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Summary
While aMarvel / DCcrossover is extremely improbable these days , there was a prison term when the two companies pitted their character together on a fair regular basis . In maliciousness of all that , there is one story that has been blank out , and really only became an official “ Marvel / DC ” crossover years after its original publication . This is the bizarre yet true chronicle of “ World War III , ” a crossover from 1997 that ’s since been lost to the ages .
The story of how “ World War III ” came to be start the year before its publishing . 1996 examine the return of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld to Marvel after leave four years previous to found Image Comics . This was theHeroes Rebornexperiment , an initiative where Marvel license its flailing script out to each superstar artists ’ various studios .
Rob Liefeld ’s Extreme Studios was given the task of relaunchingCaptain AmericaandThe Avengers , while Jim Lee ’s Wildstorm took onFantastic FourandIron Man . While initially a sale winner , Heroes Rebornwas met with a miscellaneous chemical reaction by fan , and the relaunched title were schedule to occur to an end after twelve issues .
“World War III” Merges the Wildstorm Heroes with Marvel’sHeroes Reborn
Before Marvel relaunched the four titles back into the chief cosmos , Jim Lee managed to squeeze out a 13th military issue for each series , which would track over with the hero of Lee ’s Wildstorm Universe . Dubbed “ World War III , ” the crossover see the pocket universe fromHeroes Rebornmerged with the Wildstorm Universe to create a post - apocalyptic scenario where Earth is overrun by a combined Skrull / Daemonite intrusion . This merged existence saw Marvel and Wildstorm hero swapping places on each respective brand ’s most pop championship . Maul fromWildC.A.T.sand Burnout from Gen 13 have the Thing and the Human Torch ’s stead on the Fantastic Four , and Spartan and Brass took Captain America and Iron Man ’s place on the Avengers .
persist through the thirteenth return ofFantastic Four , The Avengers , Iron ManandCaptain America , the crossover had the benefit of doing whatever the creators wanted over the course of the four - part tarradiddle . author James Robinson was responsible for scripting the crossover , with Mike Wieringo , Michael Ryan , Larry Stroman and Ron Lim handling the art , and the transient nature of the “ merged ” universe gave the Godhead free rein to do whatever they bid . The storyline rack up quite a consistence counting before it ends , as major submarine are revealed to be double-dealer . The whole thing concludes with the creation being burst apart once more as everything pass to clean . Most heroic crossing call the ultimate death of an entire universe - “ World War III ” is perhaps the only one to deliver on that hope .
“World War III” Retroactively Became a Marvel/DC Crossover
It could have been nothing more than a fun little crossover , but substantial world events meant the storey was never republished and likely never will be . Jim Lee sell his Wildstorm imprint to DC Comics in 1999 , and the decades since have see thosecharacters slow comprise into the main DC Universe . Given that the WildC.A.T.s , Stormwatch and Gen 13 teams are now formally DC Comics heroes , that spend a penny the “ World War III ” plot line an official crossover between the two liberal superhero universes in world . It also means that the story will never be republished in any mannikin , result in a lostMarvel / DCcrossover that exists now only in back issue bins .
