Reading comic books sparks creativity. Many fans have dabbled with creating their own superheroes, often “mashing” two icons like DC’s Superman and Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man to create brand new creations like a neurotic super-powered teenager rocketed from a distant planet – or a civic-minded reporter who gets spider-powers from the sun. With all the superheroes offered today, there’s really no shortage of potential “combo heroes” fans can build – which actually happened in the comics.
Marvel and DC embraced character amalgamations when they created their own combo heroes during the famous DC vs. Marvel comic book event of the 1990s. What was truly remarkable, however, was that the companies didn’t just create a handful of heroes but ended up creating an entire multiverse of “Amalgam” heroes and villains that just kept growing every year!
Marvel vs. DC
The “Amalgam Universe” began when Marvel and DC Comics announced a comic book miniseries crossover, DC vs. Marvel Comics, that pitted their most powerful heroes and antiheroes against each other. Fans were asked to vote for the characters they wanted to win – with the final tally determining the outcome of each match.
The miniseries’ plot took on some cosmic proportions when it revealed that both the Marvel and DC Universe were personified by two god-like beings (the “Brothers”) who decided to challenge each other to see which one was worthier of existence. Rather than fight directly, the Brothers chose champions from the many super-powered beings in their universes and forced them to battle each other, allowing a winner to be chosen by proxy. The loser – and his entire universe – would cease to exist.
Given such high stakes, the reluctant heroes faced off against each other in eleven different battles. DC’s Aquaman took on Marvel’s Sub-Mariner (and flattened him with a giant whale). The Flash outraced Quicksilver and Batman’s partner Robin defeated the X-Men’s Jubilee. Superman also managed to overpower the Hulk while Batman narrowly outmaneuvered Captain America.
However, Marvel took the lead when Elektra, Silver Surfer, Thor, Spider-Man, Storm, and Wolverine all managed to best their opponents Catwoman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel (aka Shazam), Superboy, Wonder Woman, and Lobo. As the universes began collapsing, however, something completely unexpected happened…
Birth of the Amalgam Universe
During the fight, Marvel’s Living Tribunal and DC’s Spectre managed to fuse the two universes together, creating an all-new “Amalgam Universe.” In this weird new world, Steve Rogers had been given Kryptonian abilities during WWII and become “Super-Soldier.” The mutant Logan had adopted a Batman-like persona known as “Dark Claw.” And Bruce Wayne was an agent of SHIELD!
DC and Marvel went so far as to create a new publishing imprint – Amalgam Comics – and published twelve “Amalgam” comics that followed the adventures of these hybrid heroes. The comics even contained fake letter pages and references to bogus “classic” issues where Super-Soldier fought the “Green Skull” during WWII. Even supporting characters were “amalgamated” (like when Dick Grayson combined with Moon Knight to become “Moon Wing”). Other notable “Amalgam” characters included:
- Spider-Boy: A clone who could mimic spider-like abilities with a web gun and gravity manipulating powers. He was a combination of Spider-Man and Superboy.
- Amazon: Also known as Wonder Woman, she was Ororo Munroe, a mutant raised by the Amazons alongside her foster sister Diana. She was a combination of DC’s Wonder Woman and Storm.
- Speed Demon: A superfast demonic hero who spoke in rhyme. He was a combination of the Flash, Ghost Rider, and DC’s rhyming demon Etrigan.
The only person to remain unchanged was Access – a new character created by both Marvel and DC who had the power to move between the universes. Access was hunted through the Amalgam Universe by Dr. Strangefate – a combination of Doctor Strange and Doctor Fate (who also turned out to be Charles Xavier!). Strangefate wanted to stop Access from splitting his Amalgam universe apart, but Access succeeded in restoring the Marvel and DC Universes. He even convinced the cosmic “Brothers” to let both universes live.
The Return of the Amalgam Universe
This was far from the end of the Amalgam heroes, however. The “Amalgam Comics” proved so popular that DC and Marvel later partnered to produce twelve more Amalgam Comics. These comics revisited heroes like Dark Claw (who got his own animated series adaptation in Dark Claw Adventures #1) and explored weirder corners of the Amalgam Universe in issues like Bat-Thing #1 (a combination of DC’s Man-Bat and Marvel’s Man-Thing) and Lobo the Duck #1 (a combination of DC’s Lobo and – yes, really – Marvel’s Howard the Duck).
Some of the new issues even gave a metafictional nod to comic characters that inspired each other – like Challengers of the Fantastic #1, a combination of Marvel’s Fantastic Four and DC’s Challengers of the Unknown. Since Marvel artist and Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby had helped create the original Challengers of the Unknown comic book before using similar ideas for the Fantastic Four, Amalgam was apparently acknowledging the debt the comics owed to each other.
The Amalgam… MULTIVERSE?
Access himself returned in two miniseries – All Access and Unlimited Access – which also saw the return of the Amalgam Universe. In the first series, Dr. Strangefate clawed his way out of Doctor Strange’s subconscious and began creating all-new Amalgams out of the X-Men and the Justice League – birthing weird Aquaman/Iceman and Batman/Jubilee hybrids. Doctor Strange and Access manage beat Strangefate, however, and Strange creates a simulacrum of the Amalgam Universe that he hides within Access.
By the second miniseries, Access discovered he had the power to fuse DC and Marvel characters together to form his own “Amalgam” heroes. The series saw the birth of some fun new characters – including Captain America Jr., a hero who gained the power of U.S. presidents by yelling “Uncle Sam!” Thor and Superman also got to have their most unique “team-up” when Access combined them to create “Thor-El,” a Kryptonian thunder god.
Remarkably, every single one of these new “Amalgam” heroes had their own backstory. Even weirder, since many of these characters did not exist in the original Amalgam Universe (Superman’s “Thor-El” was an entirely different being from “Super-Soldier”), Access may have inadvertently spawned an entire Amalgam Multiverse where every single possible combination of Marvel and DC heroes that could exist does exist. It’s a mind-boggling concept – but insanely fun for fans who love comic book mashups.
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