10 Times Marvel And DC Secretly Crossed Over
3. Jack Kirby Killed The Asgardians
Jack Kirby's New Gods are an integral part of DC Comics' mythology. However, the original series was actually meant to be set in the Marvel Universe.
At Marvel, Kirby felt that he was never given enough credit for creating basically their entire comic universe. Eventually he jumped ship to DC and started writing a line of books known as the Fourth World. These comics revolved around the war between the New Gods of New Genesis and Apokalips and introduced iconic characters like Darkseid.
The New Gods owed their origin to Thor though. In one issue of Tales of Asgard, Kirby did a "prophetic tale" in which the God of Thunder and his supporting cast all died during Ragnarok. Kirby's original plan was for it to eventually come true in Marvel continuity. The dead old gods would then be replaced by a new group of deities.
Marvel shot the idea down, but Kirby got his way in the end. The opening pages of Orion and the New Gods show a battle that wiped out the old gods. In amongst the crowd is a very familiar looking silhouette with a hammer and a winged helmet.
To rub extra salt in the wound, Kirby also continually made reference to the New Gods living in a different dimension to the rest of the DC characters, heavily implying it was the Marvel Universe.