I Really Need This to Be the New Marvel/DC Crossover

Marvel and DC Comics are the biggest names in superheroes. For years, the two companies had some crossovers, but ever since 2003’s JLA/Avengers there have been none. All of that is about to change, though. Marvel and DC announced that they were going to start crossing over again. This is a huge moment for fans of superheroes for a variety of reasons. Marvel and DC have very different approaches to superheroes, and seeing those two approaches together is a lot of fun. There is a lot of exciting things happening at both publishers, making a crossover a tantalizing prospect for readers.

Right now, Marvel and DC have been battling it out for control of the sales charts with their remarkably similar secondary lines: Marvel Ultimate line and DC’s Absolute line. Marvel struck first with the Ultimate line, their second lines of books sharing that name, but DC’s Absolute line has proven to be more popular in many ways, with all three of its books ruling the top ten, whereas only Ultimate Spider-Man is still consistently in the top ten. These two nascent lines are the perfect place for Marvel and DC to crossover for a variety of reasons.

Absolute DC and Ultimate Marvel are the Pinnacle of Superheroes Right Now

Marvel’s second Ultimate line premiered at the end of 2023, launching with Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, and Ultimate Black Panther. Each of these books took the basics of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Black Panther and shook them up. Instead of Spider-Man being a sadsack loser, he was married to Mary Jane with kids and a good job. Instead of being students in a mutant school, Ultimate X-Men gave fans a horror manga book starring mutant Japanese schoolgirls. The Ultimate version of Black Panther jumped more into the more mystical side of Wakandan society, with the superscience that usually typifies Wakanda taking a back seat. In 2024, The Ultimates joined these books, presenting a new version of the Avengers fighting against the status quo, and 2025 has seen Ultimate Wolverine add a heaping helping of Winter Soldier into Wolverine.

This new Ultimate Universe has proven superior to the last, mostly because of how different it was. This new Earth was created by the Maker, the Reed Richards of the old Ultimate Universe, to be a world without superheroes and under his perfect control. This entirely new status quo has endless possibilities and for many fans, this is the best Marvel has been in ages. DC saw this and decided to go in a similar direction, announcing the Absolute DC Universe in 2024. This universe was created in DC All-In #1, when Darkseid pulled a Maker and created an Earth where he was in charge of its development, leading to very different heroes.

[RELATED: X-Men: Marvel Teases Ultimate Gambit and More Mutants in Ultimate Wolverine]

Absolute Superman, Absolute Batman, and Absolute Wonder Woman all star very different versions of characters everyone knows, just like the Ultimate Universe has. Batman is poor, Superman was raised on Krypton longer and sent to Earth when he was older, and Wonder Woman was raised in Hell. These changes have led to entirely different types of stories, and the line is about expand with books like Absolute Green Lantern, Absolute Martian Manhunter, and Absolute Flash. These two universes, the Ultimate and the Absolute, are formless clay, which makes bringing them together that much better.

One of the problems with Marvel and DC crossovers is that there are years of baggage that creators either have to reference or not. With the Ultimate and Absolute universes, there’s none of that. These concepts are new and shiny, and it’s easy to see them have some kind of weird multiversal crossover, one exacerbated by their status as villain-created worlds. There’s a flavor to these books that is quite similar and fans don’t have the same kind of expectations for the characters that they would for the mainline Marvel and DC versions. Plus, on top of that, there’s a chance that editors at Marvel and DC wouldn’t have the same problems letting one side of the other lose as they have in past crossovers; since they aren’t the classic versions of the characters, there’s no need to protect them.

Absolute DC and Ultimate Marvel Fit Together Perfectly for a Crossover

A crossover between DC and Marvel is going to sell well no matter what versions of the characters appear. Fans want to see their favorite heroes and villains cross over, and they will definitely vote with their wallets. However, a lot of crossovers in the past haven’t worked because both sides are much too precious about their characters. JLA/Avengers remains the pinnacle of intercompany crossovers because it felt like no one was holding the hands of writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Perez; they were allowed to tell their story their way and it worked beautifully. This is going to be hard to do in today’s climate, partly because of the owners of Marvel and DC, and the best way to make this work is by bringing in the newest, bestselling versions of both universes.

A crossover between the Ultimate and Absolute universes can actually count in their histories, something that has rarely if ever happened with any major superhero crossovers. This is definitely the biggest thing that could happen and the only way it’s going to happen is if the Ultimate and Absolute universes are the home to the crossover. The Maker versus Darkseid? An upper-middle class Spider-Man meeting poor gutter punk Batman? Anti-corporate Superman squaring off against a brainwashed Ultimate Wolverine? Hell-raised Wonder Woman and Black Panther talking about their experiences with godlike forces? The X-Men schoolgirls hanging out with the Ultimates? All of that is much more exciting than just seeing Superman and Spider-Man meet and it never mattering anywhere outside of an eighty-page, ten dollar comic.

What do you think? Do you have a particular crossover you’d like? Let us know in the comments.