC, Spider-Man (actually Peter Parker’s clone Ben Reilly) was transported to Gotham City where he came face to face with the Joker.

Joker greeted the confused hero by name, even commenting that he’d changed his costume since the last time they met (in the first Batman/Spider-Man comic book). Ben was completely clueless as he technically wasn’t the wall-crawler Joker met, but the Clown Prince of Crime took it all in stride, even giving Spidey one of his playing cards before jumping off the roof (don’t worry, he was wearing a parachute).

It’s a weird revelation, but one oddly fitting for the Joker. The Clown Prince of Crime has been known to possess a sort of “super sanity” that may allow him to realize he’s a character in a comic book. If his self-awareness stretches this far, it’s practically a given that he’d know when his fictional universe is being rewritten to accommodate some guest stars from the Marvel Universe. For his part, Joker seems to enjoy these little crossovers as they provide more opportunities for him to sow chaos – but they also make him one loose end even Access can’t resolve.

About The Author

Michael Jung
(700 Articles Published)

See also  Kraven The Hunter: 10 Things Only Comic Book Fans Know About The Spider-Man Villain

Michael Jung is a mild-mannered freelance writer-for-hire, actor, and professional storyteller with a keen interest in pop culture, education, nonprofit organizations, and unusual side hustles. His work has been featured in Screen Rant, ASU Now, Sell Books Fast, Study.com, and Free Arts among others. A graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in 20^th Century American Literature, Michael has written novels, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, and how-to manuals.

Michael’s background in storytelling draws him to find the most fascinating aspects of any topic and transform them into a narrative that informs and entertains the reader. Thanks to a life spent immersed in comic books and movies, Michael is always ready to infuse his articles with offbeat bits of trivia for an extra layer of fun. In his spare time, you can find him entertaining kids as Spider-Man or Darth Vader at birthday parties or scaring the heck out of them at haunted houses.

Visit Michael Jung’s website for information on how to hire him, follow him on Twitter Michael50834213, or contact him directly: michael(at)michaeljungwriter(dot)com.

More From Michael Jung