Marvel-DC Merged Universe Community Project...

I would love to write something, but I'm horrible at motivating myself to write things that I can actually make a living off of, so you can imagine how well motivating myself to write fanfiction works.

Hey guys! Sorry bout being MIA. Just Christmas and New Years and Family and Partying going on round here. So I just saw the message and if its cool with you guys I'd like to volunteer to write stories involving S.H.I.E.L.D and Cadmus. I'm working on one right now concerning a team of S.H.I.E.L.D investigators [King Faraday, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Floyd Lawton (on loan from the U.S Government of course)] uncovering a terrorist plot 57 years in the making.

I also have an idea for a story where T.O. Morrow takes control over Cadmus ala Die Hard.

edited 30th Dec '13 5:34:11 AM by AtomJames

That Die Hard thing sounds awesome.

"Now I have an Iron Man. Ho ho ho."

"Hank Pym was just an ordinary polymath super-scientist with multiple personality disorder, a history of nervous breakdowns, and a guilt complex. Also he could grow 50 feet tall. But today, he faces his greatest challenge: a boring Christmas party! Also terrorists."

Hank actually IS the hero of the story! :P

Saw the message. I have some ideas, but I'm not 100% decided. Although I'm strongly considering a cosmic story.

Sounds good.

Just take some time, and think about what you want to do and how you want to do it. What characters would you like to use? What stories or events from either company might inspire you?

edited 30th Dec '13 5:32:54 AM by kkhohoho

I know I want to use Galactus and elements of the fourth world, also, I will use the multiverse. Time travel may be involved, if I can make enough sense of it. For scale and complexity, I want this to be on the level of your story or Vampire Buddha's Crisis Crossover.

I remember a cross-over story where Galactus set his sights on Apocalips and Darkseid wages the an all out attack on him. He loses of course and Galactus tries to consume the planet he finds that he gets no nourishment and that Darkseid knew he wouldnt. He fought him simply because he couldnt stand the thought of losing it.

Theres a great story waiting to be told there ;)

Speaking of time-travel, how exactly do we want it to work? Do we just have a big Timey-Wimey Ball, or do we actually try to have a firm set of unchanging rules? (The key word being 'try'...)

edited 30th Dec '13 8:01:43 AM by kkhohoho

Timey whimey does fit both universes really well, but I think we can get creative. Besides your golden age story features time travel doesnt it?

Yes, but for a long time. Well, maybe. I've very lightly touched on it with Hourman, but I'm not going to actually use it for a while, and even then, most of that will be related to Hourman. The big Time Travel stuff will only come at the beginning of Season 3, which is a long way off.

I've also been thinking about a story or two in my Golden Age series with Per Detagon. (Time-traveling Supervillain.) I'm not sure exactly how those stories would work, but I have some ideas; one of them would incidentally happen in the first season. So I guess we might to decide how Time Travel works sooner rather then later.

edited 30th Dec '13 8:34:20 AM by kkhohoho

Ok what if time isnt imutable at all? what if reality as we know is in constant flux? what if, in the most basic sense of the word, reality as we know it is aware and tries to shrug off and adapt to any changes that are placed on it? This would explain how a) Kang the Conqueror could have multiple versions of himself roaming round and b)why the time gem, and by extension the other infinity gems, is so powerful; it silences reality!

edited 30th Dec '13 9:23:51 AM by AtomJames

That works.

This is why I wanted to make sense of it before deciding to use it. My "plan" right now is that changing time creates parallel universes, and when you go "back" after changing it, you end up in the new timline, but the original one still exists.

Well now, we have two different theories of how time travel should work. We're going to have pick one of them; I vote for Atome James, as it sort makes a weird kind of chaotic sense, given the nature of time-travel in fiction, and also gives all of the different writers in this project some freedom with time-travel should they decided to use it. I know I will, at one point or another. In fact, if you look closley, I may have already used it...

Also, Chapter 13 is up. A bit of Character Development, but mainly setting up the next few Chapters, which involves visiting Jay's girlfriend Joan for a bit before rounding up some new recruits, including the first couple of Public Domain characters in the series.

edited 30th Dec '13 8:50:03 AM by kkhohoho

I really like how spot on your writing is in terms of era. I can read them and imagine characters from this period of time talking like this. :) I also love what you've been doing thus far Khoho :)

Also a brief summary of my Hank Die Hard story:

6 months ago a battle between The Royal Flush Gang and the likes of Mr Terrific and The X-Men was brought to the Stryker's Island, where an elderly T.O Morrow is kept. By pure chance he stumbles upon a stray T-Sphere.

6 months later the brightest minds are brought together at Cadmus HQ in order to discuss and brainstorm a incoming disaster. T.O. Morrow is brought in (he was on good behaviour) where he uses reversed engineered T-Spheres to disable and control HQ where he plans to use the organization's collective resources to finally have one last crack at global domination.

Very basic idea but its getting there.

Sounds good. Question though; if you're using the Modern!Mr.Terrific, does that mean we're going to have Modern! JSA, or not? (Which in this verse would the Modern!IJ, but still.) Or is Mr.Terrific going to be a lone hero, ala Nu52? (Well, before he was sucked into Earth2, anyhow...)

EDIT: Oh, and thanks for the compliments. I may have said this earlier, but I've actually been wanting to do a series like this for a while, though at first, it only involved DC. In fact, it even had Superman and Batman in it, (and Aquaman&Green Arrow too,) though of course, I can't use them in the verse this series takes place in, Time Travel aside. I guess I just decided that now was the time to write this series, and honestly, I'm glad I did.

edited 30th Dec '13 10:11:05 AM by kkhohoho

I'm in the process of writing an origin issue for Superman and the Fantastic Four. I'm up to four pages.

As for time travel, well, I have an idea about that.

When someone makes a choice or a random event happens, the universe divides in two - in one universe, one choice/outcome is the result, in the other, the other thing happens. Thus, if you plot the way the universe branches, you get a picture rather like a tree.

You can go back in time to an earlier point, and as you do, you get closer to the 'trunk'. You can also travel forward in time, taking a series of branch points to one of many futures.

Thus, you can travel to many futures, but if you want to go to a different past, you have to go to an earlier point and then take a number of branch points forward to your desired year and circumstance.

For example, someone in 1935 can travel forward to a 1955 where the Nazis won, and one where they lost. However, someone in the 1985 where the Nazis lost can't travel back to the 1955 where they won; they would have to go back to 1935 or earlier and then go forward, making sure to take the right branches.

Since events all across the universe cause branches, it's possible for two of a person to end up at an earlier point. If the branch point was the decay of a radioactive atom on Thanagar, the two copies would be utterly identical.

Conservation of mass applies to time travel - when you travel through time, an amount of mass equal to your body is sent from the destination time to replace you. If you go to the past, you will automatically create a new timeline by your very presence, but the universe to which you return will hopefully be close enough.

I you go back in time and cancel the circumstances which led you to travel back in time, when you return to your own time, you will be a double of the person who never went back (if you exist at all).

If you kill your grandfather or otherwise cause yourself to never be born, then when you return to the future, you find yourself in a world where you never existed and will have trouble with documentation.

...That works.

In other news, Chapter 14 is up, introducing Dr.Nemesis of recent X-Men fame.

sounds great to me too!

Ok just further elaborating my Die Hard story, which I've refined somewhat.

6 months ago, a battle between Weather Wizard and the combined forces of Mr. Terrific* and the X-Men is brought to Strykers Island Penitentiary, where former hero**-turned villain, T.O Morrow, discovers a stray T-Sphere.

6 months later, a meeting is convened at Cadmus to brainstorm solutions to the long-term ecological damage individuals like Weather Wizard, Ororo Munroe and Thor are causing after their battles. Due to his past experiences with Weather Control and his good behaviour, Morrow is invited. Unbeknownst to the others, Morrow has smuggled canisters of miniaturised*** T-Spheres -reversed engineered from the original at Strykers- and uses it to cut Cadmus' communications from the outside. He also gains control of its security measures, it's armoury and it's intelligence database and holds the facility hostage.

Amidst the chaos and confusion, Hank Pym, who declined his invitation to the meeting****, escapes and uses his powers***** and whatever's gadgets he can find to wage a one man war against Morrow and re-establish communications back to the outside. But things go from bad to worse as a S.H.I.E.L.D rescue team is cut down and Pym has to face down a brainwashed Superboy******

• To answer Khoho's question, this Mr. Terrific acts as a solo hero (who while capable of running with the big dogs and has done in the past) acts predominantly as a street hero.
  • I proposed once that, in the past, Doc Magnus, T.O Morrow and a very young Reed Richards were a scientist hero/explorer team. I came up with this story with this information in mind, but if this isn't cool I can change things up.
    • I've always imagined the T-Spheres to be the size of a billiard ball. These mini spheres will be round the size of a marble. Another idea I had was to have Morrow keep such a tight eye on these spheres that he'd even name them after Sci-Fi writers. E.g. Asimov, Clarke, Wells, Verne etc.
      • This story takes place some time after Brainiac corrupts Ultron and is ultimately meant to serve as a character development for Hank as he regains his confidence after his (perceived) failure.
        • In the universe, Pym has the ability to both shrink and grow and calls himself Gi ANT-Man in order to reflect both of these powers. He will gain other identities (though not nearly as many) but this will be his "real" persona.
          • In case anyone has forgotten, Kon El actually lives at the Cadmus facility alongside Hank and Bruce, so his presence in this story is not out of left field.

Ok so thoughts.

I like it.

Most of it's good, but there's one thing that bothers me; if Hank declined the invitation to the Cadmus meeting, then why is he at Cadmus? It would be one thing if he snuck in after the fact, but you said he 'escapes', implying he was already there. ...Except that he apparently didn't go to the meeting that T.O.Morrow used to take over the facility. Honestly, I'm confused on this one...

edited 1st Jan '14 6:00:32 AM by kkhohoho

Like I said, Hank lives on site at the Cadmus facility. When I say he declines his invitation I mean he decides not to go to meeting and not give his opinions. Also he escapes Morrow's attention not the facility themselves. :)

Ah, okay.

EDIT: Chapter 15 is up. Hawkman and Hawkwoman ('Woman', not 'girl'; I know 'Hawkwoman' has been used at least once, and Sheira is a full grown woman here, so that's what she's gonna' be called,) are introduced, and the first Public Domain character is mentioned; the Scarab, who I've decided to include in the series, and may even be a member of the group, but he probably won't be a featured member. The Scarab is from Nedor Comics, which is probably going to be the Public Domain comic company that gets the most attention.

EDIT 2: Just an FYI, a tropes page for The Marvel DC Project is now up and located here, started by yours truly.

edited 1st Jan '14 3:41:46 PM by kkhohoho

I have a question about cursing. Marvel and DC seem, for the most part, to avoid bad words as though children still read their violent, sexy stories. So I figure we should decide baseline for cursing, beyond which we don't use those words at all.

I'm not saying everyone has to curse all the time; far from it. I'm just asking where we should draw the line.

So, here's a list of curses in order from worst to mildest. Tell me what the worst one that would still be acceptable is:

1. Fuck
2. Shit
3. Cunt
4. Bitch
5. Git
6. Bastard (insult)
7. Goddamn
8. Dick
9. Bugger
10. Tit
11. Crap
12. Asshole
13. Damn
14. Ass

Also, if we vote that bastard as an insult is verboten, what about bastard in the literal sense?

edited 1st Jan '14 3:41:05 PM by VampireBuddha