History Main / Elseworld

* [[HistoricalFiction Historical]]: The characters are transplanted into a historical context. Example: ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}: Hearts of Steel'' (19th-century robots).

* ''Léo Loden'' suddenly had one of these with "Massilia Aeterna", after the SeriesFauxnale in the previous album. It takes place in AncientRome during the rule of [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire the Roman Empire]], with Léo and Marlène being a spy and a centurion instead of a private detective and a police inspector.

** ''ComicBook/DemonDaysXMen'' is an Elseworld where the Marvel universe is much, ''much'' closer to Japanese mythology, starring a version of ComicBook/{{Psylocke}} (called Sai) as a [[{{Ronin}} wandering swordswoman]] and her dog named [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} Logan]].

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series is an Elseworld for both the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' franchise and the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. The sole [[SubvertedTrope exception]] is ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (and possibly ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''), as it's claimed that the events of the game are canon to the ''Toy Story'' series.

*** A WhatIf ''Franchise/DocSavage'' where his BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood goes [[GoneHorriblyWrong Horribly Wrong]].

** ''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 [[NiceHat very sexy hat]].

** ''Speeding Bullets'' has Kal-El fall to Earth near Gotham City, to be discovered and raised as their own by the Wayne family. Or, "What if Superman was Batman?"
** A similar one is ''Batman: In Darkest Night''. 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?"

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 RecycledInSPACE variety.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' did a few in the last season. There's one set in the wild west where they're the Steamy Puff Girls and one framed as a dream the Professor has where they were created without Chemical X and therefore don't have powers.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has such [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters an enormously-developed universe]] that it's not very surprising that it also has [[AlternateUniverse its own multiverse]], largely manifest in the form of alternate skin lines. Several of them have lore based on high-concept questions based on the canon universe, such as "What would happen if [[MadScientist Viktor's]] Glorious Evolution was successful?" (resulting in the [[RobotWar "Battlecast"]] universe), and "What if the armies of the Rune Wars continued into the present?" ([[OrderVersusChaos "Wardens and Marauders"]]). Then there are plenty of more adventurous concepts, like "What if [[CuteWitch Lux]] led a team of {{Magical Girl}}s?" ([[SailorSenshiSendUp "Star Guardian"]]) and "What if Runeterra became a cyberpunk dystopia?" ([[{{Cyberpunk}} "PROJECT"]]).

*** ''Radio/TheShadow'' as SpaceOpera.

** 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.

** In the three-issue miniseries ''Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham'', Bruce Wayne and his proteges Dick, Jason, and Tim face off against {{eldritch abomination}}s straight out of Creator/HPLovecraft in a time between the World Wars.

** The second is a RoyaltyAU where Harrow is attending a ball as a marriage prospect for a mysterious "Her Highness" (Gideon). Despite Harrow's earlier insistence that she had never read a romance novel, this one seems rather more detailed than she'd like to admit.
** The third is a Military AU where Harrow joined the Cohort to earn money for her failing House. This is the one with the most detail, as well as the most plausible... until it suddenly turns into a CoffeeShopAU with a hotshot new barista (Gideon) that all the officers are enamored with. [[spoiler:Abigail Pent]] puts a stop to this silliness right before the MeetCute.

* While technically ''Fanfic/HuntersOfJustice'' takes place in one, anyway, (the DC side being a PatchworkFic and Brainiac's invasion crashing the Vytal Festival before Cinder could enact her plans thus [[spoiler:[[AbledInTheAdaptation Yang doesn't lose her right arm]], and [[SparedByTheAdaptation Pyrrha and Ozma's Professor Ozpin form are still alive]]]]), there are occasionally non-canon chapters, either ones inspired by ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' or one with vignettes based on actual DC Elseworlds stories like ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' and ''ComicBook/DCeased''.

In {{fanfiction}} this is a type of AlternateUniverse (or AU), where the characters generally remain the same but the setting changes. {{High school AU}}s are very popular, probably because many of the writers are themselves in high school. (On This Very Wiki, we use a broader definition of AlternateUniverse, of which Elseworld is a subset.) See also AlternateRealityEpisode, which can overlap.

In {{fanfiction}} this is known as an Alternate Universe (or AU), where the characters generally remain the same but the setting changes. {{High school AU}}s are very popular, probably because many of the writers are themselves in high school. (On This Very Wiki, we use a broader definition of AlternateUniverse, of which Elseworld is a subset.) See also AlternateRealityEpisode, which can overlap.

* Technically, ''all'' fanfics potentially fit the category, but some more than others. Types of fanfics that specialize in it include the AlternateUniverseFic, DarkFic, FixFic, FusionFic, and maybe FilmFic. A DeathFic or DeconstructionFic can do this too, but more often relies on the ForWantOfANail plot device.

* While technically the Creator/DCComics[=/=]''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' story ''Fanfic/HuntersOfJustice'' takes place in one, anyway, (the DC side being a PatchworkFic and Brainiac's invasion crashing the Vytal Festival before Cinder could enact her plans thus [[spoiler:[[AbledInTheAdaptation Yang doesn't lose her right arm]], and [[SparedByTheAdaptation Pyrrha and Ozma's Professor Ozpin form are still alive]]]]), there are occasionally non-canon chapters, either ones inspired by ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'' or one with vignettes based on actual DC Elseworlds stories like ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' and ''ComicBook/DCeased''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' appears in all likelihood to be one for {{VideoGame/Undertale}}, although whether it's an alternate present, future (as a result of tampering with UT's timeline), or another universe altogether is still unclear. Creator/TobyFox himself has admitted that he doesn't know how to classify the relation between the two and describes it only as "a game you can play after you complete ''UNDERTALE'', if you want to".

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

DC's ComicBook/{{Elseworlds}} are sometimes grouped into six categories. These categories can be applied outside of DC Comics, of course.

DC's Elseworlds are sometimes grouped into six categories. These categories can be applied outside of DC Comics, of course.

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

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series is an Elseworld for both the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' franchise and the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. The sole [[SubvertedTrope exception]] is ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (and possible ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc''), as it's claimed that the events of the game are canon to the ''Toy Story'' series.

* ''Anime/MyOtome'' to ''Anime/MyHime''.

** ''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/GreenLantern'').]] It even features [[spoiler: a cameo from Creator/EzraMiller as the Barry Allen of the ''Series/DCExtendedUniverse''.]]

** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanSoulOfTheDragon'' is explicitly referred to as this on the back of its DVD/Blu-Ray case. The film is set in the 1970s and [[spoiler:features altered versions of [[AdaptationalHeroism Cheshire]] [[DeathByAdaptation and]] [[AdaptationalVillainy Judomaster]], as well as Batman in a Bolivian Army Ending]].