Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers is a crossover series by UDON between the two Capcom franchises clashing against each other. This event was preluded in previous titles such as Street Fighter Legends: Cammy where with each issue featured preview chapters with Darkstalkers facing against off against the fighters. After Gill's death at the hands of Ryu in Street Fighter Unlimited, his soul ends up being sent to the demonic realm of Makai where he is found by none other than Jedah Domah, who has also fallen from grace and proposes an alliance with the dark messiah to reshape the universe to their will. They send out Lilith to gather several warriors to his makeshift realm of Majigen and use their energy to complete their nefarious plan and unleash chaos upon the human world. The only hope of salvation lies in the martial artists and the dark monsters teaming up to stop the villains from fulfilling their goal.
The story is an adaptation of Vampire Savior that features the same set up of warriors being gathered to the Demon Realm to serve as fuel for Jedah's evil plans, the difference being that Street Fighter characters from across its series are featured and gain prominence here. The series is scheduled to be 8-issues long, with the Issue #0 being released on February 2017.
Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers features examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: Both Morrigan and Lilith are portrayed as sadistic and malevolent succubi, just like the previous UDON Darkstalkers comics.
- Alien Sky: The Majigen has twin moons orbiting in the sky, giving a clue to the heroes that they are no longer on Earth.
- And I Must Scream: Those slayed by Bishamon are turned into his tortured, phantom minions.
- Assimilation Plot: The villain's plan is to use the demonic fetus powered by conflict to devour all existence and "all becoming one".
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Not that the good guys weren't trying, but it's Gill and Akuma that deliver the killing blow to Jedah, while Gill himself is ironically defeated when his own cult resurrects him, teleporting him out of the Majigen.
- Battle Ballgown: In one flashback in Issue #4 showing the war against Jedah, Morrigan wore this outfit even though she wasn't shown fighting in it.
- Beard of Barbarism: Akuma's mane-like beard from SFV appears in this comic, showing how long he has been waiting for his rematch with Donovan after he was defeated by Shin Ryu during Street Fighter Unlimited.
- Berserk Button: When B.B. Hood attacks Blanka thinking that the Brazillian beastman is a Darkstalker, Dan and Sakura try to vouch for him saying the Blanka is still human. It is only when B.B. Hood calls him an ugly monster does Blanka get furious enough to zap the Darkhunter and send her packing.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Ken gets mind-controlled into Violent Ken by Lord Raptor and forced to fight his friends. He is freed by Elena's shaman powers.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Jedah Dohma and Gill. Though Jedah betrays Gill first to use him as fuel to power his fetus, Gill helps defeat Jedah during the climax... Only for him to decide to hijack his plan for his own means.
- Big Damn Heroes: Elena and Victor arrive to assist the heroes in Issue #4 in the fight against Lord Raptor.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The first monsters encountered by Chun-Li upon waking up in the Majigen Realm are a couple of giant insect demons that are scared off by Sagat and Ken.
- Bittersweet Ending: On the upside, Jedah's plot is foiled and all people trapped in the Majingen return to their homes — including Victor, who presumably perished when fighting Bishamon and his phantoms. On the down side, Gill is brought back to life albeit depowered and Ken still has his "Violent" side in him, which awakens when he reunites with Ryu, prompting a fight between the two friends. Also evil darkstalkers like Morrigan are still alive and free to keep tormenting and killing humans.
- Brought Down to Normal: Gill loses his powers after being brought back to life by his cultists. Elena also loses her healing powers, but she is able to use the last of what remains to resurrect Victor's sister.
- Canon Welding: The two comic book series are shown to take place in roughly the same setting, but neither are canon to the games of either franchise.
- The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires: Issue #3 features lost Mayincatec pyramids in Brazil where Necalli (an Aztec warrior no less) shows up. While there are pyramids located in South America, they are none in Brazil since the local natives weren't as advanced as the Aztecs and Incans who build these monuments. Though in all fairness, the pyramids in these comics were believed to be legends and were just discovered by an archaeologist duo.
- Continuity Snarl: The previous Darkstalkers comics, whose events are acknowledged as canon in this comic, show that the existence of the Darkstalkers and Makai is public knowledge. This crossover treats the Street Fighter characters just finding out their existence now.
- Covers Always Lie:
- The third issue shows Sagat staring off against Victor, indicating the two would fight. They never face each other in combat, in fact, Victor fights against Charlie of all people in this issue.
- Issue 6# features Necalli on the cover. He is not featured in the story, except in the extra chapter featured at the end with no relation with the plot whatsoever.
- Ryu hardly shows in this series, despite being present on a few covers. Demitri never appears at all by virtue of being dead and he is still featured in several covers.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Jedah continues his long streak of backstabbing his allies in whatever crossover he shows up in by betraying Gill.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: It's revealed that Belial Aensland whooped the floor with Jedah before exiling him to the Majigen. Jedah himself dominates most of the battle against the main characters, and it takes Akuma wielding the Dhylec and Gill giving the final blow to finally take him down.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Satsui no Hadou, naturally. Chun-li unlocks it on Issue #5 to fight effectively against the evil Darkstalkers.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Felicia discuss this trope when explaining that not all Darkstalkers are evil, since she (a catwoman) was raised by nuns and is a perfectly nice girl while her companion Jon Talbain (a werewolf) was able to control his dark impulses after training martial arts.
- Day in the Limelight: This crossover serves as one to Chun-Li and Lilith, as well Donovan and Akuma.
- Disney Death: Anita dies in Donovan's arms after being impaled by him in his vampire form, but she is saved by Elena's healing magic.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Oro falls completely to Lilith's charms when she transforms herself into Chun-Li, Laura, Cammy and Mika in swimsuits.
- The Dragon: Unlike in Darkstalkers where she only followed him out of innocence, here Lilith serves Jedah as his most important minion, since she is the one tasked with capturing all the warriors and bringing them to the Majigen. However, she abandons him when she reunites with Morrigan and agrees to help her stop him if they become one being once again.
- The Dreaded: Even Gill feels a deep sense of fear from Jedah.
- Evil Plan: Jedah and Gill plan to reshape the universe to their will by fueling a demonic fetus with the negative energies from the fighting between the warriors. Gill was merely a pawn to Jedah, as he desires to assimilate all of existence into a single being - his fetus.
- Enemy Mine: Morrigan seeks the help of Donovan Baine, a devoted Darkstalker hunter, to help stop Jedah. In turn, they also recruit Akuma who had fought Donovan in one of their previous chapters.
- Fat Slob : Ozom is introduced and adapted as this in Issue #0.
- Fusion Dance: What Lilith hopes to do with Morrigan so she can become whole once again. They end up merging together to defeat the demonic fetus during the final battle.
- Godzilla Threshold: Chun-Li is forced to use the Satsui no Hadou despite its corrupting influence as warned by Sagat. Considering they are all trapped in a demonic realm surrounded by hostile monsters everywhere and fighting against an immortal samurai ghost like Bishamon, she notes things are bad enough for her to rely on such technique. Turns out it wasn't powerful enough to destroy him either.
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Victor Gerdenheim pulls this on Issue #6 forms a Last Stand against Bishamon and his army to allow the heroic street fighters and Darkstalkers to flee the Majigen. Subverted when the final issue reveals he survived.
- Subverted in Issue #7 when Anita uses the last of her strength to restore Donovan back to his normal state after she is fatally injured by him. Fortunately, Elena is able to heal and bring her back to life.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Morrigan frequently tricking and killing humans ends up biting her when Chun Li and her group meet with her just as they are about to fight Jedah. Chun Li obviously doesn't trust her and even thinks she is behind the whole mess, which Jedah uses at his advantage to get everyone fighting each and feed the fetus even more. Chun Li even reminds Morrigan how she's treated humans as nothing but food before fighting, and the battle could've resulted in her getting killed and Jedah winning hadn't Chun Li noticed the fetus draining everyone's energy at the last moment.
- I Choose to Stay: Akuma elects to stay behind in the Demon Realm in order to master the demonic energies he gained, though he says he will return to Earth when he feels he is ready.
- Improbable Infant Survival: When Donovan's vampire self takes control of him, he impales Anita when she tries to calm him down. She is able to use her magic power to bring his normal self back and seemingly dies on his arms. Then doubly subverted when Elena heals her and saves her life.
- Karma Houdini: Morrigan and Lilith don't get punishment for killing countless humans, the latter even helping Jedah on her own will. They even get a happy ending since they fuse together and defeat the evil messiah. The last we see of them is when Morrigan is crowned queen of makai and Lilith cheers her up, free to keep going to the human world to kill humans and provoke destruction.
- Kick the Dog: In Brazil, Morrigan tricks two archeologists by pretending to be a wounded human woman. As they approach and one of them helps her to get up she drains him then kills his friend when he attempts to stop her. She callously says she would've had given him eternal bliss had he "waited his turn".
- Kiss of Death: How the succubi drains men's souls, unlike in the games. Lilith tricks a group of monks into letting her into their circle, draining one dry before killing the rest with her wings. Morrigan does the same to an unsuspecting archaeologist before killing his friend for trying to interfere. Later, in order to convince Akuma to help her, Morrigan shows him a vision by kissing him. This means that being kissed by a succubus doesn't necessarily mean instant death, since she states that she'd claim Akuma's soul if she didn't need his help.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The villains' plan is heavily reliant on this since they require negative energy from the fighting between warriors to fuel Ozom's remains. With that said, this still happens without their influence as seen in the prelude chapters. In the first issue, Chun-Li, Sagat and Ken attack Jon Talbain and Felicia who were spying on them, believing to be another kind of monsters. After realizing that Jon and Felicia are not evil, they cease hostilities and side with one and the other.
- It happens again on Issue #6 when Chun-li and her friends confront Morrigan, Lilith, Akuma and Donovan when they are face to face to Jedah, but the two groups fight among each other since 1) Morrigan has killed several humans and attempted to kill Chun Li 2) Lilith was responsible for locking everyone there and 3) Akuma is an enemy to most Street Fighters.
- Manipulative Bastard: Jedah Dohma. He tricks Gill into being his partner, when he reality he plans to use him as fuel for his plans, and then sets up several fights between the Street Fighters and the Darkstalkers to power up his fetus.
- Mars Needs Women: In Issue #5's short story, Laura is defeated and kidnapped by Rikuo to create "a new kingdom of mermen" with him. She doesn't mind it because he is
curiously attractive for a fishman. - Mythology Gag:
- Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz's variant cover for Issue #1 is an homage to the Capcom Secret Files booklet for X-Men vs. Street Fighter, which was also used as an arcade flyer for the game.
- Lord Raptor transforms Ken into Violent Ken, his form from SVC Chaos in Issue #2.
- Laura Matsuda notices that Rikuo is curiously attractive for a fish man.note
- In two pieces of official art, Lilith is put in the place of Sakura.note
- At the end of the series, Morrigan fuses with Lilith and Felicia becomes a nun in the convent where she was raised, just like their respective endings in Vampire Savior.
- Several variant
covers◊ show Demitri using Midnight Bliss on several characters from both franchises, with the obvious shenanigans happening to the guys present. The Street Fighter characters affected alternate between the designs used from Capcom Fighting Evolution and SVC Chaos, with a notable preference for the transformations seen in the former game as seen with Chun-Li donning her Alpha-era gear, and Akuma and Guile not simply using straight gender swaps.
- Moral Myopia: Morrigan has killed countless humans to feed on their souls and even kills an archeologist for attempting to save his friend from her. However, when she finds out about Jedah's plan she immediately steps in to stop him, furious that he is threatening the makai world.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Anita, who is otherwise an Emotionless Girl, is shown crying when seeing Donovan possessed by his Superpowered Evil Side.
- Our Humans Are Different: Because of their unusual appearances and strange powers, B.B. Hood thinks Blanka and Dhalsim for Darkstalkers.
- Trapped in Another World: Jedah has several fighters and Darkstalkers trapped in the Majigen to use their conflict as fuel to reshape reality.
- Totally Not a Werewolf: Rashid enters the Anakaris' tomb believing it to be an alien ruin and mistakes the mummified king for an alien. Other more bizarre-looking Street Fighters such as Akuma, Blanka and Dalshim are also mistaken for monsters/Darkstalkers by hunters like Donovan and Bullet.
- Retcon: According to Issue #7's Bonus Story, Kolin received her ice powers from a werewolf she killed instead from Gill.
- Sequel Hook: Akuma decides to remain in the Makai so that he can fight the monsters that live there and make himself stronger. His progress is checked up on in the Akuma vs. Hell one-shot.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Chun-Li originally wears her Amazon outfit given to her by Vega in the main comics, which ends up being how Raptor finds her group. When she receives aid from Gen's spirit and taps into the Satsui no Hadou, her outfit changes to that of her classic Street Fighter II outfit.
- Shout-Out:
- The final prelude chapter in Street Fighter Unlimited #11 shows Gill being attacked by several red demons that resemble Red Arremer from Ghosts 'n Goblins. Firebrand himself appears during this prelude.
- One of the promotional covers◊ shows the two casts side by side referencing the Marvel Versus DC crossover event.
- In Issue #0, Rashid mentions aliens, while making the same face◊ as Giorgio A. Tsakoulous' memetic expression◊.
- In Issue #3, Lord Raptor summons his zombie minions to fight the protagonists and they start dancing like Michael Jackson and tells that his zombies are "trilled to meet and eat them".
- Several classic horror movies are homaged in special covers:
- Issue #0: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man with Victor and Blanka representing the titular monsters and Chun-li as Elsa Frankenstein.
- Issue #1: Dracula (1931) featuring Demitri Maximoff and Ryu as Dracula and Jonathan Harker.
- Issue #2: Creature from the Black Lagoon has Rikuo carrying Laura Matsuda in his arms like the Gillman does with Kay Lawrence. And yes, he is referred as "The Curiously Attractive Fishman".
- Issue #3: The Mummy (1932) starring Anakaris as Imhotep and Juri as Helen Grovesnor.
- Issue #0: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man with Victor and Blanka representing the titular monsters
- The special cover for issue #5 features Balrog and Demitri homaging the cover of the Superman vs. Muhammad Ali one-shot from The '70s.
- White Magician Girl: Except for fighting barehanded, Elena could almost certainly qualify for this trope due to her Healing Hands, wearing white, having Mystical White Hair and her kind and gentle personality.
- Wolverine Publicity:
- Lilith is given a lot of focus on the covers, purely since she is a hugely popular character whose comics debut was highly expected. The fact that she's a much more modest version of Morrigan helped.
- Ryu is a straighter example, given that he appears in several covers and variants, yet he is absent for most of the series only appearing during an extra-side story and the final issue.
- The Worf Effect: Just like in Street Fighter V, Necalli only appears to get trounced in this comic despite his nature as a divine being, when his fight with Morrigan is interrupted by Lilith, who unceremoniously buries him under rubble. His losing streak continues into Issue #6's extra, where he briefly fights Hsien-Ko and her sister and they both turn him into a stone statue.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Morrigan uses this tactic on a duo of archaeologists in Brazil, by taking the form of a female explorer that twisted her ankle and is completely helpless. As soon as she has one of the men in her grasp, she completely sucks him dry. The other guy attempts to save his friend, but Morrigan hits him against a wall before he can even attack her.
- Victimized Bystander: The two archealogists that find Necalli's pyramid in Brazil. They are tricked and killed by Morrigan, with one of them getting his soul drained and his friend being killed when he attempts to save his partner. None of the other characters of either Street Fighter or Darkstalkers find out about this, which makes Morrigan trying to make an alliance with humans like Donovan and Chun Li the more disturbing.
