History Main / Elseworld

** Marvel also had ''The 5 Ronin'', which transplanted Wolverine, The Punisher, The Hulk, Psylocke and Deadpool into Tokugawa-era Japan.

** ''JLA: Created Equal'' sees all men on Earth apart from Superman and Lex Luthor being killed by a strange spatial phenomenon that infects all other men with a lethal virus (Superman being naturally immune and Luthor sealing himself away before he could be infected), and the subsequent efforts to rebuild the world.

** ''Batman: The Blue, the Grey, and the Bat'' places Batman in a Civil War/old west setting as a government agent on a mission from President Lincoln. It references ''Franchise/TheLoneRanger'', especially with a Robin counterpart, Redbird, who is an expy for Tonto.

* [[WholePlotReference Fiction Graft]]: The work is melded with a famous work of fiction. Example: ''Franchise/{{Superman}}: [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds War of the Worlds]].''

** ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'', pictured above, is a miniseries about what Franchise/{{Superman}} would have been like if he had landed in the Soviet Union (specifically Ukraine, which seems to be the closest the writers could find to a Soviet version of Kansas) instead of the United States; he ends up a KnightTemplar Big-Brother figure. President Comicbook/LexLuthor defends the United States from the Red Menace with Superman's RoguesGallery and ComicBook/{{Green Lantern}}s. Franchise/{{Batman}} has a very sexy hat.

** A similar one is ''ComicBook/BatmanInDarkestKnight''. In this one, Bruce Wayne, not Hal Jordan, receives the ring from Abin Sur; in effect, this one is, "What if Batman was Franchise/GreenLantern?"

** ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]: ComicBook/TheNail'' takes place in a world where Kal-El is found by an Amish couple instead of the Kents because of a flat tire, and as a result, doesn't become Franchise/{{Superman}}. While there's still a Justice League, they face xenophobia [[spoiler: and ComicBook/JimmyOlsen is a super villain]].

** ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'' takes place in a universe in which Bruce Wayne was never Batman, and the infant Kal-El did not survive long enough to become Franchise/{{Superman}}. The orphaned Barbara Gordon becomes ''Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}'', Gotham's near-dictatorial protector, and Kara Zor-El alias ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' teams with a Justice Society backed by Luthor.

* Back in the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], DC published "Impossible Tales" for Franchise/WonderWoman, in which she teams up with her [[SpinoffBabies Spinoff Baby]] selves (the Wonder Girl featured here is her teenage self, not Donna Troy who was introduced later) and Queen Hippolyta.
** The Donna Troy Wonder Girl was an inadvertent result of these stories--a writer added the "Impossible Stories" Wonder Girl to the original Comicbook/TeenTitans without realizing that she was a young Wonder Woman and not a separate character, requiring that an origin for a new Wonder Girl be created. The ongoing CanonDiscontinuity that has plagued Donna Troy ever since is a result of that initial error, as nearly every change to Wonder Woman's backstory creates a new conflict with Donna's.

** They ran two "Alternity" specials in the 90s featuring reimagined characters such as "[[Comicbook/JudgeDredd Dredd]] [[Series/DixonOfDockGreen of Dock Green]]".
** ''[[Comicbook/StrontiumDog Durham Red]]: Scarlet Apocrypha'' took the eponymous character out of her far-future adventures and reimagined her as existing at various other places and times.
** ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' #460 has a gimmick of featuring Elseworld versions of ''Comicbook/{{Battle}}'' characters, with the Elseworld being the Dreddverse. So we get the BoxedCrook ''Rat Pack'' reinvented as mutant terrorists called the ''Rad Pack'', sent on a mission to the Cursed Earth under Judge Taggart; ''Strato Squad'' is a [[CompositeCharacter composite]] of ''Johnny Red'' and ''Lofty's One-Man Lufftwaffe'', with an AcePilot undercover in the Sov Block during the Apocalypse War; and ''Darkie's Mob'' fighting their way through Deadworld rather than Burma. (The same week's ''2000 AD'' also featured alternate versions of ''Battle'' strips, but mostly by just adding sci-fi or supernatural elements to what was already there.)

** ''Legenderry'' is a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover with SteamPunk Elseworld versions of Comicbook/RedSonja, Comicbook/TheGreenHornet, Comicbook/{{Vampirella}}, Franchise/{{Zorro}}, ComicStrip/FlashGordon, ComicStrip/ThePhantom, Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan, Silver Star, and Major Victory. This was followed by miniseries for the ''Legenderry'' versions of Hornet, Sonja and Vampirella.

* Many of the figures Creator/{{Hasbro}} made for the "Legends of Franchise/{{Batman}}" toyline that wasn't based on ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' fell under this as they set the characters at various points in time and different ideas, like Batman as a cyborg, an actual knight, or a pirate.

* The Franchise/DCUniverse version is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, and has a lot of them. Some of their ''Creator/{{Elseworlds}}'' would actually fall under ForWantOfANail.

* Early on, Marvel Comics's distinctive "ComicBook/WhatIf" series were stand-alone ForWantOfANail stories based on key events in the Marvel universe. They later ran more Elseworld-style stories; these are not usually specifically labeled as either (''Manga/MarvelMangaverse'', ''ComicBook/MarvelZombies'', ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'', ''X-Men Fairy Tales'', ''Marvel Apes'', etc.).

** The 2018 run of What If runs the gauntlet from stories that are ForWantOfANail, Elseworlds or something in-between. "What If? Spider-Man" is very much a For Want Of A Nail story (to the point where it's the only one narrated by The Watcher- or rather, [[ComicBook/OriginalSin The Unseen]]), "What If? X-Men" [[TransplantedCharacterFic transplants]] the X-Men into a TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}-like setting, and "What If? Thor" poses a ForWantOfANail question but is written as an original story rather than a divergence from the traditional timeline.

A SisterTrope to the ForWantOfANail episode. While ForWantOfANail explores another fork in the road taken by a character, an Elseworld takes a well-known character and plonks them into a potentially wildly different location and situation. This can add some freshness to a character which allows them to act a different way than normal canon might allow but may also become an excuse to write professional TransplantedCharacterFic of the JustForFun/RecycledInSPACE variety.

** ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' culminates in the exploration of the larger live-action DC Multiverse, which includes [[Film/Batman1989 Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher's Batman films on Earth-89]], [[Series/Titans2018 a darker take on the Teen Titans on Earth-9]], the previously shown Earth-X, [[Series/Batman1966 the campy world of the original Batman tv series on Earth-66]], [[Series/{{Smallville}} the home of the dramatic Superman series of Earth-167]], [[Film/SupermanTheMovie the original Christopher Reeve Superman series on Earth-96]] (having gone the way of ComicBook/KingdomCome, complete with a role reprisal by Creator/BrandonRouth from ''Film/SupermanReturns''), and the [[Series/BirdsOfPrey original CW drama in a world without Batman on Earth-203]]. It also includes Earth-18 (where Jonah Hex guards a Lazarus Pit), Earth-16 (in which an older, more grizzled Oliver Queen battles a lone fight in the future), and Earth-99 (in which an older and beaten Bruce Wayne, mixing his ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' portrayals, physically portrayed by long-time voice actor Creator/KevinConroy, has become [[spoiler: a murderous psychopath who killed his rogues gallery and his world's Superman]]). While [[spoiler: it all gets destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, the seven paragons are able to restore everything by merging Earth-1, Earth-38, and world of ''Series/BlackLightning'', transforming Earth-2 into the world of ''Series/Stargirl2020'' and Earth-19 into the world of ''Series/SwampThing'', and featuring the worlds of Earth-21 (''Series/DoomPatrol2019'') and Earth-12 (using footage from ''Film/GreenLantern2011'').]] It even features [[spoiler: a cameo from Creator/EzraMiller as the Barry Allen of the ''Series/DCExtendedUniverse''.]]

** ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'' is primarily set in a world where the [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazis]] won UsefulNotes/WorldWarII by developing the nuclear bomb first, leading many of its characters to meet [[AlternateSelf alternate versions]] of themselves, e.g. the main trio ([[Series/{{Arrow}} Green Arrow]], [[Series/TheFlash2014 The Flash]], Series/{{Supergirl|2015}}) encountering their {{evil counterpart}}s.

** ''WesternAnimation/SupermanRedSon'' likewise adapts [[ComicBook/SupermanRedSon its namesake]] and changes some thing, [[spoiler:including keeping Kryptonians HumanAliens instead of evolved humans from Earth's future.]]

** ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' culminates in the exploration of the larger live-action DC Multiverse, which includes [[Film/Batman1989 Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher's Batman films on Earth-89]], [[Series/Titans2018 a darker take on the Teen Titans on Earth-9]], the previously shown Earth-X, [[Series/Batman1966 the campy world of the original Batman tv series on Earth-66]], [[Series/{{Smallville}} the home of the dramatic Superman series of Earth-167]], [[Film/SupermanTheMovie the original Christopher Reeve Superman series on Earth-96]] (having gone the way of ComicBook/KingdomCome, complete with a role reprisal by Creator/BrandonRouth from ''Film/SupermanReturns''), and the [[Series/BirdsOfPrey original CW drama in a world without Batman on Earth-203]]. It also includes Earth-18 (where Jonah Hex guards a Lazarus Pit), Earth-16 (in which an older, more grizzled Oliver Queen battles a lone fight in the future), and Earth-99 (in which an older and beaten Bruce Wayne, mixing his ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' portrayals, physically portrayed by long-time voice actor Creator/KevinConroy, has become [[spoiler: a murderous psychopath who killed his rogues gallery and his world's Superman]]). While [[spoiler: it all gets destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, the seven paragons are able to restore everything by merging Earth-1, Earth-38, and world of ''Series/BlackLightning'', transforming Earth-2 into the world of ''Series/Stargirl2020'' and Earth-19 into the world of ''Series/SwampThing'', and featuring the worlds of Earth-21 (''Series/DoomPatrol2019'') and Earth-12 (using footage from ''Film/GreenLantern2011'').]] It even features [[spoiler: a cameo from Creator/EzraMiller as the Barry Allen of the ''Series/DCExtendedUniverse''.]]

* ''[[Comicbook/StrontiumDog Durham Red]]: Scarlet Apocrypha'' took the eponymous character out of her far-future adventures and reimagined her as existing at various other places and times.

* ''[[ComicBook/TwoThousandAD 2000 AD]]'' ran two "Alternity" specials in the 90s featuring reimagined characters such as "[[Comicbook/JudgeDredd Dredd]] [[Series/DixonOfDockGreen of Dock Green]]".
* The ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic strip for Christmas 2010 was "The Professor, the Queen and the Bookshop", a version of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' (with elements of ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew'') with Amelia and Rory as Lucy and Edmund/Polly and Digory, the Eleventh Doctor as Professor Kirke/Aslan, the Rani as the White Witch (although her SealedEvilInACan form is a Weeping Angel), Azal the Daemon as Mr Tumnus, and the Talking Animals represented by Judoon, Cheetah People, Nimons, Hath and Silurians. At the end, it turns out to be a tale Creator/CSLewis is spinning to the Inklings, the Doctor and Amy. The Doctor suggests it would work better with a wardrobe.

** The first Elseworlds story is the criminally under-appreciated ''ComicBook/GothamByGaslight'', in which Bruce Wayne is a young American plutocrat on a world tour in 1889, and ends up fighting (and is suspected of being) UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper. Initially it wasn’t published as an Elseworlds story, but after the reception it received, DC made Elseworlds a thing.

** ''ComicBook/Flashpoint1999'', not to be confused with the event comic ''ComicBook/FlashpointDCComics'', is a tale about the Flash becoming quadruplegic after saving President Kennedy and using his super-fast mind to solve a mystery and confront Vandal Savage.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[CatchPhrase Truth, justice,]] and the UsefulNotes/WarsawPact.]]

** ''Hearts of Steel'' was originally meant to be the first in a set of Elseworlds called ''The Transformers: Evolution''. However, the series was never continued as Hasbro wanted to limit the number of alternate continuities (this was circa [[Film/{{Transformers}} the 2007 film]]).

* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo''[='=]s various [[BonusMaterial omake]] chapters are all this, sometimes combined with parody/homages as in [[LightNovel/FullMetalPanic "Full Megatokyo Panic."]] The whole comic, in fact, seems to be several Elseworlds mashed together, with different worlds visible to different characters.

*** This version of the Doctor continues to appear in the BerniceSummerfield audio series, but is treated more as an AlternateSelf to the "prime" Doctor and their adventures together don't ''really'' serve as Elseworld stories.

** The ''Doctor Of War'' subseries follows what would happen if [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks ''Genesis Of The Daleks'']] went differently and the Doctor ''did'' kill the Kaled mutants. From a more meta point of view, it can be considered a "What if ColinBaker got to play the DarkerAndEdgier Doctor he originally wanted?"

* The AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho ''Doctor Who Unbound'' stories explore questions such as "What if the Doctor had not left Gallifrey?" and "What if [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet the Valeyard]] had won?"

** "Tri-Stone Area" features all of the characters in a [[OneMillionBC prehistoric setting]]