The DC/Marvel Crossover Comics We Want to See Next

The last big DC/Marvel was JLA/Avengers over twenty years ago. And we don’t think anyone is going to outdo that event by Kurt Busiek and George Prez, so they shouldn’t even try. However, the Justice League needs to team up with Marvel’s other biggest team, the Uncanny X-Men. It could be just as huge an event as JLA/Avengers was. And the perfect creative team for it is obvious.

DC and Marvel are bringing Grant Morrison out of superhero writing retirement for Batman/Deadpool. Ok, that’s nice, but we really want a team-up of the Justice League and the X-Men. Not only did Morrison write the most beloved Justice League runs ever with JLA, but they also wrote one of the most acclaimed X-Men runs ever with New X-Men in the early 2000s.

If a Justice League/X-Men comic actually happens, it also needs to have DC president Jim Lee on art. Lee may run DC now, but he made a name for himself with his incredible artwork on Marvel’s X-Men. In fact, his X-Men #1 from 1991 remains the biggest-selling comic of all time. But as a DC exclusive employee, Lee hasn’t been able to draw Marvel’s mutants for nearly 30 years.

A Justice League/X-Men team-up by Morrison and Lee would set sales records and be the jolt a struggling comic book industry needs right now. And it would be a lot of fun, especially if the two teams take on, say, Darkseid and Apocalypse? What Marvel/DC fan doesn’t want to see this happen?

Daredevil/Nightwing 

Lots of comic book fans really want another Batman/Daredevil crossover. And we get it, they are the closest equivalents to each other from their respective universes to most casual fans. But we already had a crossover between Matt Murdock and Bruce Wayne several years ago. We see no need to rehash it. In fact, we actually think that Nightwing, the first Robin, and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen actually have a lot more in common and would have a more compelling story. It’s high time we saw these two jump off a roof together and fight some ninjas together.

For starters, both urban vigilantes are more like lean acrobats than big bruisers, like Batman is. Despite their tragic backstories, both heroes retain their sense of humor in a big way. We can’t say the same for Mr. Grumpy Dark Knight. Not to mention, they both do very well with the ladies. Oh, and both carry big sticks. (We mean their weapons, get your minds out of the gutter.) It’s not a one-for-one comparison considering Matt is a little more broody than Dick Grayson is. But we still think these two together would make for a terrific story. And we think writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo, who killed it on their Nightwing run, would make the perfect creative team for this one.

Wonder Woman/Storm

Princess Diana of Themyscira and Ororo Munroe of Kenya are each publisher’s most iconic female heroes. This fact was evident when the ’90s DC Versus Marvel series pitted them against each other in battle. Later, the Amalgam Comics event fused Wonder Woman and Storm into a new hero called “Amazon.” (Why she wasn’t named “Thunder Woman” seems like the biggest missed opportunity ever.) But we really don’t want to see them fight. We want to see the Amazing Amazon and the Mistress of the Elements in a comic book together joining forces.

After all, the two have a lot in common. They are confident warriors but love fostering peace and harmony more than getting into fisticuffs. They are idealists, fighting for equality for all in many forms. And although Wonder Woman is an Amazon given life by mythological deities, and Storm is a mutant, both are worshipped as goddesses as they should be. Diana and Ororo deserve their own unique team-up adventure. As far as creative teams go, we’d love to see creators like Phil Jimenez, Gail Simone, and Lukas Wernek tackle this one. The goddesses decree it so.

Harley Quinn/Deadpool

Harleen Quinzell and Wade Wilson have a lot in common. Both characters debuted within a year of each other and began as villains before becoming antiheroes. They both know how to rock a red-and-black color scheme like nobody’s business. Oh, and both are certifiably nuts and love to run their mouths and make awful jokes. It’s no coincidence both characters became their respective publisher’s biggest breakout characters from the ‘90s era.

Again, Batman/Deadpool might be fun, but Harley Quinn is the Gotham City resident we want Wade to meet the most. And if they hook up? Look, we prefer Harley together with Poison Ivy, but in terms of male paramours, Deadpool is still ten times better than the Joker. We’re okay if Harley and the Merc with the Mouth smooch in one comic book adventure.

Batman/Superman & Captain America/Iron Man

Back in 2016, Iron Man and Captain America battled each other on the big screen, and so did Batman and Superman. But what if each duo teamed up together? Each pair of heroes are viewed as the leaders of their super teams, and really, of the heroic communities of their respective Earths. They are the “Big Two” of the “Big Two.” Which is why fans so desperately always want to see them fight. But we’re so over the fighting. We want to see them all work together. So a book featuring this iconic quartet teaming up seems like a no-brainer as a DC/Marvel crossover book.

Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are damaged billionaires who use their wealth to fight crime, while Clark Kent and Steve Rogers are brightly colored, idealistic symbols of justice. We just want to see the kind of conversations these two would have about their different approaches to being a superhero. We think Cap and Superman would see eye to eye, but would Batman and Iron Man? Mark Waid, who writes the Superman/Batman team-up book World’s Finest and has written Captain America extensively too, would be the perfect writer for this. And maybe Dan Mora can do the artwork? This would be a Day-One purchase for us.

X-Men/Doom Patrol

The arrival of Marvel’s X-Men and DC’s Doom Patrol comics happened within months of each other, making for one of the strangest coincidences in comics history. Both were teams of “freaks” in similar matching uniforms, being led by a wheelchair-bound genius, and living in a remote mansion. They both fight for a world that fears and hates them. Either something was in the water in 1963 or someone ripped someone else off. Anyway, while the X-Men would become Marvel’s most popular comic, Doom Patrol struggled until they got a very strange and surreal series by writer Grant Morrison in the early ‘90s.

That ‘90s version inspired the Doom Patrol series on HBO Max, which ran for four seasons. Now, a lot more people are aware of who the Doom Patrol are, even if they’re not X-Men levels of popular. We’d love to see these two “separated at birth” teams come together at last after sixty years of comparisons. We’d eat it up if it was the original lineups from both teams in 1963. Grant Morrison would be the ideal writer here, but if they’re too busy (hopefully with JLA/X-Men), may we suggest Jonathan Hickman? Perhaps his old Fantastic Four collaborator Dale Eaglesham could do the artwork.

Namor/Aquaman

Let’s be blunt here Aquaman and Namor are different versions of the same idea. Both are rulers of undersea Atlantis with a human father and Atlantean mother. Technically, Namor came first, and later Aquaman writers kinda stole Namor’s origin story and gave it to Arthur Curry. Although Aquaman was originally a brighter, sunnier character, over the last few decades he’s become more gruff and bada--, resembling Namor. He’s still less of a jerk though.

The two fought for a few panels in the 1995 DC Versus Marvel comic, but that’s not a proper crossover like we deserve. We’d love to see these two throw down, and argue over whose Atlantis is the “real” one. Thanks to Hollywood, both Aquaman and Namor are more well-known than ever and they deserve a crossover comic of their own at last.

Scarlet Witch/Zatanna

Wanda Maximoff and Zatanna Zatara are among the most powerful magic wielders in their universes. No one casts a spell quite like they do. Yet aside from briefly interacting in JLA/Avengers two decades ago, these two sorceresses haven’t ever really shared a comic of their own. Maybe Scarlet Witch wasn’t considered popular enough to headline a comic this way back then. But in a post-MCU world, she definitely is. Thank you, Elizabeth Olsen and WandaVision.

The JLA/Avengers comics briefly touched on how Chaos Magic was much stronger in the DCU than in Marvel’s world, making Wanda stronger. But we’d like to see this explored further. Is Scarlet Witch truly more powerful on DC’s Earth? And could that be dangerous for her and all reality? And could Zatanna’s lifetime of discipline in the mystic arts actually help Wanda? In terms of creative teams, we think Steve Orlando could make this one special, with perhaps someone like Nicola Scott doing the art.

The Winter Soldier/Red Hood

Both Jason Todd (Robin) and Bucky Barnes were the kid partners of Batman and Captain America, respectively. And both seemingly died tragic deaths that haunted their mentors for years. But in the 2000s, DC and Marvel controversially brought them back to life, now as antagonists for their father figures. The Captain America storyline “The Winter Soldier” was far more well-received than DC’s resurrection of Jason Todd, becoming fuel for many an MCU film.

Eventually, however, Jason Todd’s return was embraced as he became the anti-hero Red Hood. He’s not a mainstay of the Batman universe. We’d love to read a story where these two fought, only to later bond over their unique and tragic histories. And someone like Ed Brubaker to write a Winter Soldier/Red Hood comic, or maybe Scott Snyder, would be ideal. Greg Capullo would be the perfect artist for this.

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends/The New Teen Titans

Back in the ‘80s, Spider-Man ruled Saturday Morning TV with his animated show Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. It featured a teenage Peter Parker and his two Empire State University college besties Iceman and Firestar as the “Spider-Friends.” This was Marvel’s attempt to cash in on the cartoon success of DC’s Super Friends cartoon.

We’d love to see these Spider-Friends join forces with DC’s own ‘80s icons, the New Teen Titans. Both lived in New York City and were around the same age, and the soap opera antics that could happen between both teams could write itself. Besides, it’s long overdue that Marvel’s Firestar meets DC’s Starfire. How has that not happened in all these years?!

The Green Lantern Corps/Nova Corps

DC’s Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic peacekeeping force, kind of like “cops in space.” Meanwhile, over at Marvel, they have the Nova Corps, who are also like police officers who patrol the stars. On some level, the original Nova series was “Green Lantern meets Spider-Man.”

But we think it’s high time the Nova Corps, or at least some members of it, meet the Green Lanterns. Perhaps fighting Sinestro and Annihilus together? While DC and Marvel might be inclined to make this a Green Lantern/Hal Jordan and Nova/Richard Rider story, we say go all out and team up several members of each respective Corps. With this one, we say Go Big or Go Home.