Publication history of DC Comics crossover events

During its 75 years of publication, DC Comics has produced many crossover stories combining characters from different series of comics. Some of these are set in the fictional DC Universe, or any number of settings within the DC Multiverse.

Publication history

Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths

Zatanna's Search 1964 Zatanna attempts to reconnect with her father, Zatara, and seeks the aid of Hawkman, Batman, Robin, The Atom, Green Lantern, and Elongated Man along the way.
"Showcase (comics) #100" 1978 In issue 100 of the Showcase comics, "There Shall Come a Gathering", many of the heroes who previously appeared in the comic's original run must stop an alien from towing the Earth out of its orbit. Some of those who appear include Challengers of the Unknown, Lois Lane, Teen Titans, Rip Hunter, Spectre, Metal Men and the Inferior Five, along with cameos by others.

Crisis & Post-Crisis

Crisis on Infinite Earths 1985 The Anti-Monitor tries to destroy the DC Multiverse but succeeds only in merging it into a single universe; numerous characters die, including Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and the Flash (Barry Allen). Series to spin out of event; Man of Steel, Green Lantern Corps.
Legends 1986 Darkseid and his servant Glorious Godfrey attempt to ruin humanity's faith in superheroes. First Post-Crisis appearance of Captain Marvel in normal continuity, and forms a new Justice League roster. Series to spin out of event; Suicide Squad, Justice League International.
Millennium 1988 After the Guardians and Zamarons exile themselves from this dimension, one of each remains and seeks out 12 Chosen to become the New Guardians. The robotic Manhunters aim to prevent this and several supporting characters were revealed to be Manhunters. Series to spin out of event; New Guardians.
Cosmic Odyssey 1988 Darkseid strives to gain the Anti-Life Equation. Series to spin out of event; New Gods.
Invasion! 1988–1989 The Dominators have put together an Alliance to invade Earth and eliminate the threat posed by their unpredictable "metahumans".
Janus Directive 1989 Suicide Squad leader Amanda Waller sends her agents on missions in the apparent pursuit of her own private agenda, the so-called Janus Directive.
Armageddon 2001 1991 Monarch threatens to destroy the future and Earth's superheroes must stop him.
War of the Gods 1991 Wonder Woman and the Amazons are caught in the middle of a war between the ancient Roman gods and the Olympian gods. Meanwhile, Circe frames Themyscira for crimes that leads to a war between America and the Wonder Woman's home.
Eclipso: The Darkness Within 1992 Earth's superheroes fight Eclipso and his Pawn Lar Gand.
The Death of Superman 1992 Superman engages in battle with a seemingly unstoppable killing machine named Doomsday in the streets of Metropolis. At the fight's conclusion, both combatants apparently die from their wounds.

The crossover depicted the world's reaction to Superman's death in "Funeral for a Friend," the emergence of four individuals believed to be the "new" Superman, and the eventual return of the original Superman in "Reign of the Supermen!".

Trinity 1993 The Green Lantern Corps, The L.E.G.I.O.N., and The Darkstars go up against the beings called "The Triarch".
Knightfall 1993 Bruce Wayne (Batman) suffers burnout and is systematically assaulted and crippled by a "super steroid"-enhanced genius named Bane. Wayne is replaced as Batman by an apprentice named Jean-Paul Valley, who becomes increasingly violent and unstable, tarnishing Batman's reputation. Eventually, Wayne is healed through paranormal means, and reclaims his role as Batman.
Bloodlines 1993 The DC superheroes go up against alien parasites; new superheroes are created from some of their victims.
Worlds Collide 1994 The DC superheroes meet their Milestone Comics counterparts.
Zero Hour 1994 Extant and Parallax attempt to recreate the Multiverse; a new timeline emerges.
The Way of the Warrior 1995 The Tormock alien race invades Earth and Guy Gardner, Hawkman, Justice League America, Lobo, and former Green Lantern Probert battle to save the world.
Underworld Unleashed 1995 Neron a demon from Hell offers the DC universe villains an "upgrade" in exchange for their souls.
The Final Night 1996 A Sun-Eater threatens life on Earth by devouring the Sun. Hal Jordan sacrifices his life to destroy it
DC vs Marvel 1996 Two brothers who personify the DC and Marvel universes become aware of the other's existence, and challenge each other to a series of duels involving each universe's respective superheroes. The losing universe will cease to exist. The story has an out of universe component in that although there are eleven primary battles, the storyline does not show one side as being victorious. The "brothers" resolve the situation by temporarily creating a new universe, called the Amalgam universe, which is occupied by merged versions of many of the heroes. An inter-dimensional character called Access eventually manages to restore the universes to their normal state.
Genesis 1997 Darkseid battles Earth's heroes when the Genesis Wave strikes; many superbeings have their powers altered or negated.
DC One Million 1998 The Justice Legion Alpha of the 853rd century joins together with the present day Justice League to battle Solaris the Tyrant Sun.
Day of Judgment 1999 Demonic forces threaten the Earth; Hal Jordan becomes the Spectre.
Our Worlds at War 2001 Imperiex threatens the universe.
Joker: Last Laugh 2001-2002 While locked up in the Slab penitentiary, the Joker finds out he is suffering from a terminal brain tumor. Determined to go out with a bang, he uses a venom to "jokerize" other inmates, making them insane and changing their appearance, giving them white skin, green hair, and a wide smile.
Identity Crisis 2004 Sue Dibny, the wife of superhero Elongated Man, is murdered in their apartment. The DC superhero community rallies to find the murderer.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis 2005 Consists of the one-shot Countdown to Infinite Crisis and four miniseries which spin out of this comic: Day of Vengeance, in which Shadowpact is formed to defend magic from the Spectre; Rann-Thanagar War; Villains United, in which the Secret Six is formed to fight the Secret Society of Supervillains; and The OMAC Project, in which Batman's mistrust of his fellow heroes leads to the creation of an army of cyborgs.
Infinite Crisis 2005 Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two, and several other characters return to attempt to change the universe for the better. History is altered at the end of the series.
52 2006 The "missing year" between Infinite Crisis & One Year Later where the world is without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The series establishes the existence of a new Multiverse.
One Year Later 2006 All DC comics jump forward in time to one year after the end of Infinite Crisis. Diana has a secret identity of Diana Prince and reclaims the Wonder Woman mantle, Bruce Wayne resumes as Batman, and Clark Kent gets his powers back and returns as Superman.
Amazons Attack 2007 Lead up with Wonder Woman v3 #6-8, Circe manipulates the Department of Metahuman Affairs and the Amazons after bringing Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman's mother, back from the dead that leads the Amazons to fight America and the country's heroes. The only way Wonder Woman could end this war, besides defeating Circe, is fighting her own mother.
Sinestro Corps War 2007 The story centers on the Green Lanterns of Earth (Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and Guy Gardner) and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps as they fight an interstellar war against the Sinestro Corps, an army led by the former Green Lantern Sinestro who are armed with yellow power rings and seek a universe ruled through fear.
Countdown (to Final Crisis) 2007 A weekly series that started a week following the end of 52, Countdown acts as the "spine" to the DC Universe that, as the name suggests, counts down to a new event for 2008. The series crosses over with certain titles and deals with Jimmy Olsen getting super powers, Mary Marvel trying to get her powers back, and a plot with the Monitors that involves the new Multiverse and the three characters that were supposed to die in Infinite Crisis: Jason Todd, Donna Troy, & Kyle Rayner.
Final Crisis 2008 The event that started at the conclusion of Countdown. Started May 2008. Batman is apparently killed by Darkseid in this event. In reality, he is trapped in the past, where he witnessed Anthro's death. The Martian Manhunter is murdered by Libra and the new Secret Society of Supervillains. Barry Allen, who died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, returns to life in this event.
Blackest Night 2009 An all out war between the living heroes and villains and the Black Lantern Corps and the DC Universe stemming from the war of light.
Brightest Day 2010 The events immediately following the final moments of the Blackest Night.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 2010 Bruce Wayne returns to present-day Gotham City after the events of Final Crisis.
Flashpoint 2011 When the The Flash attempts to change time and save his mother from death, he alters history dramatically. When the events are corrected, universes are joined together (one being the Wildstorm universe/imprint) in order to repair the damage, leading to The New 52.

Post-Flashpoint

The New 52 2011 In the aftermath of Flashpoint, the DC Universe as a new status quo with all their comics undergoing a reboot.
Night of the Owls 2012 Batman must call upon the Bat family Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Catwoman etc. For the shadowy group "The Court of Owls" are vying to keep their century-long control over Gotham City.
The Culling 2012 The Teen Titans along with the help of the Legion Of Superheroes face off against the meta human capturing group, N.O.W.H.E.R.E . Just as N.O.W.H.E.R.E`s leader, Harvest sets his long-awaited plan in motion.
Rise of the Third Army 2012-2013 Absolute power corrupts absolutely--and the Guardians time is finally here. The Guardians, believing that the universe would be better off without free will and emotions create the Third Army. The Third Army assimilates all they come in contact with into transformed members of the Third Army. This crossover is mainly contained within the four Green Lantern family of books: Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: The New Guardians and The Red Lanterns. This storyline will lead into the Wrath of the First Lantern storyline.
Rotworld 2012-2013 The avatars of The Green (Swamp Thing) and The Red (Animal Man) must stop The Rot or the world will end in this epic crossover.
Death of the Family 2012-2013 After having his face cut off, the Joker returns and begins to target the Bat Family.
H'El on Earth 2012-2013 A New 52 Superman crossover where Superman, Superboy and Supergirl go head to head with a powerful Kryptonian being known as H'el.
Throne of Atlantis 2012-2013 A vengeful Ocean Master returns and the war for Atlantis triggers a battle between Aquaman and Justice League.
Wrath of the First Lantern 2013 In the outcome of the Rise of the Third Army, the mysterious First Lantern is unleashed against the Green Lantern Corps.
Batman: Zero Year 2013-2014 Detailing the New 52 origin of The Dark Knight, as well as adventures featuring other characters during that time period (Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Barry Allen, John Stewart and others)
Trinity War 2013 The Justice League, Justice League of America and Justice League Dark will take it to the next level! And so are DC's Trinity; Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman!
Forever Evil 2013-2014 The outcome of "Trinity War", what will happen when the heroes of the DC Universe fall and there’s nobody left to stop the villains from taking over? [1]
Lights Out 2013 A crossover that involves the four Green Lantern books, to be published in October.[2]
Gothtopia 2014 An event set in all Batman titles.
Superman: Doomed2014 After going all out fighting a brutal battle to stop Doomsday, Superman undergoes a transformation that puts the world and all those he cares about at risk.
Uprising 2014 Rebellion has spread across the universe as former allies join forces with the Durlans, Khund, and Outer Clanns to overthrow the authority of the Corps.
Godhead2014 In the aftermath of Lights Out, Highfather, the leader of the New Gods, discovers that the ring-wielders breached the Source Wall and now he's trying to finds those secrets for himself by using one ring of every color of the emotional spectrum. Of course, nothing is ever that simple and what follows will threaten to alter the very fabric of the universe as we know it in “Godhead”, a monthlong crossover event that finds Green Lantern and the New Gods entangled in a struggle for intergalactic survival.
The New 52: Futures End2014-2015 What would happen to the DC characters five years later?
Convergence2015 Spins out of the final issues of The New 52: Futures End and Earth 2: World's End and will see the end of the New 52 imprint. The story will be told over a 9 week miniseries, beginning with a zero issue, with 40 two-part miniseries tie ins from various writers and artists that examine the worlds of the DC Universe over the decades, as well as the heroes and villains contained within. Writer Jeff King handles the scripting and storytelling for the main miniseries, with Scott Lobdell helping with the overall plot. Some of the tie ins will see the brief return of pre New 52 Universe characters.
  • DC YOU spotlights some of the 24 brand-new and 25 continuing fan-favorite series in the DC Comics lineup.
Truth2015-2016 The New 52 imprint may be over but the continuity goes on. Following Convergence changes to the relationship between Superman and Batman and between Wonder Woman and Superman have taken effect. A new Batman patrols Gotham City in a mechanical suit and Wonder Woman is rocking a new look and an attitude to boot. Things are strained and it is the worst time for secrets to come out. So what happens when the Kyrptonian's biggest secret is revealed to the world? Truth is a crossover event affecting Superman, Action Comics, Batman/Superman and Superman/Wonder Woman.
Darkseid War2015-2016 Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Cyborg united as the Justice League for the first time to defeat Darkseid and his legions of Parademons, kicking off what became known as The New 52 in the process. Now, they must face the powerful leader of Apokolips again, who returned to Earth with his sights on a new adversary: the world-shattering Anti-Monitor. The event runs from Justice League #40-#50 and also includes Five Gods and Monsters One shots and a Darkseid War Special.
Robin War2015-2016 In December 2015 tensions between the various Robins will erupt into an all out war. Intended as a six part event over the course of the month and will involve Detective Comics #47, Grayson #15, Robin: Son of Batman #6, We Are Robin #6 and two bookend specials, Robin War #1-2, the last of which will come out in January 2016. Additionally Gotham Academy #13, Red Hood/Arsenal #7 and Teen Titans #15 tie in to the event.
The Savage Dawn2016 Following Superman's showdown with Vandal Savage in December 2015's Superman Annual #3 Kal'El has become desperate to regain his powers. Time is running out and his enemies are determined to destroy him so Superman must try the unthinkable and expose himself to Kryptonite in order to become renewed. This event will be contained in the titles; Action Comics, Superman and Superman/Wonder Woman.
Super League2016 His time without powers made Kal-El realize that the world is in need of more protectors...more super-powered beings like himself. But where will he find such beings?. This event will be contained in the titles; Action Comics #51-52, Superman #51-52, Superman/Wonder Woman #28-29 and Batman/Superman #31-32.
Rebirth2016 What happens when the titles of the New 52 reach their 52nd issue? What comes next? Rebirth is coming in June 2016.
The Rise of the Seven Seas2016 Originally announced as an Aquaman centric story line to appear in Justice League by Geoff Johns, the story will now be told in Aquaman when Johns returns to the book that he left after issue #25. The story is intended to redefine how each of the seven seas kingdoms operate in the DC Comics Universe and will be similar in scope to how each of the Lantern Corps were developed by Johns between the Green Lantern story lines of the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night.

Bold Text - Indicates a Company-Wide Crossover

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2013/07/08/dc-comics-the-new-52-group-solicits-october-2013
  2. ↑ http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2013/06/17/lights-out-hits-the-green-lantern-books-in-october
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