Trying to Please Everyone: Or Converting multiple Pop Culture Utopias into a Timeline.
- Thread starter Marco Incognito
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Godzilla: Showa Era(1954-1979)
Godzilla: Showa Era(1954-1979)
The Sequel: Godzilla Raids Again, was released a year later in 1955 and introduced a second Godzilla, along with the monster Anguirus. Despite sequels not being seen as profitable at the time in the US, the film was released under its translated title, distributed by AB-PT Studios, saving the company from bankruptcy and allowing it to persist in making monster films.
Then came the oddest of Sequels in 1956 titled Bride of Godzilla, the film focused on a scientist building a naked female robot to combat Godzilla, which he would then fall in love with. The robot then activated a nuke in its chest that self destructed, presumably killing Godzilla. The script also introduced a hollow Earth location filled with other Kaiju, including other Godzilla and Anguiruses, which appeared to be destroyed when the nuke went off. The Film is considered to have killed the Godzilla franchise for some time. One of the Kaiju depicted(A giant Archeopterix)was eventually revealed to have survived and starred in their own film as Rodan(Rodan was almost an Archeopterix, which was set to appear in Bride of Godzilla, since the film is made. Rodan is an Archeopterix here.
Design of Archeopterix Rhodan from Bride of Godzilla.
The Four Fathers of Godzilla shifted to other projects away from the Godzilla franchise, considering it done after a decent trilogy of films. The same team released The Mysterians in 1957, which featured Moguera as a Cyborg Monster to differentiate it from other Kaiju, including the Bride of Godzilla.
Then in 1962, Toho, having acquired the rights to both King Kong and Frankenstein from Universal(or at least permission to use them), chose to bring Godzilla back with a crossover for the ages in the form of Godzilla vs King Kong, as part of Toho's 30th Anniversary. Frankenstein was planned as well but removed. Filming took place in Sri Lanka. The film quickly removed scenes where Frankenstein was originally stated to appear(for example the element of King Kong eating electricity to gain power was changed to an electric shock from power lines instead basically functioning as a defibrillator and jump starting Kong's heart after he appears to die in one scene. The film began when Godzilla emerged from the water, a few lines reveal that an underground World had been destroyed in a Nuke(not mentioned but hinted to be from the explosion in Bride of Godzilla). An Island had now began to form when the remains of the underground world reached the Surface(becoming what was later known as Monster Island). The Island is being explored and a member of the King Kong species is discovered, which one greedy businessman has captured and taken back to Japan despite protests and the government outright forbidding him from doing so. It is hypothesized in the film that the King Kong of the original film was an infant and that Kong's species grows larger over time. The Film ended in an unclear victory. Two versions were shot and released, one for Japan and one for America. Both monsters fell into the ocean from a cliff. In the Japanese version, Godzilla emerged and left but King Kong did not. The Opposite occurred in the American release. Other Versions had neither monster emerge, implying they destroyed each other.
The film was a huge success and an immediate Sequel was made in 1963 titled Continuation: Godzilla vs. King Kong, released in English with the Punny name "Godzilla vs King Kong: The Battle Kongtinues". The Film begins with a Japanese plane crashing in Africa(and actual African extras were used), resulting in a search party lead by a man named Nomura. He discovers a single child survived the crash and is being cared for by Kong(the same Kong as Godzilla vs King Kong) in the ruins of an ancient city. When a giant scorpion arrives and battles Kong, Nomura rescues the child and they flee to Japan with Kong hot on their trail, believing they've kidnapped the boy. At the same time Godzilla's body washes up on shore and is found and transported to a theme park on an island in the Seto inland sea(Godzilla is thought dead but is actually in a form of hibernation due to injuries sustained by Kong as witnesses claimed to have seen Godzilla emerge from the water injured before collapsing. When Kong arrives at the theme park Godzilla awakens and the two battle again. It ends in a draw with each kaiju going their own ways but Kong goes straight to Japan looking for the child. Eventually Kong and Godzilla have a finally battle at Mt. Aso which erupts with both the kaiju being swallowed up by the Volcano.
Godzilla was subject to another crossover, this time with Mothra, as Godzilla vs Mothra was released in 1964. The Film concerned a Mothra egg washing up on the shores of the fictional country of Rolisica(an odd mix of both the American and Russian sides of the Cold War, possibly a commentary on how to the Japanese the two were no different. Godzilla awakens and heads towards Rolisica, leading to the people requesting Mothra's assistance. Mothra, in their Imago(adult) form, fought Godzilla but was killed. The Mothra egg hatched and the twin larva inside then attacked together and defeated Godzilla by trapping him in silk and causing his tied up form to fall into the Ocean.
Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster introduced the titular Monster, who required an alliance of Rodan, Godzilla and Mothra to defeat.The biggest difference is that due to the Two Godzilla vs King Kong films being a success, there is a bigger budget and the creators are able to have Mothra fly in the film(OTL version of the movie only depicts a Larval Mothra due to already having two monsters that fly).This film ended up being a turning point in Godzilla's life in Universe, as they enjoyed fighting to save the Earth from Ghidorah and from then on became a hero(something translated by Mothra's little helpers).
In 1965, Toho launched the first in their Frankenstein Toho series, directed by Ishiro Honda. The story featured German Scientists uncovering the Frankenstein Monster but failing to awaken it, leading it to be moved to Hiroshima for further tests in the hopes it could be used to create an undead army and turn the tide of the War. When Hiroshima is nuked, the Frankenstein Monster is mutated into a giant, which awaken to rampage across Japan, battling the monster Baragon un the process. That same year saw the release of Invasion of the Astro Monster, which once more pit Godzilla and Rodan against Ghidorah.
Still from the Stop Motion Rankin and Bass The King Kong Show.
In 1966, Toho wanted to create a King Kong series. They worked in collaboration with Rankin and Bass to create the stop motion series The King Kong Show. The Story concerns the Son of Kong, from the film of the same name and shows the ape survive the sinking of Skull Island and end up on nearby Mondo Island, where he is found by a Doctor named Bond and his family(a passing joke implies he is related to the special Agent James Bond). With the family, Kong battles the evil Dr. Who. The series was implied to be set between Son of Kong and Godzilla vs King Kong, giving the series a time frame between 1934 and 1962, making it a prequel to Godzilla vs King Kong. To Continue the franchise, a Live Action Adaptation was planned which would revive Kong after the events of Continuation: Godzilla vs King Kong.Kong would be rescued from the Volcano by his old friends from his series and engages in battle with the giant Lobster Sea Monster Ebirah, while also falling in love with a woman(The original plan for what became Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, later changed to include Godzilla, leading to Godzilla showing some odd behavior often attributed to Godzilla, such as falling in love with a human woman. The Film was titled King Kong vs the Sea Monster.
with King Kong helming his own series, another Crossover was planned. The Batman TV Series starring Adam West and Burt Ward was becoming popular. A strange idea was conceived to have a crossover movie between Batman and Godzilla. Remarkably the idea was agreed to, becoming a film in 1967 titled Batman Meets Godzilla. The plot went a little something like this:
Screenshot from Batman Meets Godzilla(Frequently memed).
Barbara Gordon and her father, Commissioner Gordon, are taking a boat across the Far East when one of Barbara's friends from Vassar, Reiko Hammamoto, appears. Eventually, a tidal wave capsizes their boat that was seemingly caused by Klaus Finster, a German meteorologist who, after 20 years of being holed up in Argentina, has migrated to Japan; and now has a secret lair underneath Mount Fuji. Finster is played by iconic actor Boris Karloff. The mad Finster claims to have a weather machine that he'll use to destroy Japan unless given 20 million dollars worth of gold. He has also recruited Batman's top four villains(The Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin and Catwoman). Gordon realizes there are only two men for this job; the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder themselves, Batman and Robin.
Unknown to the Dynamic Duo and their allies, Finster doesn't have control over the weather, but actually has control over Godzilla. Finster uses his control to make the giant reptile leave the Mariana Trench and head towards Japan once more. Batman and Robin, after battling a robotic copy of their ally Count Draidl and the villains, meet with Gordon and the Japanese police. Batman, having suspicions of Godzilla's involvement, watches footage of the beast's battle with King Kong to make sure he's right(actually just the movie).
A waiting game ensues, and when a Kabuki show turns into a sword fight, Reiko is revealed to be one of Finster's spy robots after an accidental decapitation. Batman and Robin give chase to Finster and the villains, and the duo are trapped in a poison gas chamber that was disguised as a taxi cab. Barbara, now having donned the Batgirl attire, frees them with a pocket-sized blowtorch. After a chase through a Japanese bathhouse, they finally encounter Godzilla; this first time is a turbulent recon mission in the Batcopter.
The mission causes Batman to go into a state of nervous agitation, and they take a bullet train to Osaka when word arrives that the city is Finster's next target. They eventually devise a plan; lure Godzilla with a mating call and knock the giant out with explosives. After this, he surveys the Japanese people, who unanimously vote to send the creature into space.
With their plan in place, and after a chase and fight with Klaus Finster and the villains that ends with the villains defeated and the mad scientist falling to his death, Batman, Batgirl and Robin all engage Godzilla with their vehicles, with the giant beast grabbing Batgirl during the fight. Batman, unflinchingly, uses the call anyways, causing Godzilla to throw Barbara Gordon away, with the young woman landing all the way at the Daibutsu Buddha. Batman scales Godzilla(in a scene calling back to the scenes of Batman scaling the walls) and plants the bomb on his neck, tying it to the beast with Batrope before he moves to safety and detonates it, knocking the beast out.
Japanese scientists build a rocket around Godzilla while he is unconscious, before ultimately launching the rocket into orbit above the Earth's surface, with Godzilla forever contained within(at least until the next movie).
Then Came All Monsters Attack Directive( "Godzilla: All Monsters Attack" in English, OTL All Monsters Attack does not exist, being a bizarre attempt to make Godzilla appeal to kids that fell flat and featuring Minilla, which does not exist ITL as Batman meets Godzilla took the spot of the film that canonically introduced him, meaning the idea was not conceived before Toho decided to attempt to end the franchise) in 1968, the film intended to be the Distant finale to the Godzilla franchise. Set in 1999, all Tokyo Monsters have been exiled to Monster Island. Every single(alive) Kaiju appeared in the film, including those from other franchises like the King Kong and Frankenstein series. This also included, Gaira the Green Gargantua, Maguma the giant walrus from Gorath, Ebirah,Baragon, Varan, King Kong and others.
The plot kicks off when aliens called the Kilaaks return to Earth, having discovered and brainwashed Godzilla as their weapon. The monsters are brainwashed by the aliens until the United Nations Science Committee discover the technology allowing the brainwashing and fight monsters with monsters, ending with the aliens revealing a much stronger and more advanced King Ghidorah as a secret weapon which all the monsters then destroy in an intense fight where they work together.
This was not the end of Toho's Kaiju films. Space Amoeba came out in 1970. The Destruction caused is far more global(as originally planned. Many of the "What could have beens" involving the Godzilla franchise are caused by Budget reasons, to butterfly them away, the Godzilla franchise here is more successful, mostly due to better marketing in the West(an even bigger customer base) and the many crossovers(King Kong and Batman), along with some ironic enjoyment(Bride of Godzilla and the general surreal nature of Godzilla fighting Batman and King Kong brings the movie into enjoyable insanity territory). Since the destruction is much worse in Space Amoeba(entire Continents are sunk), the film is set in the very distant future. The special effects were supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya, the last film he worked on before his death of a heart attack(OTL the Heart Attack killed him during the film. Here he lives long enough to finish it).
Godzilla returned with Godzilla vs Hedorah in 1971, which was chronologically set after Godzilla's return in All Monsters Attack. The film was a hit and led to a sequel by the same director, Yoshimitsu Banno, who was delighted to make a second film, simply Godzilla vs Hedorah 2 in 1972. 1972 also saw the release of Godzilla Meets Ultraman a collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions, creators of the Ultra Series and saw Godzilla fight a family of monsters, which he needed the aid of the UltraSeven(An Ultraman sequel series set in the "Not too distant Future" now retconned to be 1999 to gel with the events of All Monsters Attack. Time Travel brought the original Ultra Man in as well to defeat the Monsters(Based on the cancelled Godzilla vs Redmoon with the Ultra Series thrown in since Tsuburaya Productions was collaborating with Toho on this one).
Drawing Commemorating Godzilla vs Gamera.
(Two more films have been butterflied away, the first is Godzilla vs Gigan as the new setting for the Godzilla movies and death of King Ghidorah at the hands of most of the Toho monsters means creators are less willing to overwrite his death in All Monsters Attack and so do not bring him back. Godzilla vs Megalon does not exist as Jet Jaguar is not created, largely because Toho now has a working relationship with Tsuburaya Productions. Why make a giant monster fighting superhero when you can legally use the most famous Giant monster fighting Superhero of all time? In place of Godzilla vs Megalon is another long awaited crossover(since Toho Godzilla in this Universe has sort of become the Crossover King, being for Crossover Movies what Ryu is for Crossover fighting Games). Daiei Films, having much more difficult competing with Godzilla due to all those blasted Crossovers, finally allows a long awaited film to be made: Godzilla vs Gamera. The Gamera series was also going through a dry spot with no new films since 1971. It was the hope the film could bring life to the Gamera Oasis. The setting of the 1999-ish future also allowed them to bring Gamera into a new setting to play in( Toho, thanks to the large success of their films, could afford to portray an advanced future setting).
Two final films were made in the Showa Era, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla. The first film centered on an alien race from the future travelling to the 1999 Era Earth. They had conquered the Earth in their time and "robotocized" several Kaiju, including King Kong(who's roboticized form was previously seen in King Kong Escapes but the villain of that film lied and said he created a robot Kong when the Aliens, called the Garugans, had actually given him the Robotized Kong to him as a test against the real thing). Godzilla, Anguirus, Mothra and King Kong fight Mechagodzilla together in this(OTL Mothra was replaced with King Caesar). The film cemented Mechagodzilla as Godzilla's main enemy(overtime it had gone from King Kong to Ghidorah to Hedorah and now to Mechagodzilla).
Poster and Screenshot from "Nessie" by Toho and Hammer Horror.
Toho collaborated with the Legendary British studio Hammer Horror Films on Nessie, a Kaiju film based on the Loch Ness Monster. Hammer Horror's Golden Age was coming to an end. Henry A. Sapterstein pitched the idea for a Godzilla Animated Series to be released in 1988(predicting the rise of the medium by that point)(Saperstein OTL wanted a film where Godzilla fought one of the Gargantuas, but here that already happened in All Monsters Attack, albeit briefly). Toho agreed as they were beginning to feel the space setting was being overrused(ironically Star Wars would revitalize it). Most writers felt that they had written themselves into a corner with the shift into the future. Wanting it to end, Toho greenlit a script that was possibly the most bizarre Godzilla "Things" to ever exist and that includes Bride of Godzilla. Created by Katsuhiro Otomo(Writer and Director of Akira) and directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, director of the extremely surreal film Hausu. The resulting film, A Space Godzilla. Was one of the oddest things ever conceived. Released in 1979, the film revolves around the discovery of a pregnant female alien who resembles Godzilla and is dying of diabetes. A ship containing the Female Godzilla is launched into space. The son of the female Godzilla then goes on a journey to find the father of the alien son before becoming one with the Cosmos, all told in a style akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey. There was also Alien Godzilla's father fighting an alien with breasts that threw Shuriken shaped like Swastikas. it was the oddest notes the Showa series could have ended on. Still it was clear Toho was hoping to reboot the franchise. Already planned was the film King of Monsters: Rebirth of Godzilla. Coming soon.
Textless Cover for the DVD release of A Space Godzilla.
Film Release Order for the Showa Series:
Godzilla(1954)
Godzilla Raids Again(1955)
Bride of Godzilla(1956)
Rodan(1957)-Later Incorporated.
The Mysterians(1958)-Later incorporated
Varan the Unbelievable(1959)-Later Incorporated
Mothra(1961)-Later reincorporated
Godzilla vs King Kong(1962)
Continuation: Godzilla vs King Kong 2(1963)
Godzilla vs Mothra(1964)
Ghidorah, the three Headed Monster(1964)
Invasion of the Astro Monsters(1965)
Frankenstein Conquers the World(1965)
King Kong vs The Sea Monster(1966)
Batman Meets Godzilla(1967)
King Kong Escapes(1968)
Destroy All Monsters(1969)
Godzilla vs Hedorah(1971)
Godzilla vs Hedorah 2(1972)
Godzilla Meets Ultraman(1973)
Godzilla vs Gamera(1974)
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla(1975)
Terror of Mechagodzilla(1976)
A Space Godzilla(1979)
Godzilla(Heisei Era): 1983-1998
Godzilla: Heisei Series(1983-1998)
The Last Godzilla film was an odd experience. No one quite knew what to make of it. It was not a bad note or a good note. It was actually quite somber in a way, seeing Godzilla in the distant future leave earth. This was not the end. It couldn't be. Toho, while taking a break from films involving the King of the Monsters, offered the rights to Godzilla to animation companies for TV Shows and Cartoons.. Rankin and Bass has done well with The King Kong Show though production was often delayed due to the time consuming Stop Motion. This led to Hanna Barbera being given the rights to the franchise, making a 1978 Godzilla TV Cartoon that saw some success, being seen as on par with Johnny Quest in terms of quality. Toho provided them with access to various Toho monsters and the sound of Godzilla's iconic roar. While the first few episodes were good, the duo soon fell into the unfortunate trend in their works of needing to cut costs and with it animation, resulting in more and more animation being recycled. Toho intentionally sent them Henry A.Saperstein, who had been clamoring Toho for a Godzilla TV show, albeit a more serious tone than Hannah Berbera went with. Saperstein knew how to market to the US and he is considered to have saved the show, the later seasons being the "Saperstein Era", producing episodes with darker themes and elements.In 1983, American Director Steve Miner approached Toho about making an American adaptation of Godzilla. Toho agreed as they were still taking a break and this way they could still reap the awards from the making of the film without the effort. The film was titled Godzilla 3D as 3D had made a comeback at the time. Producers Jon Peters and Keint Barish offered their support so long as the Movie was made below 30 Million Dollars. The film had the side effect of leading to the cancellation of the Hanna Berbera show so as to not have two different versions on at the same time.
The Figure used for Godzilla 3D
The plot of the film begins when a meteorite crashes into a US SDI defense satellite orbiting the Earth. The collision causes the satellite to launch a nuclear warhead into the South Pacific, causing a huge explosion that wakes up a huge reptile creature which goes on a rampage, attacking a Soviet Submarine, which the creature damages, though the Submarine is able to kill it. Reporter Dana Martin investigates and finds a strange Trilobite creature in the wreckage of the Submarine. Martin takes the trilobite to paleontologist Gerald Balinger. Elsewhere, on Oto Island, near Taihiti, US Special Forces troops watch as a huge creature destroy a native village, roasting the buildings with its fiery breath.
Off the coast of Mexico, Navy Colonel Peter Daxton investigates the sunken Soviet nuclear submarine. Daxton lost his eye during a mission a few years back thanks to KGB agent Boris Kruschov, who happens to also be there watching. Kruschov is likewise missing a hand as a result of the same fight where he took Daxton's eye, though he now has a hidden blade in its place. THe KGB want two prototype missiles that were on the submarines called "Dragons" that are meant to work against nuclear weapons. Daxton finds them first and negotiations over their custody begin between the US and Soviet Union. Video footage is also recovered from the submarine showing the monster that attacked it. Daxton goes home to his son Kevin, who loves lizards and is practicing magic. The CIA brings in Daxton, his son Kevin and Gerald Balinger to the site of the dead lizard creature washed up on shore. Daxton identifies it as the creature that attacked the Submarine. The Government believes it is an alien despite Daxton believing it is a Dinosaur. The Corpse is shipped off to San Francisco. Ballinger tells Kevin an ancient story about Godzilla. In California, a second bigger reptile emerges to destroy an oilrig. At the area housing the corpse of the dead reptile, the researches start to get radiation sickness, being caused by the corpse. Balinger realizes there is a bigger Reptile heading to San Francisco.
A Fan Model of the Bridge Scene in the film at G-Fest 2013
Kruschov kidnaps Kevin to get Daxton to return the Soviet Missiles. Kevin is taken to a hideout under the Golden Gate Bridge, but uses his escape artist tricks to get out. Godzilla appears on the bridge and appears to kill Kevin and Kruschov while destroying the bridge. Helicopters are sent after Godzilla. Daxton and Balinger hatch a plan to kill Godzilla with the Soviet Missiles after luring him away from the city. Godzilla grabs a cable car and swings it like a flail. Martin and Balinger lure Godzilla to Alcatraz island with the sound of the dead reptile taken form video footage from the Soviet Submarine. The missiles are loaded by Daxton onto a Helicopter, which flies off only to be confronted by Kruschov, who fights Daxton in the helicopter ride to Alcatraz. Kruschov nearly throws Daxton off, but Daxton is able to throw Kruschov off instead. He is caught by Godzilla, who looks at him for a moment before vaporizing him with the atomic breath.
Godzilla goes on a rampage and finds the corpse, but the sound from the recording lures him to Alcatraz. Kevin is forced to the one to pilot the helicopter and releuctantly, growing to sympathize with the monster, fires a Soviet "Dragon" missile down its throat. Kevi nthen falls out of the Helicopter but is caught by Godzilla, who puts him down and finally dies.
The Film was a decent success. Toho loved it but it didn't seem to quite make a splash beyond a gimmick movie in the US. It did not help that the budget was cut. The 3D though received good reviews as there were several times where it worked in the film's favor. (In a sense this film is TTL's 1998 Godzilla, being close to being a Godzilla in Name Only though better received by Toho. Rather than being an Iguana like the 1998 version, the 1983 or "3D" version is a T-Rex. Something generally more awesome. It also had the same effect of convincing Toho to bring back Godzilla on their end, so TTL, Godzilla 3D is credited for starting the Heisei Era of Godzilla rather than the 1998 Godzilla starting the Millennium Era).
In 1984, Toho decided it was their turn with King of Monsters: Return of Godzilla releasing as a reboot of the franchise. The series introduced a new monster named Bakan, capable of shapeshifting into various forms, healing itself, after it transformed, allowing for multiple fights in different forms until the final, strongest form incapable of healing, is defeated. Bakan's unique gimmick and healing ability left a window for him to return for Sequels. Raymond Burr reprised his role as Dr.Martin from the American release of the original 1954 film. As a consequence, the American dub is more serious, one of the things Burr fought for as he believed making the American dub more comedic was disrespectful to the more serious tome of the original 1954 film. The film included a joke directed at the American Godzilla 3D. Two Japanese students are in a class discussing Godzilla's appearance in 1954. One asks the other if Godzilla attacked American recently. His friend responds that the Americans only thought that was Godzilla but it was something else. Toho also wanted to revive their King Kong franchise with King Kong Lives! in 1985. With that film being a modest success. In the US, it became known as King Kong 3D in the US to capitalize on the success of Godzilla 3D. This was a reversal of that film's process. Now Japan was actually making the film and the US distributed it.
In 1988, There was a Video Game called Godzilla: Monster of Monsters. In that game there was a system of the screen going up further if the player headed up. The player had a choice of four monsters Godzilla, Mothra, King Kong and Rodan, Mothra and Rodan being able to fly into the high screens, which split into and reemerged if the players got too far. King Kong could also climb certain areas and had several grappling moves(as well as throwing boulders). The game was up to four players, at which point each took control of a different monster. If there was one player they chose their monster at the beginning of each level. The game tends to go faster if there are four players as the game will throw 2 to 4 bosses at each of the players. So 4 players would mean a fight with four bosses at once later in the game after fighting 2, often switching up with variation. The bosses in order are Gezora(From 1970's Space Amoeba),Moguera(From 1957's The Mysterians), Varan(from 1958's Varan the Unbelievable),Hedorah, Baragon(from 1965's Frankenstien Conquers the World), Bakan(Godzilla vs Bakan), Mechagodzilla and King Ghidorah. There is some variation in the fights, such as several forms for Bakan who shapeshifts in each fight. Bakan also can enter different screens, which means only certain monsters can follow him, splitting the group up as flyers like Rodan and Mothra have to fight him in the sky while Godzilla and King Kong can pursue him into the water.Destroying Mechagodzilla's head first does not kill him and continues fighting. If you destroy his body first his head shoots off and continues fighting. King Ghidorah also has a stronger and harder form.
Cutscene from Godzilla: Monster of Monsters with two players controlling Godzilla and Mothra.
Godzilla vs GUNHED was released in 1989. It was basically Godzilla vs Terminator and concerned a battle with machines from the future seeking to wipe out Humanity and Godzilla being brought into the future to aid the human resistance. The film underperformed, leading to a shift towards the return of the more classical monsters rather than new ones. Mothra vs Bakan in 1990 was an effort to see if new monsters could work alongside the old as Bakan was still popular(This film replaces Godzilla vs Biolante, which was one of many film ideas pitched that eventually became a film, alongside GUNHED).
The plot of Mothra vs Bakan goes something like this:
2,000 years ago, Bakan protected ancient China. The kaiju rose to destroy threats to the Earth. Because of this, Bakan was simply referred to as a yamato, or living god of the forest. However, as time passed, he grew hostile and began ravaging the forests, striking fear and terror into the inhabitants. Although the ancient people of China were able to dispell the creature, ancient Chinese legends that were passed down throughout the ages claimed that the "primordial dragon" would rise to defend the planet again.
In the present day of 1990, the glacier containing Bakan melts away from overexposure to rising global temperatures, and the monster sets its sights on destroying humanity, now Earth's greatest threat. However, standing in Bakan's way is Mothra, a giant guardian moth left behind by an ancient civilization to defend the Earth. Mothra confronts Bakan in Singapore, but is soon overwhelmed by the demonic beast. Some distance away, in Borneo, a gigantic egg begins to stir, and it soon hatches an infant Mothra, which crawls out and arrives to help its mother. The three monsters then engage in a long battle in Bangkok. Sadly, despite the combined efforts of both Mothras and the poison powder, the adult Mothra is killed by Bakan, leaving the larva with the tides of battle. The larva quickly retreats to a remote island and spins a cocoon.
Back in Bangkok, Bakan sprouts two gigantic wings that allow him to fly about and levels the city. The next morning, the larva comes out of the cocoon as a fully transformed adult Mothra. The two monsters then fight again for the last time in Bangladesh. Bakan, though, has become even more powerful, due to his strong wings. Thankfully, after a long brutal battle, a weakened Bakan is finally defeated by the younger Mothra and humanity is saved. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ocean, Godzilla awakens, having been disturbed by the battle between Mothra and Bakan.
Mothra vs Bakan.
In 1991, for Toho's 60th Anniversary, a remake of Godzilla vs King Kong, titled Godzilla vs King Kong 3 was released. The Film was a surefire hit. The film also included MechaniKong, who is used to frame the real Kong and get him and Godzilla to fight, and a team of scientists going into Godzilla's body to cure him of a disease as a nod to the film Fantastic Voyage.
For the next film, it was decided to bring in King Ghidorah. This version was instead a monster from the future. A group of time travellers appeared in the modern day and offered to use time travel to remove Godzilla from history. They believe Godzilla was a Dinosaur mutated by an Atomic bomb. they rip the Dinosaur out of time and in its place, put in three small dragons, which combine and make King Ghidorah. The future society then threatens Earth without Godzilla to stop them. However a time travel event is made by members of the future society who rebel against their government. They discover that they have forgotten two members of Godzilla existed(the first one canonically died in the 1954 film while the Godzilla shown since then is a second member of the species. So the time travel only prevented the birth of the first Godzilla). The second Godzilla fights and defeats King Ghidorah. Godzilla then goes on a rampage. To stop him, the Future rebels bring Ghidorah's corpse into the future and return with a Cyborg piloted version of Ghidorah. The two monsters fall into the ocean, Ghidorah's body is used to pin Godzilla down in the ocean. Godzilla vs King Ghidorah was released in 1992.
Gigamoth
The next film was Godzilla, Mothra, King Kong vs the Mechas in 1993(known in the US as "Godzilla: Monsters vs Mechas"). The plot involves a member of Mothra mutating into a new form called Gigamoth(which replaces Battra OTL), something which must be prevented as Gigamoth is much more hostile than the normal Mothra, as well as a battle from the future society who created Ghidorah in the previous film was not quite defeated and sent MechaKong(formerly known as Mechanikong), Mechagodzilla and the newly introduced Mechamothra to invade Earth only to be betrayed by their own AIs resulting in the future from Godzilla vs GUNHED. There was also the introduction of a young infant Godzilla, later dubbed Godzilla Junior, which was evidently cloned from Godzilla by the future society to be used against him. Godzilla took to raising the young Godzilla like a son. The film's ambition had a good reason. Tristar was about to launch their American remake of the Godzilla franchise. With effects done by Sam Winston studios.
The Sam Winston Studios created Godzilla from the 1994 film.
The plot of the Tristar 1994 Godzilla film goes a little something like this. Somewhere in the icy waters off Alaska, a salvaged ship is retrieving reactor cores dumped there by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Something goes wrong and a mammoth explosion destroys the ship. On shore, the snow catches fire and a crevice opens up, oozing out steaming piles of what appears to be blood. A U.S. government scientist called Keith Llwellyn is flown to the site to investigate the incident, leaving behind his wife Jill Llewellyn and daughter Tina Llewellyn behind.
Soldiers carry off entire barrels of the 'blood', which upon examination resembles nothing more than amniotic fluid. Upon arriving, Keith and a few other scientists discover Godzilla in the caverns, where the 'blood' was oozing off from. The monster awakens and unintentionally kills Llwellyn and the rest of the investigation team. Godzilla then attacks the Japanese Kurila islands. A surviving fisherman calls the monster "Gojira", after recognizing him.
Twelve years later, cryptozoologists Aaron Vaught, a best-selling author and his assistant Marty Kenoshita, sneak into a mental hospital in Japan to interview the fisherman, and the fisherman shows them pictures he drew of Godzilla locked in battle with another monster. The military police then arrive and apprehend Vaught and Kenoshita.
Somewhere in Kentucky, a meteor crashes into lake 'Apopka'. In Massachusetts, the U.S. military has established the St. George project, a top-secret project to find Godzilla. Jill Llewellyn is the project's director. Vought is brought on board to help find Godzilla, despite that Jill doesn't approve of the idea. Meanwhile, back in Alaska, another military base was constructed where Godzilla was first found. Then, a strange light was seen illuminating from a previously undiscovered cave, branching off from Godzilla's cells.
In lake Apopka, the strange bio-metallic meteor begins to stir, flowing through the sediment like a mass of liquid metal. The probe enters a cave and absorbs a whole colony of bats, creating 12-foot wingspan creatures called probe bats. Vaught, Llewellyn and Kenoshita fly to the facility in Alaska where the amniotic fluid has begun to flow again in the cavern. Vaught then insisted this was the proper time for Godzilla to be reawakened, but the salvaged ship disrupted things and released them early. The side cave is lined with strange organic structures, remnants of an ancient society with advanced bio-technology. No one sees a small creature strike Marty Kenoshita and bury into his neck, even Kenoshita doesn't feel the creature burrowing into his neck. Events progress in Kentucky, as strange events occur.
In the Pacific, Godzilla is reported swimming towards San Francisco, where the St. George project is established at the procedure. Llewellyn and Vought soon arrive but Kenoshita becomes ill and is rushed to a hospital. The navy is dispatched to counter Godzilla. After a crushing defeat, the military considers using a small nuclear device to destroy the monster, but Vought advises against it. He feels that Godzilla is a living nuclear reactor, and that what the monster breathes is not fire but something that ionizes oxygen so great it turns it into heat. Llewellyn further postulates that the amniotic fluid was not food as previously supposed, but a tranquilizer to keep Godzilla asleep. The fluid is hastily spread at the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Godzilla swims right into the oily liquid and collapses on the southern extremity of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The military secures the unconscious Godzilla and airlifts him back to the St. George project in Massachusetts, where he is housed in a huge hangar. Tina realizes that her mother has been trying to hunt and kill Godzilla for the past twelve years. She protested that the monster is just a force of nature, not responsible for the damage he causes. Not wishing to listen to this point of view, Jill sends her daughter to stay with her aunt in New York. At an army hospital, the strange infection Kenoshita has grows worse, consuming his internal organs and leaving his face lifeless and with eyes pitch black. Before he dies, Kenoshita tells Llewellyn that he has been taken over by an ancient force. The force has told him of his history and the threat that has come to Earth: an alien civilization that deploys probes to aid its colonization of the universe. These probes consume the native life of the target world and create a doomsday beast from the genetic material. By the time the aliens arrive, the probe would have wiped out all the life on Earth. An ancient Earth civilization warded off these probes by crafting Godzilla from the dinosaur genes. Godzilla would awaken when the probes arrived and destroyed them before they could reproduce.
In Kentucky, the probe bats continue to absorb animals, returning to the cave with their genetic collections to deliver to the main mass of the probe, which is slowly starting to take on a definitive form. Vaught, upon hearing Kinoshita's story, concludes that Godzilla was headed for Kentucky, where the meteor crashed. Local store keeper Nelson Fleer drives Vought to the lake. The two men don scuba gear and dive into the water. They discover a tunnel leading upwards from the bottom of the lake that leads them into a series of caves. Vought is terrified when he sees a giant paw. The paw is attached to the newly formed shape the probe has assumed. The monster has the body of a puma, the huge wings of a bat and a hydra-headed tongue composed of snakes. The probe has become the Gryphon, of the Japanese fisherman's drawings. Fleer accidentally bangs his air tank against the cave wall. The sound then awakens the dormant Gryphon, and the men hastily retreat but the monster pursues them. As they surface, they seems safe. Suddenly the water churns and the Gryphon emerges into the air. The Gryphon flies away and heads to Harrisburg, Virginia.
Concept art of the Gryphon. Godzilla's enemy in the film.
The monster destroys a train and a blast fuel storage tank with energy bullets, killing hundreds of people in the process. Despite the dip of amniotic fluid being given to him, Godzilla awakens, destroying the hangar and slipping into the Atlantic. It is clear that he has sensed the Gryphon's awakening. It is later determined that the two monsters will run into each other in New York. Jill tries to make her way into the city to save Tina in the midst of the evacuation. She is trapped in the Queens Midtown Tunnel when Godzilla steps on it, but manages to swim to safety. Jill finds her daughter as the Gryphon arrives and engages Godzilla in battle. The Gryphon attacks Godzilla from the sky, forcing the dinosaur back to the shore. Godzilla loses at first because a tank filled with the amniotic fluid is still attached to his neck, but Fleer and Vought manage to destroy the tank and Godzilla begins taking the upper hand against the Gryphon. Victorious, Godzilla roars and returns to the sea. Air force jets begin to attack the monster, but Jill Llewellyn calls them off and finally comes to terms with Keith's death and forgives Godzilla. Jill, Tina, Vought and Fleer watch from the shore as Godzilla disappears into the ocean.
While Tristar worked on their Godzilla film, Toho had plans to create a new series, starting with 1994's Yamato Takeru, based on the Japanese mythological figure of the same name. The main antagonist of the film was Orochi, the eight headed Dragon, created with elements of King Ghidorah. In fact, once the film did well there were plans to include Godzilla and King Ghidorah. The Sequel Yamato Takeru: The Legend Continues in 1995, featured both the return of Orochi and the return of none other than Bakan, who had previously fought Godzilla in Mothra. The 1996 third film Godzilla vs Yamato Takeru did indeed feature Godzilla and Ghidorah.
The Second American Godzilla Film was released in 1995, and was titled Godzilla: Destroyer(Foreign translation had fun here, examples including, "Godzilla: I am Become Death" and "Godzilla: Destroyer of Worlds" and in Japan "Godzilla vs Destroyer"). The Film took a lot of ideas from Toho executives and featured an alien from Space sent from the same would be alien invaders from the first film. It begins with a voice clip from J.Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the line "I am become Death: Destroyer of Worlds". The main antagonist is a monster called Vishnu, on account of having multiple arms and being a direct reference to the Oppenheimer quote(though design wise it is a composite of OTL monster concepts such as Barubaroi, suggestions made by Toho as since they were making films with classic Monsters, all their ideas for new ones went to the American Godzilla Franchise). Vishnu is an ancient creature awakened from Atomic Bomb tests. The film concluded with the death of the Invading Aliens and Vishnu, Godzilla victorious once again.
Toho meanwhile produced what they at the time saw as their big climax to the era before the new Millennium: Godzillas. The film featured four Godzillas, Godzilla, his son Godzilla Junior, Mechagodzilla and a new Monster called Space Godzilla, the most amount of Godzillas in one film to date. Other Monsters also appeared, namely Mothra. the film ended in the destruction of Mechagodzilla, Space Godzilla, Mothra and the death of Godzilla, who died in front of his son. His son then went off with a surviving Mothra Larva towards the sea and an unknown fate. However the presence of the King of Monsters this century would end not with a bang, or even a whimper, but end strangely poignantly.
Before diving into the final Godzilla film of the Century, let us first take about the Godzilla Novels by Marc Cerasini. The Marc Cerasini Novels made an effort to tie in the various elements of Godzilla into one continuity. For Example Godzilla Returns follows Steve Martin(Raymond Burr's character from the original film) and shows what happened to him after the film and between his reappearance following the other events in the franchise. The Second Novel follows on the formation of the G-Force to counter Godzilla activity and their actions in the series. Godzilla: At World's End touches on the subject of possible future and how they connect. Godzilla vs the Robot Monsters concentrates on the Roboticized characters and the future they come from. Godzilla and the Lost Continent touches on the connection of ancient civilization such as Lemuria and Atlantis and how they operate in the world of Godzilla. Finally there is Godzilla and the Invaders, which centered on the aliens on the world. The novels also took into account crossovers with other franchises and how their lore mixed.
Akira Kurosawa had wanted to direct a Godzilla film for so long. He had been turned down by Toho because the movie he wanted to make was too expensive even for them. The desire first came in 1965 after his completion of Red Beard. Now, Toho had a massive budget and international support. Kurosawa had some connections with American companies after having directed the Japanese Portion of the film Tora!Tora!Tora!, which made an effort to depict both sides of the Pearl Harbor attack as the prior film by the same Director had shown all sides of the D-Day Invasion. Now quite old, it was clear that Kurosawa's dream Godzilla movie would also be his last film. He'd patched up old wounds with actor Toshiro Mifune and brought him back one final time. Both men were at the end of their lives and it was an effort to go out with a Kaiju sized roar. Kurosawa's films seemed to often reflect his world view. In the days of Ran he was quite bitter and the film was somewhat apocalyptic in tone, but the Cold War was over and Kurosawa for one thing, was hopeful of the future and this too showed in his film. In 1998, a Godzilla film came out that many knew would not be surpassed, possibly ever, the greatest Godzilla film of all time. The Film's name was simply Gojira. For semantics it was sometimes called Akira Kurosawa's Gojira. No matter what language it was always "Gojira". It was in Black and White...at least at first. It soon made the transition to color later in the film, intended to reflect the hope of Japan as it prospered from ruin.
The film is not quite a remake. It follows a similar story as the original and is even set in 1954. There is even an american viewpoint character and an old Japanese Man(Toshiro Mifune) who speaks of legend and laughs suddenly as only Mifune could do. The film at the beginning is bleak, moreso than the film it is potentially a remake of. It is also quite realistic. Gojira's rampage causes Cold War tensions to escalate as nations blame each other. Gojira's devastation is grisly and gory. The level of Carnage calling towards the scene of the Bombing in the Anime Barefoot Gen, only in Live Action. If anything the film reminds us of what Gojira was intended to represent. Douglas MacArthur appears as a character, trying to destroy Gojira with nukes and failing, even as Gojira travels not only to Japan but up the Korean Peninsula, effectively destroying North Korea and melting Kim Il Sung like a scene out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. One character comments on how circumstances have turned MacArthur into a hero and Japan now seems to love him as he fights for them against a great evil like Captain Ahab hunting his white Whale. Yet the hatred for Americans also rises when the origin of Godzilla is revealed, even as an argument results in an exchange where one character comments on the cruelty of Americans and what they did and another offers the viewpoint that Japan would never have given up and it would have only taken such devastation as the Bombs to stop them. One person in the military even brings up the point that Japan was planning to Surrender before the Bomb dropped and the bomb was used as an excuse to do just that since the Emperor beleived Japan wouldn't have surrendered otherwise. Indeed like many films by Kurosawa there are several viewpoints provided and by the end the viewpoint changes to be more optimistic. The film ends with a note that things will change. The world did not make peace after vanquishing the monster, there is still some hostility though several changes in the world are mentioned. The feeling is that the world has changed forever, not necessarily for better or for worse. Gojira is dead, killed with a specialized weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer that also devastated Japan's food supply by rendering an entire area of sea devoid of fish. Yet, the youth of Japan sing songs about him. He is a monster and yet they praise him. The last moment of the film reveals a smaller Gojira on an island looking towards Japan before the film ends and the iconic score plays.
Film Release Order of the Heisei Series
Godzilla 3D(1983, American)
King of Monsters: Return of Godzilla(1984)
King Kong Lives!(1985)
Godzilla vs GUNHED(1989)
Mothra vs Bakan(1990)
Godzilla vs King Kong 3(1991)
Godzilla vs King Ghidorah(1992)
Godzilla, Mothra and King Kong vs the Mechas(1993)
Godzilla(1994, American)
Yamato Takeru(1994)
Yamato Takeru: The Legend Continues(1995)
Godzilla: Destroyer(1995, American)
Godzilla vs Yamato Takeru(1996)
Godzillas(1997)
Akira Kurosawa's Gojira(1998)
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Will you do any updates on American Kong films? Maybe Peter Jackson's 1996 attempt at Kong that was cancelled
Sure can. Though I'll wrap up Godzilla first since there is Overlap.
Godzilla: Millennium Era(2000-Present)
Godzilla: Millennium Era(2000-Present Day)
Tomoyuki Tanaka completed a script titled Godzilla vs Bio Godzilla, the concepts of which were revived to complete the design for the opponent monster for the new film Godzilla 2000. The Godzilla featured was the now adult Godzilla Jr, being guided by what appeared to be the Ghost of his father. At the same time, G Force has transformed the remains of Mechagodzilla into a weapon. However, the spirit of the original Godzilla, trapped within the remains that Mechagodzilla was built over begin to fight back, until the pilot of the Mechagodzilla and the spirit are able to come to an agreement, allowing the two to work together with Godzilla Jr to battle the new threat, a plant lifeform sent to invade the planet by aliens, first named Bio Godzilla, then finally Biolante, as the previous films was considered to have too many Godzillas.The American Godzilla franchise took a long break, knowing they could not compete with Kurosawa's Gojira. Still with Toho ready to jumpstart the series again, they would do the same with Godzilla Reborn.The Film began with Godzilla arriving in Honolulu and being knocked out, seemingly killed by the Oxygen Destroyer, only for another Kaiju, a Bat-like lava monster called Miba(resembles OTL MUTO but with no legs) to burst out of the volcano Mauna Loa, explaing why Godzilla was in Hawaii. The protagonists are forced to wake Godzilla up to fight against Miba. The Film rights had moved from Tristar to Columbia and featured Bruce Campbell, Christopher Lee, Leonard Nimoy, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Over the Pacific, After the release of Godzilla 2000, appropriately enough in 2000. Kadokawa-Daiei Pictures approached Toho with the proposal of making a second Gamera vs. Godzilla crossover film. The film was approved and premiered in 2001 as Godzilla vs Gamera 2. The two monsters have crossed over multiple times outside the two films, including once in a live show at the Osaka World's Fair in 1970 and the video game City Shrouded in Shadow, which involved levels in which the player controls civilians running through a city during a battle between various monsters from the Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, Patlabor, and Neon Genesis Evangelion franchises.
Shusuke Kaneko was given permission to direct the next film featuring Varan, Anguirus, and Baragon. Anguirus was given Ice breath to complement Baragon's fire breath. Resulting in the title of the film Godzilla vs Fire and Ice, which was released in 2002. Godzilla is aided in the battle by the Gotengo(from the 1963 film Atragon).
The film proved to be a success as the next film was also Directed by Shusuke Kaneko. It concerned an astronaut being mutated into a monster simply known as M(though in most advertising "Monster M"). Other monsters were added including Mechagodzilla Kiryu, Anguirus, Mothra and Kamacuras(with admittedly terrible CGI, leading the monster to be killed off screen and shown as a floating corpse). The film was titled Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. and was released in 2003.
The film's success led Masaaki Tezuka to pitch a Mechagodzilla Kiryu spinoff. Toho once more intended to take a break from Godzilla Movies(due to planning to work with American Companies on the next series of Godzilla films and so released Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004 as an intended final installment with the intention of making a Kiryu series sometime in the future. Before the film played, an IMAX 3D short film remake of Godzilla vs. Hedorah was released as Godzilla 3D to the Max, directed by Yoshimitsu Banno and featured Godzilla fighting a Hedorah-like monster called Deathla. The film has since found a home being played in Universal Studios Japan with 4D effects included.
The actual film, Godzilla: Final Wars features even more monsters than OTL, namely a few that were cut, including King Kong, Gorosaurus, the 1983 and 1995 American Godzillas, Kiryu, the Gotengo, and a giant Octopus from King Kong vs Godzilla. Keizer Ghidorah still appears. The film is in away a homage to All Monsters Attack! having a similar plot of aliens brainwashing all of Earths monsters, except for Godzilla, was was defeated by the combined efforts of Mechagodzilla Kiryu and the Gotengo years back in the setting. The film doubles as an end to the Heisei series as well.
Before diving into the continuation of the Godzilla Franchise, let us take a moment to discuss the evolution of the Pipeworks Godzilla Trilogy. The First installment, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, was released for Gamecube. The plot consisted of an alien race called the Vortaak invading Earth and mind controlling the monsters(at this point not exactly original). One monster resists mind control(the player character) and must fight the others to defeat the alien invaders.
The playable characters consisted of:
Anquirus
Godzilla 90's(Heisei)
Godzilla 2000
King Ghidorah
MechaGodzilla 2(Heisei)
Mechagodzilla 3(Kiryu)(playable on all versions rather than the OTL being exclusive to X-Box and Japanese version of the Game Cube)
Mecha King Ghidorah
Rodan
Mothra
Gamera
King Kong
Bakan
Hedorah.
Appearing as bosses are:
Atragon
Ebirah
Biolante
Space Godzilla.
The Second Installment, Save The Earth's story mode involved the Vortaak returning to harvest Godzilla's cells. Green Barriers are set up to trap the monsters, and their leader Vorticia posed as a reporter. Among the added stages are an Arctic Base and Las Vegas(with a giant guitar the Kaiju can wield as a weapon), and rail shooter sequences with Godzilla 2000, Mothra and Rodan, fighting various monsters, along with an undersea battle. The game added most of the bosses as playable characters.
Anguirus
Baragon
Biolante(Playable in all versions unlike OTL).
Hedorah
Gamera
Godzilla 90's (Heisei)
Godzilla 2000
Ultraman
King Ghidorah
MechaGodzilla 2 (Heisei)
Mechagodzilla 3 (Kiryu)
Mecha-King Ghidorah
King Kong
Atragon
Ebirah
Mothra (Larva)
Mothra (Imago)
Bakan
Rodan
SpaceGodzilla
Godzilla: Unleashed takes place 20 years after the end of Save the Earth.The Vortaak's second return is thrown off by a meteor shower that causes the appearance of bizarre crystals that emit a strange radiation which empowers monsters up. The crystals' radiation also causes a series of natural (and unnatural) disasters to occur around the world. The Mutant and Vortaak-allied Alien monsters attempt to utilize these crystals to conquer the earth, while the Earth Defender and Global Defense Force factions attempt to destroy them. The crystals are revealed to be created by SpaceGodzilla, who is trying to escape the alternate dimension he was trapped in at the end of Save the Earth.
The playable characters were.
Anguirus
Baragon
Gigamoth
Biolante(No longer Wii Exclusive as in OTL).
Hedorah
Rodan
King Kong
Gamera
Godzilla 1954(Not Wii exclusive as in OTL, but unlockable)
Godzilla 90's (Heisei)
Godzilla 2000
Ultraman
Bakkan
King Ghidorah
Kiryu
Clover(Cloverfield)(an example of Cross promotion as the film was coming out around the same time as the game. OTL it really was a considered monster ).
Mechagodzilla (Showa)(no longer Wii exclusive as in OTL).
Mechagodzilla 2 (Heisei)
Mecha-King Ghidorah
Atragon
Space Godzilla
Mothra (Larva)
Mothra (Imago)
Monster M
Varan
Meccani Kong
American Godzilla(1983)
American Godzilla(1994)
Bosses:
Atragon
King Ghidorah (Critical Mass)
Biollante
SpaceGodzilla
Player Character (Critical Mass) - Tyrant Ending only
Guillermo del Toro was approached by Legendary Pictures to direct a Godzilla film. He had his own ideas for a Giant monster movie. The idea of replacing the monsters in his upcoming film with Toho licensed monsters was brought up but he refused, as he wanted the film to stand on its own and not become just another Godzilla film. However, Del Toro pitched that once his film, Pacific Rim, was released he would direct a sequel fully integrating it into the Monsterverse. However, the 2014 Godzilla film was made around the concept that Pacific Rim would tie into the Monsterverse, and so the plot of the film(With Guillermo del Toro's input), was made that a rift opened up in the Pacific, releasing a monster dubbed "MUTO" by the army. In a crossover no one expected but welcomed, a man named Gendo Ikari proposed a project to create giant Mechas, rather than having Japan rely on benevolent Kaiju like Godzilla, Mothra and Gamera(footage of the Kiryu Mechagodzilla is shown in a presentation by Ikari to illustrate this concept). Ikari's plan is quickly implemented as more Kaiju appear from the rift with An American version of the NERV program being introduced in the form of MONARCH(though MONARCH is shown to have existed before the events of the film). Joe Brody(Bryan Cranston), who in flashback lost his wife to a Godzilla related attack, is brought in as the new head of MONARCH, and shows little care for Godzilla's survival. Godzilla is shown fighting frequently in the movie with the monsters that emerged from the rift. Most of the "human" portions follow Brody and his vendetta to destroy the Kaiju and Godzilla as well.
It seemed like tradition now that whenever an American Godzilla film was made, Japan fired back to one up it. No one could have anticipated the direction the film went, going into straight Horror. Shin Godzilla was well and truly a monster, constantly transforming, vomiting up steaming blood, and dislodging tissue growing back into Godzilla spikes and a teratoma like mass of meat, eyes and teeth. The film used a large scale animatronic for most of the creature's movements.
Toho also released an Anime, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, which featured another design for Godzilla(closer to the Legendary version than the OTL Planet of the Monsters version). The Anime returned to the future setting of the Franchise, focusing on humanity leaving Earth during a destructive conflict involving several Kaiju and to be forced to return some years later and discovering that most of the Kaiju are still alive. However, with the aid of several aliens and new strategies they begin to fight to take the Earth back. The series consisted of three films, though multiple monsters were shown and others acknowledged, even the Garnatuas, Frankenstein, Daghara, Maguma, Dogoro, Latitude Zero monsters and Gamera, who is among the Kaiju that offer to protect humanity along with Godzilla, Mothra, King Kong and Anquirus. Even Space Godzilla shows up in the third film along with Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla is piloted into battle.
The film Kong: Skull Island helped to establish that very soon Godzilla and King Kong would engage in another bout.
Then in 2018 came Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) Compared to OTL, the film uses the Godzilla theme more sparingly, making it leave a bigger impact when played. The cameo'd Kaiju(being referred to as such rather than Titans) include Kumonga the giant spider, Anquirus, Kamacuras, Baragon, and Gamera in addition to new Kaiju glimpsed such as Behemoth and Methuselah and now adding a giant Scorpion and giant Octopus like monster. The film also demonstrates the use of Yeagers from Pacific Rim in several battles against the monsters, though there are only a few available,.Del Toro has promised a Godzilla vs Pacific Rim film after the completion of Godzilla vs King Kong, this us due to Pacific Rim canonically taking place in 2025, as such Del Toro is waiting until he has a solid idea of where the Godzilla Franchise will be when he finally released Godzilla vs Pacific Rim. Then in 2021, King Kong fought Godzilla once more as he had done under the Toho banner. The opening of the film appropriately enough shows an image of Godzilla on a cave wall when Toho's name comes up and a painting of Kong when the Universal Logo shows up, showing how two rivals have come together to craft a legendary and iconic rivalry of East vs West. Guillermo Del Toro directed the film, intending to cross it over with Pacific Rim. The film concerns a corporation called Apex building robotic version of King Kong and Godzilla(Mechanikong and Mechagodzilla). The robot dopplegangers instigate a battle between the two monsters while a group of humans aids Kong in searching for his home in the Hollow Earth(the human presence is reduced OTL, cutting out the Mechagodzilla discovery and conspiracy theory subplot). Mothra appears in the film in the final battle and aids in turning the tide as the Mechanical Imposters are defeated. Many have jokingly added subtitles to the scene with the Monsters.
"Godzilla: You were never a Kaiju. You were never even a King."
King Kong: Save...Mothra.
Godzilla: WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?"
Films of the Millennium Series
Godzilla 2000(2000)
Godzilla Reborn(2000, American)
Godzilla vs Gamera(2001)
Godzilla vs Fire and Ice(2002)
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.(2003)
Godzilla: Final Wars(2004)
Pacific Rim(2013)
Godzilla(2014, American)
Shin Godzilla(2016)
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters(2017, Animated)
Godzilla: City on the Edge of Forever(2018, Animated)
Godzilla: The Planet Eater(2018, Animated)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters(2019)
Godzilla vs King Kong(2021)
Godzilla vs Pacific Rim(202?)
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King Kong: 1933-2021
King Kong
King Kong(1933)
The History of King Kong starts with Meriam C.Cooper's lifelong fascination with Apes that began at age 6, which grew bigger over time, until one day he looked at a tall building and imagined a giant one climbing it. Cooper made the original King Kong for RKO Radio Pictures in 1933 and it was a huge success. RKO immediately demanded a sequel to be made and released nine months later, fearing that the movie would only be a fad. Cooper convinced them to wait, saying it would take longer for the special effects to look as good as the original film. RKO allowed this. Then the first film won Best Picture at the Oscars. Cooper felt vindicated as he walked up to that stage and so RKO gave Cooper as much time as he needed to make a movie he felt would be on par with the original film, rather than a cheap cashgrab.
Screenshot from the 1933 Japanese Waisei Kingu Kongu.
Wasei Kingu Kongu(1933)
In the meantime, a Japanese remake known as "Wasei Kingu Kongu" was released the same year. The film itself acknowledges its nature as a cashgrab. It is a silent Japanese short film written by Akira Fushima, directed by Torajira Saito and featuring Isamu Yamaguchi as the title character. The film centers on a Japanese man watching the 1933 film and being inspired to turn it into a musical. This film is not lost as OTL, seeing wider distribution, making it the first Japanese Kaiju monster film ever made. It was distributed by Shochiku, who also handled the Japanese distribution rights of the original, although this film was made without RKO's permission. The film survived the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Son of Kong(1934)
Son of Kong, released in 1934, was exactly the awaited RKO sequel. While the plot was nowhere near as memorable as the original, it was still a fondly remembered movie. It concerns Carl Denham returning to the Island and finding Kong's son. There is more humorous moments, in moments such as when Denham stumbles upon a native woman making a trap to catch monkeys, who then asks him if he's ever caught one, leading Denham to stutter over his own words before responding with "Lady you have no idea". The film could also be somewhat somber, as Denham meets the friendly son of Kong and apologizes for getting his father killed(which the brilliant stop motion work on the face of the Son of Kong conveying his sadness beautifully). The Film is bigger in scope than OTL, depicting countless Dinosaurs fleeing as Skull Island sinks, using models from the previous film Creation.
King Kong Appears in Edo, 1938 Poster depicting scenes from the film.
King Kong Appears in Edo(1938)
A second Japanese King Kong film was released in 1938 as King Kong Appears in Edo in which a villain uses his pet monster ape to kidnap a girl for ransom. The monster is capable of growing and shrinking in size.
Cooper moved onto his next project, Tarzan vs King Kong. Cooper had helped fun the creation of Pioneer Studios, which was founded by investors John Hay Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney to use the new Full color Technicolor Process, which at that time had only been used for Disney cartoons. John Whitney had bought a 15% share. At the time Metro Goldwyn Mayer was making Tarzan films, having made two, Tarzan, the Ape Man, and Tarzan and his Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller. Then an unexpected roadblock occurred. Cooper was sued by RKO Radio Pictures for using their character at a rival company. Cooper was baffled, King Kong was his creation. He brought this up with Louie B.Mayer, who proceeded to explain trademark laws to Cooper. Cooper vowed to sue RKO for the King Kong name. Louie B.Mayer through the support of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer's legal team behind him(likely with the intention that if Cooper won, he'd be more willing to cooperate with Mayer and Mayer would have stolen Kong away from RKO). The case went to court. RKO argued that since Pioneer Pictures was now a full functioning studio, anything made for them after that fact were now rendered null and void, which would mean Son of Kong. Cooper also wanted rights to profits made by RKO selling Merchandise based on the film. Cooper was able to present documents indicating a written agreement to RKO Studio Corp President Mr.Ayelsworth and a formal binding letter confirming Cooper had given the rights to RKO for only two pictures and nothing more. Meaning he was free to bring Kong wherever he wished(OTL Cooper did not bring up the legal battle until 1962 when then King Kong holders Universal were making King Kong vs Godzilla with Toho, at which point he lost the court case as the necessary Documents were lost after Cooper left for World War II military service. Since he brings it up earlier, Cooper doesn't lose the documents and is able to maintain rights to the Kong Character).
Promotional Art for Tarzan vs King Kong.
Tarzan vs King Kong(1942)
With the legal battle over, it came time for Tarzan and King Kong to meet face to face. The Tarzan series had continued unabated and if anything the Trial had boosted a desire to see such a match up take place. MGM wrote Tarzan vs King Kong as a story in which Tarzan meets a group hunting a giant Ape, which the men capture, only for Tarzan's adopted son, Korak( Boy OTL), to sneak off, having befriended Kong. Tarzan discovers Korak has boarded the plane to New York and is forced to follow with Jane. History repeats itself and the Kong creature escapes, grabbing Jane as Korak attempts to talk with Kong, being able to reach him. Tarzan climbs the Empire State Building after him and does his best imitation of a wing walker when he grabs onto a passing plane. Finally Kong falls but Tarzan leaps at just the right time to rescue Jane. The film makes no mention of whether events are repeating themselves or not(OTL this replaces Tarzan's New York Adventure for added irony).
This would be the last time the two crossed over. As while MGM was able to steal King Kong from RKO, RKO was able to steal Tarzan from MGM, bringing the same actor along. Cooper meanwhile had moved on, having served in World War II and now seeing success thanks to King Kong. Evidently still Ape Brained, he went onto create the character of Mighty Joe Young in 1949. RKO meanwhile went into bankruptcy, being folded into Universal Studios.
Godzilla vs King Kong(1963)
In 1962, the legal battles resumed as Toho approached Universal to make Godzilla vs King Kong. Universal agreed but when Cooper got wind of this he protested, claiming the deal he had made with RKO was for the first two films and King Kong character was still his. Universal relented and Toho Director Ishiro Honda immediately turned to Cooper and bowed, asking him for his permission to use Kong in the film. Cooper, as the sole owner of the character agreed and was even present for most of the filming. It was a surreal experience for him. He'd fought against Japanese people in World War II and had witnessed the surrender, but Kong meant a lot to him and he was going to see it done justice. However, Cooper cared little for the plot of the film, understanding it wasn't a remake. In the end, he got what he always liked seeing and imagining since he was a child, a giant Gorilla and a Dinosaur fighting each other.
The Film was Toho's most successful film to date. Cooper's respect grew. He was surprised when the suggestion of a sequel was brought up but then shrugged. Why not? He'd done the exact same thing and made a sequel a year later. He was there for that one two, just behind the camera. He'd grown to be close friends with Ishiro Honda, the director of both films.
The King Kong Show(1966)
In 1966, Toho wanted to create a King Kong series. They worked in collaboration with Rankin and Bass to create the stop motion series The King Kong Show. The Story concerns the Son of Kong, from the film of the same name and shows the ape survive the sinking of Skull Island and end up on nearby Mondo Island, where he is found by a Doctor named Bond and his family(a passing joke implies he is related to the special Agent James Bond). With the family, Kong battles the evil Dr. Who. The series was implied to be set between Son of Kong and Godzilla vs King Kong, giving the series a time frame between 1934 and 1962, The choice of a TV Show was odd to Cooper, who didn't see the story as something for kids, but then he saw that it would be in Stop Motion, with his old pal Ray Harryhausen being one of the many hands. He couldn't object to that. He'd not been a director in years, but he did write up a few episodes of the show, which was adapted into a film King Kong Escapes in 1967. Cooper passed away in 1973.
King Kong vs the Sea Monster(1966)
The next film made by Toho came in 1966, King Kong vs the Sea Monster. At that point, Cooper had grown to trust Ishiro Honda. At least Toho was doing more with the characters. There had been this idea that sequels didn't sell well in the US and he was front and center for each decision.
King Kong(1933)
The History of King Kong starts with Meriam C.Cooper's lifelong fascination with Apes that began at age 6, which grew bigger over time, until one day he looked at a tall building and imagined a giant one climbing it. Cooper made the original King Kong for RKO Radio Pictures in 1933 and it was a huge success. RKO immediately demanded a sequel to be made and released nine months later, fearing that the movie would only be a fad. Cooper convinced them to wait, saying it would take longer for the special effects to look as good as the original film. RKO allowed this. Then the first film won Best Picture at the Oscars. Cooper felt vindicated as he walked up to that stage and so RKO gave Cooper as much time as he needed to make a movie he felt would be on par with the original film, rather than a cheap cashgrab.
Screenshot from the 1933 Japanese Waisei Kingu Kongu.
Wasei Kingu Kongu(1933)
In the meantime, a Japanese remake known as "Wasei Kingu Kongu" was released the same year. The film itself acknowledges its nature as a cashgrab. It is a silent Japanese short film written by Akira Fushima, directed by Torajira Saito and featuring Isamu Yamaguchi as the title character. The film centers on a Japanese man watching the 1933 film and being inspired to turn it into a musical. This film is not lost as OTL, seeing wider distribution, making it the first Japanese Kaiju monster film ever made. It was distributed by Shochiku, who also handled the Japanese distribution rights of the original, although this film was made without RKO's permission. The film survived the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Son of Kong(1934)
Son of Kong, released in 1934, was exactly the awaited RKO sequel. While the plot was nowhere near as memorable as the original, it was still a fondly remembered movie. It concerns Carl Denham returning to the Island and finding Kong's son. There is more humorous moments, in moments such as when Denham stumbles upon a native woman making a trap to catch monkeys, who then asks him if he's ever caught one, leading Denham to stutter over his own words before responding with "Lady you have no idea". The film could also be somewhat somber, as Denham meets the friendly son of Kong and apologizes for getting his father killed(which the brilliant stop motion work on the face of the Son of Kong conveying his sadness beautifully). The Film is bigger in scope than OTL, depicting countless Dinosaurs fleeing as Skull Island sinks, using models from the previous film Creation.
King Kong Appears in Edo, 1938 Poster depicting scenes from the film.
King Kong Appears in Edo(1938)
A second Japanese King Kong film was released in 1938 as King Kong Appears in Edo in which a villain uses his pet monster ape to kidnap a girl for ransom. The monster is capable of growing and shrinking in size.
Cooper moved onto his next project, Tarzan vs King Kong. Cooper had helped fun the creation of Pioneer Studios, which was founded by investors John Hay Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney to use the new Full color Technicolor Process, which at that time had only been used for Disney cartoons. John Whitney had bought a 15% share. At the time Metro Goldwyn Mayer was making Tarzan films, having made two, Tarzan, the Ape Man, and Tarzan and his Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller. Then an unexpected roadblock occurred. Cooper was sued by RKO Radio Pictures for using their character at a rival company. Cooper was baffled, King Kong was his creation. He brought this up with Louie B.Mayer, who proceeded to explain trademark laws to Cooper. Cooper vowed to sue RKO for the King Kong name. Louie B.Mayer through the support of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer's legal team behind him(likely with the intention that if Cooper won, he'd be more willing to cooperate with Mayer and Mayer would have stolen Kong away from RKO). The case went to court. RKO argued that since Pioneer Pictures was now a full functioning studio, anything made for them after that fact were now rendered null and void, which would mean Son of Kong. Cooper also wanted rights to profits made by RKO selling Merchandise based on the film. Cooper was able to present documents indicating a written agreement to RKO Studio Corp President Mr.Ayelsworth and a formal binding letter confirming Cooper had given the rights to RKO for only two pictures and nothing more. Meaning he was free to bring Kong wherever he wished(OTL Cooper did not bring up the legal battle until 1962 when then King Kong holders Universal were making King Kong vs Godzilla with Toho, at which point he lost the court case as the necessary Documents were lost after Cooper left for World War II military service. Since he brings it up earlier, Cooper doesn't lose the documents and is able to maintain rights to the Kong Character).
Promotional Art for Tarzan vs King Kong.
Tarzan vs King Kong(1942)
With the legal battle over, it came time for Tarzan and King Kong to meet face to face. The Tarzan series had continued unabated and if anything the Trial had boosted a desire to see such a match up take place. MGM wrote Tarzan vs King Kong as a story in which Tarzan meets a group hunting a giant Ape, which the men capture, only for Tarzan's adopted son, Korak( Boy OTL), to sneak off, having befriended Kong. Tarzan discovers Korak has boarded the plane to New York and is forced to follow with Jane. History repeats itself and the Kong creature escapes, grabbing Jane as Korak attempts to talk with Kong, being able to reach him. Tarzan climbs the Empire State Building after him and does his best imitation of a wing walker when he grabs onto a passing plane. Finally Kong falls but Tarzan leaps at just the right time to rescue Jane. The film makes no mention of whether events are repeating themselves or not(OTL this replaces Tarzan's New York Adventure for added irony).
This would be the last time the two crossed over. As while MGM was able to steal King Kong from RKO, RKO was able to steal Tarzan from MGM, bringing the same actor along. Cooper meanwhile had moved on, having served in World War II and now seeing success thanks to King Kong. Evidently still Ape Brained, he went onto create the character of Mighty Joe Young in 1949. RKO meanwhile went into bankruptcy, being folded into Universal Studios.
Godzilla vs King Kong(1963)
In 1962, the legal battles resumed as Toho approached Universal to make Godzilla vs King Kong. Universal agreed but when Cooper got wind of this he protested, claiming the deal he had made with RKO was for the first two films and King Kong character was still his. Universal relented and Toho Director Ishiro Honda immediately turned to Cooper and bowed, asking him for his permission to use Kong in the film. Cooper, as the sole owner of the character agreed and was even present for most of the filming. It was a surreal experience for him. He'd fought against Japanese people in World War II and had witnessed the surrender, but Kong meant a lot to him and he was going to see it done justice. However, Cooper cared little for the plot of the film, understanding it wasn't a remake. In the end, he got what he always liked seeing and imagining since he was a child, a giant Gorilla and a Dinosaur fighting each other.
The Film was Toho's most successful film to date. Cooper's respect grew. He was surprised when the suggestion of a sequel was brought up but then shrugged. Why not? He'd done the exact same thing and made a sequel a year later. He was there for that one two, just behind the camera. He'd grown to be close friends with Ishiro Honda, the director of both films.
The King Kong Show(1966)
In 1966, Toho wanted to create a King Kong series. They worked in collaboration with Rankin and Bass to create the stop motion series The King Kong Show. The Story concerns the Son of Kong, from the film of the same name and shows the ape survive the sinking of Skull Island and end up on nearby Mondo Island, where he is found by a Doctor named Bond and his family(a passing joke implies he is related to the special Agent James Bond). With the family, Kong battles the evil Dr. Who. The series was implied to be set between Son of Kong and Godzilla vs King Kong, giving the series a time frame between 1934 and 1962, The choice of a TV Show was odd to Cooper, who didn't see the story as something for kids, but then he saw that it would be in Stop Motion, with his old pal Ray Harryhausen being one of the many hands. He couldn't object to that. He'd not been a director in years, but he did write up a few episodes of the show, which was adapted into a film King Kong Escapes in 1967. Cooper passed away in 1973.
King Kong vs the Sea Monster(1966)
The next film made by Toho came in 1966, King Kong vs the Sea Monster. At that point, Cooper had grown to trust Ishiro Honda. At least Toho was doing more with the characters. There had been this idea that sequels didn't sell well in the US and he was front and center for each decision.
Dino De Laurentiis, an Italian Filmmaker, had heard circles around that Michael Eisner wanted to remake King Kong allegedly as a tribute to the late Cooper. Laurentiis went to RKO to buy the rights for 200,000$. Universal filed a lawsuit against RKO, claiming that by owning RKO they owned the Kong films and once more a legal battle brewed. Mirian's son, Colonel Richard Cooper also became involved. The rights to the Novelization had expired and Universal argued that meant the story was public domain. Cooper argued the film belonged to his family. A Judge ruled that a film about King Kong could not steal ideas from the original film as that was still copyrighted. Universal eventually would make The Legend of King Kong in 1976.
The Legend of King, promotional Poster
Universal had also sued Paramount as they had an oral agreement to make a King film. Michael Eisner had approached both studios for a potential King Kong remake. The Universal film entered production quickly in the hopes that Paramount and De Laurentis would back down from making their version, which they did. The Script was written Bo Goldman(One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) with the relatively unknown Joseph Sargent directing. Special effects artist Jim Danforth was brought onboard to create stop motion effects. The plot followed the 1933 film fairly closely and kept it in that time period. Carl Denham was played by Peter Falk. The character was more villainous. Joining the planes in combatting Kong only to fall to his death when Kong destroyed his plane, filming his own demise. Ann Darrow was played by Susan Blakely, who played the character as much more compassionate towards Kong, wanting to save him. The ship known as the Venture instead became the Panama Queen. Jack Driscoll was played by Robert Redford. Several monsters were swapped out. For example the Stegosaurus was instead a Arsinoitherium, or a prehistoric Rhinosaurus. A Parasaurolophus in place of a brontosaurus. The T-Rex however remained. A Triceratops also appears.Giant Scorpions were added to the original's Spdier Pit scene and the Pterodactyl was replaced by a giant prehistoric vulture. In 1982, Universal tried to sue Nintendo for the creation of Donkey Kong. the Judge ruled in favor of Nintendo, pointing out that no one would confuse King Kong for Donkey Kong.
Peter Jackson poses with a statue of Kong fighting to save Ann from three T-Rexes.
Toho however kept the rights, having gotten them directly from Cooper, and making King Kong Lives! in 1985, and a remake of Godzilla vs King Kong in 1991. Universal finally acquired the rights from Toho in the early, resulting in the Universal Studios ride King Kong Encounter In Universal Studios Hollywood( unlike OTL was not destroyed in a Studio Fire), and Kongfrontation! in Orlando in 1990(closed down in 2002 due to maintenance issues but was restored later on and refurbished into being based of the 1998 Peter Jackson Kong film) and the greenlighting to create a faithful adaptation as they intended. A young director named Peter Jackson was offered the chance. Jackson was elated, King Kong was his favorite film. The film was produced by Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis also funded Peter Jackson's then recent film Tales from the Crypt presents The Frighteners which did well. Jackson even revealed to Universal a massive statue of King Kong fighting three T Rex, which was used for promotion of the film.(OTL the film was delayed for a few reasons, the first was that Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young were coming out and the Studio thought people would be tired of giant monsters. Here the Studio goes through with the film for a few reasons 1. There is no American Godzilla coming out and Kurosawa's Godzilla will likely be subtitled in english and not dubbed so there's a gap. 2. Mighty Joe Young is still coming out and Universal is taking the approach that bigger is better, not to mention King Kong being more famous mean its a surefire stomp at the box office. 3.Universal has at least now a good relationship with Toho, which means they could potentially do a Godzilla vs King Kong film, and 4. Another reason the film wasn't made was because Jackson's The Frighteners underperformed and the studio got cold feet and pulled the plug. Here the original idea for the Frighteners as pitched by Robert Zemeckis is used in that it's a feature film of the Tales from the Crypt, So by slapping that name on the film it does better(Though this adds an intro and ending featuring the Crypt Keeper, and some jokes such as one from the original film where the Crypt Keeper emerges from a coffin where a corpse at least dressed as a woman with dress, wig and a smoke in her mouth is also laying with her bony hands behind her head. He stands up naked and comments "I love it when they lay still like that".Though often referenced OTL as a 1996 film, the Peter Jackson King Kong movie was intended for a 1998 release OTL. The Script is available online. A summary is below:
The film begins in France in 1917 where Captain Jack Driscoll is playing baseball with his friend while both are piloting Sopwith Camels. They are then ambushed by German planes, including the Red Baron. Jack survives but his best friend is killed in the battle and Jack crashes, forced to survive on his own.
We flash forward to 1933. Jack Driscoll(Played by George Clooney) is helping a British archeological dig led by Ludwig Darrow and his ambitious archeological daughter Ann Darrow(played by Kate Winslet) on a dig in Sumatra meant to uncover Hindu ruins. Filmmaker Carl Denham(played by Robert DeNiro) is there to film the dig and the wildlife for a documentary he is making. The group accidentally crash into buried ruins and discover a hidden area with a large statue of what Anne believes to be the mythical Ape God Kong and two parts of a map to Skull Island. After this discovery, the Hindu authorities arrive and shut down the dig. Mr.Darrow suffers a heart attack due to stress. An intense chase scene through the jungles follows as Jack Driscoll, Carl Denham and Ann Darrow flee the Hindu authorities towards the ship known as the Doc Venture, while being shot at. Their jeep crashes into the river where they are attacked by Giant Sumatran Crocodiles, who eat the Hindu authorities while Jack, Carl and Ann escape.
After putting a group together, the three travel to the Island, where they find the natives living near a giant wall. The natives attack them but they escape. The native later board the Doc Venture and capture Ann. Ann is presented to and abducted by Kong and taken into the jungle. Driscol and Denham form a party to rescue her. The group encounters and lose members to, a herd of hadrosaurus, an Ankylosaurus, a stampede of Brontosaurus chased by a Carnotaurus, a River Monster, and a Triceratops after they kill its child. They reach Kong but are forced to cross a log, which Kong grabs and shakes before hurling down a cliff. Most of the rest of the search party are killed by giant Insects that emerge to attack them except for Jack, Denham and a sailor named Peke. Ann meanwhile, seeing Kong as a savage beast, sings a lullaby to him to try and calm him down when he is enraged. Kong protects her from three tyrannosauruses. Ann is almost eaten as she enter one of their mouths but Kong rips the T-Rex's jaw apart in order to reach in and grab Ann. Ann survives but becomes sick from the bacteria. Kong takes her to his lair to the top of a mountain. The two bond before being attack by a flock Bat like Pteranodons. Jack arrives to save Ann while Peke is killed by an Elasmosaurus. Kong chases Jack and Ann back to the wall, destroying the village and the native people in the process. Denham has his men shoot Kong in the knees and the ape is beaten down until his is knocked out.
Denham shows Kong to many spectators in a stage show while torturing him. Ann tries to stop the show but Denham aggressively holds her back. Kong breaks free, crushing Denham in the process, and escapes into the streets of New York. Ann gives herself to him to stop his rampage and he climbs the Empire State Building to escape his pursuers. Jack, realizing they are sending planes after Kong, retrieves his old World War I plane and flies to the scene to protect Kong. While Kong destroys his plane, he is able to get onto the Empire State Building and rescue Ann, Who Kong hands over to Jack. Ann sings the lullaby to Kong for a final time before he falls off after being shot. Spectators surround Kong's corpse and a policeman comments on the planes bringing him down. An old woman comments that It was Beauty killed the Beast.
The Film was a hit. Universal then asked Jackson what he wanted to do next. He turned his attention to adapting the Lord of the Rings for Universal. Aside from the odd choice of an Australian King Kong musical(with only ok musical numbers but a very impressive massive Kong Puppet, which steals the show). Universal sat on the Kong license, waiting for Toho to finish their own promotion of the Great Ape. Finally, when Toho once more rested their Kaiju franchise, Universal signed a deal with Legendary to produce King Kong films as part of the Monsterverse, allowing a Kong they owned to fight Godzilla. Peter Jackson's remake of Son of Kong in 2017 was a return to the same world created by Peter Jackson with him as Director, serving to place his Kong film into the Monsterverse. The Film relied heavily on practical effects rather than CGI to match better with the style of the 1998 film and focused on the revelation that Kong had a son, which would become the new Kong going forward. Then in 2021, King Kong fought Godzilla once more as he had done under the Toho banner. The opening of the film appropriately enough shows an image of Godzilla on a cave wall when Toho's name comes up and an image of Kong with the Universal Logo , showing how two rivals have come together to craft a legendary and iconic rivalry of East vs West. Guillermo Del Toro directed the film, intending to cross it over with Pacific Rim. The film concerns a corporation called Apex building robotic versions of King Kong and Godzilla(Mechanikong and Mechagodzilla). The robot dopplegangers instigate a battle between the two monsters by posing as the real Kaiju and attacking each other, while a group of humans aids Kong in searching for his home in the Hollow Earth(the human presence is reduced OTL, cutting out the Mechagodzilla discovery and conspiracy theory subplot). Mothra appears in the film in the final battle and aids in turning the tide as the Mechanical Imposters are defeated. Many have jokingly added subtitles to the scene where the two Kaiju clash.
"Godzilla: You were never a Kaiju. You were never even a King."
King Kong: Save...Mothra.
Godzilla: WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?"
Scene from 2021's Godzilla vs King Kong.
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Thank you!!!
Maybe you should do something with Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones/Harry Potter/Fantasy adaptations in general, that or computer/tabletop RPGs (Save Black Isle Studios and make sure Bioware does not get bought by EA lol)
Maybe you should do something with Lord of the Rings/Game of Thrones/Harry Potter/Fantasy adaptations in general, that or computer/tabletop RPGs (Save Black Isle Studios and make sure Bioware does not get bought by EA lol)
You're asking for several things there. So it will take longer to be put out there. Also I was working on a look in the Comic Industry and that is getting a little too big. So I might post that first and then do Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, while RPGS would probably be grouped in Video Games. Which will be covered at a later time.
Interlude: DC Multiverse Pre-Crisis.
And now a brief interlude. While working on the DC portion I began to map out the DC Multiverse as it plays a big part in DC History. Now this is as complicated as the Multiverse is going to be. After Crisis, there was a solid limit established of 52 Earths while before there was no limit. Below are the known Earths. Earths that are two similar have been merged(the unknown Wonder Woman from an alternate Universe our Wonder Woman met in 1947 is now from Earth Two). Some have been rewritten slightly. Some Universes where created specifically to explain plotholes which would not exist ITTL. Some have been completely merged(the Supersons are the children of Batman and Superman on Earth One) and so on. Most of these were only glimpsed so there's been some conjecture made to make each of their premises make senses.
Known Pre-Crisis Multiverse Worlds
Earth Prime: Our Universe. the Heroes are all fictional.
Earth One: Golden Age Characters(Pre-1957)
Earth Two:Silver Age Characters(Post 1957 to 1985)
Earth Three: Crime Syndicate/Reversed or "Mirror" Earth. Later revealed to be misnamed and is actually "Earth -1".
Earth Four: Charlton Comics Characters
Earth Five: Fawcett Comic Characters(including Moore's TTL Miracleman series) and Detective Comics #500.
Earth Six: Introduced in Crisis. Has Superheroes who rule as Royalty and America lost the Revolutionary War.
Earth X: Axis Victory Earth. Home of the Superhero Team,The Freedom Fighters who obviously fight Nazis
Earth 12: Home of the Inferior Five. Superhero parodies. Is thus a "Parody" Earth inhabited by the likes of "Super Duper Man" and so on.
Earth 14: Setting of the New Gods Series.
Earth 15: Home to a race of Stone Giants
Earth 43: Superman and Lex Luthor killed Each other in Battle. A Kandorian citizen replaced Superman.
Earth 47: Lois Lane is Superwoman and Clark Kent is a normal reporter trying to discover her identity. Unlike OTL she does not sent Clark to the Phantom Zone.
Earth 51: Polygamy is legal and Superman marries Lois Lane, Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris. Jimmy Olsen also married Supergirl.
Earth 54: More Advanced Earth where Tommy Tomorrow was the first man on Mars in 1960. Home of Tommy Tomorrow.
Earth 64: Lex Luthor is a concert Pianist who married Lois Lane shortly before his death.
Earth 72: Setting for the Comic series Prez, Teenager Prez Rickard defeats Richard Nixon in the 1972 election and becomes President for two terms until 1981.
Earth 86:Earth ravaged by an Atomic War in 1986. Home to post apocalyptic DC characters like Kamandi, the Atomic Knights and O.M.A.C.
Earth 89: Lois Lane married Bruce Wayne, who is still Batman.
Earth 91: A blind Lois Lane marries Superman and they had a daughter who is later deformed while acting as a Superheroine.
Earth 95: Jor-El is able to build a larger rocket and the entire family goes to Earth. Kal-El still becomes Superboy at least. Capes become a status symbol thanks to the El Family becoming celebrities.
Earth 124: Themyscira is more open to the outside worlds. Allowing trips to Man's world for reproduction purposes. As a result, Hippolyta has three daughters, Wonder Woman, Donna Troy and a third "Wonder Tot". Clark Kent acted as a bully in Smallville to better hide his selfless nature.
Earth 132: Krypton was never destroyed and Earth Astronauts landed on it decades later, where the character of Futuro was born.
Earth 134: Superboy was turned evil by Red Kryptonite and abandoned Earth.
Earth 136: The Waynes adopted Kal-El and named him Bruce Wayne. He becomes a Superman type hero and no Batman exists. This Bruce Wayne married Barbara Gordon.
Earth 146: Created when the Earth Two Superman altered history, preventing Atlantis from sinking and evacuating the people of Krypton to Earth.
Earth 149: Lex Luthor succeeded in killing Superman. He was then exiled to the Phantom Zone by Superman's allies and Supergirl took the role of the Man of Steel.
Earth 159: Krypton is never destroyed. Earth becomes aware of it. Lois Lane is sent to Krypton as Earth's sole survivor.
Earth 162: Superman found a way to clone himself into two beings named Superman Red and Superman Blue. The two created a utopia by curing diseases and reforming people like Lex Luthor and Fidel Castro. One marries Lois Lane and one marries Lana Lang.
Earth 164: Superman and Lois Lane had twins. One with superpowers. One without.
Earth 167: Lex Luthor is Superman and Clark Kent is Batman.
Earth 172: Jor-El intended a device allowing someone to see through time and space shortly before Krypton's destruction and placed it with Kal-el. Jonathan Kent used it to learn of his son's future as Superman and out of curiosity, Batman's origin. He then tells the Waynes who still die as they know they're death will lead Bruce to become Batman and save many lives. Bruce Wayne is adopted by the Kents due to the Waynes changing their will. As a result Bruce and Clark become Batboy and Superboy. Eventually Clark moves to Gotham to become a reporter at the Gotham Gazette. Bruce goes to the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes and chooses to stay there.
Earth 175: Clark Kent meets a young Lex Luthor in Smallville and maintains his friendship. As a result it is Clark's other friend, Peter Ross that turns to villainy rather than Lex.
Earth 178: Superman gained a new power to control energy early in his career and became Nova.
Earth 183: Kal-El crashed in Jungle and was raised by Apes as Karkan, lord of the Jungle.
Earth 184: A particularly intense Supervillain battle resulted in Batman becoming mentally impaired and Superman being blinded. Leading Robin to train them both.
Earth 192: Superman lost his powers and married Lois Lane. They had a superpowered son.
Earth 200: Brainiac was a benevolent being who saved as many from Krypton's destruction as he could by taking one of their cities containing the El family. This led to Kal-El having a brother named Knor-El, who went to Earth and became this world's Superman(known as Hyperman, and acting as a Superhero largely for fun and altruism). Kal-el remained on the city now known as Kryptonopolis.
Earth 215: Superman married Lois Lane and had a daughter. Lois was killed by a villain called the Dimension Master capable of Dimensional travel and conquest. Dimension Master was then killed by Lex Luthor and Brainiac, who Respect Superman in this reality.
Earth 224: Superman and Lois Lane married and had a son who briefly became a Supergenius.
Earth 230: Universe where Lex Luthor is a Kryptonian Superhero and Clark Kent is a criminal genius.
Earth 265: The Dominant Life on Earth evolved from Cetaceans
Earth 295: A Kamandi esque world where the Apocalypse was not caused by NuclearWar but instead a lack of resources and collapse of society. So less Planet of the Apes and More first Mad Max film
Earth 300: Superman's rocket was delayed and landed in 1976. He became a hero called Skyboy.
Earth 332: Superman and Supergirl arrived in reverse order. Supergirl became Superwoman and was later joined in the late 50's by the arrival of her baby cousin, who became Superboy.
Earth 377: A magical-Fantasy style Earth.
Earth 383: Universe in which anyone who dies on Earth Two appears alive on this Earth and is immortal. This Earth deals with overpopulation. Among those alive are the likes of Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc and Abraham Lincoln.
Earth 387: Every inhabitant of Earth is a Werewolf. This is evidently simply a weird evolution humans have always had and have become used to.
Earth 388: Has White Oceans and Dayglow Continents. Superman and Lois are married.
Earth 395: Kal-el was sent to Earth in the Middle Ages and served as Superman under King Arthur with Excalibur being forged from the metal of his ship. He was aided by Sir Bruce of Waynesmoor, the Dark Knight. Sir Bruce fought Mordred and Ra's Al Ghul before falling into a deep sleep with King Arthur in Avalon. Both awakening during World War II.
Earth 399: George Washington freed the slaves during his Presidency. Abraham Lincoln still became President and served as President for life. George Custer did not die and had good enough relations with the Indians that he became the Chief of the Indian Federation, presumably helping to support the rights of the Indians. Superman has died twice but cloning technology has been invented and so he has been cloned twice.
Earth 410: Superman met and married the alien With Krysalla and had a son, Krys.
Earth 7642: AKA Crossover Earth. Marvel and DC character coexist and frequently interact. Notable for having its own Phoenix Force and Darkseid. The Setting of Early crossover stories. Usually the ones in which the characters are established to be in the same world rather than crossing through Universes like Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men vs Teen Titans.
Earth C: Universe full of talking animals. Home to Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew.
Earth C minus: Similar to Earth C except every person on Earth Two has an animal counterpart. The entire Justice League filled with animals version of Superheroes(Super-Squirrel, Batmouse, Wonder Wabbit ...etc).
Earth I: Earth Created by Despero full of Insectoid lifeforms
Earth M: World created by Despero full of aquatic lifeforms
Earth Q: Home to Quality Comics characters outside of the Freedom Fighters. The Allies won World War II in 1945, though there had been more Global conflicts before that moment. Heroes like Doll Man, Plastic Man, the Blackhawks, the Spirit, Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic continued their superhero careers after the war and switched to fighting criminals and Communists.
Earth R: World created by Despero. Home to Reptilean Lifeforms
Earth-Omega: Pariah's Home Universe, the first universe destroyed by the Anti-Matter. With Pariah himself surviving and going to warn other Universes.
Known Pre-Crisis Multiverse Worlds
Earth Prime: Our Universe. the Heroes are all fictional.
Earth One: Golden Age Characters(Pre-1957)
Earth Two:Silver Age Characters(Post 1957 to 1985)
Earth Three: Crime Syndicate/Reversed or "Mirror" Earth. Later revealed to be misnamed and is actually "Earth -1".
Earth Four: Charlton Comics Characters
Earth Five: Fawcett Comic Characters(including Moore's TTL Miracleman series) and Detective Comics #500.
Earth Six: Introduced in Crisis. Has Superheroes who rule as Royalty and America lost the Revolutionary War.
Earth X: Axis Victory Earth. Home of the Superhero Team,The Freedom Fighters who obviously fight Nazis
Earth 12: Home of the Inferior Five. Superhero parodies. Is thus a "Parody" Earth inhabited by the likes of "Super Duper Man" and so on.
Earth 14: Setting of the New Gods Series.
Earth 15: Home to a race of Stone Giants
Earth 43: Superman and Lex Luthor killed Each other in Battle. A Kandorian citizen replaced Superman.
Earth 47: Lois Lane is Superwoman and Clark Kent is a normal reporter trying to discover her identity. Unlike OTL she does not sent Clark to the Phantom Zone.
Earth 51: Polygamy is legal and Superman marries Lois Lane, Lana Lang and Lori Lemaris. Jimmy Olsen also married Supergirl.
Earth 54: More Advanced Earth where Tommy Tomorrow was the first man on Mars in 1960. Home of Tommy Tomorrow.
Earth 64: Lex Luthor is a concert Pianist who married Lois Lane shortly before his death.
Earth 72: Setting for the Comic series Prez, Teenager Prez Rickard defeats Richard Nixon in the 1972 election and becomes President for two terms until 1981.
Earth 86:Earth ravaged by an Atomic War in 1986. Home to post apocalyptic DC characters like Kamandi, the Atomic Knights and O.M.A.C.
Earth 89: Lois Lane married Bruce Wayne, who is still Batman.
Earth 91: A blind Lois Lane marries Superman and they had a daughter who is later deformed while acting as a Superheroine.
Earth 95: Jor-El is able to build a larger rocket and the entire family goes to Earth. Kal-El still becomes Superboy at least. Capes become a status symbol thanks to the El Family becoming celebrities.
Earth 124: Themyscira is more open to the outside worlds. Allowing trips to Man's world for reproduction purposes. As a result, Hippolyta has three daughters, Wonder Woman, Donna Troy and a third "Wonder Tot". Clark Kent acted as a bully in Smallville to better hide his selfless nature.
Earth 132: Krypton was never destroyed and Earth Astronauts landed on it decades later, where the character of Futuro was born.
Earth 134: Superboy was turned evil by Red Kryptonite and abandoned Earth.
Earth 136: The Waynes adopted Kal-El and named him Bruce Wayne. He becomes a Superman type hero and no Batman exists. This Bruce Wayne married Barbara Gordon.
Earth 146: Created when the Earth Two Superman altered history, preventing Atlantis from sinking and evacuating the people of Krypton to Earth.
Earth 149: Lex Luthor succeeded in killing Superman. He was then exiled to the Phantom Zone by Superman's allies and Supergirl took the role of the Man of Steel.
Earth 159: Krypton is never destroyed. Earth becomes aware of it. Lois Lane is sent to Krypton as Earth's sole survivor.
Earth 162: Superman found a way to clone himself into two beings named Superman Red and Superman Blue. The two created a utopia by curing diseases and reforming people like Lex Luthor and Fidel Castro. One marries Lois Lane and one marries Lana Lang.
Earth 164: Superman and Lois Lane had twins. One with superpowers. One without.
Earth 167: Lex Luthor is Superman and Clark Kent is Batman.
Earth 172: Jor-El intended a device allowing someone to see through time and space shortly before Krypton's destruction and placed it with Kal-el. Jonathan Kent used it to learn of his son's future as Superman and out of curiosity, Batman's origin. He then tells the Waynes who still die as they know they're death will lead Bruce to become Batman and save many lives. Bruce Wayne is adopted by the Kents due to the Waynes changing their will. As a result Bruce and Clark become Batboy and Superboy. Eventually Clark moves to Gotham to become a reporter at the Gotham Gazette. Bruce goes to the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes and chooses to stay there.
Earth 175: Clark Kent meets a young Lex Luthor in Smallville and maintains his friendship. As a result it is Clark's other friend, Peter Ross that turns to villainy rather than Lex.
Earth 178: Superman gained a new power to control energy early in his career and became Nova.
Earth 183: Kal-El crashed in Jungle and was raised by Apes as Karkan, lord of the Jungle.
Earth 184: A particularly intense Supervillain battle resulted in Batman becoming mentally impaired and Superman being blinded. Leading Robin to train them both.
Earth 192: Superman lost his powers and married Lois Lane. They had a superpowered son.
Earth 200: Brainiac was a benevolent being who saved as many from Krypton's destruction as he could by taking one of their cities containing the El family. This led to Kal-El having a brother named Knor-El, who went to Earth and became this world's Superman(known as Hyperman, and acting as a Superhero largely for fun and altruism). Kal-el remained on the city now known as Kryptonopolis.
Earth 215: Superman married Lois Lane and had a daughter. Lois was killed by a villain called the Dimension Master capable of Dimensional travel and conquest. Dimension Master was then killed by Lex Luthor and Brainiac, who Respect Superman in this reality.
Earth 224: Superman and Lois Lane married and had a son who briefly became a Supergenius.
Earth 230: Universe where Lex Luthor is a Kryptonian Superhero and Clark Kent is a criminal genius.
Earth 265: The Dominant Life on Earth evolved from Cetaceans
Earth 295: A Kamandi esque world where the Apocalypse was not caused by NuclearWar but instead a lack of resources and collapse of society. So less Planet of the Apes and More first Mad Max film
Earth 300: Superman's rocket was delayed and landed in 1976. He became a hero called Skyboy.
Earth 332: Superman and Supergirl arrived in reverse order. Supergirl became Superwoman and was later joined in the late 50's by the arrival of her baby cousin, who became Superboy.
Earth 377: A magical-Fantasy style Earth.
Earth 383: Universe in which anyone who dies on Earth Two appears alive on this Earth and is immortal. This Earth deals with overpopulation. Among those alive are the likes of Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc and Abraham Lincoln.
Earth 387: Every inhabitant of Earth is a Werewolf. This is evidently simply a weird evolution humans have always had and have become used to.
Earth 388: Has White Oceans and Dayglow Continents. Superman and Lois are married.
Earth 395: Kal-el was sent to Earth in the Middle Ages and served as Superman under King Arthur with Excalibur being forged from the metal of his ship. He was aided by Sir Bruce of Waynesmoor, the Dark Knight. Sir Bruce fought Mordred and Ra's Al Ghul before falling into a deep sleep with King Arthur in Avalon. Both awakening during World War II.
Earth 399: George Washington freed the slaves during his Presidency. Abraham Lincoln still became President and served as President for life. George Custer did not die and had good enough relations with the Indians that he became the Chief of the Indian Federation, presumably helping to support the rights of the Indians. Superman has died twice but cloning technology has been invented and so he has been cloned twice.
Earth 410: Superman met and married the alien With Krysalla and had a son, Krys.
Earth 7642: AKA Crossover Earth. Marvel and DC character coexist and frequently interact. Notable for having its own Phoenix Force and Darkseid. The Setting of Early crossover stories. Usually the ones in which the characters are established to be in the same world rather than crossing through Universes like Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men vs Teen Titans.
Earth C: Universe full of talking animals. Home to Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew.
Earth C minus: Similar to Earth C except every person on Earth Two has an animal counterpart. The entire Justice League filled with animals version of Superheroes(Super-Squirrel, Batmouse, Wonder Wabbit ...etc).
Earth I: Earth Created by Despero full of Insectoid lifeforms
Earth M: World created by Despero full of aquatic lifeforms
Earth Q: Home to Quality Comics characters outside of the Freedom Fighters. The Allies won World War II in 1945, though there had been more Global conflicts before that moment. Heroes like Doll Man, Plastic Man, the Blackhawks, the Spirit, Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic continued their superhero careers after the war and switched to fighting criminals and Communists.
Earth R: World created by Despero. Home to Reptilean Lifeforms
Earth-Omega: Pariah's Home Universe, the first universe destroyed by the Anti-Matter. With Pariah himself surviving and going to warn other Universes.
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History of the DC Universe: Post Crisis Era(1986-2011)
The 1990's
After Gaiman completed his Swamp Thing run in 1993, Fantasy award winning writer China Miéville took over and radically changed the series in his traditional style of subverting Fantasy tropes. His run on Swamp Thing is considered amazing by many and he is often put on the same pedestal as Moore and Gaiman for their quality Swamp Thing runs. As a result, Swamp Thing continued to see publication due to the talented work by the authors(OTL it was canceled in 1993 with no Gaiman and Miéville run happening as was originally planned, Gaiman because DC refused his Swamp thing Jesus story for fear of offending christians despite its lack of anything that would conceivably insult them and both Veitch and Gaiman quitting in protest with the series ending before Miéville could write it. Given the prestige of both Gaiman and Miéville, one can assume the runs would have been amazing).After the Crisis, DC released several mandates. There was no plan to bring back Barry Allen. Wally West would continue to be the Flash(No new 52 Wally West is introduced). Bart Allen was introduced as the perpetual kid Sidekick and new Kid Flash, though he would get his own series after he became old enough to become the Flash, taking over from Wally. A DC editorial mandate was handed down concerning the Joker. The Joker had recently made three Iconic appearances, The Dark Knight Returns, the Killing Joke, and A Death in the Family. On those stories he had been killed, crippled Barbara Gordon, and murdered the second Robin Jason Todd. DC felt that using him too much took away from the character's appeal and feared oversaturation. He would only appear in big events in Batman's life or in cameos, though this only applied to Comics. Other media appearances were fair game. Another rule was that Joker's origin could never be confirmed, as it added to his mystery. Science Fiction Writer Larry Niven took over Green Lantern and wrote "The Green Lantern Bible", which established the Post-Crisis history of the Green Lantern Corps, and incorporated hard science fiction concepts into the Green Lantern mythos. This almost included making Guy Gardner an alien but this was cut. The Mandate basically made the Bible law for a time until Gaiman would receive permission to contradict the contents.
The event known as Legends depicted Darkseid, now only a spirit, attacking Earth by having his henchman Glorious Godfrey turn mankind against the Superheroes, using his ability to control anyone who hears his voice, and then sending Brimstone to attack Earth. This led to the formation of the Suicide Squad as well as a New Justice League made to answer to the UN called Justice League International. Kevin Maguire was pulling double duty on this series and the Wild Card Series with Kurt Busiek, which introduced the titular new Superhero(who fittingly would have the Joker as a villain in his first appearance, along with the Royal Flush Gang). After Legends, DC's next event was Armageddon 2001. This event revealed Captain Atom would become the villain Monarch in one of many possible futures when a time traveller came back and was able to touch people and see their futures. The time traveller became the Superhero Waverider and made contact with several superheroes, glimpsing several possible futures(which are actually stories set in established futures such as that of Dark Knight Returns and Twilight of the Superheroes). Captain Atom fought Monarch when he emerged from his own time following Waverider and sacrificed himself to kill the villain, ensuring that Monarch's future would not come to pass. The event was then largely forgotten. Low sales meant DC kicked into high gear. They would put out a remarketing of the character Ambush Bug, which would later be marketed as DC's answer to Deadpool, often using fourth wall breaking humor. Ambush Bug though would eventually fall to the wayside as Harley Quinn was introduced and essentially became DC's Deadpool in his place.
Wonder Woman and the Star Riders Tie in Comic Series.
Wonder Woman and the Star Riders Action Figures
Plans were made for the Heroes of the DC Universe to go through changes. Several crossovers occurred at once to preserve the iconic versions of the characters. This resulted in an interesting Crossover with Marvel. While the companies were on good terms and crossed over several times before, this crossover was different, creating an entire new line called the Amalgam Universe, centering on a merged universe containing both heroes(the details of which will be provided in their own post).
The sorcerer character Doctor Fate, or rather his series, underwent a transformation His series diving into the darker areas of the Supernatural(this is due to the ideas that became the comic series Scarab originally being planned for a Doctor Fate series), helping to bring the series in line with the popular Image comics at the time.Oliver Queen lost his arm in his own series, leading to his retirement(an allusion in Universe to his fate in The Dark Knight Returns). He at this time discovered he had a son he didn't know about named Connor Hawke, who he would have a good relationship with, training him to be the new Green Arrow. The comic series Doomsday introduced a new villain for the Man of Steel and later new characters such as Steel, the Eradicator and Cyborg Superman(No Death of Superman, so Coast City is not destroyed ITTL). The biggest change however, would occur to Green Lantern, as a young writer named Geoff Johns was given the chance to revamp the character in an event known as Emerald Dawn(avoiding the name Twilight to avoid confusion with the Moore story). The story depicted Sinestro forming his own Corps and attacking the Lanterns with all their enemies to initiate the Blackest Night, a prophecy discovered by Hal Jordan's predecessor Abin Sur about how the Green Lantern Corps will fall. The battle is intense. Johns also introduced the villain Parallax as an entity imprisoned with the Green Lantern Power Battery. While the Sinestro Corps are defeated, even leading to Hal Jordan killing Sinestro, in the sequel Blackest Knight, Parallax corrupts the Lantern Power Battery forcing Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner and John Stewart to fight the Corps and destroy it, including blowing up the sentient Green Lantern Planet Mogo with a bomb in his Core as he was creating sentient rings. This falls on John Stewart who was placed in a similar situation in the Justice League Story arc Cosmic Odyssey. The strongest Green Lantern Sodam Yat is also slain thanks to the Ring's weakness to yellow. The Lanterns also discover other Lantern Corps exist and recruit their help, each taking on different rings and defeating the Corps. Only one Green Ring survives thanks the Guardian Ganthet. It arrives in the hands of an artist named Kyle Rayner. The next arc War of the Lanterns, introduces the Black Lanterns an to an extent the White Lanterns. It involves Kyle Rayner having to master each ring to gain access to the White Lantern of Life and defeat an invasion. This event grew to involve the entire DC Universe combatting the undead, becoming an Arc. To add fuel to the event, Superman was believed to be Dead for a time. Hal Jordan ultimately sacrificed himself to defeat the Black Lanterns and save the Universe.
The events known as The Final Night took place, though with Hal Jordan dead, he cannot sacrifice himself to reignite the sun. Instead it is Superman(who's powers are solar based) who sacrifices himself to reignite the sun(dying in 1996 TTL rather than 1993 OTL. This story later helped inspire the conclusion of All Star Superman ITTL). Though Lois Lane expresses the belief that Superman was not dead and would return after fixing the sun.
Not Inked Cover of Alex Ross's Batboy
DC continued the Vertigo line for stories, sometimes welding them into continuity. Christopher Priest introduced a DC original character called the Avenger and in his Run on Triumph, Confirmed the Hero as closeted gay, elements later folded into DC continuity. Neil Gaiman concluded the last Volume of The Sandman with the speeches of Alianore, Odin, and Death in full, as well as Superman(possibly brought there by Death), at Morpheus's eulogy. This would not be the only time Superman appeared outside continuity.
Image from the Superman/Rocketeer crossover
Superman was featured in a Crossover with the Rocketeer ins a three issue story that had the two working together to save Orson Welles when his War of the Worlds broadcast becomes very real. It was written by Dave Stevens(only proposed OTL. Superman: War of the Worlds doesn't exist which has the same plot without the Rocketeer. This story is set on Earth One in 1938.). Crossovers also occurred with Batman, due to the popularity of the Batman: Animated Series, which received a Comic tie in, some stories of which were later adapted into episodes. "Jolly Ol' Saint Nicholas", one of a series of shorts in The Batman Adventures Holiday Special later adapted in The New Batman Adventures episode "Holiday Knights", had a scene where Barbara Gordon, banking on the panicking crowd seeing Clayface being too busy panicking, changed into Batgirl in front of them. According to Bruce Timm, it was based off of a panel from an issue of Supergirl. A Batman/Gen¹³ crossover was created by DC and Image-Wildstorm, and drawn by Gen 13 artist J. Scott Campbell.
Panel from Kingdom Come depicting the Battle at the end of the original Twilight of the Superheroes.
Twilight Superman enters the main DC Universe.
The Kingdom, the sequel to Kingdom Come, served as a prequel or even an aversion of the series. The story focused more on the civilian identities rather than the heroes themselves. Gog, the predecessor of Magog from Kingdom Come, appeared to attempt to murder the New Gods before Magog killed him. Superman of the Twilight Universe would enter the main Universe of DC and would take steps to prevent the dark future of Twilight from coming to pass on the Main Universe. He would then permanently reside in the main DC Universe, replacing his deceased counterpart. Lois Lane was also revealed to have been pregnant with Superman's child(brought about through mapping of his Genetic Code, done ironically by Lex Luthor as before his death, a conversation with Superman made him realize he'd wasted his life and Lex had reformed, at least for the moment). This allowed Lois to have a second child with the late Mr.Kent. Despite this a Superman/Dirty Pair crossover by Adam Warren occurred with the classic Superman.
Changes had occurred to Batman as well. He had been crippled by the new villain Bane and briefly replaced by Jean Paul Valley in the role of Batman. Eventually, Bruce would return to the role he created. Jean Paul Valley would meanwhile become close with another of Batman's new apprentices, Cassandra Cain( introduced earlier than OTL due to John Byrne requesting an Asian American Batgirl, which he found fitting since Bats are good luck in several East Asian countries). Outside of the Batman franchise, its most famous alternate version was under attack. Frank Miller began to dislike other artists providing takes on his Universe as Alan Moore had written his own continuation to The Dark Knight Returns by connecting it with Twilight of the Superheroes. DC found Miller harder to work with and Miller angrily quit DC, vowing never to work for them again. He then seemingly retired from Comics for good after injuring his writing hand(OTL he was present for the September 11 attacks and later wrote the horribly racist Holy Terror, based on his experience. Seeing as most of his works after the event are considered terrible, he does not write again, he retires. The September 11 Terror attacks do not happen due to a Butterfly effect. Namely the song "Baby It's Cold Outside". Was Never written, which was the deciding factor in convincing Islamist Sayyid Qutb to become radicalized against the West since the song comes off as "Date-Rapey" and he was disturbed by the (to him) sexual dances that were made(fairly safe by today's standards). His writings were later read and inspired Osama Bin Laden, who split off from the Brotherhood which Qutb was the Godfather of through his teachings, and formed his own group in Al Qaeda. Without the song existing, Qutb does not start his movement and Osama Bin Laden does not form Al Qaeda meaning there are no September 11 attacks. I gave myself a rule that I could only alter Pop Culture or how it effects thing. While this limits my powers. Preventing 9/11 is one thing I feel I can do).
After the Crisis. The Team Titans were introduced as future version of the Teen Titans. Their mysterious leader was a grown-up Danny Chase from the future, something which should have been impossible given his death. There was also a team of teenage, alternate universe versions of the Wolfman/Perez Titans that wound up interacting with their current selves. Wolfman also had a Titans group modeled after the original five-member '60s team, but with more modern attitudes to contrast the originals' campy "goody-two shoes" personalities. Phil Jimenez, Wolfman's successor on the book, did a story with Duela Dent (previously shown as an asylum patient in one issue of his run), who was revealed to be a member of the '60s-70s team. Having been stranded in the future and separated from her team, she went insane and stole a special hourglass that allowed her to warp reality. Jimenez also revealed the Team Titans were from an alternate Earth(likely the Twilight future), and revealed the Terra from the future, Terra II, to be a lesbian and an earth elemental-type. He also killed off the character of Mirage.
The New Titans had a largely adult cast at the time. The Team Titans series was created and would start with the cast as Decoy Protagonists, only to get rid of them all around issue #12, introduce the alternate universe Wolfman/Perez Titans as the new protagonists, and then finally rename the book Teen Titans. The new versions of the classic Titans were much younger, allowing them to bring back the Teen part of the name without making it an Artifact Title. The series also gave the character of Pantha an origin story, written by Louise Simonson. In it, Pantha was revealed to be a bookish woman transformed into a monstrous creature by the HIVE(OTL, Pantha did not receive an origin story until after she was killed off). Donna Troy would create a new costume after the "Total Chaos" arc, from the villain's cape. Peterson, working as editor, had her husband Terry Long killed off at the hands of a demonic Raven(Somewhat of a Monkey's Paw effect due to keeping Peterson on TTL as Peterson wanted to kill him off, though Terry Long ended up dying anyway and was not popular at the time. Marv Wolfman in OTL pitched Donna Troy and Nightwing becoming a couple but this was because both Donna's marriage to Terry and the Nightwing/Starfire Marriage were his ideas that were nixed by DC, since Wolfman at least gets the Nightwing/Starfire Marriage and the Donna/Terry as the status quo for some time, that idea is never pitched). The Teen Titans continued to grow overtime including adding a character named Split to the team. His name became appropriate as around the same time the Teen Titans team itself split when Marv Wolfman brought Nightwing back to the team only for him to clash with Arsenal(Roy Queen) over leadership, leading to the team being split in two between the Titans West and Titans East teams.
Artist Rob Liefeld was given a spinoff book of the Teen Titans called "The Hybrid" and a team of villains called the Rogue Titans, which an editorial mandate requested be changed to Terror Titans. While Liefeld had his fans, he never gained much popularity, he did later go onto work for Marvel and is known for creating the characters of Deadpool and Cable, the former out of a desire to bring back the deceased Deathstroke. Other teams would take over these characters and give them new life, turning Deadpool into a comedic character and Cable into a hero from the future. Liefeld's design also helped create the modern design for most action figures, allowing them to have more points of articulation at the arms and joints(I seriously considered killing off Rob Liefeld in this Timeline. OTL Rob Liefeld wrote a drew a now infamous Captain America Comic. At the time Marvel was in such a bad situation financially they actually offered their characters to Image, including Liefeld writing Captain America. Comic Veteran Mark Gruenwald, who had written his entire life for Marvel and was one of the biggest Captain America fans, went home with a new copy of Liefeld Captain America. He was found the next day having died of a heart attack with a copy of the Liefeld Captain America issue. Most of the Marvel staff though it was a joke. Gruenwald frequently pulled pranks and did cartwheels in the office. So what I'm saying is...as SF Debris put it....ROB LIEFELD WROTE A COMIC SO BAD IT MAY HAVE KILLED A MAN!".....what does this mean? it means that TTL Mark Gruenwald is alive and so help me I wanted to kill off Rob Liefeld, who would have been 29 at time of Death if I went through with it as a type of way to tip the scales....Anyway moving on).
Tim Drake joined the Teen Titans in Volume 2. Wildcat and Nightwing acted as mentors. Raven and Omen were also members. The group contended with alien hybrid children. Three children were left unaccounted for. One became the villain Sweet 16 while the other two were other wannabe heroes that showed up at a membership drive (Kid Emotion and The Solution). The new series had a spin-off called "Titans LA". It involved Terra II trying to find out the secrets of her past. Jay Faerber wrote a story where Slizzath, nemesis of Tempest, resurrected all the dead Titans as an army to fight the current team. Faerber included Mr. Jupiter(the team's funder) being killed off, with the Titans having to solve the mystery of his murder. Faeber's successor, Barry Kitson did more with specific characters like Bumblebee, Lilith, Terra II, and Risk, Lilith stopped using the Omen codename. Faerber also had Dolphin join the Titans team and become a more active character. The villain Epsilon was introduced and later revealed to be a serial killer that would hop dimensions to murder heroes. He was revealed to be the alternate version of Danny Chase from another Universe where he did not die, serving as a "Take that Scrappy!" moment for the character and revealing he was the leader of the Team Titans.
When Teen Titans volume 3 began, Static Shock was part of the team, as he was coming off of the popular Static Shock TV show at the time. Geoff Johns had his Titans team to fight the Scarecrow in an early arc. Blackfire also appeared. Johns also wanted to use Supergirl but due to the "reign in Hell" arc(discussed later) couldn't and created Miss Martian as a "Naive, Fun alien Chick". Johns then had Superboy regaining his confidence to fend off the "Titans of Tomorrow" or the Team Titans, who would found a way to attack the present timeline. Johns set up threads for the then-new Aquagirl to join the team. Rob Liefeld's two-issue filler arc with Gail Simone was meant to get his foot in the door at DC. There were plans for Liefeld to do a new Titans East series to help expand the franchise, as well as a possible Teen Titans-based limited series, but the deal fell apart due tension behind the scenes. Liefeld ended up walking away from DC, and had some unkind things to say about the company.
Issue 47 had Duela Dent officially join the volume 3 team, after deciding to stick with them after the "Titans East" arc. Sean McKeever revealed that the villain Sun Girl was pregnant with Inertia's child, upon which she appealed to Bart Allen and the other Titans for help. Kid Devil was resurrected in a story arc sometime after his Heroic Sacrifice. The demon Blaze revived him and used him as her slave, until he was freed by the Titans. JT Krul's run featured the new Aqualad from Young Justice joining the team, as well as the Teen Titans facing off against a new team of Anti-Hero Titans led by Deathstroke(still alive Post Crisis). Eric Wallace's run on Cinder had him finding child molester Nursery Cryme after she'd accidentally set him free, and metahuman Allegra Garcia joining Deathstroke's team. The finale of the Titans series before 2011 had Red Arrow and Jericho rebuilding the team.
The 2000's
Grant Morrison wrote JLA Earth -1, which served as the reintroduction of the Crime Syndicate while introducing the Antimatter Multiverse(later the Dark Multiverse). He would provide more details of this universe in his Multiversity series. The JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice graphic novel was released as a three or four-issue miniseries. The story breaks into almost perfect twenty-two page segments(OTL it was released as one book which readers quickly realized broke the flow). Morrison also wrote Vertigo's Hellblazer for a time(butterflying away Brain Azzarello's Hellblazer run being considered terrible by fans).Paul Dini's Zatanna First Issue Cover.
In his Batman series, Geoff Johns revealed that the new character of the Red Hood was actually the Jason Todd of Earth Two. The Jason Todd of Earth One was long dead and never coming back . This version of Jason was a young man who had idolized Batman while growing up, only to snap and become a violent Anti-Hero after discovering that his world's Batman had been murdered before the Crisis. Red Hood became Deathstroke's Robin on his anti-Titans/Terror Titans team. This inspired the major plot point in the Teen Titans animated series, where Slade seeks to have Robin become his apprentice by force. Due to the series wrapping up conclusively, The Teen Titans Go Comic Series does not exist(Not to be confused with the animated series) does not exist TTL). Meanwhile the original Robin, Dick Grayson controversially nearly avoided being raped(Knightwing was not raped(This occurred OTL by way of the character of Tarantula since Knightwing was in emotion shock at the time. This encounter is averted by Starfire arriving and blasting Tarantula. Since the two are married TTL. He was also raped again but that event did not happen as that was done by time travelling characters from the Kingdom Come Universe, which doesn't exist here and is very different.).
Seven Soldiers was a Justice League Spin-Off focusing on some of the lesser known heroes of the DCU, with Morrison envisioning the new team as a pastiche of Marvel's Avengers. To that end, the cast consisted of characters who each paralleled a specific Avenger, with the Guardian standing in for Captain America (a shield-wielding Badass Normal), the Enchantress for Scarlet Witch (a magical heroine with a bit of a dark side), Mr. Miracle for Thor (a caped Jack Kirby creation with ties to a fantastic other world), Etrigan the Demon for Incredible Hulk (a tormented man with a dangerous Superpowered Alter Ego), obscure Golden Age hero Spyder for Hawkeye (an adventurous archer with an arsenal of Trick Arrows) and Martian Manhunter for The Vision (a stoic green hero with the ability to become intangible)(OTL Morrison was denied permission to have the Demon, Enchantress or Martian Manhunter in the book since they were all being used elsewhere at the time, so he replaced them with Klarion, Zatanna and Frankenstein, respectively. By then, the whole Avenger angle had begun to fade away).
Identity Crisis was not written, consequently Sue Dibny is still alive, Jean Loring does not become the insane Eclipso, Ray Palmer does not disappear into Countdown. Batman does not become Paranoid and creates Brother Eye and Dr.Light does not become a Rapist. The storyline Batman: War Games does not exist. Consequently Stephanie Brown does not die and instead continues to act as Robin while developing a relationship with Tim Drake.
Prior to Infinite Crisis, a Captain Atom series was released(in place of the OTL Breach series the Captain Atom series eventually became). Another series to tie into the event was Supergirl, Sterling Gates used Lara Kent in the 2005 Supergirl series. Lara spent time acting as the Kandorian hero Flamebird while the role of Nightwing was taken by the newly introduced Conner Kent, a clone of Superman introduced in their Young Justice series) with Dick Grayson abandoning the role to become Batman. Gates' 75th issue featured Lara dying, as was alluded to in the annual issue where she traveled to the future. The story revealed Kara Zor-El was trapped in Hell thanks to Lord Satanus. Lara Kent teamed up with soul of Kara's mother Alura to rescue her, but to do that they seeked out Zatanna and Constantine to get them into Hell. Consequently, Because of this event utilizing the Supergirl character, Supergirl was unavailable for One Year Later's Teen Titan series, Geoff Johns, wanting a fun naive alien chick, created Miss Martian(allowing the character to still exist ITTL).
Infinite Crisis kicked off, helping to tie in several threads introduced beforehand. Among the story threads was the formation of the Secret Society of Supervillains, who created a massive Satellite called "Brother Eye"(revealed to be Brainiac) which infected many people with nanites that turned them into OMAC drones. The Justice League International members went to investigate only to be ambushed with the villains killing League funder Maxwell Lord, then turning him into an OMAC drone that shot Ted Kord in the spine. Ted Kord pulled a self sacrifice to allow the Justice League International members to escape, triggering an explosion, causing the Blue Scarab of the Blue Beetle to be discovered by Jaime Reyes, whom Kord was training along with others to be his successor back in his original series(Maxwell Lord OTL killed Ted Kord, which didn't sit well with fans as it was seen as out of character. Lord's inner monologue and Martian Manhunter reading his mind while he was unconscious both confirmed he was a genuinely good guy and wanted to do good). The rest of the Universe has been thrown into the Rann Thanagar War and the Spectre had declared war against Magic itself after being manipulated into doing so by the magical villains. The Society of Supervillains was revealed to have beeb orchestrated by Alexander Luthor Jr, a Lex Luthor from Earth -1, who was under the mind control of the still surviving Anti-Monitor. Among his allies was a brainwashed being named Superman Prime, who was revealed to be a brainwashed Post Crisis Superman. The Anti-Monitor plunged the Multiverse into chaos, even tricking Post Crisis Superman into fighting his Twilight Version, by restoring the Twilight Universe so that Post Crisis Superman seemingly killed Lois Lane while under mind control. Eventually the Anti-Monitor is defeated by the Heroes, though the injured Twilight Superman sadly passes away. The Post Crisis Superman takes the role back, having been thought dead for 10 years.
Gail Simone's 2006 Run on Wonder Woman featured an interracial lesbian wedding between Queen Hippolyta and Phillipus. Simone also introduced more faithful to mythology versions of the Greco-Roman Gods, including a new more faithful costume for Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman received a less "Stripperific" outfit. Instead she was given a Greco-Roman outfit which consisted of armor, including a battle skirt, that kept its coloring the US Flag themes. The Skirt was blue with stars and a golden eagle on the chest plate. More characters appeared in Issue 600, including Rocket from the Icon series. Simone stayed on long enough to write up the event Amazons Under Siege which involved the US Army invading Themyscira. Speaking of Lesbians, Batwoman AKA Katherine Kane marries her girlfriend Maggie Sawyer(However, no TV show is made). Williams and Blackman were able to explore Alice's origin, and that of Director Bones (clarifying whether or not he was related to the Kanes). Renee Montoya still became the Question after the death of Vic Sage. A Later Arc has a new Question appear and Montoya attempting to discover his identity. He is revealed to be a man named Walter Kovacs, leading into the events of Doomsday Clock.
Gail Simone introduced Cassandra Cain to Catholicism, which included meetings with the Spectre and Zauriel, two characters with direct connections to God. Cassandra Cain as Batgirl rescued a sincerely faithful Christian preacher to Gotham's homeless population from a mugging and was converted by his strong faith in forgiveness and the teachings of the Bible. Taking up a new, white-colored costume, and devoting herself to the most vulnerable of Gotham's residents — the mentally ill, the homeless, runaways and immigrants — she became known as the Angel of the Bat and, for the first time ever, was genuinely happy. Simone also had Cassandra join the Birds of Prey, partially to answer complaints about the lack of minorities on the team. Simone had Vixen added to the team as well for reasons similar to Cassandra. She also added Flamebird after Lara Kent returned from the Reign in Hell arc. Barbara Gordon remained as Oracle while helping the Bat family and leading the Birds of Prey to manage a team of younger heroines. Among the other heroes and members are Stephanie Brown as Robin, Bumblebee, Black Alice, and Misfit. Cassandra Cain never turned evil, as she infamously did during this time OTL.
Helena Wayne was born in 2006 to Bruce Wayne and Selina Wayne(nee Kyle) as a reintroduction of the Huntress Concept from the Pre Crisis Earth Two(OTL Helena was teased as the daughter of Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne, only for it to be changed to the daughter of Selina and Golden Age comic character Slam Bradley. Here since the two are married. They go ahead with introducing Helena as Bruce's daughter). Alex Ross wrote a new Shazam series which saw the Marvel Family traveling the world and trying to reclaim Captain Marvel's powers after they were scattered across the planet. The series officially brought Black Vulcan from the Super Friends cartoon into DC canon, making him a member of the Marvel Family. Superman: For Tomorrow, Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, the Question, and the Vigilante all had combined into a storyline concerning the plot of Lex Luthor, who claimed to be reformed, even becoming President before being revealed to have snapped back to villainy due to Superman's return, building a tower which would kill Superman upon being completed. The event was known as the Superstorm. The 2008, Superman story arc Brainiac occurred. It featured Superman battling Brainiac, revealing that Superman had never actually fought Brainiac before, only robotic duplicates of him. Superman is able to recover the Kryptonian City of Kandor Brainiac had in his possession. Unlike OTL it is not restored in the present. It is instead a Legion of Superheroes Arc which see Kandor being restored in the 31st Century. The New Krypton storyline does not exist and consequently neither does Superman: Grounded, a direct follow up to it.
Wendy and Marvin were introduced by Grant Morrison as Morrison loved to bring back and imply all elements of a character's history were canon(They were not mauled in graphic detail by a demonic Wonderdog in the pages of Teen Titans like OTL). Here their introduction is actually an attempt to revive them as had been done with Black Vulcan. Final Crisis was a Grant Morrison series that brought back the New Gods created by Jack Kirby, now resurrected as humans and concerned the war between Apokolips and Earth. It no longer has the continuity error of having an alive Aquaman(he was dead at the time OTL). The Crisis does however kill off Hawkman and Hawkgirl(as planned OTL and implied). In 2009, J Michael Strazynski reintroduced the Red Circle group in the pages of the Brave and the Bold, However they fell into misuse after awhile and returned to Archie Comics. The Series ends differently and so Cry for Justice was never made. Kevin Smith's Batman: The Widening Gyre finished its twelve issues(the last 6 issues have yet to be published). Smallville continued with a comic series that introduces a Black Stephanie Brown as Knightwing.
The All Star line was launched as a reimagining of the DC heroes by famous writers without the restraints of continuity. The first storyline was Grant Morrison's AllS tar Superman. The Storyline was a hit but Frank Miller refused a chance to return to DC to write a follow up involving Batman. It was handed to Geoff Johns instead. This version of Batman is shown to be over his head, somewhat incompetent, as a man in a Bat Suit in a realistic setting would be, but most of all he is shown to be human and flawed. He relies even more on his allies like Gordon. The First Volume is the largely the same at OTL Batman: Earth One. The second volume lacks the bizarre transformation of Harvey Dent's sister into Two Face and his death, which are largely tacked on toward the end. The series applies by the realistic take that insane people would not become supervillains. Most of this Batman's enemies are organized crime based.
All Star Wonder Woman's lore is much more accurate to Greco-Roman lore courtesy of Gail Simone once more writing, with Ares being the former patron of the Amazons prior to his disappearance (and the revelation that he begged/tricked Athena into looking after them as his last request before going into hiding.) Furthermore, Diana is a demi-goddess, being the child of Hippolyta and Hercules (she was conceived when Hercules visited Hippolyta after he became a full god and spent the night with her. Despite Hippolyta's love for Diana and Hercules, she kept it a secret out of fear of retaliation.) Diana also ended up in a relationship with Steve Trevor, who is black in this setting. She is also bisexual, having a girlfriend on Themyscira while also being fascinated by seeing a man for the first time.
Geoff Johns wanted to use Barry Allen and so was given Flash: Earth One which was used as the basis for the Flash TV Show and introduced a more sadistic version of Eobard Thrawne. This led directly into his second volume Flashpoint, a self contained but interesting story. The main Flash series at the time was helmed by Ethan Van Sciver, who created the arc All Flash, which was often mocked by people who didn't like it as "All Flash, No Substance". The title led to the series being renamed as " All Star Flash: The Flash was deemed too redundant. The series was instead renamed "Earth Two". Sciver went onto introduce the "Reverse Flash Family" to counter the ever growing Flash Family since he thought Eobard Thawne didn't seem as threatening if he was fighting the family by himself. Eobard was given a wife and a daughter(named Mara Thawne, a pun name) and adopted Bart Allen's nemesis Inertia. During the Blackest Night, Geoff Johns depicted a Black Lantern Barry Allen in order for him to face off against Wally West, forcing Wally to break his mental barriers preventing him from being better than Barry and finally surpass him. Johns returned to Flash: Earth One and introduced Jai West as the new form of the villain the Turtle to serve as Irey's enemy.
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History of the DC Universe: The New 52(2011-)
The 2010s
While not a reboot. DC reshuffled their titles and condensed it to 52 titles.The 2010s
1.Batman
2.Batman: Beyond
3.Gotham Academy
4.Birds of Prey
5.Superman
6.Supergirl
7.Supergirl: Red Daughter
8.Super Sons
9.World's Finest
10.Wonder Woman
11.Captain Marvel
12.Aquaman
13.Green Arrow
14.Green Lantern
15.Green Lantern Corps
16.The Flash
17.Martian Manhunter
18.Young Justice
19.Justice League
20.Justice League 3000
21.Teen Titans
22.The Titans
23.Doom Patrol
24.Legion of Super Heroes
25.Gen 13
26.Blue Beetle
27.Static Shock
28.The Omegas
29.The Terrifics
30.Grifter
31.Booster Gold
32.Harley Quinn
33.Suicide Squad
34.Earth 2
35.Earth 3
36.Multiversity
37.Milestone Comics
38.Charlton Comics
39.Fawcett Comics
40.Quality Comics
41.Wildstorm Comics
42.Vertigo Comics
43.All Star Western
44.Lobo
45.Secret Six
46.Constantine
47.Swamp Thing
48.Justice League Dark
49.Hawkman
50.Prez
51.DC Universe Presents
52.Secret Origins
-Batman Beyond is set on Earth 12, which is confirmed to be the DCAU.
-Supergirl:Red Daughter is set in the Superman: Red Son universe.
-Justice League 3000 is a continuation of a storyline of the Justice League cloned in the future.
-Prez is not the same character as the 70's version though it is evidently set in the same world as the original Prez helps out the protagonist. Beth Ross is a young girl who in a dystopian United States in 2036, becomes extremely popular due to a viral video of her embarrassing herself and is elected President.
-DC Universe Presents and Secret Origins are both used to highlight specific characters and in the latter's case, reveal their origins.
It was decided to give Captain Marvel a reboot. In 2011. Billy Batson was given new life in an alternate universe story set in the present day. Billy Batson, Freddy Freeman and Mary Batson were made into the foster children of a larger family which included Eugene Choi, Pedro Peña and Darla Dudley. The series was a welcomed return to the comedic and lighthearted tone of the original stories and served as the inspiration for the Shazam film.
Wonder Woman was not retconned as OTL into being Zeus's daughter and is still made of clay though Zeus was the one who brought her to life.
Writer Nick Spencer's 2011 Supergirl series set up Kara as a leader like her cousin Kal and led to the creation of a new Young Justice team. A Luthor-Brainiac clone is the villain and, to deal with it, Kara gathers a team comprised of Static, Blue Beetle, the Damian Wayne Robin, the Stephanie Brown Batgirl, Miss Martian,the Iris West Impulse, and Aqualad. The pinnacle of Kara's evolution had Iris running away in a panic and Kara stopping her, convincing her to keep going. Most of the team, minus Kara, ended up getting captured and, with advice from Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, made a second team to rescue them. The story concluded with a dance party, with one scene showing Iris dragging Damian out onto the dance floor. This series also used the character of Maxima(removing the existence of the Similar character Reign created to replace her).
Geoff Johns / Jim Lee's Justice League included the Ryan Choi version of The Atom and the Golden Age heroine Lady Luck, Element Woman and Hawkman were also parts of the League in TTL. Cyborg is not a member of the Justice League as OTL.
In the Teen Titans, Marv Wolfman introduced an evil version of the Legion of Superheroes to compliment the Evil Teen Titans teams he had introduced previously. Artist Joe Prado created the designs. The Titans disbanded following their battle with the Legion of Doom, only to be forced to bring the group back together after several of their former teammates were kidnapped by the N.O.W.H.E.R.E organization. This included Solstice, who was a very recent character at the time and yet still made the cut over a number of more popular characters associated with the team, with the new status quo (Superboy working for N.O.W.H.E.R.E. as an adversary of the Titans) justified via a mindwipe and Brainwashing. Teen Titans Issue #100 made Beast Boy and Raven an official couple.
Cheshire appeared as a supporting character in Grifter(Niko, who uses Cheshire's new 53 design, does not exist ITL).
Scott Lobdell's Doom Patrol Roster.
The Doom Patrol new series was helmed by Scott Lobdell and Illias Kyriazis that had a massive misfit team of players. They were led by Beast Boy (going back to his Changeling code name) and Robotman ( shrunk to toy size and forced to be worn around Changeling's neck.) and comprised of Zatara, Madame-.44, Platinum of the Metal Men, Sprout (who is most likely Swamp Thing's kid) and Bizzaro. Taking a cue from the modern Booster Gold series, they were a super team that went around stopping Earth-destroying threats yet never get any sort of recognition because no one would know about it.
Harley Quinn joined the Suicide Squad. The OTL incident in which she kills several people with Video Game Bombs from Detective Comics #23.2 does not happen.
The Young Animal and Dark Matter imprints were not released. Instead a new imprint took their places and was introduced around the same time. Said imprint was only published under DC and the stories took place in their own universe within, exploring mature themes and ideas not typical in comic book hero stories (though still part of the DC Multiverse as a whole).
Aquaman combined the best of OTL New 52 and Post-Crisis as the series was reframed as a heroic fantasy with political intrigue, with Arthur dealing with various elements with his friends and allies, including both Aqualads and Aquagirls involved as well. Many have praised Aquaman for the growing strength in its writing and quality while showing the responsibilities of being a king. The art was also highly acclaimed for showing off vibrant and colorful underwater environments, reminding people that the underwater world can be just as vast seeming as outer Space.
The Earth 3 series in 2012 rebooted the concept of the original Earth One idea. The series focused on a world where the JSA were instead the younger generation to learn from older version of the Silver Age heroes. The heroes included Jay Garrick's Flash and Alan Scott's Green Lantern. As it continued it would introduce Roy McQueen as Red Arrow, as well as introducing Alan Scott's children, Jade and Obsidian, and introducing Infinity, Inc as the Earth-3 equivalent of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
For the Batman event Death of the Family, Scott Snyder, Gail Simone, and Grant Morrison used Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown in the story which involved the Joker targeting all of Batman's extended family. In Batman, Bruce Wayne and his wife Selina formed Batman Inc, an organization gathering many people who operate under a similar modus operandi with Cassandra Cain acting as the Bat of Shanghai. Furthermore, events similar to the Leviathan saga occurred, Damien was rescued from death by Selina, resulting in Damien disowning Talia as his mother. He came to accept Selina as his new mother and vice versa.
Duke Thomas was introduced, temporarily, as Robin, but later as Batwing. Damien ended up changing his identity into Redbird with Harper Row as Bluebird accompanying him while Duke acted as Robin. Damien returned to the role of Robin (and the reveal he and Harper were dating.) The big shocking event was the death of the Joker in the event known as Batman: Last Laugh. Joker is killed in a manner similar to his death in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Writers say this was done to show that while Joker needed Batman, the reverse was not true and it showed Bruce moving on with fighting crime along with the inclusion of new and old villains, such as Wrath and Scorn( a counterpart to Batman and Robin).
In Superman, Superman and Lois' son, Jonathon Samuel Kent finally reached reached maturity. This series killed off Lois's father General Sam Lane, though not before he made Superman promise to take care of his daughter, showing he's had a change of heart. His role is replaced by General Eiling. Jonathan Samuel Kent would become a close friend of Damian Wayne, the two getting much focus as the protagonists of the Super Sons series. Due to the New Krypton Arc never being made, Superman's adopted son Lor-Zod, AKA Christopher Kent, the son of General Zod from Last Son, is reintroduced differently, never having been aged up. He is instead introduced shortly after Jonathan Kent is. He is brainwashed by his father and serves as a dark counterpart to Jonathan, before being freed of mind control and acting as Jonathan Kent's step brother. The Supergirl Red Daughter of Krypton arc TTL does not happen as Supergirl has not been rebooted to be angry enough to get the Red Lantern ring. The Red Lantern Supergirl concept is retooled into Supergirl: Red Daughter, a sequel to Superman: Red Son and set on the same earth. Brina Michael Bendis does not write for Superman TTL.
The event, Forever Evil, concerned the Crime Syndicate of Earth -1 swapping places with the Justice League, trapping them in the Antimatter Universe. This forces the villains of the DC Universe to fight back and save the world while the Justice League find their way back. Dick Grayson is captured and his identity exposed to the public, leading to Dick Grayson faking his death, with emphasis put on the reaction from his friends and family. Duke Thomas becomes the new Robin permanently after the event.
Green Lantern introduced Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. They would be introduced as young adults and as proteges being supervised by John and Guy. Furthermore, more effort was put in to differentiate the Lanterns' different fighting styles and ring uses along with personalities: Hal is considered a jack of all trades, John applies his architecture structure to his constructs, making them very solid albeit taking a bit of time while being a sniper, Guy prefers blasting the enemies and has more basic constructs, Kyle maintains his artistic flair and Simon makes more devastating versions of mundane weapons, Jessica Cruz is shown to be defensive but powerful since she must overcome her own fear, as such she usually creates monsters.
Legion of Superheroes returned and became more popular in exploring the far-off future with the first arc tying into a plot with Superman in restoring the bottled city of Kandor and thus Kryptonian civilization without fear of upsetting anyone; Kandor was restored on a New Krypton in the far-future of the Legion, with characters like Mon-El, Lor-Zod as Nightwing(from the Future) and Firebird moving to live there.
Gen13 appeared as a government-founded superhero team of young adults, serving as counterparts for the Teen Titans. It explores the idea of child soldiers, the influence government has on the youth, the motivations of youth challenging governmental traditions and the nature of power and responsibility (since all of the powers of Gen13 were manifested psychically by their internal desires and perceptions.)
Gerard Way and Becky Cloonan continued the Doom Patrol series from Scott Lobdell, though Gerard Way took a break from his music career from time to time to do so.
The DC You Initiative is cancelled before it sees the light of day.
Multiversity was still released and explored the various universes of the DC Multiverse, such as the universe where a majority of the superheroes and indeed most of the USA are of African-American descent, such as Batman actually being Ethan Bennett (who became Batman after the death of the prior Batman, Bruce Wayne, in stopping Joker.) with The Flash being Julio Mendez (who got the powers instead of Barry and became a crimefighter to help his friend clear his father's name), and where Calvin Ellis is President.
Donna Troy appeared in The Just #1( replacing OTL Artemis). The series is eight issues: the two-issue framing story and the six spotlight issues for each Earth. There was eventually a Guidebook.
Society of Super-Heroes didn't have the Conquerors of the Counter-World part of its title; its internal title was "Doom from the Counter-world". Earth-20's Evil Counterpart was Earth-30 rather than Earth-40. The Just was set on Earth-7. Pax Americana (a sequel to Watchmen, ironically by Moore's Anti-Matter, or possibly positive Matter given his more positive stories, nemesis Grant Morrison) began with a student riot. The events of Thunderworld. specifically the Sivanas' creation of a new day - was what drew the Big Bad Ensemble's attention. Ultra Comics is instead named Ultraa the Unknown. Ultra himself was a Pinocchio-style character, a fiction who wanted to become real.
The Omegas (formerly called the Omega Men) is still resurrected for the modern times though has been retooled to serve as a form of counterpart to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, in regards to be a ragtag group of misfits serving as heroes and revolutionaries. Primus (though going as Pren with Primus being a title), Tigorr, Broot, Harpis, Felicity, Doc and Slagen are all brought back from the original team, but the comic surprised many by including Kyle Rayner with them as the Omega Lantern and new character Scrapps. It's a fair bit lighter and more humorous than OTL, though still with plenty of social commentary. It's more popular than OTL Omega Men.
The Terrifics is still established though with a bit of different feels than FF while also serving to explore obscure aspects of the greater part of the DC Multiverse. However, the group also gets along better than OTL with Mr. Terrific enjoying the company of his team.
The original Teen Titans (Nightwing, Red Arrow, Omen, Tempest, Donna Troy and Wally West) reunited in their own series known as Titans just like in OTL, albeit with a different plot and stories. Meanwhile the main Teen Titans teams was led by Damien Wayne as Robin and included the new Kid Flash, Bunker, Emiko (the new Speedy with a new design by Jonboy Meyers based on Red Arrow from Young Justice) Jonathan Kent, the new Aqualad (Jackson Hyde). Miss Martian, Wonder Girl and Bunker.
Scott Snyder and Dennis Medri released Batman: Rebel Yell, about a Rock and Roll themed alternate Universe Batman Family(The Elseworlds story Batman: Fortunate Son does not exist ITTL).
Tom King took over Batman as OTL, however, there is not executive Meddling from Dan DiDio, meaning a lot of the more controversial elements of his arc never happen. Alfred's death in a brutal neck snap from Bane is revealed to be a Scarecrow fear gas hallucination. Nightwing's bullet through the brain from KGBeast was instantly healed by Zatanna(OTl it gave Nightwing amnesia because DiDio hated the character). Tom King's Heroes in Crisis is never written. Instead the concept of Sanctuary is introduced in his Batman run.
Doomsday Clock was written by none other than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons(Moore lacking his animosity towards DC OTL) and functioned differently, still being a crossover but mostly serving as a sequel to Watchmen, in a way being the fourth installment(Watchmen, Minuteman, Pax Americana, and Doomsday Clock, however it does involve a leap into the DC Universe.(Moore getting Twilight of the Superheroes approved means he is more of a "Sellout" as he would put it since a lot more went his way in that point in his life, so he didn't become the disgruntled version of himself he would later in life. Watchmen is likely to get its own post later on).
Several new imprints are released focusing on revamped versions of purchased imprints of DC, such as a new Milestone line up and even a Charleston and Fawcett comics-inspired line-up. The Charleston one focuses on a world based on the characters there though with pulp hero-inspired themes and tones albeit also explored in modern times while Fawcett has a more family friendly and innocent tone that is familiar with Captain Marvel and the rest of the heroes, yet not shying away from various reinventions, such as the new Golden Arrow being Native American or the new Ibis being from Egypt. The Fawcett Universe is generally depicted as being happier and more positive but not perfect(Kennedy was never assassinated, Cold War type Tensions with Russia are thawing, etc).
In late 2019 and early 2020, there were a major DC relaunch, including a revamped timeline which spanned from World War I to today that saw Wonder Woman, not Superman, as the first DC Comics hero as a nod to the Wonder Woman film. "Generation 5", saw new heroes donning classic hero mantles, with Jonathan Samuel Kent taking up Superman's role and the former Batwing Luke Fox becoming Batman. A Free Comic Book Day comic entitled "Generation Zero: Gods Among Us" set things up followed by two one-shots in the following months entitled "Generation One" and "Generation Two" with two more presumed to follow suit. The end of Doomsday Clock had a sequence where Doctor Manhattan looks into the future and vaguely references something called "Generation 5". Certain books at the time also began laying the groundwork for this, such as Steve Orlando's Wonder Woman run introducing a tribe of Amazons who lived in South America in order to set up the future debut of Yara Flor, who would become the G5 Wonder Woman. Tom King in Batman Annual #2, briefly showed a future where an elderly Bruce Wayne was retired from crimefighting and married to Selina Kyle, as further evidence of the new timeline aging up some of DC's characters.
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Sure. That will be easier to do than the other suggestions I’ve received. I’ll get around to it after one more DC post
Interlude: DC Multiverse Post-Crisis
The New 52 Multiverse varies from its Pre Crisis Counterpart. Most of the Universes are used to insert franchises the DC Universe has crossed over with or give their most popular stories a placement.
Earth One: Post Crisis
Earth Two: Focus of the Earth Two Series.
Earth Three: Focus of the Earth Three Series
Earth 4: Watchmen Universe.
Earth 5: Fawcett Comics Universe, as well at TTL Miracleman, the Dark Knight Returns, Twilight of the Superheroes, and Kingdom Come
Earth 6: The Setting of Stan Lee's Just Imagine series(Better than OTL)
Earth 7: A Universe Ravaged by Zombies Also known as Earth Z. Depicted in DCeased which reveals the Zombie Apocalypse was caused by the Anti-Life Equation reaching Earth.
Earth 8: Depicted as the Marvel Universe.
Earth 9: Home to "Tangent Comics" radically different versions of DC characters, usually "In Name Only" In this universe the Cuba Missile Crisis became a Nuclear War.
Earth X: Home of the Freedom Fighters. Earth where the Axis won World War II.
Earth 11: Universe where everyone is the opposite Gender such as Superwoman, Batwoman and Wonder Woman(There are 52 Earths. 52 +11 =63).
Earth 12: The DC Animated Universe.
Earth 13: The Homeland depicted in the Vertigo series Fables, filled with fairy tale and folk lore characters
Earth 14: A Nuclear War occurred in 1983. This universe is considered to be the setting for Mad Max and similar settings. As well as the setting for the Doomsday:1983 series. Is also the setting of Kamandi and the Atomic Knights.
Earth 15: A near perfect Utopia Earth. Lex Luthor is a humanitarian. General Zod became Superman. The Joker has long been dead and most heroes have retired and been succeeded by their protogees. Most of which are spoiled kids due to the Utopian society.
Earth 16: The Setting of the Young Justice TV Series.
Earth 17: A Magic/Fantasy Earth.
Earth 18: Universe where technology is current at a Wild West era. Home to the analogue Justice League: The Justice Riders.
Earth 19: Universe where technology is in the Victorian Era/steampunk setting. Where Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, and Wonder Woman: Amazonia take place.
Earth 20: An Earth Batman and other Superheroes share with Pulp characters such as Doc Savage and Tarzan. used for crossovers. Frequently considered to be the Wold Newton Universe by Philip Jose Farmer.
Earth 21: Essentially Earth Two though History was allowed to continue passed the crisis. The events of DC: The New Frontier and the Super Sons. Take place here.
Earth 22:Introduced later as a more faithful to OTL Kingdom Come Universe
Earth 23: A Majority of the Western population is Black. This includes a Black Superman named Calvin Ellis, who served as President.
Earth 24: Details intentionally left unknown. "Still on VHS" according to an alternate version of Harrison Wells from that world.Setting it back a decade technology wise.
Earth 25: An earth rendered Peaceful by an event that depowered the Superhuman population. A common occurrence in stories such as Knightwing:The New Order. JLA: Act of God does not exist ITTL).
Earth 26: Formerly Earth C. A Universe filled with talking animals.
Earth 27: DC endorsed and put their support behind Phil Cho's fan made Earth 27, giving him this Earth officially. Phil Cho is in charge of any stories or scenes depicting this Earth.
Earth 28: An earth which houses "slight differences. Such as Hitler hanging for war crimes. Edard Kennedy drowning at Chappaquiddick. The American Government is corrupt and extremely left wing. Is believed by fans to be the setting of The Boys and possibly the Alternate History series For All Time(not confirmed but it can certainly fit into it).
Earth 29: A Bizarro Earth filled with Bizarros and not making sense in any way.
Earth 30: Superman landed in the soviet Union and was raised first by Lenin and then Josef Stalin. He then became Soviet Premier and spread Communism. Depicted in Superman: Red Son and TTL's Supergirl: Red Daughter.
Earth 31: A Pirate era Earth. Home to a version of Batman who is a Pirate Captain. Seen in Batman: Leatherwing.
Earth 32: Batman gained the Green Lantern Ring intended for Hal Jordan and became Green Lantern instead. Seen in Batman: Emerald Knight.
Earth 33: Home to the characters of Amalgam Comics.
Earth 34: Setting of Astro City.
Earth 35: Home of Rob Liefeld's Awesome Comics characters.
Earth 36: Setting of Superman/Batman: Generations. Superman and Batman aged in real time and his children successors.
Earth 37: Where the events of Batman: Thrillkiller take place. As well as Howard Chaykin works like Twilight and Weird Worlds.
Earth 38: Setting for the Supergirl TV Series.
Earth 39: Home of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. agents created by Wally Wood.
Earth 40: Events of JSA: The Liberty Files.
Earth 41: Home to the characters of Image Comics such as Spawn and Savage Dragon.
Earth 42: As a joke implied to the be the setting for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Earth 43: A world where Batman was transformed into a Vampire fighting Count Dracula. Fans see it as the setting of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula as well due to a reference to a Vampire Batman in that novel.
Earth 44: A World filled with Robots, including Robot versions of the Justice League.
Earth 45: A world ruled by Massive Corporations rather than Governments, implied to be the setting of Jennifer Government and Robocop.
Earth 46:The Setting of the Injustice Series
Earth 47: The World where Prez Rickard became President and thanks to the Sandman, is now President for Life.
Earth 48: Humanity is more warlike and has expanded to the Stars earlier. Implied to be the setting of Warhammer 40k.
Earth 49:Wildstorm Comics Universe
Earth 50: This Universe is home to the Justice Lords from the DCAU.
Earth 51: After the Death of Jason Todd, Batman went on a rampage and killed several supervillains. Others joined him and fought a civil War type conflict with Batman's faction emerging victorious. Libby-Lawrence Chambers is President.
Earth 52: The Universe that serves as the setting of JLA: The Nail. Where the Kents never found the young Kal-el. He was instead raised by an Amish society and didn't become Superman until decades later.
IN THE MULTIVERSE BUT NOT THEIR OWN WORLDS
The House of Heroes: Where Heroes from across the Multiverse meet. Usually used to showcase crossover characters such and fill with massive amounts of pop culture characters.
The Rock of Eternity: Base of the Wizard Shazam
The Bleed: Separates the various Earths.
The Speedforce
DIMENSIONS
The 5th Dimension
Limbo
The Source Wall
The Microverse
THE REALM OF THE GODS
Dream
Nightmare
New Genesis
Apokolips
Heaven
Hell
Skyland
The Underworld
DARK MULTIVERSE
Earth -1: Home of the Crime Syndicate, the Weaponeers of Qward and the Anti-Monitor.
Earth -2: Batman mutated himself into a Doomsday monster to fight and kill an out of control Superman.
Earth -11: A Batwoman in a world where Atlantis invaded the surface, mutating herself to gain Aquaman-like powers.
Earth -12: Home to a Batman who killed and was allowed by the Gods to replace him
Earth -22: Batman finally killed the Joker only to be Jokerized by him, becoming the Batman Who Laughs.
Earth -32: Batman became a green Lantern but became evil, siding with Sinestro and then betraying him after destroying the Green Lantern Corps.
Earth -44: Robots took over and wiped out humanity. Home to the Murder Machine, a machine built by Bruce Wayne.
Earth -52: Home of a Batman who fused himself with Flash, becoming Red Death.
Earth One: Post Crisis
Earth Two: Focus of the Earth Two Series.
Earth Three: Focus of the Earth Three Series
Earth 4: Watchmen Universe.
Earth 5: Fawcett Comics Universe, as well at TTL Miracleman, the Dark Knight Returns, Twilight of the Superheroes, and Kingdom Come
Earth 6: The Setting of Stan Lee's Just Imagine series(Better than OTL)
Earth 7: A Universe Ravaged by Zombies Also known as Earth Z. Depicted in DCeased which reveals the Zombie Apocalypse was caused by the Anti-Life Equation reaching Earth.
Earth 8: Depicted as the Marvel Universe.
Earth 9: Home to "Tangent Comics" radically different versions of DC characters, usually "In Name Only" In this universe the Cuba Missile Crisis became a Nuclear War.
Earth X: Home of the Freedom Fighters. Earth where the Axis won World War II.
Earth 11: Universe where everyone is the opposite Gender such as Superwoman, Batwoman and Wonder Woman(There are 52 Earths. 52 +11 =63).
Earth 12: The DC Animated Universe.
Earth 13: The Homeland depicted in the Vertigo series Fables, filled with fairy tale and folk lore characters
Earth 14: A Nuclear War occurred in 1983. This universe is considered to be the setting for Mad Max and similar settings. As well as the setting for the Doomsday:1983 series. Is also the setting of Kamandi and the Atomic Knights.
Earth 15: A near perfect Utopia Earth. Lex Luthor is a humanitarian. General Zod became Superman. The Joker has long been dead and most heroes have retired and been succeeded by their protogees. Most of which are spoiled kids due to the Utopian society.
Earth 16: The Setting of the Young Justice TV Series.
Earth 17: A Magic/Fantasy Earth.
Earth 18: Universe where technology is current at a Wild West era. Home to the analogue Justice League: The Justice Riders.
Earth 19: Universe where technology is in the Victorian Era/steampunk setting. Where Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, and Wonder Woman: Amazonia take place.
Earth 20: An Earth Batman and other Superheroes share with Pulp characters such as Doc Savage and Tarzan. used for crossovers. Frequently considered to be the Wold Newton Universe by Philip Jose Farmer.
Earth 21: Essentially Earth Two though History was allowed to continue passed the crisis. The events of DC: The New Frontier and the Super Sons. Take place here.
Earth 22:Introduced later as a more faithful to OTL Kingdom Come Universe
Earth 23: A Majority of the Western population is Black. This includes a Black Superman named Calvin Ellis, who served as President.
Earth 24: Details intentionally left unknown. "Still on VHS" according to an alternate version of Harrison Wells from that world.Setting it back a decade technology wise.
Earth 25: An earth rendered Peaceful by an event that depowered the Superhuman population. A common occurrence in stories such as Knightwing:The New Order. JLA: Act of God does not exist ITTL).
Earth 26: Formerly Earth C. A Universe filled with talking animals.
Earth 27: DC endorsed and put their support behind Phil Cho's fan made Earth 27, giving him this Earth officially. Phil Cho is in charge of any stories or scenes depicting this Earth.
Earth 28: An earth which houses "slight differences. Such as Hitler hanging for war crimes. Edard Kennedy drowning at Chappaquiddick. The American Government is corrupt and extremely left wing. Is believed by fans to be the setting of The Boys and possibly the Alternate History series For All Time(not confirmed but it can certainly fit into it).
Earth 29: A Bizarro Earth filled with Bizarros and not making sense in any way.
Earth 30: Superman landed in the soviet Union and was raised first by Lenin and then Josef Stalin. He then became Soviet Premier and spread Communism. Depicted in Superman: Red Son and TTL's Supergirl: Red Daughter.
Earth 31: A Pirate era Earth. Home to a version of Batman who is a Pirate Captain. Seen in Batman: Leatherwing.
Earth 32: Batman gained the Green Lantern Ring intended for Hal Jordan and became Green Lantern instead. Seen in Batman: Emerald Knight.
Earth 33: Home to the characters of Amalgam Comics.
Earth 34: Setting of Astro City.
Earth 35: Home of Rob Liefeld's Awesome Comics characters.
Earth 36: Setting of Superman/Batman: Generations. Superman and Batman aged in real time and his children successors.
Earth 37: Where the events of Batman: Thrillkiller take place. As well as Howard Chaykin works like Twilight and Weird Worlds.
Earth 38: Setting for the Supergirl TV Series.
Earth 39: Home of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. agents created by Wally Wood.
Earth 40: Events of JSA: The Liberty Files.
Earth 41: Home to the characters of Image Comics such as Spawn and Savage Dragon.
Earth 42: As a joke implied to the be the setting for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Earth 43: A world where Batman was transformed into a Vampire fighting Count Dracula. Fans see it as the setting of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula as well due to a reference to a Vampire Batman in that novel.
Earth 44: A World filled with Robots, including Robot versions of the Justice League.
Earth 45: A world ruled by Massive Corporations rather than Governments, implied to be the setting of Jennifer Government and Robocop.
Earth 46:The Setting of the Injustice Series
Earth 47: The World where Prez Rickard became President and thanks to the Sandman, is now President for Life.
Earth 48: Humanity is more warlike and has expanded to the Stars earlier. Implied to be the setting of Warhammer 40k.
Earth 49:Wildstorm Comics Universe
Earth 50: This Universe is home to the Justice Lords from the DCAU.
Earth 51: After the Death of Jason Todd, Batman went on a rampage and killed several supervillains. Others joined him and fought a civil War type conflict with Batman's faction emerging victorious. Libby-Lawrence Chambers is President.
Earth 52: The Universe that serves as the setting of JLA: The Nail. Where the Kents never found the young Kal-el. He was instead raised by an Amish society and didn't become Superman until decades later.
IN THE MULTIVERSE BUT NOT THEIR OWN WORLDS
The House of Heroes: Where Heroes from across the Multiverse meet. Usually used to showcase crossover characters such and fill with massive amounts of pop culture characters.
The Rock of Eternity: Base of the Wizard Shazam
The Bleed: Separates the various Earths.
The Speedforce
DIMENSIONS
The 5th Dimension
Limbo
The Source Wall
The Microverse
THE REALM OF THE GODS
Dream
Nightmare
New Genesis
Apokolips
Heaven
Hell
Skyland
The Underworld
DARK MULTIVERSE
Earth -1: Home of the Crime Syndicate, the Weaponeers of Qward and the Anti-Monitor.
Earth -2: Batman mutated himself into a Doomsday monster to fight and kill an out of control Superman.
Earth -11: A Batwoman in a world where Atlantis invaded the surface, mutating herself to gain Aquaman-like powers.
Earth -12: Home to a Batman who killed and was allowed by the Gods to replace him
Earth -22: Batman finally killed the Joker only to be Jokerized by him, becoming the Batman Who Laughs.
Earth -32: Batman became a green Lantern but became evil, siding with Sinestro and then betraying him after destroying the Green Lantern Corps.
Earth -44: Robots took over and wiped out humanity. Home to the Murder Machine, a machine built by Bruce Wayne.
Earth -52: Home of a Batman who fused himself with Flash, becoming Red Death.
You already got your anime post. Didn’t have enough say for a full one on Jojo