Fictional crossover

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A fictional crossover occurs when two or more otherwise separated fictional characters, stories, settings, universes, or media meet and interact with each other. Most fictional crossovers take the form of stories in which these separated characters et al are brought together and united with (or pitted against) each other over the course of the story that is being told. Official fictional crossovers usually occur between characters owned by the same person / company / production team (such as most comic book crossovers) or through the incorporation of characters and fictional universes within the public domain (or those that are at least considered to be; examples include Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, etc), as the crossing over of characters owned by different people / production companies usually raises complicated issues over copyright, ownership and royalties. Many crossovers generally take the form of a marketing tool, a joke or gag, or to play out a "what if" scenario.


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Reasons for crossover

There are a number of different reasons for fictional crossovers to occur:

  • To establish a unified continuity and a 'universe' for the works of a particular author / production company;
  • To explore a particular 'what-if' scenario devised by the author / production company;
  • To promote and market other works produced by a particular author / production company by including them in a particular piece of work (especially if the works being included and marketed are a spin-off of the original work, which may not be as successful or well-known as the original);
  • To reference / homage / parody an existing piece of work, regardless of ownership.

A crossover story may try to explain its own reason for the crossover, such as "they live next door" (one example being the casts from Golden Girls and Empty Nest) or "a dimensional rift brought them together." (a common explanation for superhero / science fiction properties that have different owners). Some crossovers are not explained at all. Some are absurd or simply impossible within the fictional setting, and have to be ignored by the series' respective continuities. Some even make the relations between two or more fictional universes confusing (the best example of this phenomenon involves The Simpsons and Futurama, where each show is fiction in the other.)

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Standard crossover scenarios

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Single author / owner and public domain crossovers

Crossovers of multiple characters owned by one company or published by one publisher, have been used to set an established continuity, where characters can frequently meet within one setting. This is especially true of comic book publishers, as different characters in various Marvel or DC comic books frequently interact with one another since they live in the same "universe". For example, in the Marvel Comics universe, the X-Men have frequent dealings with another group of Marvel heroes, the Fantastic Four, just as in the DC Comics Universe, Batman and Superman frequently collaborate.

In literature, certain authors also engage in crossovers by including characters from different novels they have written in one particular volume; Michael Moorcock frequently uses this device - particularly in his Eternal Champion sequence of novels, which establish a vast 'multiverse' populated by numerous different characters, many of whom appear in different novels and even different genres. Kim Newman is another author who frequently uses this device.

It is also common for authors to incorporate characters who have passed into the public domain (or at least are considered to have) and thus do not require copyright or royalty payments for their use into their works; perhaps the classic example of this occurs in Loren D. Estleman's novel Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula, in which the classic fictional characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula are brought together and pitted against each other. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill is another example of this, as all of the main characters and most of the secondary / background characters are fictional characters whose copyright has expired (or least, are so famous that they have largely entered 'mythic' status), and all are characters of different authors and creators brought together within one massive extended universe.

It is less common to see crossovers of this nature on television programs, even those broadcast on the same network, as many television programs are produced by a number of different companies, which can result in complications over rights and authorship. Nevertheless, whilst spin-off programs are not themselves crossovers, it is common for spin-off television programs made by the same production company to still frequently interact with each other, in order to create a sense of a unified universe between the two. This is the case between the following television shows:

Crossovers between characters / universes of a single author / production company may also be take the form of a guest or cameo appearance, often to promote another work of fiction, sometimes with little contextual or rational explanation. This is frequently scorned by fans of either as being purely for marketing reasons, with little point to the characters appearing or development within the story. A notable example of this is The Simpsons episode 'A Star is Burns', in which the character of Jay Sherman (from The Critic, a show developed by two writers and producers of The Simpsons and also broadcast on the Fox network) appeared. This episode was largely condemned by fans of The Simpsons as existing largely to promote The Critic, and even Simpsons creator Matt Groening objected, preferring to remove his name from the credits of that particular episode in protest.

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Multi author / owner crossovers

Crossovers between the characters / universes of two different authors / production teams are significantly rarer, as copyright matters and ownership is a significant barrier and frequently impedes crossovers. Crossovers of this nature are more likely to occur between:

  • Television programs that broadcast on the same network (such as the Doctor Who / Eastenders crossover 'Dimensions in Time', both shows of which appeared at the time on BBC 1);
  • Authors / production teams who are known to each other / respect each other's work.

Significant exceptions where this has nevertheless occurred include:

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References, parodies, jokes and other crossovers

Many crossovers occur in a parodic or satirical context, or as part of a homage that is being paid by one property to another; they are usually used to either pay homage to or parody a particular source, and are usually throw-away or instantaneous in nature. Programs such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and Spaced frequently use crossovers in this context. They frequently occur like so:

  • Crossovers directly established as being outside of the continuity of one / all of the properties being crossed over (such as the crossover between The Simpsons and The X-Files, which was largely accepted as being outside of standard X-Files continuity by virtue of its parodic nature);
  • Crossovers which occur by virtue of a dream sequence (the characters of one show will appear as part of a dream had by a character on another show; such as select cast members of The Young And The Restless appearing in a dream of a character onThe King of Queens);
  • 'Gag' cameos by characters of one property appearing on another (such as characters from King of the Hill appearing on The Simpsons to comment on a peewee football game);
  • Background or uncommented references to one property appearing in another (such as Bender finding and eating a Bart Simpson doll on Futurama
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Fan-made crossovers

Whereas official crossovers are frequently stymied by such concerns as copyright, royalties payments and ownership of the characters, unofficial crossovers - frequently found in fan-written fiction and fan art - are, given their very nature as being unofficial and unauthorised, are frequently unfettered by such concerns. As a result, unofficial crossovers are limited only by the writer's imagination in bringing two properties together.

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See also

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External links

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