8 Times The Marvel Vs. DC Rivalry Turned Ugly

By the mid-1970s, Marvel and DC were on good terms and it was around then that the firms came together to answer a question the fans had long pondered: what would happen if the two publishers' most iconic heroes crossed paths with each other?

Superman and Spider-Man shared the page on two occasions and Batman briefly became frenemies with the Hulk, but plans for a crossover on a bigger scale were in the pipeline. In 1983, Marvel and DC were planning to releases a joint Avengers-Justice League comic book, and a creative team comprising artist George Perez and writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas was firmly in place.

Perez is said to have begun drawing the book two years earlier, but somewhere along the way, the plans came apart. Not only did the two publishers blame one another for the cancellation, they did so publically on the pages of their own comics.

Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter put his side of the story across in Marvel Age #19, telling readers that DC sent him a story outline for the crossover which was "wasn't good enough" as it "didn't make sense". According to Shooter, DC repeatedly dragged its feet when he demanded a revised script, and often neglected to return his calls.

His DC counterpart Dick Giordano had his say via his 'Meanwhile...' column and put the blame squarely at Marvel's door, accusing Shooter of derailing the crossover by constantly stalling when it came to signing off on creative decisions.

All pre-arranged Marvel-DC crossovers - included a mooted second team-up between the New Teen Titans and the X-Men - were abruptly cancelled.