DC Almost Crossed Over With Star Wars: Here's Why It Didn't Happen

As a long-time fan of both DC and Star Wars, I can’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment upon learning about the aborted crossover between these two iconic universes. The prospect of Superman battling Darth Vader or Batman teaming up with Leia Organa was too tantalizing to ignore. The artwork shared by Alex Ross back in the day only fueled our collective imagination.

For quite some time, DC Comics has managed to blend its superheroes with popular franchises such as Godzilla, Aliens, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, and numerous others. However, it seems that one combination was particularly challenging – Star Wars. If you’re a regular reader here, you might recall that Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, the team behind the successful miniseries Marvels, almost created a Superman/Star Wars crossover around a decade ago. At some point, Ross even revealed some of the artwork online. Recently, former DC editor and publisher Dan DiDio has shared his account of what transpired with this project.

Essentially, DiDio’s account isn’t drastically different from what Busiek has been saying for quite some time. He’s merely added a few additional details to the mix.

At the Tampa Bay Comic Convention, DiDio accepted accountability for scrapping the project, explaining that it was “not feasible” and “not beneficial enough”.

According to DiDio (via The PopVerse), a fusion of the DC Universe and Star Wars was proposed. However, there were constant disagreements about what should be allowed, who would have the best scene, and who would get the heroic moment… frankly, it just wasn’t worth the hassle. In truth, it simply wasn’t worth it.

In a subsequent statement, DiDio mentioned Busiek, the originator of the idea. He was upset because he had negotiated the agreement and presented it to us. “At that moment, I simply didn’t feel ready for it,” DiDio explained, as the circumstances didn’t align with his plans.

In the year 2017, comic book artist Phil Hester advised fans to bring up the subject of their creator’s “most cherished abandoned proposal” during conversations at comic book events as a fascinating topic to discuss.

According to Busiek’s tweet, Alex Ross and he were all set to work on a Superman/Star Wars collaboration, but the companies involved couldn’t come to an agreement about how to share the profits. This isn’t necessarily a rejection, but unfortunately, the project never came to fruition.

It appears that any negotiations for crossover stories involving Star Wars would have taken place during the years when Dark Horse Comics held the rights to publish Star Wars comics. During this period, they produced crossovers with various franchises such as Superman and Aliens. Later on, DC/Dark Horse crossover trade paperbacks were released, reprinting many of these stories for the first time.

As a dedicated fan, it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen the “big two” (DC and Marvel) collaborate on shared characters. The general consensus is that the intricacies of revenue sharing make negotiations challenging. However, there has been a recent revival, with the re-release of the DC vs. Marvel miniseries, along with several other crossover tales, in a pair of impressive hardcover omnibus editions.

I’m thrilled to be part of the crowd supporting Ross’s current project – a documentary offering an exclusive peek into the making of “Kingdom Come,” the gripping series I helped develop for DC, collaborating with Mark Waid on scriptwriting.

In 2015, Marvel obtained the rights to Star Wars following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, the film production company behind both Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. Since then, the Star Wars line of titles has proven successful for Marvel, offering a measure of stability amidst a decline in overall sales. However, Marvel has shown no signs of integrating Star Wars with any other properties, including its own.

2024-10-01 22:40

DC Almost Crossed Over With Star Wars: Here’s Why It Didn’t Happen

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