Fanfic / The Marvelous World of DC

The Marvelous World of DC: Part 1: In the Beginning is a Massive Multiplayer Crossover written by Finmonster on Fanfiction.net, June 2007.

It combines the worlds of Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Vertigo Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics and Harry Potter into one, while re-working the origins of various superheroes such as Superman, The Mighty Thor, Hellboy, Doctor Strange, Wonder Woman, and more to fit into the new background.

The Fic was completed on November 11, 2009. After completing this fic, Finmonster wrote a sequel called Harry Potter and the Guardian's Light.

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General trope examples:

• Adaptation Origin Connection

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This fanfiction contains examples of:

• Abled in the Adaptation: In mainstream Marvel, Curt Connors lost one of his arms serving in the military. Here, he's never served in the military, so he still has two arms... at least until the Oscorp lab accident, when a pipe falls from the ceiling onto his arm and he ends up having to have it removed.
• Adaptation Dye-Job:
  • Queen Hippolyta is blonde, instead of black-haired like her daughter Diana. Just like in the Silver Age and the DC Animated Universe.
  • Hellboy has brown eyes instead of the Supernatural Gold Eyes he has in the comics. And in Anung Un Rama mode, they go red and he gains two more of them, like his father Trigon.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • In the comics, Raven's real name is Rachel Roth. Here, it's Raven Buttenholm, because her mother died giving birth to her and entrusted her to Hellboy to raise as her own.
  • Zatanna's last name is Zatar, not Zatarra, and her father's first name is John, not Giovanni.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Grigori Rasputin is not The Casanova that his historical counterpart and canonical self was, never interacting with women in any non-platonic way.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are Like Brother and Sister instead of boyfriend and girlfriend.
• Adaptation Species Change:
  • Brainiac is a Kryptonian supercomputer, instead of a Coluan android, just like in the DCAU and Smallville.
  • Kent Nelson, Steven Strange, and June Moone were born magic, instead of gaining it later in life.
  • Hela is half-Olympian, half-Asgardian, because she's the daughter of Hades, not Loki. The same goes for her brother Pluto.
  • Static and Garfield Logan are both mutants, instead of metahumans, due to being the nephews of Storm and Beast, respectively.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Abraham Sapien is a lot more proficient in martial arts, enabling him to wipe the floor with the Church of Blood and go toe-to-toe with Karl Ruprecht Kroenen himself.
  • Granted, the Mask was already Badass in canon, but here, he was created by Loki to kill Thor.
• Adaptational Curves: Jack Napier, the future Joker, is mentioned as "muscular" at one point, implying he's more physically toned than his canon counterpart.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed with Diana/Wonder Woman. She's not stupid, but she's not an Omniglot like she is in the comics, and has to rely on her friend Thor to translate English for her. Thankfully, Doctor Strange fixes that problem with his magic.
  • Also Ares, since his personality is more like that of the impulsive, brutish Marvel Ares instead of the strategic, manipulative DC Ares.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • June Moone/The Enchantress, instead of being a woman possessed by the spirit of an ancient witch prone to running through the Heel–Face Revolving Door, is a witch in her own right, and a straightforward hero, too.
  • Beast Boy's uncle is a lot nicer than his canon counterpart, because he's Beast of the X-Men.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • In modern Marvel comics, Doctor Doom is depicted as a fair ruler to his people, and very even-minded and respectful towards most of Marvel's heroes-apart from Reed Richards, obviously. That's not the case here. Doom is blatantly rude and violent towards Bruce Banner, a shameless misogynist, and is implied by Ben Grimm to have killed his father, the former king of Latveria. And since Doom's the only Latverian to appear in the story, we never see him contradict this.
  • Tom Manning is vocally expressive of the fact he doesn't like the "freaks" he works with at the BPRD, making Hellboy a more sympathetic figure.
• Adaptational Nationality: Zatanna is English, instead of Italian-American, much like her father, connecting to the above Adaptation Name Change.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Steven Strange, prior to his car accident in Marvel canon, was a rude, haughty glory-obsessed doctor. Here, we learn that he crashed his own car by accidentally-released magic fueled by anger and guilt for botching an operation and costing a little girl her legs.
  • John Constantine is a lot less manipulative and untrustworthy because of his friends in the BPRD. Still pretty vindictive against evil vampires, though.
  • Norman Osborn appears to be a Benevolent Boss to his employees. He's even on first-name terms with Otto Octavius' wife. Sadly, he'll most likely ditch this after becoming the Green Goblin...
  • Norman's son Harry is a devoted friend to Peter and his buddies, defending them from Flash Thompson's bullying.
  • Otto Octavius himself is less of a misanthrope thanks to being Happily Married and having a friend in Victor Fries. Again, that's before he loses his wife and turns into Dr. Octopus...
  • In recent DC and Marvel Comics, Zeus is not the friendliest of gods, certainly not with Thor. Here, he's entirely friendly towards Thor because he's his uncle, and the worst thing he does to a mortal is electrocute Stanley Ipkiss, and that's for a good reason.
  • Apart from a few snide comments from The Spectre, Bigby Wolf and Frau Totenkinder's less-than-shiny deeds are never brought up. And because he's not being written by Bill Willingham, Bigby is less of a controversial political mouthpiece.
• Adaptational Villainy: Granted, The Spectre has always bounced between good and evil Depending on the Writer, but here, he's a straight-up murderous lunatic who has long since deviated from his God-assigned task of punishing the evil. Now he just wants to kill every living magic user, even if they're not evil themselves. No wonder the Wizarding World put up the Statute of Secrecy.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the Marvel Comics, Pluto is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon and lord of the underworld, with all the power that implies. Here, that role goes to the DC version of Hades, and Pluto merely comes across as a Hot-Blooded Overlord Jr. who Satan is able to effortlessly heckle.
• Adapted Out:
  • Due to his last name being spelt "Buttenholm" instead of "B(R)uttenholm", Hellboy's adoptive father is not given his nickname of Professor Broom.
  • Remember Ilsa Haupstein? Rasputin's Nazi girlfriend and partner in the Hellboy comics? She never appears as an agent of Project Ragna Rok in this fic.
  • Zatanna is a BPRD agent, instead of a stage magician, so she doesn't have her top hat and fishnets outfit from the comics.
• Affably Evil: Rasputin is pretty polite for a demon-worshiping mystic. So is The Kingpin. Indeed, Fisk is a lot more polite than Lex Luthor, his partner.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Mordru, when faced with the prospect of a brutal punishment at the hands of the Lords of Chaos. Though considering the Lord of Chaos who's about to punish him is Darkseid himself, Fear Is the Appropriate Response.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Played straight with the Skrulls, the Kree, the Xenomorphs, the Yautja, Sinestro, and of course, Darkseid himself. Subverted with Superman, as per canon.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: In this case, Queen Hippolyta, a literal Amazon, had a relationship with Captain America in the past. In the present, her daughter Diana has Ship Tease interactions with Thor.
• Arc Words: "Is this the end?" No, this is only the beginning." These words are repeated throughout the story at various points.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In Chapter 5, the Spectre, when interrogating Doctor Fate to find out what he's sent his normal gaoler, the Phantom Stranger, off to do: "A virgin for one of your debased rituals? Or how about a nice vial of baby's blood for you to use to summon one of your demonic masters? Or are you merely out of milk?"
• Ascended Demon: Hellboy, as per canon. And Etrigan.
• Asshole Victim: No-one mourns for Baron Zemo after he dies right after shooting the hero Bucky Barnes.
• Ax-Crazy: The Spectre is explicitly stated to have gone mad at some point in the past, and it shows through his murderous response to all magic users.
• Bad Boss: Darkseid, as per canon. Just look at the way he tortures Mordru for failure.
• Bald of Evil: Rasputin, Lex Luthor, Skurge the Executioner, Satan, The Kingpin... take your pick, they're all evil.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: More like Bolt of Divine Retribution The Brainwashing Out Of Him, which is what Thor and Zeus do to the Mask.
• Berserk Button:
  • Wolverine scratches Karl Ruprecht Kroenen's gas mask while they're fighting. Kroenen starts attacking him with renewed vigor.
  • Don't hurt Captain America's friends. When Baron Zemo shoots Bucky in front of him, he sabotages Zemo's plane to send him falling to his death.
  • Baron Mordo is a living one for Zatanna.
  • Don't insult the Ancient One's wisdom in front of Doctor Fate. That includes you, Cornelius Fudge.
  • Don't accuse The Spectre of perverting his divine task. Even though he has.
  • Even if he is a superpowered Kryptonian, you do NOT hurt Jonathan and Martha Kent's son.
  • Don't be a Fantastic Racist in Hellboy's presence.
  • Loki becomes a living Berserk Button for Stanley Ipkiss after he escapes his brainwashing thanks to Thor. When he sees what appears to be Loki next to him on a park bench in New Jersey, he shouts "BASTARD!!" and tries to punch him. Of course, it's not the real Loki, but points for trying, Stanley.
  • Thor for Loki.
  • Satan for Pluto. He just loves irritating him.
  • Drawing blood from Amora.
  • Implying that something is Victor Von Doom's fault.
• Big "NO!": Isaiah Bradley has this reaction when Steve Rogers falls out of the sky taking Baron Zemo with him.
• Big Red Devil: Hellboy is a friendly version, Trigon a less friendly version. And Trigon is Hellboy's father.
• Black-and-White Insanity: As far as the Spectre is concerned, all Magic Is Evil. Of course, other characters, and the readers, know the truth is more nuanced.
• Blessed with Suck: The Super Serum that made Isaiah Bradley/Patriot a Super-Soldier was an imperfect one, and it gradually reduces his mental faculties, until eventually he will end up with the mind of a small child. Despite this, he still soldiers on.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Stanley Ipkiss at the hands of Loki, before sending him to Themyscira to kill Thor.
• Body Horror: That unnamed criminal in "The Storm" who gets gassed and ends up pulling his skin off with his gloves.
• Bowdlerisation: When he's describing Rasputin's original Rasputinian Death, Trevor Buttenholm leaves out the part about him being castrated.
• Butt-Monkey: Brother Blood, starting from the moment John Constantine sets him on fire.
• Can't Take Criticism: The Spectre flips his lid if people accuse him of perverting his original tusk of dispensing divine justice, even though they're correct.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Ares. When Loki asks why he and Thor don't get along better, Ares replies, "We would if he wasn't such a do-gooder."
• Clark Kenting: Justified. Doctor Strange applies Glamour to Clark, Diana and Thor so that they can pose as ordinary humans undercover. However, A Wizard Did It is only half the disguising process: the heroes have to behave differently too, a little problem for Thor.
• Clever Crows: Odin sends one of his ravens, Huginn, to guide Thor to the temple of Zeus and collect Mjolnir when the Mask attacks Themyscira. Later on, Huginn meets up with Thor again, to guide him and Diana to Fabletown to locate Stanley Ipkiss.
• Composite Character: Captain America is combined with Steve Trevor, since it's revealed that Hippolyta was Wonder Woman during WWII and fought alongside him (and, implicitly, fell in love with him).
  • The BPRD is more like a Composite Organization with Justice League Dark, since its members include John Constantine, Zatanna, Etrigan, and Detective Chimp.
  • Loki is a Frost Giant and adopted brother of Thor (as per Marvel), a god of fire and deceit (as per Norse Mythology), and the creator of The Mask.
  • Wolverine is 5'3 with black hair, like his comics self, but has brown eyes like Hugh Jackman instead of blue.
  • The Mask is this with himself, funnily enough. Under Loki's influence, he behaves like his evil comic-books self: when he's free of brainwashing, he behaves like his friendly, cartoonish Jim Carrey self from the live-action film.
• Confusion Fu: A large part of the Mask's fighting style is hinged on his reality warping abilities.
• Converse with the Unconscious: Gar Logan does this to the hospitalized Vic Stone, about how Gar's parents are dead, Gar and their friends Virgil and Richie are now mutants, and they're going to Professor Xavier's School, where Gar's uncle Hank and Virgil's aunt Ororo are going to take care of them.
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: Vic Stone and Garfield Logan in high school, before becoming Cyborg and Beast Boy.
• Cosmopolitan Council: The Sentinels of Magic consists of Doctor Fate, the Ancient One, Professor Albus Dumbledore, Madame Xanadu, Enchantress, Shazam, Agatha Harkness, Ibis the Invicible, and Sargon the Sorcerer.
• Covert Pervert: Boy Blue, of all people, in "A Roar of Thunder Part 2". After Bigby Wolf revives him with mouth-to-mouth after a brutal strangling from Skurge the Executioner, he complains about the fact that Bigby was the one to revive him so, and not "the hot Amazon." Said Amazon, Diana, can now understand him, and she slaps him for it.
• Crossover Cosmology: Naturally. One of the main characters in this fic is a Norse god growing up on an island that worships the Greek gods, for instance.
• Crossover Relatives:
  • Hellboy and Raven of the Teen Titans are half-siblings, with Trigon as their mutual father (although there is such a significant age gap that Raven is raised as Hellboy's daughter rather than his sister, as requested by Raven's mother).
  • The seven Endless from The Sandman are all children of the Cosmic Entity Eternity from Marvel Comics. Indeed, he directly appeals to Doctor Strange at the end of the story to help his son escape Alexander Burgess' mansion when he realizes Burgess is holding him captive.
  • Static and Beast Boy are the nephews of Storm and Beast of the X-Men, respectively, who take the boys under their wings when they get outed as mutants and Gar's parents get killed in a freak lab accident.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Baron Zemo dies with a metal spike blown through his head thanks to Captain America blowing up his plane.
• Cry into Chest: Garfield Logan's response to waking up to find his parents are dead, his friend Victor is hospitalized, and he and his uncle are now both mutants.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When Sinestro kills Agent D right in front of him, an enraged young Clark Kent stops holding back and performs an Unflinching Walk on the Korugarian, shrugging off his attempts at shooting him until he gets close enough to attack. Sinestro ends up with a crushed ring fist and a broken jaw, Clark just loses his shirt.
• Deadpan Snarker: Quite a few characters- Wolverine, John Constantine, Hellboy, Loki...
• Deal with the Devil: Rasputin, as per canon, though in this case, his master is a literal devil (Trigon), not an Eldritch Abomination.
• Death by Adaptation: Arella Roth dies giving birth to Raven, entrusting her to Hellboy to raise as his own daughter.
• Death by Childbirth: Arella Roth dies like this after giving birth to Raven. It's implied that Trigon's influence is what caused it.
• Decomposite Character: Marvel and DC's versions of Hades/Pluto are separate characters, as are Lucifer and Satan.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: In "A Roar of Thunder Part 1", Loki, Amora, Circe and Ares meet up with Clown, Hela, Pluto, Hades, Satan, Lucifer, Lilith, Trigon, and Dominus in Hell. Altogether they're known as the Lords of Chaos. That said, Hela, Pluto and Hades are not demons themselves.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Inverted. Brother Blood, a Religious Vampire, is the one who flips off John Constantine, who's well-known for fulfilling this trope in canon. However, given that he does it after Constantine has basically blowtorched him with a dragonfire cigarette, slowing his Healing Factor and leaving him in a hole, his insults come across as Too Dumb to Live. And sure enough, Constantine sets fire to him again to finish the fight. Then again, Constantine's actions could count as flipping off.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Diana actually punches Loki at one point. Also, Stephen Strange defeats Mordru, a Lord of Chaos, in a Wizard Duel.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • Baron Heinrich Zemo dies by having a metal spike blown through his head after Captain America blows up his head, after which his body falls into the ocean. In the comics, he dies by accidentally bringing down the ceiling of his own lab on his head.
  • In Spider-Man 2, Otto Octavius' wife Rosalie dies in her husband's Freak Lab Accident by being perforated by flying glass shards. Here, Rosie Octavius dies from Jack Napier, the future Joker, shooting her.
  • Instead of falling off an African waterfall, Garfield Logan's parents die when pieces of their Oscorp lab ceiling fall on top of them.
  • In Men in Black 3, Agent D dies at least a decade after his retirement at the start of the first film, as implied by a bust of his head seen during Zed's funeral. Here, he is killed by Sinestro during Clark Kent's childhood.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted in "Cut Of The Same Cloth." Abe Sapien flips Karl Ruprecht Kroenen over a cliff, but he survives and escapes as soon as Abe takes his eyes off him.
• Divine Intervention: The reason Odin sends Thor to Earth to be brought up on Themyscira.
• Dr. Jerk: Dr. Jason Woodrue possesses none of the friendliness of his colleague Dr. Alec Holland. His response to Pamela Isley shyly asking Holland out on a date? "God, I might throw up."
• Duck Season, Rabbit Season: The Mask uses these to trick John Constantine into letting him get away. John recognizes this after the Mask has escaped.
• Ear Ache: One of Ivan's bullies tries cutting off one of Evan Hawkins' ears- after already giving the boy a No Holds Barred Beat Down- to see how well he can balance on his skateboard with one ear. Ivan stops him for pragmatic reasons.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Amora has her sister Lorelei. Lucifer has his son Satan and wife Lilith. Hades has his son Pluto and daughter Hela, and his nephew Loki. Loki himself is quite friendly with Amora, who he had a brief relationship with.
• Everybody Has Standards: Eel O'Brian and Flint Marko are Punch-Clock Villains, so they see no need to kill Rudy Jones the janitor after they've already knocked him out.
• Everybody Hates Hades: Played straight with Hades himself, Hela, and Pluto in "A Roar of Thunder Part 1". Subverted with Death of the Endless, who appears in Hogsmeade at the end of the story.
• Everybody Loves Zeus: Despite Mala saying that Zeus isn't held as highly on Themyscira as goddesses like Hera and Athena, indicating the Amazons don't like him for some reason, when he actually appears in the story, he's entirely friendly and helpful towards Thor. Justified, because he's Thor's uncle, and having him be an antagonist to Thor when Thor already has one uncle (Hades), an adopted brother (Loki), and three cousins (Pluto, Hela and Ares) would be needlessly cruel.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Stanley Ipkiss' dog Milo is able to tell that there's something off about Loki when the Norse god first appears in Stanley's apartment.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: Hell, naturally.
• Evil Is Hammy: Deconstructed in Loki's case. His attempts at warning Thor and the BPRD We Will Meet Again end with him getting cut off by one of the heroes attacking him- Diana and Hellboy, respectively.
• Evil Is Petty: Why does Lex Luthor collaborate with the Kingpin to send a bunch of saboteurs into Oscorp, killing numerous people, and mutating even more, ruining their lives in the process? He and Norman Osborn were competing to see who could recreate the super-soldier formula first, and Lex wanted to remove the competition.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Played straight with Hades.
  • Zig-zagged with The Spectre. His voice is raspy when he's confined to a crystal ball, but deep outside the crystal ball.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Darkseid and Trigon have very deep voices.
  • Downplayed with Fred McDuggin. He's got a raspy voice, but he's not evil, just a Jerkass.
• Fat Bastard: The Clown and the Kingpin.
• Faux Affably Evil: Baron Zemo addresses Captain America as "old friend", but by the way he fights Steve and shoots his friend Bucky, the sentiment is a hollow one.
  • Also Loki. Initially, he's all charms and smiles when interacting with Stanley Ipkiss. But once he persuades him to put on the Mask, all his charm vanishes and he painfully brainwashes him into going to Themyscira and fighting Thor.
• Fights Like a Normal: Ronnie Raymond as Firestorm, when he's having a Freak Out, eventually stops shooting fire at Johnny Storm and starts strangling him. Thankfully, Martin Stein stops him.
• Fingore: As per Marvel canon, Steven Strange lost his career as a surgeon after his hands were severely damaged in a car accident. As such, he winces when Thor gives him a Crushing Handshake.
• Fire and Brimstone Hell: What Hell is revealed to be in "A Roar of Thunder Part 1".
• Fire Ice Contrast: "A Roar of Thunder Part 1" starts off with Loki returning to the freezing realm of Jotunheim, then shows him and Amora travelling to the flaming reaches of Hell.
• Foreshadowing: In "Project Ragnarok", Logan's friend Victor Creed enjoyed clawing at Nazi soldiers a little too much.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Subverted with Jack Napier. He's already a frightening Psycho for Hire before he has his Freak Lab Accident. When he reappears, if Finmonster writes a sequel, he's going to be someone a whole lot more horrific...
• Full-Frontal Assault: When Hellboy goes Anung Un Rama mode, his whole body goes up in flames, destroying his clothes. This means he ends up attacking Blackheart au naturel.
• Genius Bruiser: Detective Chimp, as per canon. Apart from being able to effortlessly work out the Mask's innocence of the murders he was accused of, he's also a chimpanzee, with all the physical strength that implies. Just ask that shadow monster whose throat he gouged out.
• Ghastly Ghost: The Shade of Sir Lancelot, summoned by Frau Totenkinder to battle Circe, is a heroic variant.
• Ghostapo: Project Ragna Rok, as per canon, which allies with Hydra in the second chapter.
• God Is Good: Odin, Gaia, their son Thor, Zeus, and presumably Poseidon are all gods and all friendly towards their human subjects.
• God of Thunder: Thor and Zeus, obviously.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Anti-Hero John Constantine is a smoker, and he uses weaponized dragonfire cigarettes to defeat Brother Blood.
• Good Is Not Soft: The Easy Company and the Howling Commandos don't pull their punches when fighting Nazis.
• Gorgeous Greek: Diana, being a Greek Amazon, qualifies as this, naturally.
• Handicapped Badass: Having nerve-damaged hands doesn't stop Stephen Strange from attacking Mordru when he's threatening innocent Muggles with his Improvised Golem. Bear in mind, he doesn't have any magical training at this point.
• Happily Adopted: Thor was reborn as a baby and sent to hide in Themyscira where he's raised by Hippolyta, and growing up alongside Diana.
  • Kal-El by the Kents, as per canon.
  • And Hellboy by Professor Buttenholm. And Raven by Hellboy himself.
• Happily Married: Reed Richards and Susan Storm.
  • Also Otto Octavius and his wife Rosie, before she gets killed.
• Hellfire: Etrigan can use this, being a demon. So can Baron Mordo, thanks to his service to Dormammu.
• Hell Hound: The Cerberai, bred by Hades. He considers the originals better than their mortal successors.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Stanley Ipkiss loves his dog Milo. The first thing he asks upon joining the BPRD is to find out whether Milo's still okay ever since Loki brainwashed Stanley and made him leave him behind.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Rasputin, naturally.
• Horny Vikings: Obviously Loki dresses like this.
• Horns of Villainy: Loki has massive golden horns on his helmet. Trigon has antlers, being a Big Red Devil.
• Human Alien: Hal Jordan has to be informed that Clark Kent's humanoid appearance is not because the MIB have disguised him.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Reed Richards congratulates Victor Von Doom on their apparently successful portal generator, Doom tells him "Just don't let it go to your head, Richards." Yes, Victor Von Doom, the most arrogant man in Marvel Comics, is telling someone else not to be arrogant.
• An Ice Person: The Frost Giants of Jotunheim, including Loki by implication.
• Immortal Immaturity: Amora behaves like a Smitten Teenage Girl in Thor's presence, and pouts when he rejects her. Of course, Thor has very good reasons to reject her.
• Implied Love Interest: Diana is heavily implied to have feeling for Thor, judging by her reaction to Amora trying to force a kiss upon him.
• Improvised Golem: When confronting the Phantom Stranger at Steven Strange's apartment, Mordru blows out a section of kitchen wall, and creates a self-healing Golem with it. It's pretty powerful, but once Strange himself enters the fight, he manages to destroy it and defeat its master.
• Innocently Insensitive: Thor gives Dr. Strange a Crushing Handshake when he first meets him. In Thor's defense, he didn't know about Strange's car accident that damaged his hands.
• Insufferable Genius: Victor Von Doom, as per canon. He's one of the world's sharpest minds, but he can't tolerate criticisms of his work.
• Interspecies Friendship: Kryptonian Kal-El/Clark Kent forms one with Asgardian Thor and Themysciran Amazon Diana, after an initial fight based on mistaken impressions.
• It Is Beyond Saving: Brainiac tells Jor-El that Galactus would inevitably consume Krypton, which is why he decided to sabotage Krypton's shield generators and make sure the Planet Eater would get his meal.
• It's All About Me: Victor Von Doom. Even after the Freak Lab Accident that he accidentally caused ended up negatively affecting people, like making Ben Grimm a big orange Rock Monster, and apparently killing Martin Stein and Nate Adams, he's more concerned about the fact that his handsome face is coated in third-degree burn marks.
• Jerkass: Fred Mcduggin, the Kents' Nosy Neighbor.
• Jerk Jock: Flash Thompson, as per canon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Agent K is ultimately one of these. When presented with a decision of arresting Clark Kent and taking him to an MIB safehouse instead of letting him roam the world unsupervised, he ultimately decides to Take a Third Option.
• Joker Immunity: Jack Napier apparently drowns in a leaking acid tank after killing Otto Octavius' wife, but the last thing Norman Osborn hears before passing out is insane laughter, which implies Napier might still be alive. Makes sense, because Napier's counterpart in the Batman (1989) film is the Trope Namer.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: The Spectre behaves like this towards any magic users he tries to kill, such as Mordru.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: The Spectre did this at some point in the past. Initially a spirit of God's righteous anger sent to punish the evil, at some point he went mad, and now he just wants to kill all magic users.
• Kick the Dog: Ivan and his gang beat up Virgil and Evan Hawkins very callously in an alleyway, leaving them so injured, they have to be hospitalized. One of the bullies even attempts to cut off Evan's ear to see how well he can balance on his skateboard with one ear, but Ivan stops him because while hurting innocent schoolboys is funny to him, if they actually mutilate the boys, the police will be onto them.
• Kill It with Fire: Or at least, Hurt It with Fire, as John Constantine does to Brother Blood with his dragonfire cigarettes.
• Kill It with Ice: How Loki killed his father Laufey. Ironically, since he's a Frost Giant.
• Kill the God: Loki created the Mask to kill his brother Thor via its wearer. It fails, however.
• Knight Templar: The Spectre. As far as he's concerned, all Magic Is Evil, and those who use it should be killed. Nobody in-story or out agrees with him.
• Kryptonite Factor: Agent K has a piece of the Trope Namer, which he uses to knock out young Clark in an attempt to bring him in. It ends up destroyed when Jonathan Kent punches K out, making him let go of the Kryptonite, whereupon Clark recovers and flies off.
• Large Ham: Thor, as per canon.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After Agent D convinces Agent K to let the Kents keep baby Kal-El, they prepare to leave Smallville and return to the MIB HQ. However, Fred Mcduggin refuses to let them leave without getting some form of compensation for Kal-El's pod landing in his field in the first place. In response, they use a neuralyser to remove his memories of Kal-El and themselves.
• Laser-Guided Karma: What Alexander Burgess receives at the hands of Dream of the Endless once the Sentinels of Magic set him free.
• Last of His Kind: Clark Kent is believed to be the last living Kryptonian. Only time will tell whether or not this is true, since General Zod and Supergirl have not appeared yet.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you've never read The Sandman, then The Reveal about the Storyteller's true identity at the end of the story- Daniel Hall, who inherited the title of Dream of the Endless after his mother killed the former Dream- will spoil a lot for you.
• Let's You and Him Fight: The BPRD with the Mask, because they think he's killed three people- but then they find out Loki was framing him, so all's forgiven. Also, Thor and Wonder Woman with Superman, after Thor mistakes Clark for the person who destroyed the Oscorp lab and impulsively attacks him- again, Diana confirms he's not responsible with her lasso.
• Like Brother and Sister: Peter Parker and Mary Jane have this relationship, in contrast to canon.
• Loophole Abuse: How do the Sentinels of Magic send someone to collect Stephen Strange to start his training to be the next Sorcerer Supreme, but make sure not to alert the Lords of Chaos, who will try to kill him beforehand? They send the Phantom Stranger, who as a Fallen Angel is not a Sentinel of Magic, and therefore should be able to reach Strange undercover. Admittedly, the plan doesn't work, because Mordru still cottons on, but good work anyway.
• Losing Your Head: Boy Blue cuts off the Violator's head with the Vorpal Sword. It doesn't kill him, but it does send him back to hell, and before he goes, the Clown swears revenge.
• Magocracy: The Ministry of Magic. And the Sentinels of Magic, to a lesser degree.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Subverted by the Mask, who's only evil and dangerous if Loki's in direct control of his mind.
• Man Bites Man: Or Chimpanzee Bites Shadow Monster, as Detective Chimp proves in a confrontation with Loki. Evil Tastes Bad, however.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Agent D serves as an Honorary Uncle to Clark Kent, educating him about various forms of alien life, and ultimately dies defending him from Sinestro, inspiring Clark to be a superhero.
• Mundane Utility: Bigby Wolf. Turns out, having the ability to huff and puff and Blow You Away makes him really good at administering mouth-to-mouth. Comes in handy for saving Boy Blue.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: As soon as he subdues Mordru, the Spectre tries to stomp his head to a pulp, despite Strange telling him not to. Thankfully, Wonder Woman stops him.
• Neck Lift: Loki is subjected to this by Hellboy after the BPRD defeats his shadow monsters.
  • Same goes for Boy Blue at the hands of Skurge the Executioner, who then nearly strangles him.
• Necromancer: Fra Totenkinder summons the shade of Sir Lancelot to fight the Clown/the Violator.
• Never My Fault: As per canon, Victor Von Doom cannot take responsibility for his mistakes. When Bruce Banner implies that the portal-generating machine literally blowing up in Doom's face was his fault, Doom's response is to start punching Banner and furiously insulting him and his mother.
• Nice Guy: Peter Parker and Harry Osborn are both pretty friendly characters.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Hellboy subjects Blackheart to one of these once he stops holding back and goes Anung Un Rama.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, Jason Woodrue's experimental formula somehow made a bunch of plants strangle themselves, though he denies responsibility for it.
• No-Sell: Offensive spells used on the Phantom Stranger don't affect him.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Louise Lincoln doesn't have the highest opinion of her brother-in-law Victor Fries, since he's keeping her terminally ill sister Nora in a cryogenics tank and therefore, in Louise's opinion, prolonging her torture.
  • Johnny Storm also doesn't like his brother-in-law, Reed Richards, though this stems more from his father apparently preferring Reed to Johnny.
• Oh, Crap!: Mordru's response to having to battle The Spectre himself- a Physical God who Does Not Like Magic- without any Power Limiters on The Spectre. And again, when he returns to Hell with the rest of the Lords of Chaos, and has to face punishment for his mistakes- and the person who's going to be punishing him? None other than Darkseid himself.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, there's two Stevens in this story (Steve Rogers and Steven Strange, though they never meet), three Johns (Johnathan Kent, John Constantine, and Jack Napier), three Harries (Harry "Hank" McCoy, Harry Osborn, and Harry Potter in the sequel), and five Victors (Victor Creed, Victor Von Doom, Victor Fries, Victor Stone, and Viktor Von Frankenstein in the sequel).
  • Also played straight with Baron Mordo and Mordru. The first one is a mortal sorcerer, the second is a Lord of Chaos.
• Our Demons Are Different: Evil demons like the Clown, Minos, Trigon, Lucifer, Satan, Lilith and Blackheart, good ones like Hellboy, Raven and Etrigan... quite a lot of demons in this story.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Played straight with Ymir — he is the first Frost Giant, after all. Subverted with Loki, whose status as a Large Runt of a Jotun makes him unpopular with his people.
• Our Gods Are Different: Asgardians and Olympians are the most prominent ones in this story. Also New Gods, such as Darkseid.
• Oxymoronic Being: Loki is both a Frost Giant and a fire god.
• Patricide: Loki froze his father Laufey to death to replace him as King of Jotunheim. Since Laufey callously left Loki to die as a baby, no-one feels sorry for him, except Ymir, who considers Loki a Sucksessor.
  • Victor Von Doom also killed his father to take the throne of Latveria, at least according to Ben Grimm.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: Downplayed, Diana slaps Boy Blue for making pervy comments about her, now that she can understand him.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Otto Octavius and Victor Fries are this, to the point that Otto wants Victor to name his and Nora's future child after him- which is a disappointment to Victor, since he was hoping they'd have a daughter.
• Playing with Fire: Constantine's dragonfire cigarettes, Hellboy's Anung Un Rama mode, Human Torch (both of them), Etrigan, Baron Mordo, Firestorm, Loki, the Ghost Rider.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Victor Von Doom appears to be something of a Straw Misogynist, judging by his insulting comments about Bruce Banner's mother and Betty Ross.
  • Also the Spectre has less than enlightened views of magic users and other pantheons.
• Psycho for Hire: Jack Napier for the Kingpin.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Eel O'Brian and Flint Marko are both a lot less malicious than their boss, Jack Napier.
• Rage Breaking Point: Bruce Banner reaches his rage breaking point when Victor Von Doom bullies him and insults his mother to his face. Those familiar with Bruce Banner know how this ends up.
• Rage Against the Reflection: Ben Grimm does this when he finds out he's become a big orange Rock Monster.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Agents D and K soon adopt this in regards to Clark's presence with the Kents; while official agency policy would require them to take the alien infant into custody, considering that the Kents have obviously already bonded with him, they decide to let the current situation stand rather than relocate him somewhere where the child would just be one of many.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Hellboy goes Anung Un Rama mode, his brown eyes go red. And since he's a son of Trigon, he gains two more of them.
• Red Shirt Army: The Hellspawn warriors the Lords of Chaos bring with them to release Mordru get effortlessly slaughtered in their numbers. Makes sense, because Al Simmons is not one of them yet.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Zeus and Odin are brothers. This therefore makes Odin the uncle of Ares.
    • Hera is the sister of Isis of the Egyptian pantheon, but not the sister of Zeus as well as his wife.
  • Hellboy is Trigon's son, and therefore Raven's half-brother but considerably older than her.
  • The Seven Endless are the children of Eternity from Marvel Comics.
  • Static and Beast Boy are the nephews of Storm and Beast, as mentioned before.
  • Hela is the daughter of Hades instead of Loki, and the sister of Pluto.
  • Louise Lincoln is the sister-in-law of Victor Fries.
• Relative Button: Baron Mordo presses Zatanna's Relative Button by mentioning her father, whom he killed.
  • Victor Von Doom presses Bruce Banner's Button by insulting his mother. Bruce is so enraged that he turns into the Hulk for the first time just to shut Doom up.
• Religious Vampire: The Church of Blood are a Religion of Evil consisting of vampire cultists of Trigon.
• Revenge Before Reason: Mordru's Fatal Flaw. After the Lords of Chaos break him out of the Witching Well, he rejects Amora's advice to get out of dodge now that they've got him free because he wants to kill Dr. Strange for defeating him in their first confrontation. Because of that, he ends up ultimately losing once Strange sets the Spectre on him, he nearly gets killed, and Diana forces him to reveal the names of key figures in their plans. Afterwards, Darkseid brutally punishes the pleading Mordru.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant:
  • The Kryptonians as a race have an enmity with the Kree, the Skrulls, the Shi'ar, the Xenomorphs and the Yautja. And with Galactus, when he comes to consume Krypton. Jor-El has a more personal enmity with Brainiac, traditionally an enemy of his son, in Chapter 1, "Last Son". He even kills him.
  • Wolverine versus Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, a Hellboy enemy, in "Project Ragna Rok". Also the Howling Commandos and the Easy Company versus the titular Ghostapo organization. The only superhero who fights his traditional enemy is Captain America versus Baron Zemo.
  • Zatanna has an enmity with Baron Mordo in "From the Same Cloth", traditionally Doctor Strange's Arch-Enemy. This is because he killed her father. Also, John Constantine versus Brother Blood (a Teen Titans villain), and Hellboy and Etrigan versus Blackheart (a Ghost Rider villain).
  • Doctor Strange himself fights against Mordru in "Strange Tales", alongside the Phantom Stranger.
  • The Spectre himself is a Greater-Scope Villain for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
  • Played with by Sinestro. While his Arch-Enemy Hal Jordan does appear in his starring chapter, he also fights Richard Rider from the Nova Corps, and Agents K and D of the Men In Black, along with a young Clark Kent. He additionally serves as Clark's Token Motivational Nemesis by killing Agent D.
  • Thor vs The Mask and Wonder Woman vs Loki.
  • Loki vs The Mask and the BPRD.
  • Wonder Woman vs. Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner, both Thor villains. Lorelei, another Thor villain, vs. Clea, Doctor Strange's apprentice/girlfriend. Circe, a Wonder Woman villain, vs. Frau Totenkinder. And Clown/The Violator vs. Bigby Wolf/Boy Blue.
  • Jack Napier- the future Joker- kills Otto Octavius'- the future Doctor Octopus- wife right in front of him.
  • The Hulk vs Doctor Doom, and Wonder Woman vs Blackheart.
  • Alexander Burgess and his cultists vs the Sentinels of Magic.
• Sadly Mythtaken: In-universe. Thor works out that something doesn't add up about the so-called hammer of Zeus, because the hammer is not mentioned in Themyscira's archives about Zeus, and there's not even any depictions of the hammer in the artwork filling Zeus' own temple! Of course, this is a Justified Trope because the hammer belongs to Thor, kept under Zeus' eye until his nephew is old enough to wield Mjolnir again.
• Satanic Archetype: Apart from Lucifer and Satan himself, there's quite a few other entities like this. Darkseid and Trigon, for a start.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Victor Von Doom decides to go home to Latveria after being punched across the country by the Hulk.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Spectre was imprisoned in a glass ball by a force of angels sent to contain him by God, and the Sentinels of Magic, working together. He is briefly released to defeat a powered-up Mordru, before being imprisoned again when he goes against orders and tries to kill him.
  • Also applies to Ymir, father of the Frost Giants, who is frozen in place outside the entrance to the palace of Jotunheim.
  • Also, Mordru spends ten years locked in the Witching Well of Fabletown after Doctor Strange defeats him. Then the Lords of Chaos successfully release him.
• Self-Made Orphan: Loki is implied to have killed his father Laufey in order to replace him as the king of Jotunheim. Given that Laufey abandoned his son to die as a baby, it can be hard to feel sorry for him.
• Ship Tease: Between Thor and Mala, while Thor was living in Themyscira.
  • Also, Diana appears to have a crush on Thor, judging by her reactions to Donna Troy teasing her, and The Enchantress trying to force a kiss upon Thor.
    • Mala appears to have a crush on Thor as well.
  • John Constantine, upon finding Zatanna Bound and Gagged by The Mask, comments that he didn't know she was into that type of thing.
  • Hellboy has a crush on Liz Sherman, as per the films. How she feels is unknown, but she doesn't let Raven call her "Mom".
  • Pamela Isley shyly asks Alec Holland out on a date, right before their joint Freak Lab Accident.
• Shout-Out:
  • In "Last Son", Odin's account of feeling Galactus consuming Krypton calls to mind Obi-Wan's sensing the destruction of Alderaan.
  • In "Figment of Your Imagination", Agents K and D's aliases are Agents Shuster and Siegel, homage to Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel.
    • The chapter title is also a reference to Agent K's line in the first film.
  • Chapter 5 is titled "Strange Tales", also the title of one of Marvel's anthology series, in which introduced Doctor Strange.
  • The Phantom Stranger introduces himself to Doctor Strange as Steve Ditko.
  • In "The Masks We Wear Part 1", Loki tells the Amazons, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste." The Amazons don't get it.
  • In "A Roar of Thunder Part 1", Clown said "Welcome... to the Black Parade".
    Loki: I think they wrote a song about that.
    Clown: Who do you think inspired it?
    • In Hell, there's a street sign that reads "Route 666: the Highway to Hell".
  • Near the end of "The Masks We Wear: Part 2", the Mask sings "Friend Like Me" to the BPRD.
• Slasher Smile: Mordru to Doctor Strange, when warning him that the Lords of Chaos will come to set him free.
• Squishy Wizard: Alexander Burgess has not aged as gracefully as his old schoolmate Albus Dumbledore. Therefore, the elderly wizard confined to a wheelchair has to rely on his younger, fitter cultists to try holding off the Sentinels of Magic for him, while he stays in his cellar with Dream.
• Suddenly Shouting: Stanley Ipkiss' response to one of his neighbours scolding him for shouting about a Norse god being in his apartment.
  Stanley: Sorry, but I'm kind of having a COMPLETE PSYCHOTIC BREAKDOWN HERE!!!
• Take a Third Option: Agent K's response to his moral dilemma as mentioned below.
• Taking You with Me: Jor-El does this to Brainiac upon finding out that he sabotaged Krypton's shield generators so that Galactus could land on the planet and start consuming it. He plants a virus in Brainiac's databanks and basically shuts him down.
  • Captain America does this to Baron Zemo after he shoots Bucky right in front of him, sabotaging the controls of his plane so that it explodes and they both fall into the sea. He even says this word-for-word. The Captain survives; the Baron does not.
• Teacher/Student Romance: After the timeskip, Dr. Strange is both Clea's magical instructor and her implicit boyfriend.
• "They Still Belong to Us" Lecture: Loki says this of Stanley Ipkiss when he tries to convince the Mask to return to serving him.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Jor-El calls Brainiac a "son of a bitch" right before he kills him.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Agent K suffers from this after his partner Agent D dies at the hands of Sinestro and young Clark Kent decides to leave the Kents' farm to discover more about his Kryptonian heritage. MIB rules dictate that he must take young Clark into a safehouse to keep him from roaming the world unsupervised: his friendship with the Kents dictates he must let their son go. He manages to Take a Third Option and fakes arresting Clark(after subduing him with a lump of Kryptonite), but lets Johnathan Kent punch him out so he drops and shatters the Kryptonite, causing Clark to wake back up, shake off the agents holding him, dislodge the tracking device not securely attached to his back, and fly away. Proves that Agent K indeed Took a Level in Kindness.
• Too Dumb to Live: Sure, Brother Blood. Give John Constantine the finger right after he's immolated you with dragonfire cigarettes. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?? The only reason Blood is still alive afterwards is his Healing Factor.
• Took a Level in Badass: Doctor Strange after the 10-year timeskip, as Sorcerer Supreme.
• Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: Frau Totenkinder, as an old woman, is the Ugly Hero to the goddess Circe's Good-Looking Villain. And her true form, as Circe discovers, is even uglier.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Dream of the Endless' response to Doctor Strange and the Sentinels of Magic rescuing him? He tells them, "You took a good deal of time finding me. I owe you one gift, Sorcerer (Dr. Strange). Use it wisely," and then he wordlessly leaves. Albus Dumbledore notes that Dream is not one of the most pleasant of individuals.
• Uptown Girl: Zatanna is from an ancient pureblood family. John Constantine is a working-class Muggleborn. They're still best friends, though.
• Villain Decay: Inverted for Mordru. The first time he fights Steven Strange, he loses, despite Strange not having any magical training at this point in his life. The second confrontation between them, Mordru teleports Strange and his friends into a dimension that increases his power by tenfold, forcing them to release the Spectre at full power to defeat the Lord of Chaos.
• Villain Has a Point: When Dumbledore tells off his former school friend Alexander Burgess for being a "bad apple", Burgess growls "Like you're one to talk, Dumbledore." For those of you who've read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and therefore know that Dumbledore used to be a magical supremacist and friend of Evil Sorcerer Gellert Grindelwald in his youth, it can be hard to challenge Burgess.
• Villainous Friendship: They're not truly evil, but Flint Marko and Eel O'Brian are very close friends, as shown by their Take My Hand!/Say My Name moments when the Freak Lab Accident occurs.
• Villainous Valor: Deconstructed in Mordru's case, as it makes him too arrogant to Know When to Fold 'Em until the Spectre defeats him and the Lasso of Truth snares him.
• You Killed My Father: Baron Mordo killed Zatanna's father, and took the leg of John Zatar's partner Mad-Eye Moody. Dumbledore did not tell Zatanna this until she was grown-up, for fear she would fall to Revenge Before Reason and If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!.
• You Talk Too Much!: Hellboy says this to Loki while interrupting his We Will Meet Again speech with a Neck Lift.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: More like, You Wouldn't Snap My Men's Necks. Jack Napier has this response to Otto Octavius holding his men hostage, stating that he doesn't have the Killing Intent that Napier himself possesses. To prove his point, he holds Norman Osborn and Otto's wife Rosie at gunpoint, forcing Otto to pick one of them to save. And then, being The Sociopath, he deprives Otto of that choice by shooting Rosie himself. Otto doesn't snap his men's necks, but he does throw them away and knock them out afterwards.
• Werewolf Theme Naming: Bigby Wolf, aka. The Big Bad Wolf.
• Wham Episode: The ending of the story reveals that the Storyteller is actually Daniel Hall, the new Dream of the Endless, and the pub he was telling the story in is The Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, and the teens who heard his story are Hogwarts students.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Subverted. Gotham City and Metropolis are both identified as being two separate cities within New York. And Nick Fury and Stanley Ipkiss are both Gothamites.
• Why Are You Not My Son?: Dr. Franklin Richards is implied to have this attitude towards his son-in-law Reed Richards, which is the cause of bad blood between Reed and Franklin's actual son Johnny.
• Wolverine Claws: The Trope Namer himself appears in the Second World War, but he doesn't have an adamantium skeleton yet. His claws don't break when clashing with Karl Ruprecht Kroenen's swords, though.
• Working with the Ex: Loki and Amora had a brief fling once, but he's no longer interested in her. Doesn't stop them from working in the Lords of Chaos together, though.