BW’s Daily Video> How To Build A Shared Universe

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It should also be said that the DC and Marvel universes didn’t start of as shared. They were just a series of random anthologies, then a bunch of character were popular enough to have their own comic, and then you ended up with the Justice Society or Superman and Batman hanging out as the two post popular characters. You had similar events going on at Atlas, the company that became Marvel Comics, as some of their heroes joined Captain America in fighting Nazis.

Too many modern attempts at a shared universe don’t feel organic. They’re doing it just because it’s cool, not because they actually have some great character that fit together in the same space. Some Image characters have crossed over before. Valiant and Malibu’s Ultraverse managed to do a good job with the idea but only because they had characters who could share a universe but operate on their own. It felt more organic than, for example, the shared universe Hasbro and IDW tried to give us with their properties just because G.I. Joe and Transformers had a few crossovers. Those were forced and they showed.

The MCU also succeeded at because they took the time to earn it while the “Dark Universe” and DCEU didn’t. Now MCU creators seem to be against their own concept and formula while others continue to do it badly because they’re doing it to be popular and make more money rather than the franchise needing spinoffs and expanded casts. Once again, it comes down to the needs of the story fueling creativity while the need for the money ruins its own shot at victory.