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JLA/Avengers

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JLA/Avengers
Cover of JLA/Avengers #3, art by George Perez.
Cover of JLA/Avengers #3, art by George Perez.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
Marvel Comics
FormatPrestige format limited series
Publication dateSeptember 2004 - April 2005
No. of issuesJLA/Avengers #1, 3
Avengers/JLA #2, 4
Main character(s)Avengers
Justice League
Creative team
Written byKurt Busiek
Artist(s)George Pérez
Colorist(s)Tom Smith

JLA/Avengers was a 4-issue comic book mini-series jointly published by Marvel Comics and DC Comics in late 2003 through early 2004. 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 #3 were published by Marvel Comics under the title "JLA/Avengers" while issues #2 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.

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.

File:Avengers JLA.JPG
panel from Avengers/JLA #3

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.

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 in return for not destroying his universe 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).

During the issue, while captured together, Eternity and Kismet wordlessly have a love affair, and as the two universes are seperated, they seemingly protest, reaching out to each other as they part. Their affair is given single sentence fairy tale captions in Olde English script.

The comic is considered canon, with the cosmic egg reappearing in later issues of the JLA. Also a similar item has appeared in the form of the mundane egg which appeared in the Books of Magic, under DC's Vertigo imprint.

Main characters

The primary lineups for both teams in issues 1 and 2 were:

JLA:

Avengers:

Cosmic Forces:

Later in the story, most of the members both teams had over their histories appeared, as did many of their enemies.

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.

DC's six items of power

Marvel's six items of power

JLA/Avengers Battles

Issue 1

  • Batman defeats The Punisher in 20 minutes. It is not shown, only in Plastic Man's complaint that Batman contradictorily involved himself in a fight after telling the other heroes not to interfere in the affairs of Earth-Marvel.
  • 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 could possibly defeat him, but that it would take the Avenger 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 against Hercules (who "despoiled" Diana's mother, Hippolyta) and defeats him.
  • The flirtatious She-Hulk uses her muscle to gain the upper hand against Aquaman. Aquaman retreats to successfully grab the item of power rather than fight.
  • 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. 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.

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.

Early plans for the crossover

  • 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 heroes 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.

Comparisons between the DC/Marvel Universe in the series

  • The series contained 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, as the Infinity Gems that originate in the Marvel Universe cannot function within the DC universe.
  • Scarlet Witch encounters and is slowly corrupted by the DC Universe's far more deadly, potent and unpredictable Chaos Magic, which is ruled by the Lords of Chaos. However, since Chaos is generally associated with evil acts in the DC Universe, she begins to transition to the form she had in the Avengers Knights of Wundagore storyline, where the evil Chthon took over her body and mind.
  • Superman is unable to lift Mjolnir after the battle had ended, though during Marvel Vs. DC. Thor explains Superman was only able to use Mjolnir during the desperate hour when Thor gave it to him. (Wonder Woman was able to use it freely and even become a female equivalent of Thor (being "worthy" of its power.)
  • Wonder Woman, having a divine nature, is able to travel to Asgard instinctively, in the same why she is able to travel to Olympus.

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 a further costume change (shown briefly in #4 - the only “future” costume to be seen in the costume-changing sequence).
  • Batman fought the Taskmaster; Captain America fought and defeated Prometheus. Both villains have nearly defeated their respective universe's roster single-handedly.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Superman, during the course of the battle against Krona, wields both Thor's hammer (Thor having been knocked out during the fight) and Captain America's shield (a reference to the Amalgam universe Super-Soldier); although he is unable to lift Thor's hammer after the battle is concluded, Thor assures Superman that the hammer was in good hands when he used it.
  • 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" (Wasp attempts a Justic League equivalent), with Captain America leading the attack while the Martian Manhunter maintains a telepathic link between the heroes. 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 (Slightly reminiscent of the original team-up between the Justice League and the Justice Society, when villains from the other's Earth impresioned the current Earth's heroes in their headquarters).
    • 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.
  • Hawkeye becomes the first Marvel hero to be a member of the JLA.

See also

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