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Comic Book / Scooby-Doo! Team-Up

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Scooby-Doo! Team-Up is a comic book series in the Scooby-Doo franchise published by DC Comics that ran from 2013 to 2019. The comic is set up in single-issue stories where the gang of Mystery Incorporated teams up with a special guest star(s) (usually either a character from Hanna-Barbera's non-Scooby-Doo shows or The DCU) to combat whatever evil force is threatening the locale, making it a Spiritual Sequel to The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In the digital release, the comics were split in half, making a total of one hundred chapters and having the first part of the story end on a cliffhanger before resolving it in the second part.

A total of 50 print issues (100 digital chapters) were created before the series ended.

Guests Included:

Scooby-Doo! Team-Up contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Accidental Truth: Fred Flintstone, wanting to play bowling rather than watch some opera, makes up a story about the opera house being haunted. The place turns out to be "haunted" by a Corrupt Corporate Executive who needs the land to build a mall.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: El Kabong can swing around until someone points out there's nothing holding the rope.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: Monstrous Monster of Monster Manor
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: During one point in the Wonder Woman issue, Daphne says it's weird that beasts like the Minotaur, a dragon, or harpies could be on Paradise Island, given that they're merely mythological. Wonder Woman points out that some people would call Amazons or talking dogs mythological as well.
  • Artistic License – Paleontology: Discussed when a prehistoric Time Machine brings the gang to The Flintstones' time, and Velma is surprised at the notion of dinosaurs and cavemen existing at the same time.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment:
    • Upon looking at Angel O'Day and Sam Simeon, Louie Jervis says "You look like a girl I used to date".
      Angel: I do?
      Louie: No, I was talking to him!
    • Gorilla Grodd's daughter will never forgive him if he harms his grandson so he commands Ultra-Humanite to harm his grandson.
  • Bat Signal: Sgt. Flint moans over not having a Phooey signal.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: After Mystery, Inc. returned to their normal sizes, a monster shows up and Shaggy regrets no longer being small since it'd be easier to hide that way.
  • Big Eater: Not even Ollie's legendary super-spicy chili, which in one famous comic scene put Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and even Superman on the ropes, is a match for Scooby and Shaggy. Even when they end up developing fire breath.
  • Book Ends: The series' first and last issues are both crossovers with Batman and Robin.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy:
    • The Mad Inventor manages to take control of Frankenstein Jr. and turns him into a destructive robot.
    • The Some-Trance Kid hypnotizes Ricochet Rabbit, disguises him as a ghost, and sends him to steal on his behalf.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Fred Flintstone admits the opera's not so bad when a little bowling is mixed in. Wilma suggests that next time they go out, they can sing opera at the bowling alley.
  • Brick Joke: After the Hooded Claw spins around to take off his monster costume, the Bully Brothers, standing beneath him, complain of dizziness. Later, Penelope spins the Hooded Claw around to take off his costume, and he admits that the spinning does make one dizzy.
  • Busman's Holiday: In issue #35, the Mystery Inc gang go on holiday to a national park to get a break from fake hauntings, but find there's a fake haunting going on at the national park. Lampshaded by Shaggy, who remarks that this sort of thing happens every time they go on holiday.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: From the bomb thrown at the FBI building he's in, Plastic Man figures out it must be Tuesday.
    Plastic Man: Annie the Anarchist always throws a bomb at the FBI building on Tuesdays.
  • …But He Sounds Handsome: El Kabong describes Quick Draw McGraw as "that world-famous and staggeringly handsome lawman".
  • Cardboard Prison: Bat Lash escapes from jail barely minutes after he's locked up in it.
  • Cassandra Truth: When Velma tells the Jetsons she came from the past, Jane assumes she hit her head.
  • Chained to a Railway: In "Perils Before Swine", Penelope is being tied "to yet another train track" and sees this as the Hooded Claw not having much originality.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • Fred Flintstone smuggles his bowling ball to the opera house, hoping to sneak out with Barney to go bowling. It ends up being used to stop Flint Pumice from escaping.
    • The gang of Mystery Inc. ends up getting stuck on the dog-walking treadmill when they're brought to the future of the Jetsons. They later lure the Space-Age Specter onto the treadmill to capture it.
    • Harley Quinn lifts up Doug Chippendale's foot, revealing traces of baby powder on his shoes. Seeing this allows Harley to later out Chippendale as the one posing as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet To Come.
  • Chekhov's Gag: When the gang drops into the Jetsons' time, they land on the automatic treadmill George uses to walk Astro and wind up being slammed into the wall. Later, Fred Jones lures the Space-Age Specter into running after them, and right onto the treadmill, allowing for easy capture.
  • Chekhov's News: In "Scooby-Doo, When Are You?", a Time Machine transports the gang to the Flintstones' time. One of the examples of stone age technology introduced to the gang is a newspaper. Flint Pumice, a real estate developer featured in that newspaper, turns out to be that story's ghost.
  • The Collector: Mel Magnus from Zatanna's story is a collector of artifacts from famous stage magicians. He's also the main villain, as recently he turned to collecting the mystic icons of magical heroes, and has personally kidnapped John Zatara since he doesn't have a mystic icon of his own.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • When the gang run into Batman and Robin in issue #1, it's not the first time they've met; Daphne remarks that it's been a while since "our run-in with the Joker and the Penguin", referring to their last encounter in The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
    • During "Truth, Justice, and Scooby Snacks", Velma recalls Lex Luthor dressing as a ghost from the Super Friends crossover.
    • When the gang meets a villain named Multi-Man, they remember having once met a superhero who also goes by that name.
    • Multiple issues allude to DynoMutt suing Scooby for calling himself the Dog Wonder in issue 2, sure enough one of the first things the two talk about when they meet is Dynomutt apologizing for the lawsuit
    • In chapter 6/issue #3, Scooby-Mite attempt to start a "Crisis on Infinite Scoobies", but is stopped by Daphne. In chapter 99/issue #50, he actually pulls it off.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Shaggy apparently knows 73 ways to secretly ask for help.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: In "Enter the Dragons - Exit Scooby Doo", the villain behind the robot dragons is Bernie, a robotics scientist who, needing funds to pay for his research, used the dragons to scare everyone away from Chinatown so he could steal the stores' money and use it to pay for his work. Shaggy suggests Bernie could have sold the robots in Hollywood. Bernie likes the idea.
  • Daydream Surprise: "Who's Scared?", one of the Batman issues, started with Scooby as Batman's partner in crime-fighting. However, before more than a page or two, it's revealed to be Scooby dreaming while at a meeting of "The Mystery Analysts of Gotham City".
  • Denial of Animality: In the Secret Squirrel crossover, Secret Squirrel answers Velma's incredulity that I.S.S.'s top agent is a squirrel by saying that one of the gang is a house pet. Scooby asks which one that is.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: The Monstrous Monster of Monster Manor.
  • Didn't Think This Through:
    • Multi-Man can destroy himself to return even more powerful and uses it to threaten the heroes. Shaggy brings up the possibility that such power might wear off and he dies for real and Multi-Man admits he never thought about that.
    • The Mad Scientist in the Magilla Gorilla crossover didn't think about what he'd do with his experiments before changing his "volunteers"' bodies.
  • Disability Immunity:
    • During the Superfriends issue, Cheetah yells to Grodd to use his mind control powers to make Shaggy and Scooby stop. Grodd replies that he's trying, but it's as though they don't have enough mind to be controlled.
    • During the Green Arrow and Green Lantern issue, Psycho Pirate is unable to control Scooby and Shaggy because they're constantly terrified.
    • Being constantly scared also protected Scooby from Scaredycat's powers in digital chapter 36/physical issue 18.
  • Disguised Hostage Gambit:
    • In the Jonny Quest crossover, Dr. Zin dresses up Dr. Quest as one of his genetically engineered monsters, hoping that his team would attack him, which would allow him [Dr. Zin] some satisfaction from their reactions when they found out what they had done. Luckily, Velma recognized that the "monster" wasn't a monster when she saw its shoes, and was just in time to keep Race from shooting Dr. Quest with the sonic blaster.
    • In the Space Ghost crossover, Zorak and Moltar capture Jan and Jace to use as hostages. However, the Jan and Jace they capture are actually Daphne and Fred in disguise. The real Jan and Jace use the distraction they cause to ambush Zorak and Moltar.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Nelson can't tell if Sam Simeon looks like a gorilla or not because he's "too busy" looking at Angel.
    Angel: Keep that up, buddy, and you'll be seeing everything through two black eyes!
  • Embarrassing First Name: Daphne's ancestor insists on being called "Carrie" because she hates her real name, "Cardamom".
  • Empathic Environment: In one of the Batman issues, a bolt of lightning splits the sky as Scooby and Ace the Bat-Hound are running after the Scarecrow. This gets noticed by Scooby:
    Scooby: Where did that lightning come from?
    Ace: That happens all the time. Gotham has strange weather.
  • Epic Fail: Merryman is so weak he can't even lift a phone receiver.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Invoked by Captain Cold, who claims he and the others in Flash's Rogues Gallery wouldn't pull a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax on each other and defied by Captain Boomerang, who believes Gorilla Grodd and the Reverse-Flash wouldn't have any qualms about it.
  • Everyone Hates Mimes: When Angel and Sam hear screams, one of Sam's guesses is that "the audience realized they were watching mimes".
  • Evil Versus Evil: The Flash's Rogues versus the Top. The latter beats the others to everything they plan to steal and they become desperate enough to call for Mystery Inc's help.
  • Exact Words:
    • In the Super Friends issue, Sinestro is about to attack the gang with his ring — only to have it defect to Shaggy and Scooby instead. Sinestro is baffled by this, questioning who in the world these two goofballs could scare, and Shaggy and Scooby respond that they scare themselves silly all the time.
    • In the Yogi Bear issue, Boo Boo Bear claims that Ranger Smith "can't ship Yogi off to the Poughkeepsie Zoo" and Ranger Smith agrees... because he "forgot the postage".
    • In the Wonder Woman issue, it's mentioned that the Amazons will lose their immortality if a man ever steps foot on Paradise Island. Scooby doesn't count since he's a dog, Shaggy and Fred are able to hang around as long as they don't touch the ground (i.e. staying on the Invisible Plane), and when Shaggy does end up touching the ground in the end, nothing happens because his feet are still in the air (with Shaggy also throwing out the possibility that it's "because [he's] not much of a man").
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Huntress versus Penguin
    The Penguin: The fabric of my bumbershoot is bulletproof! You can't penetrate it with a crossbow!
    Huntress: I wasn't trying to! (the arrow explodes)
  • Face–Heel Turn: In the final issue, a gigantic Scrappy-Doo is revealed to be controlled by Vincent Van Ghoul, Flim-Flam, ROBI, the Hex Girls and Red Herring, who are upset that the Scooby Gang evolve over time and continuities and gain more fame, but they are cast aside.
  • False Innocence Trick: In the Shazam! crossover, Ibac and Sabbac disguise themselves as hostages in their normal forms in an attempt to catch Mystery Inc. off guard.
  • False Reassurance: The Atom delivers one to Shaggy after shrinking himself and the gang.
    Shaggy: (gulps) Like, we don't have to be this size for long, do we?
    Atom: Not long at all. We're going to shrink down much smaller!
  • Fire-Breathing Diner: Shaggy and Scooby after trying Green Arrow's legendary chili which once broke Green Lantern's will. And they still asked for seconds!
  • Flaw Exploitation: In "A Superfriend in Need", Velma manages to employ Bizarro's backwards thinking to make him leave Shaggy and Scooby alone and attack some of the Legion of Doom — after all, for a person who thinks backwards, the logical thing to do is leave one's enemies alone and fight one's friends.
  • Follow the Chaos: After Superman is mutated into a monster by Red Kryptonite, Krypto and Scooby track him down by following the trail of holes in buildings that he left.
  • Forgot About His Powers: Velma and Jimmy Olsen dress up as gorilla, surprising the mutated Superman into forgetting about his super speed just long enough for Jimmy to catch him with a Red Sun projector, which drains Superman's Powers and allows them to contain him until the red kryptonite that caused the mutation wears off.
  • Fully Absorbed Finale: "Perils Before Swine" turns out to be this for The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Ending with The Hooded Claw unmasked as Sylvester Sneekly in front of Penelope before he and the Bully Brothers are arrested.
  • Fun with Acronyms: Unavoidable during the Shazam! crossover. Daphne even wonders if everyone in Fawcett City has a name that is an acrostic. Also, the wizard Shazam temporarily grants Shaggy and Velma Captain Marvel-like powers. Shaggy is granted the power of Zeus, the knowledge of Odin, the flight of Icarus, the depth of Neptune, the strength of Kronos and the persistence of Sisiphus (Zoinks!) while Velma is granted the dominion of Juno, the magic of Isis, the justice of Nemesis, the strength of Kali, the love of Ishtar, the courage of Electra, and the foresight of Sibyl (Jinkies!).
  • Generation Xerox: Frederick, Carrie, Thelma-Lou, Gabby, and Smiley-Doo look a lot like their modern day descendants and travel around the Old West unmasking monsters in a wagon with "The Conundrum Contraption" painted on the side.
  • Gilligan Cut: Despite Fred Flintstone's loud declaration that they are not going to the opera, the very next panel after that declaration has them at the opera house.
  • Here We Go Again!: "Two Mites Make It Wrong" features the gang and the Dynamic Duo spending all issue dealing with a fanboy spat between Bat-Mite and Scooby-Mite (Batman and Scooby-Doo's biggest fans). They finally manage to talk them into going away so their heroes can have more adventures...and then a mite who is Robin's biggest fan shows up.
  • Hidden Depths: Harley Quinn shows off her PHD in criminal psychology by figuring out who was behind the appearances of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • In "Perils Before Swine", Sylvester Sneekly tries to use the Scooby Gang as unwitting pawns in a plan to get rid of the Ant Hill Mob. Fred ends up being the one who exposes him as the Hooded Claw.
    • Yankee Doodle Pigeon tricks the Vulture Squadron into thinking he became a real ghost by using leftover luminous paint from one of the squadron's past attempts to capture him.
  • Hypocrisy Nod: Sam Simeon meeting Thpot the Dog (actually a monster that a little boy mistakes for a dog):
    Sam: So, you're a dog, eh?
    Thpot: Sure and you're a perfectly normal detective.
    Sam: That's right.
    Thpot: And a cartoonist.
    Sam: Yes.
    Thpot: And not at all an ape.
    Sam: ...fair point.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • Mr. Spacely says people from his time are too sophisticated to believe in ghosts. Then the Space-age Specter shows up and he changes his mind.
    • Thpot, a fur-covered creature, is afraid of Shaggy because Shaggy's hairy.
  • I Am Spartacus: Fred, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby claim to be Supergirl to protect the real one's identity. Thanks to X-Kryptonite, they temporarily gain flight abilities that confuse the villain.
  • "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Scooby covers his eyes with his paws when Daphne apparently attempts to bullfight a Minotaur. It turned out to be unnecessary as she simply threw the flag over the Minotaur's head and (barely) dived out of the way.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Dastardly's reason to believe "no bird can resist reading a newspaper": "Why do you think there's always newspaper on the bottom of birdcages?"
  • Insignificant Little Blue Planet: Moltar doesn't expect Space Ghost to "find any useful help on a backward mudball like Earth!". Space Ghost even uses the word "primitives" to describe Earthlings.
  • Interactive Narrator: The story "Perils Before Swine" is a crossover with The Perils of Penelope Pitstop and the narrator from that cartoon remains as interactive as ever. It's implied he's only interactive with the Penelope characters as Scooby Doo character Velma once asks Sylvester Sneekly who he's talking to.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: In the Penelope Pitstop crossover, Sylvester Sneekly is finally exposed as the Hooded Claw and arrested after all the times she put Penelope in peril.
  • Kneel Before Zod: While under the belief his plan to make the Amazons lose their super strength worked, the Duke of Deception approaches Wonder Woman and tells her to kneel before him.
  • Kneel, Push, Trip: A variation; as Scarecrow tries to escape, Batman appears in front of him. Scarecrow backs up, yelling at the Caped Crusader to stay away...and trips over Scooby, who was sitting behind him.
  • Lampshade Hanging:
    • In the Justice Society crossover, Daphne is stunned by the fact that Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, is the JSA's secretary. Hippolyta says that correcting these kinds of attitudes about women is one of the reasons she came to Man's World...and Wildcat adds that she's got the best handwriting out of the group.
    • Later in the same story, Daphne remarks that she thought the Nazis would know better than to use spies with thick German accents, and Wildcat shrugs it off as "Good help is hard to find".
    • There's a heck of a lot of this such as in the Dastardly and Muttley issue, Velma asks why Dastardly and his gang are still chasing Yankee Doodle Pigeon as the war ended centuries ago. At which point, Dastardly says that he and his gang work for General Tso's and the Pigeon works for their rivals, a pizza delivery place that guarantees "to deliver pizzas in less than fifteen minutes or they're free". Dastardly and his men try to stop the pigeon because of the rivalry.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At the beginning of issue #20, Fred remarks that the gang has been very busy lately, "like we're handling twice as many cases as before". The series had recently changed its release schedule, releasing a new issue every month instead of once every two months.
  • Legacy Character: Diana isn't the first Wonder Woman in this comic's continuity. Queen Hippolyta held the title back in the 1940s.
  • Look Behind You: The villain from the Flintstones segment uses the "look over there" trick, prompting Daphne to comment that she "knew that trick was old, but this is ridiculous".
  • Loophole Abuse: The Wonder Woman issue made good use of Exact Words.
    • First, the Gang ends up going to Paradise Island, with Daphne and Velma getting Amazon training by Wonder Woman. However, Shaggy and Fred are stuck hanging around the Invisible Plane because no man can set foot on Paradise Island or they'd cause the Amazons there to lose their immortality. However, a loophole means Scooby can walk around normally - Scooby may be a male, but the rules said no man, nothing about a dog.
    • Later, this trope is revealed as being the reason the day is able to be saved — the manifestations of mythological creatures are revealed to be the work of the Duke of Deception, a minion of Ares. He had hoped the Amazons would call in outside help from a male, who he could knock off his steed, thereby causing his feet to touch the ground and stripping the Amazons of their power. However, even when Shaggy falls off his steed, Wonder Woman is still able to whip the Duke. Daphne suggests this is because Shaggy landed on his hind end; his feet never touched the ground. Shaggy says it could also be because he's "not much of a man."
    • A bizarre example because nobody knew the loophole existed until it worked: when Shaggy and Scooby become Yellow Lanterns, Sinestro points out that they are a pair of scaredy cats and the rings only work on people who can cause great fear. Turns out that Scooby and Shaggy scare each other constantly, and this plus said immense cowardice ends up counting as "capacity to cause great fear".
  • Master of Disguise: Jimmy Olsen's talent for disguises comes up when he and Velma find his disguise trunk while looking for a way to help stop Superman. Jimmy mentions that it's been very useful in the past, but he can't see how it would help here. Then he and Velma have a near-simultaneous "Eureka!" Moment that the disguises could be used as a distraction.
  • Metronomic Man Mashing: Bamm Bamm does this to Shaggy and later to the Phantom in "Scooby Doo When Are You".
  • Mind-Control Eyes: Ricochet Rabbit gets these when he's hypnotized by the Some-Trance Kid.
  • Miranda Rights: The Bully Brothers mess with it while disguised as cops. While arresting the Ant Hill Mob, they forget what comes after the right to remain silent and mention "the right to free speech or somethin' like that".
  • Mistaken Identity: Nashthalthia mistakes Daphne for Supergirl.
  • Mythology Gag: Numerous.
    • In issue #1, Batman describes the Mystery Inc gang as "brave and bold", a nod to the earlier Batman team-up comic The Brave and the Bold and the TV series it inspired, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
    • When Shaggy says that he's fine except for the lack of food on the Invisible Plane, Wonder Woman says he reminds her of "my friend Etta", presumably a reference to Etta Candy, a food-loving sidekick of Wonder Woman who hasn't appeared much since the Golden Age.
    • When the Scooby gang drops in on The Jetsons, George introduces himself and his family in a way that's almost exactly like the Expository Theme Tune of the show. In addition, when they first appear on the dog-walking Treadmill, Shaggy yells "Someone stop this crazy thing!"
    • When the Scooby Gang teams up with The Flash, the Flash gets (seemingly) turned into a puppet, complete with the same line as from the cover of The Flash Issue #133. The other transformations that the ghost inflicts on the Scooby Gang (and on the Flash again the next time he attacks) are all likewise things that have befallen the Flash on comic book covers.
    • When the Scooby Gang teams up with Space Ghost, Jan and Jace mention how Zorak and Moltar once hypnotized Space Ghost into thinking he was a talk show host.
    • Fred Flintstone mentions how great a pal Barney Rubble is, but he can't stand the fact that he swipes his breakfast cereal, a nod to the Pebbles Cereal commercials.
    • In the story featuring the Challengers of the Unknown, Fred meets Cave Carson and comments on the "rumor" that the latter has a cybernetic eye. That's a reference to a series printed in 2016 at DC's Young Animal.
    • Not wanting to reveal how he became so strong, Atom Ant asks if Velma would believe he was sent to Earth in rocket when his anthill exploded.
    • In the issue with Aquaman, Fred says "Outrageous!"; Mera asks him not to say that word again.
    • When the Scooby gang meets the titular characters of Angel and the Ape, Shaggy and Scooby ask "who are they?" and "what are they?". These questions appear at the covers of their comic books.
    • Dick Dastardly decides to use the gang upon reading about them at The Daily Blabber.
    • Scooby takes on the identity of the 'Brown Bomber', likely referencing the infamous 'Black Bomber' predecessor idea to Black Lightning that was described as "an insult to practically everybody with any point of view at all" by comics historian Don Markstein.
    • Ultra-Humanite complaining about Luthor's greater villain credit references the fact that he was Superman's first supervillain before Lex was characterized as another bald mad scientist and overshadowed him in all future stories and adaptations.
    • Robin's biggest 5th dimensional imp fan, Nosyarg Kcid shows up at the end up "Two Mites Make Wrong".
    • "Crisis of Infinite Scoobies" has Scooby-Mite summon multiple incarnations of Mystery Inc from alternate realities. These include the versions from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!, the live action movies, and Scooby Apocalypse.
  • The Napoleon: Mr. Spacely, as usual, during the Jetsons crossover. He's shorter than almost anyone else in the setting but keeps up his habit of yelling at George and ordering him (and sometimes the gang) around.
  • Noodle Implements: Velma figures out Sir Haunts-a-Lot's secret identity by analyzing ballistics evidence, last weekend's football scores and third-grade report cards.
  • No Swastikas: Absolutely averted in the Justice Society issues, where the Gang is sent back to 1942 and battles Vandal Savage's attempts to undermine the war effort. There are repeated references to the Nazis, including a Hitler Youth member trying to sew racial discord among a group of boys, and Savage himself wears a red Nazi armband when he shows up.
  • Not Me This Time:
    • When the gang suggest that the ghost haunting Gorilla City might be a criminal hoax, King Solovar says that in that case, the solution will be easy because Gorilla City has only one criminal, the supervillain Grodd. Grodd himself turns up shortly afterward — to ask for their help, because the ghost is haunting him, too.
    • Yogi's story is focused on him being accused for a strand of picnic baskets thefts, even though he insists it's not his doing.
  • Not Now, Kiddo:
    • Quick-Draw McGraw repeatedly shushes Baba Looey when he tries to alert Quickdraw that the Fastest Ghost in the West is robbing the town. It's not until he's robbed that he listens.
    • At the beginning of the Metamorpho crossover issue, Java rushes in and tries to tell Simon Stagg something. Stagg tells him off for interrupting, and it's not until half a dozen pages later that he gets to report the important news he originally came in with.
  • An Offer You Can't Refuse: When the Rogues ask for the gang's help with the Top and one of them asks why they should help, one of the rogues draws a weapon.
  • One-Steve Limit:
    • The story "Scooby-Doo, When Are You?" features two Freds. Fred Flintstone and his contemporaries call Fred Jones "other Fred".
    • Fred being introduced to Starman (Mikaal Tomas version):
      Fred: I thought Starman was a young hipster guy?
      Starman: That's the other Starman.
      Fred: You're his father?
      Starman: That's the other, other Starman.
      Fred: An earthling with a mullet?
      Starman: The other, other, other Starman.
      Fred: An alien Prince?
      Starman: The other, other, other, other Starman.
    • Starfire is neither the Russian superhero nor the barbarian freedom fighter.
    • The crossover with the Challengers of the Unknown, the gang meets a villain named Multi-Man. It's not the first Multi-Man they meet.
  • Or My Name Isn't...: In "Just Plane Scared" Dick says Operation: Read All About It will succeed or his name isn't Dick Dastardly. Zilly asks what they should call him.
  • The Other Darrin: In-Universe, the gang is shocked seeing the Teen Titans Go! Robin as the last time they saw Robin, he was completely different. Fred just chalks it up to kids acting different around adults. The next time the gang meets Starfire, Daphne points out she looks taller.
  • The Political Officer: In the Dastardly & Muttley crossover, Muttley resumes his coward-fetching role.
  • Popularity Power: Character designs, especially for the DC Heroes and Villains, are essentially dictated by their more popular looks. For instance, the issue involving Gotham Girls has Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Batgirl all taking up their Batman: The Animated Series designs despite the original series using the later The New Batman Adventures looks. As well, while Robin defaults to his Superfriends look when not around the Teen Titans, Starfire defaults to her less cartoony Teen Titans look instead of one of the usual Stripperific looks (especially since this is a kids comic)
  • Power at a Price: The Amazons will lose their power if a mortal man sets foot on Paradise Island. The villain behind the Wonder Woman issue turns out to be aiming to use that rule to depower the Amazons.
  • Racial Face Blindness: When Mystery, Inc. goes to Gorilla City, Daphne is worried because all gorillas look the same to her and apologizes for saying it. King Solovar accepts it and says all humans look the same to him. When they meet Gorilla Grodd, he doesn't recognize the gang from the time they helped the Justice League to defeat the Legion of Doom because all humans look the same to him as well.
  • Reading Your Rights: In Bedrock, a cop tells the arrestee: "You have the right to remain silent 'cause I don't wanna have to listen to you!"
  • Refuge in Audacity: Daphne starts suspecting the superheroes known as the Impossibles and the singing trio Impossibles are the same people but Fred dismisses her theory because "those would be the worst secret identities ever".
  • The Reveal:
    • Supergirl's birth parents survived the destruction of Argo City but, because they did so by traveling into a parallel dimension they cannot leave, she doesn't know it.
    • Penelope finally explains what happened to the original Ant Hill Mob members who were replaced in The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Clyde told her they're in Sing Sing and she assumes it's a choral group.
  • Revisiting the Roots: Many of the characters Scooby and the gang team up with have spent a significant amount of time as the subject of satire. The team-up issues, however, always play their premises relatively straight even while keeping a comedic tone, such as Space Ghost being The Cape instead of the bumbling egomaniac Space Ghost Coast to Coast portrayed him as.
  • Running Gag:
    • Carrie, Daphne's ancestor, is always confused for Cinnamon, since they're both red-headed bounty hunters. It leads to this running gag.
      Person: Hey, aren't you Cinna—
      Gang Member: Don't say it!
      • That's because Carrie is Cinnamon's sister.
    • Ultra-Humanite complaining about Lex Luthor having more villain cred than he does.
  • San Dimas Time: In "Scooby-Doo, When Are You?", a scientist from the Flintstones' time tests a Time Machine by pulling Mystery, Inc. from the "future" and tells them it'll likely take from three to four years before he's able to send them back. Shaggy is worried because he forgot to water his plants. The Great Gazoo tries to use his power to send them back but he "overshoots" and sends them to The Jetsons. An archaeological team working for Mr. Spacely had already found the time machine by then and George Jetson uses it to send them to the very point in time it took them from in the first place.
  • Scarecrow Solution:
    • The Top Cat crossover features two realtors whose project threatens the local suburbs. Since what they're doing isn't illegal, no matter how despicable they are, Officer Dibble pulls the Bedsheet Ghost trick to get rid of them. It takes some time to convince them it's a real ghost since Top Cat had previously tried the trick to keep his illegal gambling operation a secret and dressing up as a ghost is the first thing they teach at realtor school and, when they're finally convinced, they flee not in fear of the ghost itself but of how unprofitable the land they want becomes because of it.
    • The ghost gangsters at the Black Lightning crossover are students trying to scare Tobias Whale's gang away.
  • "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: What did you expect? In the first issue, the multiple Man-Bats running around turn out to be normal criminals who were disguising themselves to take advantage of the fear caused by the real Man-Bat, who was also at large.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Simon Stagg believes it to the point he considers a monster to be not even human because "That monster won't even take cash to go away".
  • Self-Deprecation: Sam Simeon discussing artwork with Myron.
    Velma: Well, don't tell me those two are brothers!
    Angel: Worse. They're both comic book artists!
  • Shooting Superman: While working under the belief that Daphne is Supergirl, Nashthalthia decides to shoot Daphne to prove her theory.
  • Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: The issue is brought up during the Black Lightning crossover. Fred says the gang graduated a while ago but they study for advanced degrees online.
    Fred: Velma's majoring in criminology. I'm studying engineering... especially building traps. Daphne's into semiotics and molecular neurobiology. Shaggy's field is cooking.
    Shaggy: And eating.
    Fred: And Scooby takes classes from an online obedience school.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In the story "Two Mites Make It Wrong", Scooby-Mite (Scooby's biggest fan, à la Bat-Mite for Batman) tries to modernize the Scooby gang and goes through several incarnations, including references to Men in Black, Ghostbusters, and My Little Pony.
    • The Men in Black are referenced again by an alien hunter claiming to be from a group known as "Men in Plaid" until his female partner corrects him by saying "Persons in Plaid".
    • Atom Ant references Spider-Man when asked how he became so strong.
      Velma: Jinkies! That was an awfully impressive feat of strength! How did a tiny ant like you get so strong, anyway?
      Atom Ant: Would you believe I was bitten by a radioactive human?
      Velma: It seems unlikely.
    • In one of the most obscure references out there, a mad scientist decides that one of his test subjects should be Magilla Gorilla wearing a modified scuba helmet
    • In the one with Secret Squirrel at one point Fred dresses like James Bond, Daphne and Velma dresses Emma Peel and John Steed while Shaggy and Scooby dress like the spies from Spy vs Spy.
  • Significant Anagram: Madame Tregani is Granite Lady in disguise.
  • Sir Verba Lot: At the beginning of "Out of this World", Velma reveals the real identity of Sir Haunts-a-Lot.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: The Great Gazoo. He shows up at the end of the crossover with The Flintstones to send the meddling kids back to their own time but he mistakenly sends them to the Jetsons' time, allowing the next issue to happen.
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: During the crossover with The Jetsons, boy-crazy daughter Judy develops a crush on Fred Jones, seemingly for no reason other than his handsome appearance. Fred is uncomfortable with it.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Usually Supergirl's parents are as dead as everything else on Krypton. In this continuity, they are still alive, but stuck in the Phantom Zone. They are kind of okay with it, though — they may be ghosts for all means and purposes, and their daughter doesn't knows their fate, but they can still watch over her.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike:
    • Subverted. In Issue #30 (digital chapter #59), two government agents agree there's only one team to call to deal with a mysterious supernatural menace. One of them called Mystery Inc. and the other called the Challengers of the Unknown.
    • Played straight with Gorilla Grodd and King Solovar of Gorilla City. Both of them think all humans look alike.
  • Stripperiffic: Huntress' costume here is skimpier than any other version of the Huntress — both Helena Bertinelli and Helena Wayne.
  • Superpowers For A Day:
  • Sure, Let's Go with That:
    • Fred notices that he and his friends "were just watching a concert by the singing Impossibles, and now the superhero Impossibles show up to save the day!" He says "that can only mean one thing": the superhero Impossibles are also fans of the singing Impossibles. Fluid-Man plays along.
      Fluid-Man: Uh... yes. Sure. We're, uh, fans.
    • In "Out of this World", once the names of the Martian Manhunter and his alien friends are cleared, the Persons in Plaid explain the aliens they "captured" were just taken to safety and would have explained it to the others earlier but fell asleep. It was a telepathy-induced sleep but the aliens who caused this decided to hide this fact.
      The Son of Saturn: Oh... yes. Um... sleep. You really should... go to bed earlier at night.
  • Take That!:
    • The aforementioned reference to Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
    • Issue 50 takes multiple shots at Arrow.
    • To disco music.
      Supergirl: It looks like he's hearing some sort of painful sound.
      Shaggy: Like disco?
  • They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: When Scooby and the gang team up with Secret Squirrel, Mystery Inc dresses up like secret agents in fiction. Secret Squirrel tells them that real secret agents try to blend in to the crowd by dressing up in regular clothes.
  • 30 Minutes, or It's Free!: In the "Dastardly & Muttley" crossover, it's revealed that Yankee Doodle Pigeon delivers pizza from a fast-food restaurant that guarantees "to deliver pizzas in less than fifteen minutes or they're free". Dastardly and his men try to stop the pigeon because they work for a rival fast food business.
  • Tornado Move: The Hooded Claw does this a few times in "Perils Before Swine". In one of those instances, he's standing on top of the Bully Brothers totem-pole style, and they complain that his spinning makes them dizzy.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Green Arrow and Green Lantern act like this when they drop in, apropos of their "Hard-Travelling Heroes" attitude.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: The Nazi Vampire Gorilla is upset at the many weaknesses he has as a vampire: garlic, silver, religious symbols, sunlight. As a gorilla, he already finds it bad enough having to drink blood because gorillas are vegetarians.
  • What Are Records?: In "Scooby-Doo, When Are You?", a prehistoric Time Machine brings the gang to the Flintstones' time. In some aspects, the stone age is more modern than the gang expected but the record player makes Shaggy comment to Scooby that they must be really prehistoric.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: Throughout the Jetsons crossover, it's noted how hard it makes it on George and his family with Mr. Spacely always calling him in to the office. It even turns out to be the reason behind the Space-Age Specter.
  • Who's Laughing Now?: After Sabbac mocks Ibac for being tricked into saying his transforming word, he's tricked as well and Ibac asks "Who's the dolt now?".
  • You Don't Look Like You:
    • Even though they're implied to be the same, the Super Friends Robin and the Teen Titans Go! Robin are still vastly different characters. In Starfire's next appearance, she's more like the Teen Titans version. The first case is lampshaded and discussed by Fred and Daphne, who guess that Robin just acts differently around his friends.
    • The Queen Hippolyta who's introduced to the gang when they're taken to the 1940s is supposed to be a past self of the Queen Hippolyta they previously met during the Wonder Woman segment but Past!Hippolyta is a black-eyed brunette and Present!Hippolyta is a blue-eyed blonde.
    • When Scooby-Mite is introduced in chapter 5/issue #3, he looks like a normal imp wearing a Scooby costume. When he reappears in chapter #99/issue #50, he looks like an impified Scooby-Doo.
  • You Meddling Kids: In addition to the occasions where the original catchphrase is used straight, several issues use variations appropriate to the crossover, such as the villain blaming the guest stars instead of the Mystery Inc gang. In the Jonny Quest crossover, the villain does credit the Mystery Inc gang with his defeat, but refers to them as "meddling young adults" because they're significantly older than Johnny and Hadji, the meddling kids he usually has to deal with.

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