If there's one thing we can count on from major comic brands, it's that the allure of teaming up their characters together in one book is an opportunity to make a lot of cash. The intercompany crossover extends back to the 70's and even earlier. Today, we begin a two part spotlight on some teams we can build that span more than one universe!

Just... no Access. Sorry.

One of the first big name crossovers was in 1976 when Spider-Man and Superman met in a story dealing with Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus. Since then, every company has at one point or another had one of their characters meet those from others. Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, you name it. In fact, both Spidey and Supes have had more than a few crossovers since their initial meeting way back when (including a second team-up between the two in 1981).


One of Superman's biggest crossovers was with the Fantastic Four in 1999. Literally, it was huge. It was an oversized edition where the First Family and the Last Son of Krypton went up against the Cyborg Superman and Galactus.

sm001 V Superman
Team: Superman Ally
Range: 8
Points: 300
Keywords: Kryptonian, Metropolis, Reporter, Scientist

11 12 18 5

11 11 18 5

10 10 18 5

9 12 17 4

9 11 17 4

9 11 17 4

9 10 16 3

8 10 16 3

8 10 17 3

7 9 16 2

6 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

si101 V Mr. Fantastic
Team: Fantastic Four
Range: 6
Points: 100
Keywords: Fantastic Four, Illuminati, Scientist

9 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 9 15 2

8 8 15 2

7 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Pliable: Mr. Fantastic can use Leap/Climb and Plasticity
(Defense) Ductile: Mr. Fantastic can use Super Senses and Barrier (as if he had a range of 0). When a Barrier terrain marker placed by Mr. Fantastic is destroyed, roll a d6; on a result of 1, deal 1 damage to Mr. Fantastic.
(Damage) Inventive Genius: Mr. Fantastic can use Perplex, but he can modify the target's combat values by +2 or -2 if he is targeting himself of another character with which he shares a keyword.

si102 V Invisible Woman
Team: Fantastic Four
Range: 6
Points: 100
Keywords: Fantastic Four

9 9 17 2

9 9 17 2

9 10 17 2

8 10 16 2

8 10 16 2

7 9 15 1

7 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Invisible: Any character that is 7 or more squares from the Invisible Woman can't draw a line of fire to her.
(Defense) Force Fields: Invisible Woman can use Barrier and Invulnerability.

si103 V Human Torch
Team: Fantastic Four
Range: 8
Points: 100
Keywords: Celebrity, Fantastic Four

10 10 17 3

10 10 16 3

8 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 8 15 2

6 8 15 1

6 7 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Fiery Streak: Human Torch can use Running Shot. When he does not use the Carry ability while moving, Human Torch does not have to end his movement if he enters a square adjacent to an opposing character.
(Defense) Flame On!: Human Torch can use Energy Shield/Deflection and Poison. When Human Torch is given a move action or power action, immediately after resolving the action, he can use Smoke Cloud as a free action, but can place hindering terrain only in squares he moved through or occupied this turn.

si104 V The Thing
Team: Fantastic Four
Range: 0
Points: 100
Keywords: Brute, Fantastic Four, Soldier

7 10 18 4

7 11 18 3

6 11 18 3

8 10 17 3

8 9 17 3

7 9 17 3

7 8 16 3

6 8 15 4

6 8 15 4

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) It's Clobberin' Time: The Thing can use Quake. Give the Thing a power action; he can move up to his speed value and then as a free action either (1) use Quake or (2) make a close combat attack.
(Defense) Yancy Streeter: The Thing can use Toughness and Willpower.
(Damage) Yer Ever-Lovin' Pal: At the beginning of your turn, if the Thing is adjacent to one or more friendly characters that have one or more action tokens, roll a d6. On a result of 5 or 6, you can remove an action token from one adjacent friendly character, or two adjacent friendly characters if they and the Thing all possess a single common keyword.

There's a definite temptation to use the SR Fantastic Four figures from the Galactic Guardians and Captain America sets, but for a hundred points less, using the FF Starter Set pieces give us the means to modify a value on Supes by +2 and maybe take a token off him at the beginning of the turn if he's next to Thing. All in addition to Invisible Woman being able to TK him into action. So you're looking at a solid 700 point team here.


Working with the Fantastic Four wouldn't be the only time Superman teams with a Marvel character that deals in the cosmic. Three years earlier, Superman met the Silver Surfer. Just take Superman at his 150 point level (main set or Fast Forces, your call), and pair him with the Surfer from the Galactic Guardians CTD set. Makes for an easy 300 point team. But if you want to get really silly, that story featured the two dealing with the meeting of Impossible Man and Mr. Mxyzptlk.

si052 V Impossible Man
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 72
Keywords:

9 9 16 1

8 8 16 1

7 8 16 1

7 7 15 1

7 7 15 1

6 7 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Damage) Pest: The Impossible Man can use Outwit, Probability Control, and Shape Change.

jl041 U Mr. Mxyzptlk
Team: Superman Enemy
Range: 6
Points: 107
Keywords:

8 8 18 1

9 8 18 1

10 8 17 1

11 7 17 1

11 7 17 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) KLTPZYXM!: Mr Mxyzptlk can use Phasing/Teleport. When he does, roll a d6 before moving him. On a result of 1, deal Mr. Mxyzptlk 1 unavoidable damage, place him in an unoccupied square in his starting area, and then move him normally.
(Attack) Object Animation: Give Mr. Mxyzptlk a power action and roll a d6 for each opposing character that has zero or one action token, that is in a square 4 or fewer squares away to which Mr. Mxyzptlk has a clear line of fire, and that is carrying an object or adjacent to or occupies either a square of hindering terrain or a square that has an object. On a result of 3-6 give the character an action token.

This wacky duo come out to 179 points. Just add Armor Piercing on them both and you're bound to annoy your opponent.


Of course, Superman wasn't the only guy to have gotten the opportunity to particpate in a big crossover. Spider-Man has had quite a few himself. One of the best he's had was actually in the pages of a (then) ongoing Marvel comic, as opposed to a one-shot or miniseries. It was in Marvel Team-Up volume three, issue #14 where Spider-Man and Invincible met during writer Robert Kirkman's run on that series.

ih038 E Spider-Man
Team: Fantastic Four|Spider-Man
Range: 4
Points: 90
Keywords: Fantastic Four, Reporter

9 11 17 3

9 10 18 3

8 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

7 9 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Surprise! I'm Under You!: Spider-Man can use Leap/Climb. When Spider-Man makes a close combat attack targeting a character on a higher elevation, modify Spider-Man's attack and damage values by +1.
(Damage) Distracting Banter: If an opposing character attacked Spider-Man and missed, modify that character's defense value by -1 until that character's next turn.

iv001 E Invincible
Team: Guardians of the Globe
Range: 0
Points: 109
Archenemy: Omni-Man (Blue)
Keywords: Guardians of the Globe, Teen

9 10 17 3

10 10 16 3

8 9 16 3

8 9 17 2

10 8 16 2

9 8 16 1

8 8 15 2

8 7 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Spidey and Invincible come out to 199. Another cheap team, but you can have Spidey wildcard the Guardians of the Globe ATA, because, you know... that TA is so useful. Anyways, Spidey would also make a number of appearances in other crossovers, teaming with the likes of a bunch of people that haven't been clixed... and Batman.


Speaking of Batman, there's a guy who gets around. He's like a crossover slut. You name 'em and he's probably met 'em. Take for example in '98 when writer James Robinson and artist Mike Mignola brought their original characters Jack Knight and Hellboy together with Batsy for Batman/Starman/Hellboy.

bm001 Batman
Team: Batman Ally
Range: 6
Points: 200
Keywords: Batman Family, Gotham City, Justice League, Justice League International, Outsiders

9 12 18 3

10 11 17 3

9 10 17 2

10 10 16 2

9 11 18 3

8 10 16 3

8 10 16 2

8 10 17 3

8 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Improved) Swingline: Improved Movement: Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Outdoor Blocking Terrain, Ignores Characters
(Special) Team Leader: At the beginning of the game, choose a keyword Batman possesses. All friendly characters with that keyword and a lower point value can use the Batman Ally team ability while Batman is on the map.
(Attack) I Will Not Fail Gotham: When Batman is marked with one action token, modify his attack value by +1.

cj066 V Starman
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 10
Points: 63
Keywords: Justice Society, Opal City

10 9 16 2

10 8 15 2

10 7 14 1

8 7 14 1

8 6 13 2

8 6 13 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

hb001 U Hellboy
Team: B.P.R.D.
Range: 6
Points: 125
Keywords: BPRD, Monster

8 10 17 3

8 10 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 9 15 2

7 11 14 2

6 10 14 2

6 9 14 2

5 8 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

It's up to you if you want to use Batman at the 200 point or 100 point level. Either way, you're going to be left with 12 points to fill. I'd probably go with Spotter for Jack and Unstoppable for Hellboy.


Now if that Bat-crossover isn't to your liking, or challenging enough, in 2004, he teamed with the ladies of Danger Girl. Not all of them though. Apparently Natalia Kassle was a turncoat somewhere along the way. So it's just Batsy and the other two.

in075 V Abbey Chase
Team: Danger Girl
Range: 8
Points: 52
Keywords: Danger Girls, Martial Artist, Spy

10 8 14 2

9 7 14 2

8 7 14 2

7 6 13 1

6 6 13 1

5 5 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

in018 V Sydney Savage
Team: Danger Girl
Range: 4
Points: 42
Keywords: Danger Girls, Spy

7 8 15 2

6 8 14 2

6 7 14 2

5 7 13 1

5 6 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Since Abbey and Sydney come out to 94 points, and more importantly, their attacks aren't higher than an eight, you should probably go with the 200 point Batman for a 300 point build. Just throw the ladies at your enemies to tie 'em up and hope that you get those Danger Girl rolls.


Our last build of this article is one of the biggest crossovers of all time. In the early 1980's, the two top selling books were The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. Bringing them together? The threat of Dark Phoenix, Darkseid and Deathstroke. I'm not going to go through the dials for each character since this will be a really big build. Probably 1100 to 1200 points. I mean, on the X-Men's side of things, we had Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Kitty Pryde. On the Titans side was Robin, Kid Flash, Donna Troy, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire. Plus, we know for a fact that that exact Titans lineup is going to be one of the team dials in the Titans set next year. So if you'd rather wait a while to play this group, then there's good reason.

Thanks for joining us for the first part of our look at some crossover teams we can build. Next time, we spend a little more time with the merry mutants, visit some more Indy characters and we look a bit forward!

Awesome love crossovers

wow. you jammed a lot in one post. Great read!

I liked the Superman Fantastic Four Idea, its plain evil.

Didn't know about the teen titans / x-men cross over
Didn't know it was during the "dark phoenix saga" period
Very interested in reading this one now !

Thank you !

It would be interesting to hear the back and forth from the Marvel & DC people over whose characters are the best, strongest.

This is why we need Grendel clix.

Batman and Grendel? Awesome.

Nice write up! We should do a scenario like this at H&V. Maybe it doesn't have to be comic accurate, but 2 theme teams from different universes that still count as theme together.

nice, wonder if Marvel and DC will EVER do another cross-over story. i do miss them, you didn't mentioned the JLA/Avengers one which was great and didn't mention Almagam stories-guess that's a different reveiw.

I love that Invincible/Spidey team up. I actually used him and Omni-Man with Atom Eve last week. That's an older set that can still hold its own if mixed in with other pieces. I may have to use Spidey and Invincible on a team this week thanks to this article!

It's been so long since I've read Teen Titans/X-Men. I may have to hunt a copy down since I don't believe I own a copy anymore.

The highlight of it that I remember? Deathstroke beats the tar outta the X-Men like they owed him money. At that point I didn't really know who Deathstroke was but my first thought was "Dang. He just put down Wolverine like a he was a rank amatuer. This dude is LEGIT. And the way he handled the other X-Men? Too legit to quit".

... Yeah, I first read this as a kid in the 90's, so that "Too Legit To Quit" reference is quite accurate.

600 pt galactus
sm034 as a herald

100 pts left over...
unless there were other baddies in that comic that leaves 70pts of cardboard or (ugh) gauntlet and 60pts of cardboard

Joe Quesada; who's been busy ruining Marvel Comics for me, screwed the pooch for any of those to happen again.

One of my favorite crossovers was when Spiderman and Superman teamed up against Dr. Doom and the Parasite. It had the Hulk and Wonder Woman in smaller roles.

That was an awesome story.