If Disney merges DC with Marvel...

[Trey Strain]

In terms of crossovers, I hope they'll just publish several recurring team-up minis, focusing on the lower-tier characters. If I were in charge, here's the approximate order I'd publish them in.

Ant-Man and Atom.

Hawkeye and Green Arrow.

Namor and Aquaman.

Silver Surfer and Martian Manhunter.

Angel and Hawkman.

And a couple of higher-level team-ups.

Daredevil and Batman.

Thor and Wonder Woman.

Besides that, I'd trim JLA down to Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash.

I'd trim JSA down to Spectre, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern and Flash.

I'd also publish a title with the Charlton characters, Catwoman and Wildcat.

[Space Cop]

I'd hope if they bought them that they would keep the universes different (kind of like when Vertigo was under but separate from DC). I have zero interest in Flash and Quick Silver or Thanos and Darkseid being in the same universe.

[Mister Ed]

Originally Posted by Space Cop

I'd hope if they bought them that they would keep the universes different (kind of like when Vertigo was under but separate from DC). I have zero interest in Flash and Quick Silver or Thanos and Darkseid being in the same universe.

Yeah, those kind of things can be kind of fun for a event crossover series, but on an ongoing basis? Ugh. One of the universes could probably absorb a limited number of characters from the other (especially lower tier ones), but a full-on merging on an ongoing basis sounds like a disaster.

[TazzMission]

Sigh if dc was sold no more versus shit have both marvel and dc on the same earth call it earth prime. Imagine share/stock holders for stark and wayne industries in a board room together working on stuff. Imagine seeing themascara and asgard co existing. Imagine a guy like moon knight in Gotham going after the worst of the worst. Heck Imagine deadpool competing to join the suicide squad. Have steve rodgers run for president against lex luthor. I also have this idea where Atlantis isnt the first civilization underwater. Read the agartha legend. Like how many alternative realities civil wars secret wars can you do before it gets stale

[Trey Strain]

There's no point in Disney buying DC if they're going to keep DC and Marvel sealed off from each other the way they are now. That's just a change of ownership and nothing more. What's going to stimulate market interest is bringing the characters together.

The thing to do is to use this to sell some titles that you wouldn't be able to sell now. Like the team-up minis I mentioned.

BTW, I'd also try to get a second GL title and a Flash team title in there. Also an LoS mini.

[TazzMission]

Originally Posted by Trey Strain

There's no point in Disney buying DC if they're going to keep DC and Marvel sealed off from each other the way they are now. That's just a change of ownership and nothing more. What's going to stimulate market interest is bringing the characters together.

The thing to do is to use this to sell some titles that you wouldn't be able to sell now. Like the team-up minis I mentioned.

BTW, I'd also try to get a second GL title and a Flash team title in there. Also an LoS mini.

Well another thing dc can do is sell the phantom stranger, the spectre connect them to moon knight. Sell ICON to marvel. There not doing anything with them anyways in terms of live action content. Maybe even sell batman beyond as well to marvel and we can get a batman beyond spiderman 2029 buddy cop series. I still think my earth prime pitch is the better risk

[Space Cop]

Originally Posted by Trey Strain

There's no point in Disney buying DC if they're going to keep DC and Marvel sealed off from each other the way they are now. That's just a change of ownership and nothing more. What's going to stimulate market interest is bringing the characters together. . .

The problem is there are so many characters that are knock-offs of the competition. They can't possibly survive in the same universe.

Darkseid-Thanos
Flash-Quicksilver
Green Arrow-Hawkeye
Doctor Fate-Doctor Strange
Red Tornado-Vision
Deathstroke-Deadpool (and now Harley rips off Deadpool)
GLC-Nova Corps
Atom-Ant Man
Wasp-Bumblebee
Namor-Aquaman
Guardian-Captain America
etc, etc

I'd seriously rather see DC just end than be absorbed by the great Mouse Monopoly.

[buffalorock]

It would certainly be a sad state if they had to merge. Part of the fun of the universes crossing over is the disbelief that the two companies could ever work together. It'd be funner to talk about the stories than actually see Disney shove em down our throats for the next fifteen years.

[Trey Strain]

I don't think Marvel is going to let DC end and all that income sit on the table just because a few people on the internet don't want to see Marvel get them. This is business, and that's OK. Anybody who doesn't like it is welcome to keep his money and his memories, and not buy the new products.

[Mister Ed]

Originally Posted by Trey Strain

I don't think Marvel is going to let DC end and all that income sit on the table just because a few people on the internet don't want to see Marvel get them. This is business, and that's OK. Anybody who doesn't like it is welcome to keep his money and his memories, and not buy the new products.

So you are banking on the idea that most people that buy comics WOULD want to see a merged universe on a permanent, ongoing basis?

OK, you could be right, but I feel like there might be less interest in that than you imagine (especially after the novelty wore off).

Guess we won't know the truth until and unless it happens.

(Though I do believe that somebody would move to preserve the DC characters if DC went under. I'm just skeptical of an outright merger of the two universes.)

[Trey Strain]

I doubt that DC and Marvel can survive as separate comics companies. And even if they can, they'd almost surely be more profitable as one company.

This is business, pure and simple.

When meetings are held to discuss it, nobody is going to say, "Hey guys, Space Cop and Mr. Ed don't want to see Darkseid and Thanos in the same universe. So maybe we shouldn't do this."

[Andrew NDB]

It makes a lot of sense. When people completely stop buying 2nd stringer comics (Batgirl, Namor, Aquaman type stuff, etc.)... one lineup with just like:

BATMAN
SUPERMAN
X-MEN
JUSTICE LEAGUE
AVENGERS
SPIDER-MAN
WOLVERINE
GREEN LANTERN
TEEN TITANS

I mean, that would sell every month.

[Mister Ed]

Originally Posted by Trey Strain

I doubt that DC and Marvel can survive as separate comics companies. And even if they can, they'd almost surely be more profitable as one company.

This is business, pure and simple.

When meetings are held to discuss it, nobody is going to say, "Hey guys, Space Cop and Mr. Ed don't want to see Darkseid and Thanos in the same universe. So maybe we shouldn't do this."

You keep trying to make this stuff about Space Cop and my personal preferences. It sure seems like it is more about yours, specifically your need to portray yourself as the smartest man in the room, and project your personal proposals as surefire winners.

I couldn't care less about Darkseid and Thanos. I guess I'm just speculating that such a complete merger would get old quickly, not just for me (I would likely not even pay attention to most of it), but for a sizable percentage of the comic reading audience. Obviously I'm guessing, and could well be wrong (an admission you never seem willing to make), but given all I hear about "event fatigue" I question how much appetite people really have for such a wholesale merger on an ongoing basis, given how much it seems likely to feel like an "event" that never ends.

[Mister Ed]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It makes a lot of sense. When people completely stop buying 2nd stringer comics (Batgirl, Namor, Aquaman type stuff, etc.)... one lineup with just like:

BATMAN
SUPERMAN
X-MEN
JUSTICE LEAGUE
AVENGERS
SPIDER-MAN
WOLVERINE
GREEN LANTERN
TEEN TITANS

I mean, that would sell every month.

Oh sure, if the idea is that you merge the two by cutting most of it out, and leaving a small core of the most popular titles from each universe, which largely stay in their own lanes, then you don't end up with something that feels like a never ending crossover event. People would probably get used to that a lot faster, since most of the time it wouldn't feel that different from now, just with perhaps a few unusual differences in the team rosters.

If I'm still reading comics when and if this sort of thing happens, I'll likely give it a shot. If I don't like it, I'll leave it behind (like I've done with Star Trek), and at that point, I won't begrudge it any success it does have. If I DO like it, then I'll keep on reading.

[Space Cop]

Originally Posted by Mister Ed

Oh sure, if the idea is that you merge the two by cutting most of it out, and leaving a small core of the most popular titles from each universe, which largely stay in their own lanes, then you don't end up with something that feels like a never ending crossover event. . .

I definitely imagine that is what would happen. I'm not attached to a lot of those characters on my list. I was just using ones I can't imagine lasting long together. Sometimes a DC character would win (Flash over Quicksilver, for example) and sometimes Marvel (probably Thanos over Darkseid because of the MCU), but you'd have to phase out some.

I'd lose interest (I imagine) because I've never been a Marvel guy and it would clearly be a matter of Marvel absorbing DC.