Last week, I asked for DC fans to plan the next big JLA-focused crossover. And boy did we get some cool stories.
Here's the original post:
Dream with me DC fans. Together we're going to plan the next big company crossover. Trust me. You'll like this one, because you're the boss.
The gist: The Justice League splits and goes to war, with each member of the core team (n52) putting together his or her own team of seven to battle the others. Why? Let's blame a villain we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet.
And some of the coolest responses are posted below.
Craig Fletcher:
So my idea is Mister Mxyzptlk causes a time rift which causes the Justice League to fail at defeating Darkseid which in turn the blame game is paid and a fallout occurs. Each member then creates their own team to show the others that they are more superior. The teams are:
Batman, Nightwing, Blue Beetle, Red Robin,Red Hood, Huntress, Catwoman
Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Lobo, Shazzam, Steel, Hawkman
Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl(Donna Troy), Wonder Girl(Cassie Sandsmark), Katana, Batgirl, Red Tornado, Steve Trevor
Flash, Kid Flash(Bart Allen), Booster Gold, Vixen, Impulse, Flash(Jay Garrick), Guy Gardner
Green Lantern(Hal Jordan), Green Arrow, Kyle Raynor,John Stewart, Star Sapphire (Carol Ferris), Blue Lantern Saint Walker, Martian Manhunter
Aquaman, Mera, Aqualad(Jackson Hyde), Beast Boy, Lagoon Boy, Vibe, Green Lantern(Simon Baz)
Cyborg, Static Shock, Speedy(Roy Harper), The Atom(Ray Palmer), Zatana, Icon, Rocket
Over time they start to realize that something happened and they find out that Mister Myxzptlk had something to do with it. they realize being in competition with each other is stupid and they would be helping each other. While all that is happening Darkseid returns and once again tries to destroy the universe. The Justice League reform with all their brand new allies and stop Darkseid. After all of that they get back together and make their allies honorary members of Justice League. The League then goes after Mister Myxzptlk and stop him and lock him in another dimension where he would be held for a very long time.
Lee Houston, Jr.:
Superman forms his team with Supergirl, Superboy, Jonn Jonzz the Martian Manhunter, who suggests Apollo. Then he goes to recruits Power Girl, who won't join without The Huntress.
"Why me?" Helena asks Karen.
"Something fishy is going on around here. Superman needs our help, but won't tell us who the villains are? I need someone I know who's not only on my side, but will keep us grounded in reality," replies Power Girl, or words to that affect.
Batman rounds up the usual suspects: Robin (Damian Wayne), Nightwing, Batgirl, Black Canary, Katana, and Catwoman.
Wonder Woman forms an all female team with Starfire, Poison Ivy, who insists on bringing Starling along; Fairchild, Zatanna, and Pandora. The last two know something is wrong and vow to get to the bottom of things.
Flash, not knowing that many heroes outside the Justice League to begin with, recruits the Element Girl, because the scientist in him finds her interesting; Black Lightning and Blue Devil, Kid Flash, wondering about any possible connection between them; and Captain Atom. He's still searching for a seventh when the Phantom Stranger suddenly appears and volunteers; for he, like Zatanna and Pandora, know something's amiss.
Green Lantern Hal Jordan naturally starts with the other Earth based Lanterns: Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner. But he rounds out his team with Green Arrow, Arsenal, and the Red Hood (Jason Todd).
Aquaman will fight with Mera, but realizes he needs more power at his side, so recruits Firestorm, Hawkman, and Captain Marvel (Shazam!); but winds up rounding out his team with Hawk and Dove, not realizing Deadman is with them/her.
Cyborg is the wild card in all of this! He intended to use his built in boom tube technology to start rounding up allies/team mates, but accidentally winds up on Earth 2! Realizing what a treasure trove he has, Cyborg recruits Mister Terrific, Doctor Fate, the Spectre, Green Lantern Alan Scott, Flash Jay Garrick, and Wildcat. Yet being away from his Earth, Cyborg fall out of whatever is influencing the others, and warns the Justice Society members about what's going on before he teleports them back to his Earth.
Meanwhile, the Superman and Batman teams are already starting to face off. Power Girl and Huntress quickly realize something isn't right upon discovering that their opponents are other heroes, especially when everyone is so quick to fight each other. Her husband's soul within the sword warns Katana something is amiss, but she isn't listening and she joins the fight. Husband keeps exerting whatever influence he can to make sure Katana doesn't deliver a mortal blow as the Green Lantern and Aquaman teams arrive and start squaring off against everyone else.
Then the Wonder Woman and Flash contingents arrive. The mystics and those with magical influence (Zatanna, Pandora, Phantom Stranger, Blue Devil, Captain Marvel) quickly start comparing notes, notice Power Girl and Huntress are "different" because they originated on a different Earth, and start to work on a counter agent/spell to whatever is influencing the others. Deadman, possesses Wonder Woman so that they can use the magic lasso of truth to make her see what is going on. Once unpossessed, she is angry about being used and vows to help free the others, but they're not listening and Wonder Woman can only lasso a couple of opponents at a time at most.
When Cyborg's team arrive, Doctor Fate and the Spectre are quick to act, and together with the other mystics undo the evil that was causing everyone to fight.
Meanwhile, despite the new costumes, the Justice Society recognizes their Supergirl and Robin and introduce themselves.
Together, all 49 heroes (50 with Deadman) go up against and eventually defeat the Big Bad Villain, although it takes brains as well as brawn, so Batman, Mister Terrific, and the Flashes get a moment to shine. The Justice Society offers to give their Supergirl and Robin a lift back to Earth 2, but Karen and Helena realize that besides the fact their Earth is in good hands, they like being Power Girl and the Huntress, and decide to stay on their present Earth.
But it is a great big multiverse, and while defeated, there is nothing preventing the Big Bad Villain from licking his wounds and starting anew somewhere else, initiating a new Crisis. Maybe upon this mysterious Earth 2...
The end?
In the eventual sequel, the Justice League would return the favor by rescuing the Justice Society, for the Big Bad Villain captured all their mystics first before starting his (her?) new plan.
But when the Big Bad Villain tries for a third round upon yet a DIFFERENT Earth, the Spectre realizes the only way to stop BBV once and for all is to reunite ALL the dimensions back into one coherent whole, sacrificing himself in the process. This would give us a DC Universe somewhat pre-Flashpoint continuity wise, visually New 52, but will start everything over with new first issues once more.
Yet this new entity would concentrate more upon story quality with a more compact core group of books than trying to maintain 52 monthly titles.
Who knows, maybe the third round could take place in the Marvel Universe as Warner Brothers buys that comic book line from Disney and publishes everything from that point forward under the DC banner?
Hey, if you're going to dream, dream big. That way, you're not as disappointed when they don't come true.
Mark Allison:
"I'm gonna fight them all. A seven nation army couldn't hold me back" -- The White Stripes
The tension between the core members had been building for weeks. At this point they couldn't remember what started it. At this point it didn't matter why. What did matter is that the world was no longer big enough for the Justice League. Each of the core members took it upon themselves to form their own teams to take on their former comrades.
Superman did not have to look far to form his team, The House of El:
(1) Superman
(2) Supergirl
(3) Superboy
(4) Powergirl
(5) The Eradicator
(6) John Henry Irons
(7) Natasha Irons
Batman had as many allies as Superman, but for this battle chose to recruit based on who he would have to fight rather than the allies he has already made. Besides someone still had to keep an eye on Gotham. The Shadow League:
(1) Batman
(2) Black Canary
(3) Azreal
(4) Wally West
(5) Firestorm
(6) Zatana
(7) Solomon Grundy **** Batman Has Zatana Raise and control Grundy ****
Wonder woman knows the only ones she can count on is her Sisters, The Wonder League:
(1) Wonder Woman
(2) Artemis of Bana-Mighdall
(3) Donna Troy
(4) Wondergirl
(5) Big Barda
(6) Grace Choi
(7) Catlin Fairchild
However Diana is not the only Warrior born on the team. Diana may be a princess but Aquaman is King. Royal Justice:
(1) Aquaman
(2) Mera
(3) Lady Maxima
(4) Hawkman
(5) Hawkgirl
(6) Apollo
(7) Midnighter
Flash understands the importance of having a team with a public face. and now he can name the team as well, The Super Seven:
(1) The Flash
(2) Captain Marvel
(3) The Atom
(4) Elongated Man
(5) Green Arrow
(6) Black Lightning
(7) Beast Boy
Hal knows if hes going to take on such heavy hitters he better use his status as a Green lantern to deputize some out of the area help, The Darkstars:
(1) Green Lantern
(2) Martian Manhunter
(3) Jemm Son of Saturn
(4) Starfire
(5) Killowog
(6) Icon
(7) Lobo
Vic Stone the only way to know who's on your side is if you program them yourself. The Justice Machine:
(1) Cyborg
(2) Spartan
(3) Red Tornado
(4) Thinker
(5) G.I. Robot
(6) Robot Man
(7) Indigo
The battles that formed from these teams colliding were as epic as they were destructive. Half of coast city was sunk into the ocean as Marvel and Icon fought Superboy, Supergirl, and Powergirl. Aquaman claimed it as the newest province of Atlantis. Wonder League and Royal Justice fought viciously over that with both sides suffering, most notably Artemis with a near fatal wound from Maxima and Midnighter, having both arms shattered by Barda. That made Apollo leave the battle, getting Midnighter to safety.
The Darkstars found themselves at a great disadvantage as Justice Machine took over Star Labs super computer, turning national defenses against the alien threats though Darkstars did not care when Supergirl was captured as an alien invader. It was a different story when Cyborg promised Lobo all the gold in Fort Knox to take out Green Lantern, throwing them into chaos.
Superman, enraged at Kara being dragged away by machines, flew through Star Labs, ripping Cyborg's weapons off him -- may have even killed him if the Shadow League hadn't used this distraction to attack in force. West, Azrael, and Firestorm made short work of the Justice Machines as Zatanna, Grundy, Batman, and Canary all attacked Sups with sonic screams, magic, super strength, and a piece of Kryptonite that Batman acquired.
From the beginning of this whole escapade, Flash could not shake the feeling of familiarity he had. It wasn't the scenario, it was ... Good God! At super speed he was able to pull Wonder Woman and Aquaman apart, K.O. Lobo and grab GL and tackle Batman before he could deliver a deathblow to Superman. Grabbing the Kryptonite he closed his eyes and threw it toward the nearly inaudible hum. Striking an invisible form, he caused sparks to fly and the cloak field to drop from in front of them to reveal Brainiac, Psycho Pirate, Dr. Psycho and Gorilla Grodd -- who had been using their combined powers to manipulate earth's greatest heroes.
At that point they all did their part to take out there respective villains, and all the teams helped to rebuild. It was still no question. The Flash, who had recognized the influence of Grodd, was the real hero that day