Comics on Film: Are Audiences Ready for a Multimedia Superhero Crossover

The comic book crossover event has become a central element of superhero storytelling. With the modern iterations starting in the mid-1980s with Marvel;sSecret Warand DC;sCrisis on Infinite Earths, roughly every year creative teams from multiple titles come together to try and tell a massive story that affects the entirety of a comic book shared universe -- and in the best cases those stories have led to some widespread change that would affect the storytelling in that particular universe for decades.Today, movie fans are starting to look forward to crossover comic book films, most notably beginning with 2012;sThe Avengers. That was really the first time that comics storytelling on that scale had successfully managed to jump from the page to the screen, due to the infrastructure provided by Mavel;s cinematic universe. Shared universes are starting to become the norm now, and on the DC side of things they;re crafting one on the big screen with Batman and Superman, as well as on the small screen with the Flash and Arrow.With two distinct DC universes on two different forms of media, is it possible that the two could cross over at some point?The Crisis That Started It AllThe 1985 comic book crossover eventCrisis on Infinite Earthswasn;t just a milestone for comic book storytelling -- it was also the first modern crossover that successfully managed to pull off a crossover not just for one universe, but forinfiniteuniverses. Alternate versions of Superman and many other major characters had to team up to stop a plot that threatened to destroy the multiverse itself, and the disparity of characters brought together by that one event made for a sweeping and truly epic confrontation, where the very fate of existence itself was decided for untold trillions of lives.The very existence of the Crisis crossover event across DC;s history, and their successful use of multiple universes with which to tell those stories, definitely makes for unique adventures for the DC characters. Previously, something like this wasn;t possible for live-action comic book storytelling, especiallyDC Comicsstorytelling, since the infrastructure for multiple universes had never existed before.Recently, though, with the CW seriesThe Flashfirmly taking place in the same universe asArrow(along with rumors of a third series to join them on the way), and with Warner Bros. announcing a massive DC Comics-based film slate through the remainder of this decade, that infrastructure exists now. Not to mention the fact that the end of theFlash;s pilot episode teased a crisis in the future, an event that Barry Allen is tied very closely to since theCrisis on Infinite Earthswould keep the character dead for over 20 years in the comics.So Could DC;s TV Heroes Make It to the Big Screen?The bigger question, of course, is whether or not this could happen in the first place. In the case of Marvel Comics, the question doesn;t apply, since the television-based efforts of Marvel Studios all take place in its shared cinematic universe:Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.takes place within the same space as theIron Man, Captain AmericaandThorfilms, so any of those TV characters showing up wouldn;t really be much of a shocker (though it would be cool).In the case of DC Comics, since the two universes are definitely separate as symbolized by the casting of Ezra Miller as the Flash in the upcomingJustice Leaguefilm, it seems like it would be possible. While Marvel has the rights for some of its most popular characters like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four farmed out to other studios, DC Comics does not have that problem, as all its characters are firmly in control of its parent company, Warner Bros.So, is it at all possible that the crisis referred to in the closing seconds ofThe Flash;s pilot could potentially refer to some kind of multiversal mash-up between Henry Cavill;s Superman and Stephen Amell;s Arrow? Legally speaking, yes. Absolutely. But...Would Audiences Be Ready for It?This is another question entirely since it took a great deal of time for the appropriate studios to mash up enough disparate characters into a singleAvengersfilm. At the end of the day, audience enthusiasm can likely be traced to the strength of the stories told. Right now,ArrowandThe Flashare gearing up to do their own interseries crossovers, involving characters introduced on both shows.Of course, it would also be a question of format, as a mash-up of that magnitude would almost certainly demand to be featured in a motion picture, as opposed to a series of TV episodes. At the end of the day, though, its something that has never been tried in the comic superhero genre of movies before, and Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are in a unique position to potentially make it happen before their competition.Would that be something you;d want to see? Be sure to leave a comment below and join the conversation, and we;ll see you back here in seven days with a brand new edition of Comics on Film!ChrisClowis a geek. He is a gamer