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* BechdelTest: {{Lampshaded}} by She-Hulk: "Yo, [[WonderWomman Star-shorts]]! I figured that you'd be getting bored so I thought I'd hang with you. We can talk girl-talk. Y'know, butt-kicking, name-taking, like that."
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* BechdelTest: {{Lampshaded}} by She-Hulk: "Yo, [[WonderWomman [[WonderWoman Star-shorts]]! I figured that you'd be getting bored so I thought I'd hang with you. We can talk girl-talk. Y'know, butt-kicking, name-taking, like that."
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* BechdelTest: {{Lampshaded}} by She-Hulk: "Yo, Star-shorts! I figured that you'd be getting bored so I thought I'd hang with you. We can talk girl-talk. Y'know, butt-kicking, name-taking, like that."
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* BechdelTest: {{Lampshaded}} by She-Hulk: "Yo, Star-shorts! [[WonderWomman Star-shorts]]! I figured that you'd be getting bored so I thought I'd hang with you. We can talk girl-talk. Y'know, butt-kicking, name-taking, like that."
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Issue #3 was supposed to feature Marvel characters had they taken place in the DC Universe, and vice versa. Unfortunately, it was cut due to length.
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** Captain America and Batman also each take down one of their counterpart's most troublesome foes. During the final battle, Captain America defeats Prometheus [[note]]whose helmet allows him to fight as skillfully as the world's greatest fighters (including Batman himself), has taken on the entire Justice League, and beat Batman in their first fight[[/note]]. On the same page, Batman is seen taking down Taskmaster [[note]]whose photographic reflexes allow him to fight as skillfully as any fighter he's ever watched (including Captain America himself), has taken on the entire Avengers team, and has won a round against Cap at least once[[/note]].
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* DevelopmentGag: When the Marvel and DC universes are given a merged history, TheWasp recalls the original proposed storyline (the '80s-era teams battling Kang and the Lord of Time) as a previous meeting of the two teams.
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* DevelopmentGag: DevelopmentGag:
** Captain America and Batman's fight was originally planned to go to completion. Cap would've won, after a ''while''. In the actual book, they spar for a few moments before calling it off, with Batman admitting that Cap ''could'' win, after a long time.
** When the Marvel and DC universes are given a merged history, TheWasp recalls the original proposed storyline (the '80s-era teams battling Kang and the Lord of Time) as a previous meeting of the two teams.
** Captain America and Batman's fight was originally planned to go to completion. Cap would've won, after a ''while''. In the actual book, they spar for a few moments before calling it off, with Batman admitting that Cap ''could'' win, after a long time.
** When the Marvel and DC universes are given a merged history, TheWasp recalls the original proposed storyline (the '80s-era teams battling Kang and the Lord of Time) as a previous meeting of the two teams.
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* NotHimself: Superman and Captain America become paranoid and irritable once the walls between universes start to collapse, blaming it on each other.
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* NotHimself: Superman and Captain America become paranoid and irritable once the walls between universes start to collapse, blaming it on each other. According to the Grandmaster, this is because they are the most in-tune with their respective universes.
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* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Played straight and inverted with the speedsters. The Flash completely dominates Quicksilver in the DC universe, but the Avenger gets the upper hand on his home turf once his stored energy runs out.
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* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Played straight and inverted with the speedsters. The Flash completely dominates Quicksilver in the DC universe, but since the Speed Force doesn't exist in Marvel, the Avenger gets the upper hand on his home turf once his the Flash's stored energy runs out.
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* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: One of the artifacts the heroes seek is at the bottom of an incredibly deep pool of water at Odin's tomb. [[SarcasmMode She-Hulk gets it.]]
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* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: One of the artifacts the heroes seek is at the bottom of an incredibly deep pool of water at Odin's tomb. [[SarcasmMode She-Hulk gets it.]]
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* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Even more than you'd expect, since the final issue features ''everyone'' who'd ever been on the roster of either team up until that point fighting virtually every villain they'd ever faced. That number gets really big considering that just about every major hero in the Marvel Universe has been an Avenger (save {{Daredevil}} pre-''ComicBook/FearItself'' and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Human Torch]][[note]]That's, obviously, without mentioning basically 99% of the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}[[/note]]), and no small number of heroes have joined the Justice League, including many members of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica.
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* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Even more than you'd expect, since the final issue features ''everyone'' who'd ever been on the roster of either team up until that point fighting virtually every villain they'd ever faced. That number gets really big considering that just about every major hero in the Marvel Universe has been an Avenger (save {{Daredevil}} Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} pre-''ComicBook/FearItself'' and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Human Torch]][[note]]That's, obviously, without mentioning basically 99% of the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}[[/note]]), and no small number of heroes have joined the Justice League, including many members of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica.
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* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Issue #3 was supposed to feature Marvel characters had they taken place in the DC Universe, and vice versa. Unfortunately, it was cut due to length.
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** Hawkeye becomes a Justice League member in the same manner as pre-Crisis BlackCanary.
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** Hawkeye becomes a Justice League member in the same manner as pre-Crisis BlackCanary.ComicBook/BlackCanary.
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* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Krona casually and effortlessly whacks {{Galactus}} [[SecretWars like a bug]], which makes perfect sense as he had destroyed a significant number of universes at that point, and overpowered infinitely more powerful entities such as Eternity. And then builds a house out of him. Let it never be forgotten that Krona beat a planet-devouring entity within a minute, then ''built a house out of him''.
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* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Krona casually and effortlessly whacks {{Galactus}} [[SecretWars [[ComicBook/SecretWars like a bug]], which makes perfect sense as he had destroyed a significant number of universes at that point, and overpowered infinitely more powerful entities such as Eternity. And then builds a house out of him. Let it never be forgotten that Krona beat a planet-devouring entity within a minute, then ''built a house out of him''.
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** Likely [[HarsherInHindsight unintentional]], but it's almost eerie seeing the ScarletWitch becoming corrupted by the evil of chaos magic, and nearly having a nervous breakdown when confronted with the memory of her children. This was a full year before ''Avengers Disassembled'' and ''HouseOfM'', remember.
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** Likely [[HarsherInHindsight unintentional]], but it's almost eerie seeing the ScarletWitch becoming corrupted by the evil of chaos magic, and nearly having a nervous breakdown when confronted with the memory of her children. This was a full year before ''Avengers Disassembled'' and ''HouseOfM'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', remember.
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* DeusExMachina: ThePhantomStranger shows up at a point where both groups are out of ideas and takes them where they need to go then vanishes. In other words, his usual schtick.
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* DeusExMachina: ThePhantomStranger ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger shows up at a point where both groups are out of ideas and takes them where they need to go then vanishes. In other words, his usual schtick.
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** Hawkeye and PlasticMan are pretty much absent for the mostly somber third chapter. Notice how quickly they come back in the more adventurous fourth chapter.
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** Hawkeye and PlasticMan ComicBook/PlasticMan are pretty much absent for the mostly somber third chapter. Notice how quickly they come back in the more adventurous fourth chapter.
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removed \'we\'
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* {{Fanservice}}: On literally every page. And we're ''not'' just talking about Wanda's belly-dancer outfit. (The belly-dancer outfit is AuthorAppeal; Perez loves to draw Wanda in that thing.)
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* {{Fanservice}}: On literally every page. And we're it's ''not'' just talking about Wanda's belly-dancer outfit. (The belly-dancer outfit is AuthorAppeal; Perez loves to draw Wanda in that thing.)
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unpotholed trope name
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* [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Punch Out Galactus?]]: Krona casually and effortlessly whacks {{Galactus}} [[SecretWars like a bug]], which makes perfect sense as he had destroyed a significant number of universes at that point, and overpowered infinitely more powerful entities such as Eternity. And then builds a house out of him. Let it never be forgotten that Krona beat a planet-devouring entity within a minute, then ''built a house out of him''.
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* [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Punch Out Galactus?]]: DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Krona casually and effortlessly whacks {{Galactus}} [[SecretWars like a bug]], which makes perfect sense as he had destroyed a significant number of universes at that point, and overpowered infinitely more powerful entities such as Eternity. And then builds a house out of him. Let it never be forgotten that Krona beat a planet-devouring entity within a minute, then ''built a house out of him''.
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removed word cruft.
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* DeusExMachina: ThePhantomStranger shows up at a point where both groups are out of ideas and takes them where they need to go then vanishes. In fairness that is his usual schtick.
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* DeusExMachina: ThePhantomStranger shows up at a point where both groups are out of ideas and takes them where they need to go then vanishes. In fairness that is other words, his usual schtick.
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** Surprisingly not noted within the story itself, but Vision and Metron look a lot alike. Justified because they were both designed to resemble [[spoiler: LeonardNimoy]].
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** Surprisingly not noted within the story itself, but Vision and Metron look a lot alike. Justified because they were both designed to resemble [[spoiler: LeonardNimoy]].Creator/LeonardNimoy]].
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* BondOneLiner: Superman, when he knocks out Wonder Man after taking down Ms. Marvel:
--> Sorry. She couldn't wait.
--> Sorry. She couldn't wait.
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* TakeThat: George Perez ''hated'' Vibe, so when it came time to draw every Justice Leaguer and Avenger in the final battle, all that can be seen of Vibe is his legs as he falls off-panel.
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** Superman even comments that sunlight in the Marvel universe feels "greasy."
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*** This could also be a MythologyGag as both universes have been naming in-universe buildings and streets after creators for decades. Especially DC.
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* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Mjolnir]], as usual, which is here shown to not normally have Superman deemed worthy, though he can overcome it in dire straits if Odin allows it.
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* UpToEleven: Superman notes this explicitly with his knockout punch to Thor, by ''holding Mjolnir mid-swing''.
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* UpToEleven: Superman [[http://superherouniverse.com/articles/fights/superman-vs-thor.jpg notes this explicitly explicitly]] with his knockout punch to Thor, by ''holding Mjolnir mid-swing''.
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* TheWorfEffect: Terminus nearly kills Superman with an energy blast. Starro turns Thor into a brainwashed slave (though, to be fair, he ''does'' give the airborne Avengers a hard time and is only freed when Starro is beaten). After this, Superman and Thor spend most of the story giving each other the Worf Effect.
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* TheWorfEffect: Terminus nearly kills Superman with an energy blast. Starro turns Thor into a brainwashed slave (though, to be fair, he ''does'' give the airborne Avengers a hard time and is only freed when Starro is beaten).slave. After this, Superman and Thor spend most of the story giving each other the Worf Effect.
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* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Superman and Thor are as strong as the plot requires. Thor can take on Superman and the Martian Manhunter simutaneously in the first fight, but Superman alone can knock him out (even so, Thor claims in the last issue that he has a good idea of how powerful Superman is and could possibly beat him in another fight). In the final battle, Superman defeats Count Nefaria, a villain who can take on Thor ''and'' the entire Avengers team at once. Rising to the challenge, Thor defeats Doomsday, who is famous for killing Superman. {{Word of God}} is that Thor only knocked Doomsday off the panel, not that he was actually defeated, but even that justification is unnecessary, if you just take into account Doomsday's actual powers. He's got super-strength and resilience, sure, but what makes him truly dangerous is that every time he dies, he comes back to life practically immune to whatever killed him. He was such a problem for Superman because, presumably, he's been "beaten to death by raw physical force" before. Given that Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is made of a mystical element that doesn't even exist in the DC universe, it's easy to say that Doomsday just wasn't ready for that.
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* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Superman and Thor are as strong as the plot requires. Thor can take on Superman and the Martian Manhunter simutaneously in the first fight, but Superman alone can knock him out (even so, Thor claims in the last issue that he has a good idea of how powerful Superman is and could possibly beat him in another fight). In the final battle, Superman defeats Count Nefaria, a villain who can take on Thor ''and'' the entire Avengers team at once. Rising to the challenge, Thor defeats Doomsday, who is famous for killing Superman. {{Word of God}} is that Thor only knocked Doomsday off the panel, not that he was actually defeated, but even that justification is unnecessary, if you just take into account Doomsday's actual powers. He's got super-strength and resilience, sure, but what makes him truly dangerous is that every time he dies, he comes back to life practically immune to whatever killed him. He was such a problem for Superman because, presumably, he's been "beaten to death by raw physical force" before. Given that Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is made of a mystical element that doesn't even exist in the DC universe, it's easy to say that Doomsday just wasn't ready for that.defeated.
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* ConflictBall: Yes, the reasons for the two teams fighting each other are incredibly contrived. Do you honestly care? Also the perfect example why this particular trope [[TropesAreTools isn't always bad]]. There's a bit of Fridge Brilliance here as well as the criticisms the Captain America and Superman have of each other's respective worlds mirror Marvel and DC's common criticisms of each other. The other heroes point out that what they are saying is unreasonable.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The combined strength of Superman and the Martian Manhunter is not enough to knock out Thor in the first fight. Later, Superman [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe finds the strength]] to put Thor down by himself after a ''very'' short fight. Arguably FridgeBrilliance: even irritated by two universes grinding against each other, Superman always holds back when first taking someone on, since he can punch a hole through most people. By their second encounter, he knows that [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech Thor can take it]]. Thor [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech said something similar to Iron Man]] towards the end of Civil War. So the Actual FridgeBrilliance is: Both of them were holding back. During the first fight Thor had to use more power that he intended since he was put up in a two-vs.-one fight with unknown enemies. After suffering this defeat, Superman knows how strong Thor is, but Thor is not sure Superman is strong enough to fight him one-vs.-one (in fact their last fight points out to the contrary) so Thor decided to hold back even more, so naturally he loses. Now Thor knows how strong Superman is, and that he never really needed to hold back. Of course, Superman still withheld his own powers (only using heat vision at one point). The jury is still out on the winner in a fight where neither of them holds back [[BrokenBase and let's leave it at that]].
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The combined strength of Superman and the Martian Manhunter is not enough to knock out Thor in the first fight. Later, Superman [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe finds the strength]] to put Thor down by himself after a ''very'' short fight. Arguably FridgeBrilliance: even irritated by two universes grinding against each other, Superman always holds back when first taking someone on, since he can punch a hole through most people. By their second encounter, he knows that [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech Thor can take it]]. Thor [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech said something similar to Iron Man]] towards the end of Civil War. So the Actual FridgeBrilliance is: Both of them were holding back. During the first fight Thor had to use more power that he intended since he was put up in a two-vs.-one fight with unknown enemies. After suffering this defeat, Superman knows how strong Thor is, but Thor is not sure Superman is strong enough to fight him one-vs.-one (in fact their last fight points out to the contrary) so Thor decided to hold back even more, so naturally he loses. Now Thor knows how strong Superman is, and that he never really needed to hold back. Of course, Superman still withheld his own powers (only using heat vision at one point). The jury is still out on the winner in a fight where neither of them holds back [[BrokenBase and let's leave it at that]].
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* ConflictBall: Yes, the reasons for the two teams fighting each other are incredibly contrived. Do you honestly care? Also the perfect example why this particular trope [[TropesAreTools isn't always bad]]. There's a bit of Fridge Brilliance here as well as the criticisms the Captain America and Superman have of each other's respective worlds mirror Marvel and DC's common criticisms of each other. The other heroes point out that what they are saying is unreasonable.
bad]].
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The combined strength of Superman and the Martian Manhunter is not enough to knock out Thor in the first fight. Later, Superman [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe finds the strength]] to put Thor down by himself after a ''very'' short fight. Arguably FridgeBrilliance: even irritated by two universes grinding against each other, Superman always holds back when first taking someone on, since he can punch a hole through most people. By their second encounter, he knows that [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech Thor can take it]]. Thor [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech said something similar to Iron Man]] towards the end of Civil War. So the Actual FridgeBrilliance is: Both of them were holding back. During the first fight Thor had to use more power that he intended since he was put up in a two-vs.-one fight with unknown enemies. After suffering this defeat, Superman knows how strong Thor is, but Thor is not sure Superman is strong enough to fight him one-vs.-one (in fact their last fight points out to the contrary) so Thor decided to hold back even more, so naturally he loses. Now Thor knows how strong Superman is, and that he never really needed to hold back. Of course, Superman still withheld his own powers (only using heat vision at one point). The jury is still out on the winner in a fight where neither of them holds back [[BrokenBase and let's leave it at that]].
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The combined strength of Superman and the Martian Manhunter is not enough to knock out Thor in the first fight. Later, Superman [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe finds the strength]] to put Thor down by himself after a ''very'' short fight.
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Vandalism clean-up.
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!!''JLA/Avengers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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!''JLA/Avengers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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!!''JLA/Avengers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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** Kyle Rayner used the Cosmic Cube to recharge his power ring, which gave him a [[SilverSurfer chrome color scheme]] and a considerable power boost.
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** Kyle Rayner used the Cosmic Cube to recharge his power ring, which gave him a [[SilverSurfer [[ComicBook/SilverSurfer chrome color scheme]] and a considerable power boost.
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* PowerCreepPowerSeep: To fix the imbalance between the Justice League and the generally less powerful Avengers, the story plays on the idea that some characters have different power levels depending on which universe they're in. So in the DCUniverse, the higher levels of "chaos magic" make second-tier Avenger ScarletWitch powerful enough to take down the whole Justice League, while in the MarvelUniverse, the lack of a speed force makes the Flash nothing more than an ordinary human.
---> '''Flash''': She gets to be psycho-powerful over here, but I've got no powers over there? How fair is ''that?''
---> '''Flash''': She gets to be psycho-powerful over here, but I've got no powers over there? How fair is ''that?''
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Moving to un-hyphenated title.
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JLA_Avengers.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250: Big Damn Heroes personified.]]
'''''JLA/Avengers''''' (or '''''Avengers/JLA''''' -- both titles were used) is a four-part comic book {{miniseries}} co-produced by the Creator/DCComics and Creator/MarvelComics companies (each published two issues) in 2003-2004. It features a CrisisCrossover between the companies' top superhero teams, ComicBook/TheAvengers and the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. The crossover has an interesting story both within the comics and without.
Originally, the crossover -- which would have pitted the teams against their respective enemies Kang the Conqueror and the Lord of Time -- was meant to come out in the early 1980s; noted artist George Perez, who had worked on both team's titles, was set to draw it. But some behind-the-scenes conflict (allegedly, Marvel's then Editor-in-Chief, JimShooter, pointed out some story errors -- such as the hero {{Quicksilver}} being as fast as TheFlash -- and asked for a rewrite, which was not well-received by the DC people) led to the project's cancellation, despite Perez having already drawn several pages. This caused resentments that prevented the companies from doing crossovers again for several years, and left many comics fans disappointed.
By the early 2000s, however, relationships between the companies -- both under new administrations -- were cordial again, and the project was revived, with Perez once again set to draw it, and a new story done by writer Creator/KurtBusiek. The series was a financial and critical success, and is even (apparently) considered canonical by both companies (the "Krona Egg" artifact has appeared in some issues of DC's ''Justice League'' and ''Trinity'' series, while the events of the crossover are mentioned in ''[[OfficialHandbookOfTheMarvelUniverse Handbooks of the Marvel Universe]]'').
The story involves Krona, a DC villain turned cosmic, obsessed with discovering how universes are born, and tearing several of them apart in the process. To save his universe, The Grandmaster, a cosmic being from the Marvel Universe, offered to give Krona the knowledge he wanted... '''if''' he beat Grandmaster in a game. Krona accepted. The "game" was to force the two superhero teams to compete against each other (without telling them the real reason) over several artifacts scattered over their worlds. This turned out to be a plan of the Grandmaster's to imprison Krona; it also resulted in a change of reality, creating a world where both teams had always co-existed. However, they discover the truth, and, finding out that Krona is about to free himself, decide to join forces to beat him once and for all. Alterations of time result in virtually every hero who had ever been an Avenger or a Leaguer showing up to help (but so did their enemies, under Krona's control). In the end, Krona is defeated and reality is restored to normal on both worlds.
It should be noted that this crossover seems to supersede the similar ''Marvel versus DC'' one that had taken places in the 1990s, despite that one having also (apparently) been canonical. This is never explained.
----
!!''JLA/Avengers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AllYourPowersCombined: Busiek mixes and matches a lot interesting power combos.
** [[{{CaptainMar-Vell}} Photon]] copies Comicbook/GreenLantern's energy signature to effectively gain his powers.
** ComicBook/IronMan designs a complicated weapon that Lantern can then generate and use[[note]]Kyle Rayner's day job as a designer also helps, plus his constructs tend to be more complicated than his GL partners due to this[[/note]].
** Radioactive Man and Solarr generate Kryptonite's energy signature (which had been a tip-off from SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor, no less) and red sunlight to de-power Franchise/{{Superman}}.
** ComicBook/GreenArrow adds {{Hawkeye}}'s arsenal to his own.
** MartianManhunter lets ComicBook/CaptainAmerica command the entire battlefield simultaneously.
** And of course Superman armed with [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor's hammer]] and Cap's shield.
** Kyle Rayner used the Cosmic Cube to recharge his power ring, which gave him a [[SilverSurfer chrome color scheme]] and a considerable power boost.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Played straight and inverted with the speedsters. The Flash completely dominates Quicksilver in the DC universe, but the Avenger gets the upper hand on his home turf once his stored energy runs out.
* AnythingButThat: When Superman knocks out Thor, the Avengers yell things in the line of "No! Not ''Thor''!" in anger.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Because of him and [[spoiler:TheFlash saving both the Marvel and DC universes from Krona, {{Hawkeye}} has been inducted into the Justice League.]] Yes, [[spoiler:Clint Barton currently holds the distinction of being a member of BOTH the Justice League and the Avengers; the premier superheroes of both universes.]]
* BackToBackBadasses: Superman and Thor take all comers.
* BattleInTheRain: Thor summons rain in The Avengers' first bout with the Justice League.
* BechdelTest: {{Lampshaded}} by She-Hulk: "Yo, Star-shorts! I figured that you'd be getting bored so I thought I'd hang with you. We can talk girl-talk. Y'know, butt-kicking, name-taking, like that."
* BerserkButton
** Superman (with some difficulty) knocks Thor unconscious. The Avengers go ''completely'' nonlinear upon seeing this, and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/SheHulk, TheVision, and WonderMan viciously beat Superman into the ground.
** This in turn pushes Aquaman's BerserkButton, motivating him to summon a Godzilla-sized sea monster and warn the Avengers not to touch Superman.
* BringIt: Superman on the cover of Issue #4.
* ButtMonkey: Poor Wally West really gets the short end of the stick in this one. On his first visit to the Marvel Universe he discovers that he has lost his powers, as there is no Speed Force there. He is summarily beaten by an angry mob mistaking him for one of SelfDemonstrating/{{Magneto}}'s Acolytes. He then gets owned by Iron Man. And then by Quicksilver (much to the latter's delight). Then he is completely AWOL in the big brawl at the climax (save a one-panel cameo as Dark Flash) and shows up at the very end, having ''just missed'' a chance to see Barry. He is owned by Quicksilver on their ''third'' encounter. Wally won the first two (though the second one was kind of accidental, because he was more worried about outrunning {{Darkseid}}'s Omega Beams than beating Quicksilver).
* CatFight: In the background of one panel heroic Marvel catgirl Tigra is wrestling with villainous DC catgirl Cheetah.
* ChekhovsSkill: Photon learns enough from her first encounter with a power ring to drain Kyle Rayner's energy and use it to great effect. She later also uses this trick against [[spoiler:SelfDemonstrating/{{Sinestro}}.]]
** Subverted with Quicksilver. Hints are dropped that he'll learn how to access the Speed Force, but nothing comes of them.
* TheChessmaster: Metron, who conspires with Grandmaster
* CombatBreakdown: In the final battle, the Martian Manhunter establishes a telepathic link that allows Captain America to command the entire battlefield at once. Attack orders and enemy weaknesses are distributed in seconds, which allows the heroes to cut through Krona's defenses with a brutal efficiency. That all falls apart when the link is severed, leaving the heroes to fend for themselves.
* ChromeChampion: The Cosmic Cube-powered Kyle Rayner, as noted by Ms. Marvel.
* ConflictBall: Yes, the reasons for the two teams fighting each other are incredibly contrived. Do you honestly care? Also the perfect example why this particular trope [[TropesAreTools isn't always bad]]. There's a bit of Fridge Brilliance here as well as the criticisms the Captain America and Superman have of each other's respective worlds mirror Marvel and DC's common criticisms of each other. The other heroes point out that what they are saying is unreasonable.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The combined strength of Superman and the Martian Manhunter is not enough to knock out Thor in the first fight. Later, Superman [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe finds the strength]] to put Thor down by himself after a ''very'' short fight. Arguably FridgeBrilliance: even irritated by two universes grinding against each other, Superman always holds back when first taking someone on, since he can punch a hole through most people. By their second encounter, he knows that [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech Thor can take it]]. Thor [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech said something similar to Iron Man]] towards the end of Civil War. So the Actual FridgeBrilliance is: Both of them were holding back. During the first fight Thor had to use more power that he intended since he was put up in a two-vs.-one fight with unknown enemies. After suffering this defeat, Superman knows how strong Thor is, but Thor is not sure Superman is strong enough to fight him one-vs.-one (in fact their last fight points out to the contrary) so Thor decided to hold back even more, so naturally he loses. Now Thor knows how strong Superman is, and that he never really needed to hold back. Of course, Superman still withheld his own powers (only using heat vision at one point). The jury is still out on the winner in a fight where neither of them holds back [[BrokenBase and let's leave it at that]].
* CosmicEntity: Krona; Grandmaster
* CosmicKeystone: Several, from both universes.
* CrazyPrepared: Hawkeye keeps his Lead-Foil Containment Arrow around on the off chance that he'll run into Radioactive Man at any given moment. He has a plan for possibly bumping into ''one single guy''. Naturally this came in handy against CaptainAtom, but still. Considering how often the Radioactive Man attacks the Avengers (the man was one of the original Masters of Evil), this makes a lot of sense.
* DCUniverse
* DeadAlternateCounterpart: In the issue #3 the Marvel and DC worlds have become combined, turning it into a SilverAge utopia. When the characters learn how their realities are ''supposed'' to be, the character who argues for the restoration the most is Hal Jordan -- who is "supposed to" be dead. (Barry Allen is there too, but he's not quite so eager to restore the realities.)
* DesperationAttack: Superman lands the knockout punch on Thor while lying on his back, leaving himself wide open for the Avengers' NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Well, he got up, but he sure didn't expect to be knocked down again so soon.
* DevelopmentGag: When the Marvel and DC universes are given a merged history, TheWasp recalls the original proposed storyline (the '80s-era teams battling Kang and the Lord of Time) as a previous meeting of the two teams.
* DeusExMachina: ThePhantomStranger shows up at a point where both groups are out of ideas and takes them where they need to go then vanishes. In fairness that is his usual schtick.
* [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Punch Out Galactus?]]: Krona casually and effortlessly whacks {{Galactus}} [[SecretWars like a bug]], which makes perfect sense as he had destroyed a significant number of universes at that point, and overpowered infinitely more powerful entities such as Eternity. And then builds a house out of him. Let it never be forgotten that Krona beat a planet-devouring entity within a minute, then ''built a house out of him''.
* DramaPreservingHandicap: There is no Speed Force in the Marvel Universe, which prevents TheFlash from winning Grandmaster's game single-handedly.
* {{Fanservice}}: On literally every page. And we're ''not'' just talking about Wanda's belly-dancer outfit. (The belly-dancer outfit is AuthorAppeal; Perez loves to draw Wanda in that thing.)
* FirstBlood: Thor knocks Superman through a building with his hammer to start the battle in Metropolis, literally drawing first blood in the process.
* {{Foreshadowing}}
** Likely [[HarsherInHindsight unintentional]], but it's almost eerie seeing the ScarletWitch becoming corrupted by the evil of chaos magic, and nearly having a nervous breakdown when confronted with the memory of her children. This was a full year before ''Avengers Disassembled'' and ''HouseOfM'', remember.
** In the series, [[spoiler:Hawkeye (Green Arrow after the universe fluctuates mid-conversation and Flash is put in Hawkeye's place)]] had saved the day when he [[spoiler:fired an impossible shot]] to beat SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom. Guess how Krona is beaten?
** And forget not that some of the headlines the Avengers first saw in the DCU included feats such as Superman bringing water to drought-ridden lands and Wonder Woman working with the UN as Themyscira's emissary. The Avengers are bothered by the idea that if they were a little more out-of-the-box in their approach, the world might be significantly better. And what does Thor do immediately after this storyline? Become king of Asgard and begin trying to make the world a better place by doing more than just punching bankrobbers. ([[spoiler:It doesn't end well.]])
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: In the first encounter between the teams, Iron Man uses a device called the signature modulator to send the Justice League back to the DC universe against their will. That technology is never seen or mentioned again. Though this might be the only instance where it would have worked. Wally found it immensely difficult to crossover between the two universes even after the barriers between them are weakened (harder than many other universes he's been to) and snapped back to his universe on his own as his powers (and vibrations) faded. As the story progresses, the two universes move closer and closer together to the point that their histories starts being retconned by historical instances of the two universes crossing over.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Plenty of them in the moments where many characters are on-panel. An example is the fight that opens volume 2, when you can see Batman do a flying kick right through an intangible Vision. The "whoa!" look in Bats' face as he does so is priceless.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
-->'''Batman:''' (''when he and Cap find him in the Grandmaster's base'') Atom?\\
'''[[ComicBook/TheAtom Atom]]:''' In the six-inch flesh, Batman!
* HamToHamCombat: TheFlash and Hawkeye engage in jovial banter, even in the ''first'' battle when the JLA and Avengers are enemies.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Vision]] gives Superman the last of his solar energy reserves to counter Radioactive Man and Solarr's ambush.
* HeroicWillpower: Using Green Lantern and Scarlet Witch's powers as a conduit, the classic members of both teams prevent their two worlds from being forcibly merged by concentrating ''really really hard''.
* HypocriticalHumor: In scouting the Marvel Universe, Batman makes it perfectly clear that the other members of the JLA are not to interfere in the various aspects of Earth 616, such as Latveria. Shortly after, Batman comes upon ComicBook/ThePunisher shooting some drug dealers. Plastic Man goes to leave, only to turn around and see that Batman has crashed through the window, presumably to take down The Punisher. As they rejoin the rest of the JLA, Plastic Man [[WhatTheHellHero berates him for his interference]] (see image on the Funny subpage).
* IdenticalStranger
** Surprisingly not noted within the story itself, but Vision and Metron look a lot alike. Justified because they were both designed to resemble [[spoiler: LeonardNimoy]].
** Thor and Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} both have blue eyes, long blonde hair, and identical beards (on the second half of #3 and first half of #4 at least, in Thor's case). Only their headgear sets them apart in certain panels. (Plus their obvious height difference: Aquaman is 6'1" while Thor is 6'6".)
* LegacyCharacter: It's genuinely touching to see Barry Allen and Hal Jordan assuring each other that Wally West and Kyle Rayner will continue their legacies after they've died. [[BackFromTheDead Well, it was more poignant back in 2004...]]
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Trope picture.
** Several of the confrontations of this are of this nature; a partial subversion occurs between Batman and Captain America, however, who briefly test each other's skills before deciding that continuing the fight would be a waste of effort that would be better served finding out ''why'' they were put in that position in the first place.
** Another subversion is when Aquaman fights She-Hulk; he soon remembers that all he needs to do is go after the artifact they were sent there to collect, and so he flees from her to pick it up, while Wonder Woman is busy beating the crap out of Hercules.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Even more than you'd expect, since the final issue features ''everyone'' who'd ever been on the roster of either team up until that point fighting virtually every villain they'd ever faced. That number gets really big considering that just about every major hero in the Marvel Universe has been an Avenger (save {{Daredevil}} pre-''ComicBook/FearItself'' and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Human Torch]][[note]]That's, obviously, without mentioning basically 99% of the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}[[/note]]), and no small number of heroes have joined the Justice League, including many members of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica.
* MarvelUniverse
* MythologyGag: Loads and loads.
** The opening sequence in the first issue is an homage to the beginning of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', down to the Crime Syndicate's universe being the second one destroyed on-panel.
** In the third issue, the Masters of Evil are imprisoned in the omni-lingual Green Lantern bubble in which the Justice League trapped the pre-Crisis Crime Syndicate.
** Hawkeye becomes a Justice League member in the same manner as pre-Crisis BlackCanary.
** A painting of the JLA and Avengers' first meeting is modeled after the cover to the first JLA-JSA crossover.
** Heck, it even goes beyond the comics continuity. What toy does ComicBook/IronMan come up with when he gets his hands on a GreenLanternRing? Why, the [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom Proton Cannon]]. To top it off, Iron Man is wearing the [[ContinuityNod Modular Armor]] when the cannon is fired.
** There's also the Marvel Comics Captain Marvel taking down BlackAdam while the DC Comics Captain Marvel punches out Ronan the Accuser. Also in the same panel is Marvel's Photon, who originally ''also'' called herself "Captain Marvel". Meanwhile, Doctor Light shouts "Captain Marvel, Look out!", to which ''both'' Captain Marvels reply "Thanks!"
** Franchise/{{Superman}} fighting Count Nefaria, a Marvel villain who was originally created as a parody/homage/AlternateCompanyEquivalent of... Superman.
** The panel where Superman catches Thor's hammer is almost identical to one from Count Nefaria's first fight with the Avengers after gaining his powers.
** Hawkeye considering the Justice League a "bunch of SquadronSupreme wanna-bes". Marvel's Squadron Supreme was originally created as a parody/homage/AlternateCompanyEquivalent of DC's Justice League.
** Franchise/WonderWoman angrily attacking Marvel's [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], referring to him as the "despoiler of Hippolyta". In the DCUniverse, Heracles (a villain) at one point enslaved and raped Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother). In the MarvelUniverse, Hercules (a hero) did at one point have an affair with Hippolyta... who's actually considered a ''villain'' there. (The event is based in ClassicalMythology, where Heracles/Hercules seduced Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, and stole her belt. Marvel and DC both gave it their own spin.)
** One panel of the final battle has a shot of two established Spider-Man enemies fighting: Sandman (who had been an Avenger before, during a brief HeelFaceTurn) beating up the Scorpion.
** Black Canary beating Screaming Mimi with her Canary Cry, effectively turning the tables on her (who also has sound manipulating powers, and had just brought down Hercules with a sonic scream).
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Superman gets one from the Avengers (specifically Iron Man, Vision, Wonder Man, Hercules and She-Hulk) after he punches out their buddy Thor.
* NotHimself: Superman and Captain America become paranoid and irritable once the walls between universes start to collapse, blaming it on each other.
* OffModel: Considering how the Scarlet Witch is artist George Perez's [[AuthorAppeal favorite character]], it's curious how he can't seem to draw her consistently at all. Every closeup of Wanda in this story looks like a completely different person. That's because she was trying to use far more Chaos Magic than she was used to having access to, and the effort was making her sick (her skin even gets pale to the point of gray at one point).
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Batman's fight with The Punisher isn't shown. Safe to assume it would have been awesome.
* OhCrap: Hawkeye's reaction to [[spoiler:Darkseid getting ahold of the Infinity Gauntlet. However, Darkseid discards it when he learns that the powers the gauntlet should allow him to control don't exist in the DC Universe]]. Made even better by the fact that Hawkeye recognizes Darkseid as being the most evil being in the multiverse even though he never met him (he says Darkseid "looks even worse than {{Thanos}}, if that's even possible").
* OneSteveLimit
** Averted, predictably enough. Dr. Light yells "Captain Marvel -- look out!" [[{{CaptainMar-Vell}} Marvel!Captain Marvel]] and [[{{Shazam}} DC!Captain Marvel]] simultaneously thank her. And in the background of that panel is Monica Rambeau/Photon, who originally went by "Captain Marvel" as well.
** Hero Despero takes out Villain Despero in one panel.
** This gets a lampshade as well:
-->'''Elongated Man:''' (''to Beast, after having talked to Ant-Man'') Hi, other Hank!
* PinballProtagonist: Wonder Woman could be removed from the story and have almost no impact on the plot.
* PlotInducedStupidity: Plenty to go around, but Thor and the Flash suffer the most.
** Thor can block, deflect, and absorb energy attacks with his hammer, yet never tries to defend himself from Superman's heat vision. He is also [[SuperReflexes fast enough]] to block bullets and energy attacks, even those fired at point-blank range. Given how effortlessly Thor's defended himself from heat vision-style attacks over the years, even against opponents he's never fought before, for the God of Thunder to suddenly "forget" his most reliable defensive ability is bad writing at best. According to {{Word of God}}, both Superman and Thor were starting with their standard "tank" options and would have worked up to their more advanced abilities if the fight had progressed further. Alluded to when Thor mentions to Aquaman that he could have taken Superman now that he has his measure and knows how to counter him.
** Despite being [[DramaPreservingHandicap unable to use his powers]] in the Marvel universe, [[TheFlash Wally West]] should still be [[StorybreakerPower fast enough]] to defeat most of the Avengers by himself. As it is, Wally is limited to the basic speedster skill set: running fast, dodging attacks, and little else.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Just before blasting Thor with his heat vision, Superman lays this on him (and the Marvel Universe as a whole):
-->'''Superman:''' Tell yourself that, Mister... ''Ease'' yourself to sleep at night while you let your world go to ''Hell''! Where I come from, though... '''''LIVES MATTER!'''''
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Superman, twice. But he's not the only one.
* RedOniBlueOni: Thor (Red) & Superman (Blue)
* RockPaperScissors: (Superman + Manhunter) < Thor < Superman < Doomsday < Thor < Count Nefaria < Superman
* ShirtlessScene: Thor manages to lose his shirt not once, but twice.
* ShooOutTheClowns
** Hawkeye and PlasticMan are pretty much absent for the mostly somber third chapter. Notice how quickly they come back in the more adventurous fourth chapter.
** During the third chapter, the ''classic'' JLA and Avenger teams were around, i.e. Barry Allen and Hal Jordan are The Flash and Green Lantern, Aquaman still has his left hand, while Hawkeye is in his "blond hair, purple costume" look and not a part of the Avengers.
* ShoutOut: Several, but especially, to the ''original'' story for the crossover.
** ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. Barry Allen pulls nearly the same trick on Krona that he did on the Anti-Monitor. Of course, Barry was only [[spoiler:distracting Krona to give Hawkeye a good shot]]. Since it was only [[spoiler:a distraction, it wasn't literally fatal for Barry, though Wally returned, sending Barry back to his normal state: dead]].
** Signs in Metropolis include the following: [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Siegel Shuster Co.]], [[Franchise/WonderWoman Marston Industries]], and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Kane]].
** At one point near the end of issue #4, at Iron Man's direction, Green Lantern whips up a large energy gun that's identical to Iron Man's [[VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever Proton Cannon]].
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Used in the final issue, and [[JustifiedTrope a reason is given for it, too]]. Krona wants to use all the power he can to continue his research, and as little as necessary to spend on the heroes. So at first he uses just a tiny bit of power to summon the easiest, lamest goons with practically no willpower; easy to control, both physically and mentally, and throws them at the heroes. As they tear through the mooks, however, Krona is gradually forced to use more and more power and recruit stronger, smarter villains (as Metron [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]) until at the end, he is literally summoning gods and world-destroying fire demons. Finally, he ends up destroying all of the heroes, Superman included, with one energy blast. [[spoiler:Save The Flash and Hawkeye, who save the day.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: By necessity, since neither company can ''directly'' cite the other's trademarked characters. However, the ''JLA'' arc immediately after this crossover spun out of the destruction of the Anti-Matter universe in the first issue. Also Krona only managed to escape the Cosmic Egg much later in ''Trinity''[[spoiler:, as well as being one of the masterminds behind the events of ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'']].
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Superman and Thor are as strong as the plot requires. Thor can take on Superman and the Martian Manhunter simutaneously in the first fight, but Superman alone can knock him out (even so, Thor claims in the last issue that he has a good idea of how powerful Superman is and could possibly beat him in another fight). In the final battle, Superman defeats Count Nefaria, a villain who can take on Thor ''and'' the entire Avengers team at once. Rising to the challenge, Thor defeats Doomsday, who is famous for killing Superman. {{Word of God}} is that Thor only knocked Doomsday off the panel, not that he was actually defeated, but even that justification is unnecessary, if you just take into account Doomsday's actual powers. He's got super-strength and resilience, sure, but what makes him truly dangerous is that every time he dies, he comes back to life practically immune to whatever killed him. He was such a problem for Superman because, presumably, he's been "beaten to death by raw physical force" before. Given that Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is made of a mystical element that doesn't even exist in the DC universe, it's easy to say that Doomsday just wasn't ready for that.
* TakeUpMySword: First Captain America gives Supes his shield, then Thor tosses him his hammer at a critical moment.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: One of the artifacts the heroes seek is at the bottom of an incredibly deep pool of water at Odin's tomb. [[SarcasmMode She-Hulk gets it.]]
* TimeTravel
* TookALevelInBadass
** Yes, Scarlet Witch, the DC Universe has Chaos Magic, too, but it's a little ''different'' there. Let's just point out The Lords of Chaos are an organization of disembodied God-like beings capable of wielding nearly infinite power.
** Iron Man gets a significant power boost after interfacing a Mother Box with his armor. His sensors gain range and sensitivity, which allows him to detect and stun a surprised Wally West. Iron Man's repulsar blasts become strong enough to overpower Captain Atom, whose body was still smoking minutes after the battle. Even Superman cannot withstand their power, as a full blast to the chest leaves the Man of Steel helpless while the Avengers swarm him.
* {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s: The fact that the Marvel Universe citizens are these while the DCU citizens are very much ''not'', gets played for laughs. Praise of the DC heroes in the news and overt friendliness and respect from the curious DCU civilians come as a big shock to the Avengers. Quicksilver is pissed off at the fact that TheFlash has an entire museum dedicated to him, while Quicksilver has been hounded by anti-mutant prejudice all his life, and Cap (being NotHimself at the time) even says the DC heroes must be tyrants who force the human race to worship them. Conversely, when Superman sees a broken and vandalized Hank Pym statue, he gets angry because the Marvel Universe's citizens have no respect for their heroes, which to him must mean that they aren't doing enough.
* UnlimitedWardrobe
** The Wasp goes to the extreme by having a different costume in every panel she appears in during the final battle. This is a MythologyGag -- the Wasp has had more different costumes than any other superhero ever (somewhat justified by the fact that she's a fashion designer in her civilian life).
** The Atom, as well.
** In both cases this was caused by the time-warping effect. And it applies to the other characters as well (Superman even appears in his blue energy form).
* UpToEleven: Superman notes this explicitly with his knockout punch to Thor, by ''holding Mjolnir mid-swing''.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Makes you wish for a Green Arrow/Hawkeye crossover someday.
* WeAreTeamCannonFodder: Just about everyone in the final battle, especially those brought in by waves of chronal chaos.
* WhatTheHellHero
** Franchise/WonderWoman and TheWasp have both had enough of Superman and Captain America's animosity by issue #3.
** Plastic Man chews out Batman after the latter's off screen fight with The Punisher.
* TheWorfEffect: Terminus nearly kills Superman with an energy blast. Starro turns Thor into a brainwashed slave (though, to be fair, he ''does'' give the airborne Avengers a hard time and is only freed when Starro is beaten). After this, Superman and Thor spend most of the story giving each other the Worf Effect.
* XanatosGambit: At the story's end, Metron notes that ''everybody'' won this one, in one way or another. Even Krona, [[AndIMustScream in a manner of speaking.]]
----
[[caption-width-right:250: Big Damn Heroes personified.]]
'''''JLA/Avengers''''' (or '''''Avengers/JLA''''' -- both titles were used) is a four-part comic book {{miniseries}} co-produced by the Creator/DCComics and Creator/MarvelComics companies (each published two issues) in 2003-2004. It features a CrisisCrossover between the companies' top superhero teams, ComicBook/TheAvengers and the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. The crossover has an interesting story both within the comics and without.
Originally, the crossover -- which would have pitted the teams against their respective enemies Kang the Conqueror and the Lord of Time -- was meant to come out in the early 1980s; noted artist George Perez, who had worked on both team's titles, was set to draw it. But some behind-the-scenes conflict (allegedly, Marvel's then Editor-in-Chief, JimShooter, pointed out some story errors -- such as the hero {{Quicksilver}} being as fast as TheFlash -- and asked for a rewrite, which was not well-received by the DC people) led to the project's cancellation, despite Perez having already drawn several pages. This caused resentments that prevented the companies from doing crossovers again for several years, and left many comics fans disappointed.
By the early 2000s, however, relationships between the companies -- both under new administrations -- were cordial again, and the project was revived, with Perez once again set to draw it, and a new story done by writer Creator/KurtBusiek. The series was a financial and critical success, and is even (apparently) considered canonical by both companies (the "Krona Egg" artifact has appeared in some issues of DC's ''Justice League'' and ''Trinity'' series, while the events of the crossover are mentioned in ''[[OfficialHandbookOfTheMarvelUniverse Handbooks of the Marvel Universe]]'').
The story involves Krona, a DC villain turned cosmic, obsessed with discovering how universes are born, and tearing several of them apart in the process. To save his universe, The Grandmaster, a cosmic being from the Marvel Universe, offered to give Krona the knowledge he wanted... '''if''' he beat Grandmaster in a game. Krona accepted. The "game" was to force the two superhero teams to compete against each other (without telling them the real reason) over several artifacts scattered over their worlds. This turned out to be a plan of the Grandmaster's to imprison Krona; it also resulted in a change of reality, creating a world where both teams had always co-existed. However, they discover the truth, and, finding out that Krona is about to free himself, decide to join forces to beat him once and for all. Alterations of time result in virtually every hero who had ever been an Avenger or a Leaguer showing up to help (but so did their enemies, under Krona's control). In the end, Krona is defeated and reality is restored to normal on both worlds.
It should be noted that this crossover seems to supersede the similar ''Marvel versus DC'' one that had taken places in the 1990s, despite that one having also (apparently) been canonical. This is never explained.
----
!!''JLA/Avengers'' provides examples of the following tropes:
* AllYourPowersCombined: Busiek mixes and matches a lot interesting power combos.
** [[{{CaptainMar-Vell}} Photon]] copies Comicbook/GreenLantern's energy signature to effectively gain his powers.
** ComicBook/IronMan designs a complicated weapon that Lantern can then generate and use[[note]]Kyle Rayner's day job as a designer also helps, plus his constructs tend to be more complicated than his GL partners due to this[[/note]].
** Radioactive Man and Solarr generate Kryptonite's energy signature (which had been a tip-off from SelfDemonstrating/LexLuthor, no less) and red sunlight to de-power Franchise/{{Superman}}.
** ComicBook/GreenArrow adds {{Hawkeye}}'s arsenal to his own.
** MartianManhunter lets ComicBook/CaptainAmerica command the entire battlefield simultaneously.
** And of course Superman armed with [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor's hammer]] and Cap's shield.
** Kyle Rayner used the Cosmic Cube to recharge his power ring, which gave him a [[SilverSurfer chrome color scheme]] and a considerable power boost.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Played straight and inverted with the speedsters. The Flash completely dominates Quicksilver in the DC universe, but the Avenger gets the upper hand on his home turf once his stored energy runs out.
* AnythingButThat: When Superman knocks out Thor, the Avengers yell things in the line of "No! Not ''Thor''!" in anger.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Because of him and [[spoiler:TheFlash saving both the Marvel and DC universes from Krona, {{Hawkeye}} has been inducted into the Justice League.]] Yes, [[spoiler:Clint Barton currently holds the distinction of being a member of BOTH the Justice League and the Avengers; the premier superheroes of both universes.]]
* BackToBackBadasses: Superman and Thor take all comers.
* BattleInTheRain: Thor summons rain in The Avengers' first bout with the Justice League.
* BechdelTest: {{Lampshaded}} by She-Hulk: "Yo, Star-shorts! I figured that you'd be getting bored so I thought I'd hang with you. We can talk girl-talk. Y'know, butt-kicking, name-taking, like that."
* BerserkButton
** Superman (with some difficulty) knocks Thor unconscious. The Avengers go ''completely'' nonlinear upon seeing this, and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/SheHulk, TheVision, and WonderMan viciously beat Superman into the ground.
** This in turn pushes Aquaman's BerserkButton, motivating him to summon a Godzilla-sized sea monster and warn the Avengers not to touch Superman.
* BringIt: Superman on the cover of Issue #4.
* ButtMonkey: Poor Wally West really gets the short end of the stick in this one. On his first visit to the Marvel Universe he discovers that he has lost his powers, as there is no Speed Force there. He is summarily beaten by an angry mob mistaking him for one of SelfDemonstrating/{{Magneto}}'s Acolytes. He then gets owned by Iron Man. And then by Quicksilver (much to the latter's delight). Then he is completely AWOL in the big brawl at the climax (save a one-panel cameo as Dark Flash) and shows up at the very end, having ''just missed'' a chance to see Barry. He is owned by Quicksilver on their ''third'' encounter. Wally won the first two (though the second one was kind of accidental, because he was more worried about outrunning {{Darkseid}}'s Omega Beams than beating Quicksilver).
* CatFight: In the background of one panel heroic Marvel catgirl Tigra is wrestling with villainous DC catgirl Cheetah.
* ChekhovsSkill: Photon learns enough from her first encounter with a power ring to drain Kyle Rayner's energy and use it to great effect. She later also uses this trick against [[spoiler:SelfDemonstrating/{{Sinestro}}.]]
** Subverted with Quicksilver. Hints are dropped that he'll learn how to access the Speed Force, but nothing comes of them.
* TheChessmaster: Metron, who conspires with Grandmaster
* CombatBreakdown: In the final battle, the Martian Manhunter establishes a telepathic link that allows Captain America to command the entire battlefield at once. Attack orders and enemy weaknesses are distributed in seconds, which allows the heroes to cut through Krona's defenses with a brutal efficiency. That all falls apart when the link is severed, leaving the heroes to fend for themselves.
* ChromeChampion: The Cosmic Cube-powered Kyle Rayner, as noted by Ms. Marvel.
* ConflictBall: Yes, the reasons for the two teams fighting each other are incredibly contrived. Do you honestly care? Also the perfect example why this particular trope [[TropesAreTools isn't always bad]]. There's a bit of Fridge Brilliance here as well as the criticisms the Captain America and Superman have of each other's respective worlds mirror Marvel and DC's common criticisms of each other. The other heroes point out that what they are saying is unreasonable.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The combined strength of Superman and the Martian Manhunter is not enough to knock out Thor in the first fight. Later, Superman [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe finds the strength]] to put Thor down by himself after a ''very'' short fight. Arguably FridgeBrilliance: even irritated by two universes grinding against each other, Superman always holds back when first taking someone on, since he can punch a hole through most people. By their second encounter, he knows that [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech Thor can take it]]. Thor [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech said something similar to Iron Man]] towards the end of Civil War. So the Actual FridgeBrilliance is: Both of them were holding back. During the first fight Thor had to use more power that he intended since he was put up in a two-vs.-one fight with unknown enemies. After suffering this defeat, Superman knows how strong Thor is, but Thor is not sure Superman is strong enough to fight him one-vs.-one (in fact their last fight points out to the contrary) so Thor decided to hold back even more, so naturally he loses. Now Thor knows how strong Superman is, and that he never really needed to hold back. Of course, Superman still withheld his own powers (only using heat vision at one point). The jury is still out on the winner in a fight where neither of them holds back [[BrokenBase and let's leave it at that]].
* CosmicEntity: Krona; Grandmaster
* CosmicKeystone: Several, from both universes.
* CrazyPrepared: Hawkeye keeps his Lead-Foil Containment Arrow around on the off chance that he'll run into Radioactive Man at any given moment. He has a plan for possibly bumping into ''one single guy''. Naturally this came in handy against CaptainAtom, but still. Considering how often the Radioactive Man attacks the Avengers (the man was one of the original Masters of Evil), this makes a lot of sense.
* DCUniverse
* DeadAlternateCounterpart: In the issue #3 the Marvel and DC worlds have become combined, turning it into a SilverAge utopia. When the characters learn how their realities are ''supposed'' to be, the character who argues for the restoration the most is Hal Jordan -- who is "supposed to" be dead. (Barry Allen is there too, but he's not quite so eager to restore the realities.)
* DesperationAttack: Superman lands the knockout punch on Thor while lying on his back, leaving himself wide open for the Avengers' NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Well, he got up, but he sure didn't expect to be knocked down again so soon.
* DevelopmentGag: When the Marvel and DC universes are given a merged history, TheWasp recalls the original proposed storyline (the '80s-era teams battling Kang and the Lord of Time) as a previous meeting of the two teams.
* DeusExMachina: ThePhantomStranger shows up at a point where both groups are out of ideas and takes them where they need to go then vanishes. In fairness that is his usual schtick.
* [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Did You Just Punch Out Galactus?]]: Krona casually and effortlessly whacks {{Galactus}} [[SecretWars like a bug]], which makes perfect sense as he had destroyed a significant number of universes at that point, and overpowered infinitely more powerful entities such as Eternity. And then builds a house out of him. Let it never be forgotten that Krona beat a planet-devouring entity within a minute, then ''built a house out of him''.
* DramaPreservingHandicap: There is no Speed Force in the Marvel Universe, which prevents TheFlash from winning Grandmaster's game single-handedly.
* {{Fanservice}}: On literally every page. And we're ''not'' just talking about Wanda's belly-dancer outfit. (The belly-dancer outfit is AuthorAppeal; Perez loves to draw Wanda in that thing.)
* FirstBlood: Thor knocks Superman through a building with his hammer to start the battle in Metropolis, literally drawing first blood in the process.
* {{Foreshadowing}}
** Likely [[HarsherInHindsight unintentional]], but it's almost eerie seeing the ScarletWitch becoming corrupted by the evil of chaos magic, and nearly having a nervous breakdown when confronted with the memory of her children. This was a full year before ''Avengers Disassembled'' and ''HouseOfM'', remember.
** In the series, [[spoiler:Hawkeye (Green Arrow after the universe fluctuates mid-conversation and Flash is put in Hawkeye's place)]] had saved the day when he [[spoiler:fired an impossible shot]] to beat SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom. Guess how Krona is beaten?
** And forget not that some of the headlines the Avengers first saw in the DCU included feats such as Superman bringing water to drought-ridden lands and Wonder Woman working with the UN as Themyscira's emissary. The Avengers are bothered by the idea that if they were a little more out-of-the-box in their approach, the world might be significantly better. And what does Thor do immediately after this storyline? Become king of Asgard and begin trying to make the world a better place by doing more than just punching bankrobbers. ([[spoiler:It doesn't end well.]])
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: In the first encounter between the teams, Iron Man uses a device called the signature modulator to send the Justice League back to the DC universe against their will. That technology is never seen or mentioned again. Though this might be the only instance where it would have worked. Wally found it immensely difficult to crossover between the two universes even after the barriers between them are weakened (harder than many other universes he's been to) and snapped back to his universe on his own as his powers (and vibrations) faded. As the story progresses, the two universes move closer and closer together to the point that their histories starts being retconned by historical instances of the two universes crossing over.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Plenty of them in the moments where many characters are on-panel. An example is the fight that opens volume 2, when you can see Batman do a flying kick right through an intangible Vision. The "whoa!" look in Bats' face as he does so is priceless.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
-->'''Batman:''' (''when he and Cap find him in the Grandmaster's base'') Atom?\\
'''[[ComicBook/TheAtom Atom]]:''' In the six-inch flesh, Batman!
* HamToHamCombat: TheFlash and Hawkeye engage in jovial banter, even in the ''first'' battle when the JLA and Avengers are enemies.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Vision]] gives Superman the last of his solar energy reserves to counter Radioactive Man and Solarr's ambush.
* HeroicWillpower: Using Green Lantern and Scarlet Witch's powers as a conduit, the classic members of both teams prevent their two worlds from being forcibly merged by concentrating ''really really hard''.
* HypocriticalHumor: In scouting the Marvel Universe, Batman makes it perfectly clear that the other members of the JLA are not to interfere in the various aspects of Earth 616, such as Latveria. Shortly after, Batman comes upon ComicBook/ThePunisher shooting some drug dealers. Plastic Man goes to leave, only to turn around and see that Batman has crashed through the window, presumably to take down The Punisher. As they rejoin the rest of the JLA, Plastic Man [[WhatTheHellHero berates him for his interference]] (see image on the Funny subpage).
* IdenticalStranger
** Surprisingly not noted within the story itself, but Vision and Metron look a lot alike. Justified because they were both designed to resemble [[spoiler: LeonardNimoy]].
** Thor and Comicbook/{{Aquaman}} both have blue eyes, long blonde hair, and identical beards (on the second half of #3 and first half of #4 at least, in Thor's case). Only their headgear sets them apart in certain panels. (Plus their obvious height difference: Aquaman is 6'1" while Thor is 6'6".)
* LegacyCharacter: It's genuinely touching to see Barry Allen and Hal Jordan assuring each other that Wally West and Kyle Rayner will continue their legacies after they've died. [[BackFromTheDead Well, it was more poignant back in 2004...]]
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Trope picture.
** Several of the confrontations of this are of this nature; a partial subversion occurs between Batman and Captain America, however, who briefly test each other's skills before deciding that continuing the fight would be a waste of effort that would be better served finding out ''why'' they were put in that position in the first place.
** Another subversion is when Aquaman fights She-Hulk; he soon remembers that all he needs to do is go after the artifact they were sent there to collect, and so he flees from her to pick it up, while Wonder Woman is busy beating the crap out of Hercules.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Even more than you'd expect, since the final issue features ''everyone'' who'd ever been on the roster of either team up until that point fighting virtually every villain they'd ever faced. That number gets really big considering that just about every major hero in the Marvel Universe has been an Avenger (save {{Daredevil}} pre-''ComicBook/FearItself'' and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour the Human Torch]][[note]]That's, obviously, without mentioning basically 99% of the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}[[/note]]), and no small number of heroes have joined the Justice League, including many members of the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica.
* MarvelUniverse
* MythologyGag: Loads and loads.
** The opening sequence in the first issue is an homage to the beginning of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', down to the Crime Syndicate's universe being the second one destroyed on-panel.
** In the third issue, the Masters of Evil are imprisoned in the omni-lingual Green Lantern bubble in which the Justice League trapped the pre-Crisis Crime Syndicate.
** Hawkeye becomes a Justice League member in the same manner as pre-Crisis BlackCanary.
** A painting of the JLA and Avengers' first meeting is modeled after the cover to the first JLA-JSA crossover.
** Heck, it even goes beyond the comics continuity. What toy does ComicBook/IronMan come up with when he gets his hands on a GreenLanternRing? Why, the [[VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom Proton Cannon]]. To top it off, Iron Man is wearing the [[ContinuityNod Modular Armor]] when the cannon is fired.
** There's also the Marvel Comics Captain Marvel taking down BlackAdam while the DC Comics Captain Marvel punches out Ronan the Accuser. Also in the same panel is Marvel's Photon, who originally ''also'' called herself "Captain Marvel". Meanwhile, Doctor Light shouts "Captain Marvel, Look out!", to which ''both'' Captain Marvels reply "Thanks!"
** Franchise/{{Superman}} fighting Count Nefaria, a Marvel villain who was originally created as a parody/homage/AlternateCompanyEquivalent of... Superman.
** The panel where Superman catches Thor's hammer is almost identical to one from Count Nefaria's first fight with the Avengers after gaining his powers.
** Hawkeye considering the Justice League a "bunch of SquadronSupreme wanna-bes". Marvel's Squadron Supreme was originally created as a parody/homage/AlternateCompanyEquivalent of DC's Justice League.
** Franchise/WonderWoman angrily attacking Marvel's [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]], referring to him as the "despoiler of Hippolyta". In the DCUniverse, Heracles (a villain) at one point enslaved and raped Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother). In the MarvelUniverse, Hercules (a hero) did at one point have an affair with Hippolyta... who's actually considered a ''villain'' there. (The event is based in ClassicalMythology, where Heracles/Hercules seduced Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, and stole her belt. Marvel and DC both gave it their own spin.)
** One panel of the final battle has a shot of two established Spider-Man enemies fighting: Sandman (who had been an Avenger before, during a brief HeelFaceTurn) beating up the Scorpion.
** Black Canary beating Screaming Mimi with her Canary Cry, effectively turning the tables on her (who also has sound manipulating powers, and had just brought down Hercules with a sonic scream).
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Superman gets one from the Avengers (specifically Iron Man, Vision, Wonder Man, Hercules and She-Hulk) after he punches out their buddy Thor.
* NotHimself: Superman and Captain America become paranoid and irritable once the walls between universes start to collapse, blaming it on each other.
* OffModel: Considering how the Scarlet Witch is artist George Perez's [[AuthorAppeal favorite character]], it's curious how he can't seem to draw her consistently at all. Every closeup of Wanda in this story looks like a completely different person. That's because she was trying to use far more Chaos Magic than she was used to having access to, and the effort was making her sick (her skin even gets pale to the point of gray at one point).
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Batman's fight with The Punisher isn't shown. Safe to assume it would have been awesome.
* OhCrap: Hawkeye's reaction to [[spoiler:Darkseid getting ahold of the Infinity Gauntlet. However, Darkseid discards it when he learns that the powers the gauntlet should allow him to control don't exist in the DC Universe]]. Made even better by the fact that Hawkeye recognizes Darkseid as being the most evil being in the multiverse even though he never met him (he says Darkseid "looks even worse than {{Thanos}}, if that's even possible").
* OneSteveLimit
** Averted, predictably enough. Dr. Light yells "Captain Marvel -- look out!" [[{{CaptainMar-Vell}} Marvel!Captain Marvel]] and [[{{Shazam}} DC!Captain Marvel]] simultaneously thank her. And in the background of that panel is Monica Rambeau/Photon, who originally went by "Captain Marvel" as well.
** Hero Despero takes out Villain Despero in one panel.
** This gets a lampshade as well:
-->'''Elongated Man:''' (''to Beast, after having talked to Ant-Man'') Hi, other Hank!
* PinballProtagonist: Wonder Woman could be removed from the story and have almost no impact on the plot.
* PlotInducedStupidity: Plenty to go around, but Thor and the Flash suffer the most.
** Thor can block, deflect, and absorb energy attacks with his hammer, yet never tries to defend himself from Superman's heat vision. He is also [[SuperReflexes fast enough]] to block bullets and energy attacks, even those fired at point-blank range. Given how effortlessly Thor's defended himself from heat vision-style attacks over the years, even against opponents he's never fought before, for the God of Thunder to suddenly "forget" his most reliable defensive ability is bad writing at best. According to {{Word of God}}, both Superman and Thor were starting with their standard "tank" options and would have worked up to their more advanced abilities if the fight had progressed further. Alluded to when Thor mentions to Aquaman that he could have taken Superman now that he has his measure and knows how to counter him.
** Despite being [[DramaPreservingHandicap unable to use his powers]] in the Marvel universe, [[TheFlash Wally West]] should still be [[StorybreakerPower fast enough]] to defeat most of the Avengers by himself. As it is, Wally is limited to the basic speedster skill set: running fast, dodging attacks, and little else.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Just before blasting Thor with his heat vision, Superman lays this on him (and the Marvel Universe as a whole):
-->'''Superman:''' Tell yourself that, Mister... ''Ease'' yourself to sleep at night while you let your world go to ''Hell''! Where I come from, though... '''''LIVES MATTER!'''''
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Superman, twice. But he's not the only one.
* RedOniBlueOni: Thor (Red) & Superman (Blue)
* RockPaperScissors: (Superman + Manhunter) < Thor < Superman < Doomsday < Thor < Count Nefaria < Superman
* ShirtlessScene: Thor manages to lose his shirt not once, but twice.
* ShooOutTheClowns
** Hawkeye and PlasticMan are pretty much absent for the mostly somber third chapter. Notice how quickly they come back in the more adventurous fourth chapter.
** During the third chapter, the ''classic'' JLA and Avenger teams were around, i.e. Barry Allen and Hal Jordan are The Flash and Green Lantern, Aquaman still has his left hand, while Hawkeye is in his "blond hair, purple costume" look and not a part of the Avengers.
* ShoutOut: Several, but especially, to the ''original'' story for the crossover.
** ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. Barry Allen pulls nearly the same trick on Krona that he did on the Anti-Monitor. Of course, Barry was only [[spoiler:distracting Krona to give Hawkeye a good shot]]. Since it was only [[spoiler:a distraction, it wasn't literally fatal for Barry, though Wally returned, sending Barry back to his normal state: dead]].
** Signs in Metropolis include the following: [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Siegel Shuster Co.]], [[Franchise/WonderWoman Marston Industries]], and [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Kane]].
** At one point near the end of issue #4, at Iron Man's direction, Green Lantern whips up a large energy gun that's identical to Iron Man's [[VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever Proton Cannon]].
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Used in the final issue, and [[JustifiedTrope a reason is given for it, too]]. Krona wants to use all the power he can to continue his research, and as little as necessary to spend on the heroes. So at first he uses just a tiny bit of power to summon the easiest, lamest goons with practically no willpower; easy to control, both physically and mentally, and throws them at the heroes. As they tear through the mooks, however, Krona is gradually forced to use more and more power and recruit stronger, smarter villains (as Metron [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]) until at the end, he is literally summoning gods and world-destroying fire demons. Finally, he ends up destroying all of the heroes, Superman included, with one energy blast. [[spoiler:Save The Flash and Hawkeye, who save the day.]]
* StatusQuoIsGod: By necessity, since neither company can ''directly'' cite the other's trademarked characters. However, the ''JLA'' arc immediately after this crossover spun out of the destruction of the Anti-Matter universe in the first issue. Also Krona only managed to escape the Cosmic Egg much later in ''Trinity''[[spoiler:, as well as being one of the masterminds behind the events of ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'']].
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Superman and Thor are as strong as the plot requires. Thor can take on Superman and the Martian Manhunter simutaneously in the first fight, but Superman alone can knock him out (even so, Thor claims in the last issue that he has a good idea of how powerful Superman is and could possibly beat him in another fight). In the final battle, Superman defeats Count Nefaria, a villain who can take on Thor ''and'' the entire Avengers team at once. Rising to the challenge, Thor defeats Doomsday, who is famous for killing Superman. {{Word of God}} is that Thor only knocked Doomsday off the panel, not that he was actually defeated, but even that justification is unnecessary, if you just take into account Doomsday's actual powers. He's got super-strength and resilience, sure, but what makes him truly dangerous is that every time he dies, he comes back to life practically immune to whatever killed him. He was such a problem for Superman because, presumably, he's been "beaten to death by raw physical force" before. Given that Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is made of a mystical element that doesn't even exist in the DC universe, it's easy to say that Doomsday just wasn't ready for that.
* TakeUpMySword: First Captain America gives Supes his shield, then Thor tosses him his hammer at a critical moment.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: One of the artifacts the heroes seek is at the bottom of an incredibly deep pool of water at Odin's tomb. [[SarcasmMode She-Hulk gets it.]]
* TimeTravel
* TookALevelInBadass
** Yes, Scarlet Witch, the DC Universe has Chaos Magic, too, but it's a little ''different'' there. Let's just point out The Lords of Chaos are an organization of disembodied God-like beings capable of wielding nearly infinite power.
** Iron Man gets a significant power boost after interfacing a Mother Box with his armor. His sensors gain range and sensitivity, which allows him to detect and stun a surprised Wally West. Iron Man's repulsar blasts become strong enough to overpower Captain Atom, whose body was still smoking minutes after the battle. Even Superman cannot withstand their power, as a full blast to the chest leaves the Man of Steel helpless while the Avengers swarm him.
* {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s: The fact that the Marvel Universe citizens are these while the DCU citizens are very much ''not'', gets played for laughs. Praise of the DC heroes in the news and overt friendliness and respect from the curious DCU civilians come as a big shock to the Avengers. Quicksilver is pissed off at the fact that TheFlash has an entire museum dedicated to him, while Quicksilver has been hounded by anti-mutant prejudice all his life, and Cap (being NotHimself at the time) even says the DC heroes must be tyrants who force the human race to worship them. Conversely, when Superman sees a broken and vandalized Hank Pym statue, he gets angry because the Marvel Universe's citizens have no respect for their heroes, which to him must mean that they aren't doing enough.
* UnlimitedWardrobe
** The Wasp goes to the extreme by having a different costume in every panel she appears in during the final battle. This is a MythologyGag -- the Wasp has had more different costumes than any other superhero ever (somewhat justified by the fact that she's a fashion designer in her civilian life).
** The Atom, as well.
** In both cases this was caused by the time-warping effect. And it applies to the other characters as well (Superman even appears in his blue energy form).
* UpToEleven: Superman notes this explicitly with his knockout punch to Thor, by ''holding Mjolnir mid-swing''.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Makes you wish for a Green Arrow/Hawkeye crossover someday.
* WeAreTeamCannonFodder: Just about everyone in the final battle, especially those brought in by waves of chronal chaos.
* WhatTheHellHero
** Franchise/WonderWoman and TheWasp have both had enough of Superman and Captain America's animosity by issue #3.
** Plastic Man chews out Batman after the latter's off screen fight with The Punisher.
* TheWorfEffect: Terminus nearly kills Superman with an energy blast. Starro turns Thor into a brainwashed slave (though, to be fair, he ''does'' give the airborne Avengers a hard time and is only freed when Starro is beaten). After this, Superman and Thor spend most of the story giving each other the Worf Effect.
* XanatosGambit: At the story's end, Metron notes that ''everybody'' won this one, in one way or another. Even Krona, [[AndIMustScream in a manner of speaking.]]
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