History Main / ModularFranchise

* Most animation companies will eventually have all the characters from their shorts shown to exist in one large community, if only for the purposes of marketing and branding.

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like ComicBook/WonderWoman, ComicBook/GreenLantern, ComicBook/TheFlash, and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line]]. While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing in the same collective sandbox almost from their inception). Heck, back before the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', half the point of the DC Multiverse was to give franchises like ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Freedom Fighters|DC}}'' each their own sandbox to play in, leaving crossovers as an occasional novelty.

* ComicBook/{{Superman}} and ComicBook/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like ComicBook/WonderWoman, ComicBook/GreenLantern, ComicBook/TheFlash, and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line]]. While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing in the same collective sandbox almost from their inception). Heck, back before the ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', half the point of the DC Multiverse was to give franchises like ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' and ''ComicBook/FreedomFightersDC'' each their own sandbox to play in, leaving crossovers as an occasional novelty.

* Creator/AntarcticPress's ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' and ''Comicbook/NinjaHighSchool'' shared a universe for years, but since one and then the other each did [[TimeSkip Time Skips,]] they presumably fell out of sync with each other, and the crossovers effectively stopped.

** In a similar move, DC differs from Marvel by making movies that aren't part of their main film franchise at all, with ''Film/{{Joker}}'' and ''Film/TheBatman'' set in their own separate universes.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has become modular after having so many successful spinoffs; besides all the games featuring Mario himself, there's the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' series he originated from, the ''VideoGame/{{Wario}}'' series, the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' series, the ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' series, one-off games starring Princess Peach, Luigi, Toad, etc. And all these characters join back together for various multiplayer tiles like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'', etc. When Rare was working with Nintendo, the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series and the ''[[VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay Conker]]'' games were originally meant to take place in the Mario Universe, but when the company was sold to Microsoft, that became no longer true.

[[folder: Multiple Mediums]]

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]] While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing in the same collective sandbox almost from their inception). Heck, back before the ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths,'' half the point of the DC Multiverse was to give franchises like ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'' and ''Comicbook/FreedomFightersDC'' each their own sandbox to play in, leaving crossovers as an occasional novelty.
* Creator/MarvelComics is a little more complex. They will often place things under the [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse "Marvel Super-Heroes"]] banner. But unlike DC's stable, they don't always play well together, and many of their most popular characters aren't even major players in the company's Justice League analogue, Comicbook/TheAvengers. Thus, for the purposes of editors, movie franchises, or toys, they may divide the Marvel Universe into different "corners", with Spider-Man and the X-Men most often being their own distinct franchises. However, this may be changing, with both Spidey and Wolverine now included as Avenger members.

* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse is Creator/DCComics and Creator/WarnerBros' response to Marvel and Creator/{{Disney}}'s success with their film universe (see "Multiple Media" above). While the initial effort tied things closely together--with many arguing ''too'' closely too quickly--after ''Film/JusticeLeague'' [[SoftReboot it shifted]] to making the various entries self-contained. So ''Film/{{Aquaman}}'' alludes to events from that film, and ''Film/{{Shazam}}'' acknowledges Superman and Batman's existence, but you can understand each sub-franchise without seeing the others.

* The Franchise/DisneyPrincess brand, which is primarily focused on the royal heroines of fairy/folktale-derived films from the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. While no canon work has presented the heroines together (a rejected concept for the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment in ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' would have done so), various direct-to-video productions, theme park shows, [=CD=]s, the live-action series ''Series/OnceUponATime'', the video game series ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', and so forth have.

* The Franchise/DisneyPrincess brand, which is primarily focused on the royal heroines of fairy/folktale-derived films from the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. While no canon work has presented the heroines together (a rejected concept for the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment in ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' would have done so), various direct-to-video productions, theme park shows, [=CD=]s, the live-action series ''Series/OnceUponATime'', the video game series ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'', and so forth have.

* The ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics follow the same basic rule as the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon (see below), with all the characters inhabiting the same universe -- but WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck and his family primarily stay in the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse, while MickeyMouse and his friends have the ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse, with the occasional crossover. There are also comic stories that are clearly part of the same universe but don't clearly take place with either Mice or Ducks -- such as WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale's solo comics.

* The Franchise/DisneyPrincess brand, which is primarily focused on the royal heroines of fairy/folktale-derived films from the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon. While no canon work has presented the heroines together (a rejected concept for the "Pomp and Circumstance" segment in ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' would have done so), various direct-to-video productions, theme park shows, [=CD=]s, the live-action series ''Series/OnceUponATime'', and so forth have.

* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse is Creator/DCComics and Creator/WarnerBros' response to Marvel and Creator/{{Disney}}'s success with their film universe (see "Multiple Media" above). While their TV shows (unlike Marvel's) remain separate from it, so far it has grown to encompass ComicBook/{{Superman}}, ComicBook/{{Batman}}, ComicBook/WonderWoman, the ComicBook/SuicideSquad, the Franchise/{{Justice League|Of America}}, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, and Film/{{Shazam|2019}}, with plenty of others in the works.

** Creator/CartoonNetwork did this often in-series with their early Creator/CartoonCartoons, which also played with the Hanna-Barbera universe: WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder appeared in ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', several ''Dexters''[='=]s characters often appeared in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', and WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo met (among others) Franchise/ScoobyDoo. Later, the network would have the "CN City" on-air branding, in which characters from all the shows airing on the channel co-existed in the same city, with the settings for said shows revealed as being neighbourhoods within CN City or as part of the suburbs.

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s works as a whole can kind of be considered one [[UpToEleven giant uber]] franchise, with sizable subfranchises for the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and Creator/{{Pixar}}'s films, plus whatever else they own (like [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures live-action films]] or the Ride/DisneyThemeParks) that they feel like throwing in. Disney now also owns ''Franchise/TheMuppets'', Creator/MarvelComics, ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', making them sub-franchises to the Disney brand. Most of the former Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox properties that Disney acquired have stayed separate, but ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has been folded into the larger Disney franchise as well.

* And speaking of Marvel, the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse brings the ''Avengers'' corner of the Marvel U to movies, having sub-franchises for ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/TheMightyThor, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and Comicbook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy, and (so far) one-off films for other heroes. And as they branch out into television and streaming service, it's not even restricted to film either.

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s works as a whole can kind of be considered one [[UpToEleven giant uber]] franchise, with sizable subfranchises for the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and Creator/{{Pixar}}'s films, plus whatever else they own (like [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures live-action films]] or the Ride/DisneyThemeParks) that they feel like throwing in. Disney now also owns ''Franchise/TheMuppets'', Creator/MarvelComics, ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', making them sub-franchises to the Disney brand. Most former Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox properties that Disney has also acquired have stayed separate, but ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has been folded into the larger Disney franchise as well.

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s works as a whole can kind of be considered one [[UpToEleven giant uber]] franchise, with sizable subfranchises for the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and Creator/{{Pixar}}'s films, plus whatever else they own (like [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures live-action films]] or the Ride/DisneyThemeParks) that they feel like throwing in. Disney now also owns ''Franchise/TheMuppets'', Creator/MarvelComics, ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', making them sub-franchises to the Disney brand. Most former Creator/20thCenturyFox properties that Disney has also acquired have stayed separate, but ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has been folded into the larger Disney franchise as well.

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s works as a whole can kind of be considered one [[UpToEleven giant uber]] franchise, with sizable subfranchises for the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and Creator/{{Pixar}}'s films, plus whatever else they own (like [[Creator/WaltDisneyPictures live-action films]] or the Ride/DisneyThemeParks) that they feel like throwing in. Disney now also owns ''Franchise/TheMuppets'', Creator/MarvelComics, ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', making them sub-franchises to the Disney brand.

** To a lesser extent, ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Super Mario]]'' has become modular after having so many successful spinoffs; besides all the games featuring Mario himself, there's the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' series he originated from, the ''VideoGame/{{Wario}}'' series, the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' series, the ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' series, one-off games starring Princess Peach, Luigi, Toad, etc. And all these characters join back together for various multiplayer tiles like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'', etc.
*** When Rare was working with Nintendo, the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series and the ''[[VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay Conker]]'' games were originally meant to take place in the Mario Universe, but when the company was sold to Microsoft, that became no longer true.

** To a lesser extent, ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has become modular after having so many successful spinoffs; besides all the games featuring Mario himself, there's the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' series he originated from, the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series, the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' series, the ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' series, one-off games starring Princess Peach, Luigi, Toad, etc. And all these characters join back together for various multiplayer tiles like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'', etc.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]] While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing in the same collective sandbox almost from their inception). Heck, back before the ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths,'' half the point of the DC Multiverse was to give franchises like ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'' and ''Comicbook/FreedomFighters'' each their own sandbox to play in, leaving crossovers as an occasional novelty.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]] While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing the same collective sandbox almost from their inception). Heck, back before the ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths,'' half the point of the DC Multiverse was to give franchises like ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'' and ''Comicbook/FreedomFighters'' each their own sandbox to play in, leaving crossovers as an occasional novelty.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]] While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to each have a very solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing the same collective sandbox almost from their inception).

* Creator/AntarcticPress's ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' and ''Comicbook/NinjaHighSchool'' shared a universe for years, but since one and then the other each did [[TimeSkip Time Skips,]] they presumably fell out of sync with each other, and the crossovers stopped.

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]] While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence; so its big name, old guard heroes tend to have a solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing the same collective sandbox almost from their inception).

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]] While, as noted below, DC's big characters traditionally do cooperate well when they meet up, the fact is that cross-title continuity just wasn't much of a thing for the first several decades of DC's existence, so its big name, old guard heroes tend to have a solid standing as separate franchises in their own rights (whereas the Marvel characters were all playing the same collective sandbox almost from their inception).

* Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are individually massive cultural icons. They're also members of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, which consists of all of Creator/DCComics' other major superheroes -- including ones like Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/TheFlash, and Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} who are popular in their own right. So you may see these characters playing out individually, or as a combo of [[Franchise/TheDCU the company's superhero line.]]

* Creator/AntarcticPress's ''Comicbook/GoldDigger'' and ''Comicbook/NinjaHighSchool'' shared a universe for years, but since one and then the other each did [[TimeSkip Time Skips,]] they are now presumably out of sync with each other, and consequently haven't crossed over in a long time.

* The WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender series has become a popular franchise that includes not only two animated series, but also several comics and even [[Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi a novel and its sequel.]]

** To a lesser extent, ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' has become modular after having so many successful spinoffs; besides all the games featuring Mario himself, there's the ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'' series her originated from, the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series, the ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' series, the ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' series, one-off games starring Princess Peach, Luigi, Toad, etc. And all these characters join back together for various multiplayer tiles like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'', etc.

[[folder: [[Multiple Mediums ]] ]]