JLA/Avengers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
The tense of this article is not suitable for an encyclopaedia. Please consider copy editing to: past tense if historic, present tense if not time-based (e.g. fiction) or future tense if upcoming. |
| JLA/Avengers | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
JLA/Avengers was a 4-issue comic book mini-series jointly published by Marvel Comics and DC Comics in late 2004 through early 2005. The story was a crossover between Marvel's Avengers and the Justice League of America from DC Comics.
The mini-series was published in the 48-page Prestige Format, a book format that DC Comics often uses. Issues #1 and #2 were published by Marvel Comics under the title "JLA/Avengers" while issues #3 and #4 were published by DC Comics with the title "Avengers/JLA". The story as a whole was reprinted in a 2-volume collector's edition hardcover book, published by DC.
Contents |
[edit] History
In the early 1980s, DC and Marvel agreed to do a Justice League of America/Avengers crossover story, to be written by Gerry Conway and drawn by George Pérez, pitting both teams against their enemies, DC's Lord of Time and Marvel's Kang the Conqueror. Conway and Pérez began work on the series in 1981, but editorial disputes prevented the story from being completed. While the project was in editorial limbo, Pérez sold his original art.
Around twenty years later, an agreement was made between the two companies, with the story to be written by Kurt Busiek. At the time, Pérez was exclusive to CrossGen comics, but his contract had a clause specifically allowing him to do a JLA/Avengers crossover, and it has been suggested that this helped advance the deal to allow the crossover to happen, and to reunite him with his former Avengers partner to do the series.
In the published story, leading members of the fictional teams of the DC and Marvel universes, the Avengers and the Justice League of America, search for key artifacts to save their two universes from ultimate destruction. Unlike the Marvel vs DC series, which was designed to pit the two publishers' fan bases against each other, this series took a more serious approach and focused on key elements of the DC and Marvel universes. Although no explicit reference is made to any previous Marvel/DC crossover (Batman, for example, shows no sign of recognizing the Punisher), there are vague allusions to them (such as Superman reading a copy of the Daily Planet with an interview of Spider-Man written by Clark Kent). At one point in the story, the two universes are merged into one, and it has been suggested that the previous crossovers took place in this new, merged world.
[edit] Story
Krona, an exiled Oan villain from the DC Universe who has gained the powers of entropy, begins destroying entire universes in his obsession to find out how they are created. The Grandmaster, an alien from the Marvel Universe who is obsessed with games, offers to give Krona the knowledge he seeks but only if he can beat him in a game. The game consists of forcing the Avengers and the Justice League to battle each other in a race to find twelve items of incredible power that have been hidden around their worlds. With help from Metron of the DC Universe, the heroes are tricked into participating. Krona is given the side of the Avengers and Grandmaster is given the side of the JLA.
When Batman and Captain America discover this, Captain America allows the game to end with a victory for the JLA, but Krona refuses to accept this and uses his powers to steal the knowledge directly from the Grandmaster's mind. In turn, the Grandmaster uses the power of the twelve artifacts to merge the two universes, trapping Krona at their center. However, this results in a chaotic world, and Krona begins to cause the universes to collapse, since he now knows that universal creation comes from destruction (see Oscillatory Universe). The Avengers and the League join forces to stop him, aided by many other members from both teams' pasts (brought together by wild changes in time).
In the end, Krona is turned into a "cosmic egg" from which a universe would be born in a trillion years. The two universes return to normal, with everything that Krona destroyed being recreated as well (this would have consequences for the Anti-matter Universe, as seen in a follow-up story in the Justice League comics).
[edit] Main characters
The primary lineups for both teams in issues 1 and 2 were:
|
JLA:
|
Avengers:
|
Later in the story, every member that each team ever had appears, as do all of their enemies.
[edit] The Items of Power
Due to Metron and Grandmaster's plot, the Justice League of America and the Avengers must collect twelve items of power, six from each Universe, meaning that the failing party would have its universe destroyed.
[edit] DC's six items of power
- the Spear of Destiny
- the Book of Eternity
- the Orb of Ra
- the Psycho Pirate's Medusa Mask
- Uthool's Green Bell, Nyorlath's Silver Wheel and Calythos's Red Jar
- the Green Lantern Power Battery of Kyle Rayner
[edit] Marvel's six items of power
- the Ultimate Nullifier
- the Evil Eye
- the Wand of Watoomb
- the Infinity Gems
- the Cosmic Cube
- the Casket of Ancient Winters, an Asgardian artifact
[edit] JLA/Avengers Battles
Issue 1
- Thor begins the battle by hurling Mjolnir at Superman. His mystical hammer connects, sending a bloodied Superman to the ground.
Issue 2
- Superman is back up moments later, and the fight between the JLA and Avengers ensues. Batman faces Captain America. Using a series of feints and blocks, the two test each other to see what each is capable of. Batman announces that Captain America would likely defeat him, but that it would take him a long time to do it. The two heroes agree that something else must be going on, and they team up to investigate further. The remaining heroes do not seem to notice and continue to fight.
- Wonder Woman takes out some familial anger by defeating Hercules (Hercules "despoiled" Diana's mother, Hippolyta).
- The flirtatious She-Hulk uses her muscle to gain the upper hand against Aquaman.
- Superman and the Green Lantern encounter Warbird and Wonder Man. The exchange begins with the Green Lantern trapping Wonder Man in energy chains, while Warbird blasts Superman with an energy attack. Warbird's focused energy beams quickly prove ineffective against the Man of Steel, and he responds by using his super-speed to subdue her quickly. Wonder Man, who gains the upper hand and weakens Green Lantern, is about to finish his fight by delivering a final blow that would smash through the power ring's defensive shield. He is unaware, however, that Superman has already defeated his opponent. Superman rescues Green Lantern by quickly grabbing Wonder Man and knocks him through the rocky landscape.
- Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who find themselves in the DC Universe, look at the famed Flash Museum. Their visit is cut short, however, by Blue Beetle, Hawkman and Black Canary. After a short skirmish, Black Canary manages to stop Quicksilver with a sonic attack. Scarlet Witch, using her enhanced Chaos Magic, neutralizes the three DC heroes and leaves.
- Plastic Man has difficulty subduing Wasp and Yellowjacket, so Martian Manhunter steps in and delivers a powerful telepathic attack that immediately incapacitates them.
- In the book's final major battle between the two teams, Superman and Thor exchange blows once more. Thor attempts to strike him with Mjolnir again, but this time Superman counters by catching it mid-swing. An astounded Thor is then knocked unconscious by the Man of Steel. Standing over his unconscious body, Superman admits that he may have been the toughest opponent he has ever faced. Hercules, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Iron Man and Vision, overcome with rage at witnessing their powerhouse lying on the ground, respond by immediately attacking Superman. Together, the five of them take the weakened Kryptonian down. The battle ends with Aquaman commanding an enormous sea creature, which disperses the attackers.
[edit] Follow up and references to JLA/Avengers
- The Cosmic Egg that was Krona made a re-appearance in the JLA's "Syndicate Rules" storyline, also by Busiek. There were initial plans to also follow up the story in Marvel's title, but these were shelved, perhaps due to the impending breakup of the Avengers and the subsequent launch of the New Avengers title; however, recent issues of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe do make reference to the crossover.
- The chaos magic used by the Scarlet Witch is more powerful in the DC Universe, due to Chaos and its polar opposite Order being phenomenally powerful forces in the DCU, governed by supernatural entities known as the Lords of Chaos and Order. However, since Chaos is generally associated with evil acts in the DCU, the Scarlet Witch was slowly being corrupted by the influence of that force's Lords (it has been suggested that this somehow led to her insanity and the House of M event; since the crossover was later referenced in JLA, this is not impossible)[citation needed].
[edit] Early plans for the crossover
- A scene that was planned but removed has the JLA seeing the Daily Bugle 's slanderous articles on the MU heroes.
- An early plan for #3 (according to the second book of the JLA/Avengers Compendium) was to have a reality change. As a result, The Marvel Universe would resemble the more carefree Silver Age DC Universe (such as being treated as demigods and the use of fictional cities) and its heroes would be drawn in a more Gil Kane/Carmine Infantino style. The DC Universe would have conflicted heroes with problems in similar ways to the Marvel Universe heroes, with personal tragedies/violent emotions, and would be drawn in a more Steve Ditko/Jack Kirby style. It was rejected, due to focus more on the individual heroes rather than the entire teams.
[edit] Comparisons between the DC/Marvel Universe in the series
- There was a subtle commentary about the differences in philosophies and tones between the two universes. Superman criticized the heroes of the Marvel Universe for seeming to let their world down and being too anarchistic, whereas Captain America viewed the DC Universe as being unduly controlled and lorded over by the DC heroes (the two later apologized to one another). However, the two heroes expressed these misgivings in an uncharacteristically venomous manner, as the unstable merging of the two incompatible universes influenced and destabilized their minds. They agree in the final scene that however, the outcome of their actions influence their world, heroes just have to keep on trying to act for the best.
- Marvel-Earth is apparently slightly smaller than DC-Earth; this is hinted as the reason why the several fictional cities of DC-Earth (Metropolis, Gotham City, Star City, Keystone City, Coast City, etc.) can exist without supplanting the real-world cities that also exist (such as New York City, which is alternatively seen as an analogue to Metropolis or Gotham City).
- Flash could not tap into the Speed Force when he entered the Marvel Universe, requiring artificial means to maintain his speed.
- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) could charge his power ring in the Marvel Universe with a Cosmic Cube, although the charging process was unstable.
- Aquaman can take mental control of the Atlanteans of Marvel-Earth, though hybrids (such as Namor) can resist it. He did manage to give Namor quite a headache, though.
- Darkseid comes into possession of the Infinity Gauntlet, much to everyone's horror, only to discard it because it is useless and powerless in the DC universe.
[edit] Trivia
- Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)'s costume is anachronistic with Aquaman's costume in the early issues (before the time warping occurs). This occurred because Rayner's costume was redrawn throughout the first issue to match his then-current costume, adopted in Green Lantern #150. However, Aquaman had been sent to the distant past in Our Worlds at War by that point, and adopted a new costume, cutting his hair and shaving most of his beard in the process, on his return. He did not rejoin the JLA under after a further costume change (shown briefly in #4 - the only “future” costume to be seen in the costume-changing sequence).
- Monica Rambeau (Photon) was able to absorb and manipulate the willpower-based energies of Green Lantern's power ring by matching the energy wavelengths the ring produced.
- Batman fought the Taskmaster; Captain America fought and defeated Prometheus. Both villains have nearly defeated their respective universe's roster single-handedly. Note: opposing characters of each universe appear who have not appeared in the 1996 crossover and cards line such as Ms. Marvel and Power Girl facing off or Starro and Terminus, in individual panels. Hidden plots, and references with Teen Titans, and how Brainiac reconstructed Metropolis, or Doctor Doom as part of the Source Wall are also made (see below).
- Mutants, aliens and other metahumans are generally accepted in the DC Universe as opposed to the Marvel Universe, where a larger portion of the populace is more than willing to lynch them (mainly mutants) on sight.
- In the final battle against Krona, Captain America leads the joint JLA/Avengers team in their struggle, aided by the Martian Manhunter's telepathic link (each is famously the only character to appear in all incarnations of their respective teams).
- Marvel's Radioactive Man had discovered Kryptonite radiation before, but dismissed it as useless until a 'bald guy' (presumably Lex Luthor) provided info (as well as red solar energy to Solarr) to bring down Superman. To counter this, Vision used his stored Solar Blast to recharge Superman's cells.
- Every Avenger and Justice League member in the past thirty-year history appears at least once, with a plot device to let future members be a part of the action off-panel (behind the scenes).
- During the course of the story, most significantly in the final battle, every incarnation (at the time) of each pivotal member appeared, including changes in appearance and powers.
- Galactus is slain and consumed by Krona; the Eater of Worlds' remains then become the mad Oan's citadel in JLA/Avengers #4. As with all other major alterations in the series, Galactus is revived after the crisis is over.
- Superman, during the course of the battle against Krona, wields both Thor's hammer and Captain America's shield.
- Marvel-Earth is more decentralized; there is no city where Metropolis would be in the DC Universe.
- The final roster that confronts Krona in issue #4 to put the main reality back is called "Avengers", and uses the trademark battle-cry "Avengers Assemble". Most of its members have everything to lose in this battle. In case of success, Hal Jordan will allow his madness and possession by the evil entity Parallax to happen, Barry Allen will die during the battle against the Anti-Monitor, Batman will see Robin II (Jason Todd) die, Aquaman will lose his hand, The Vision and The Scarlet Witch will lose their children, etc. This puts a great emphasis on the heroic and self-denying dimension of their struggle, which is for the greater good, but comes with an incredibly high cost for them. This is part of the reflection about the role of heroes in their universes throughout the entire mini-series.
- During issue #3, Captain America is reminded of past team-ups between the Avengers and Justice League:
- Amazo and Ultron-four imprison both teams in their respective headquarters. The Avengers and JLA had to swap worlds to track them down.
- The Grim Reaper and The Key have possession of the Serpent Crown, as well as kidnapping Zatanna and Mantis to use as means to gain Celestial Powers.
- The Avengers and JLA are pitted against each other by Kang and The Lord of Time. This being a reference to the original plans for the 1983 crossover.
- Also in the alternate history, it is suggested by Wonder Woman that there have been team-ups between The Invaders and the Justice Society of America.
- Other heroes such as the New Warriors and the Teen Titans made cameo appearances.
- Spider-Man meets the JLA in this story for the first time. In previous crossovers, he had already encountered Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. A tip of the hat to the old Superman/Spider-Man crossovers is shown at one point, where Flash (Barry Allen) and Superman read a newspaper showing Clark Kent and Spider-Man together in an interview.
- During the series, Hawkeye is the first Marvel character to officially become a member of the Justice League of America.
