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100-559: The original Midnight Sons appeared in several 1990s multi-issue crossovers of Marvel's supernatural titles. The first, "Rise of the Midnight Sons," launched several books in the Midnight Sons line, including Morbius (September 1992), Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins (October 1992), and Nightstalkers (November 1992). The team consisted of "the Nine": Blade , Morbius , Danny Ketch (as

200-468: A sketch comedy show or as a humorous interlude on an award telecast. Such crossovers may sometimes involve the real actors—for example, a sketch on Royal Canadian Air Farce saw Yasir and Sarah from Little Mosque on the Prairie buying the gas station from Corner Gas , with many of the characters in the sketch being portrayed by the shows' real actors—although they may also feature one genuine star from

300-571: A video game meet and interact with each other. These can range from a character simply appearing as a playable character or boss in the game, as a special guest character, or a major crossover where two or more franchises encounter. Konami made the first crossover video game featuring Simon Belmont from Castlevania , Universal Pictures ' King Kong and Mikey from the Warner Bros. movie The Goonies in Konami Wai Wai World for

400-564: A " shared universe ". For example, in the Marvel Comics universe, Spider-Man has frequent dealings with another Marvel hero, Daredevil , just as in the DC Comics Universe, the Flash and Green Lantern often collaborate. In comic book terminology, these "guest star" roles are common enough that they are generally not considered crossovers; rather, this short-term collaboration to fight crime

500-405: A Ghost Rider), John Blaze (as a human), Frank Drake , Hannibal King , Vicki Montesi , Louise Hastings, and Sam Buchanan. The group appeared in the nine-issue anthology comic book Midnight Sons Unlimited , which ran from April 1993 to May 1995 and tied into the crossover events. Their final crossover was the seventeen-part "Siege of Darkness" which ran from December 1993 to January 1994. It

600-399: A January 2014 episode of Republic of Doyle as Bill Murdoch, a 21st-century descendant of his regular character William Murdoch. The earliest example of a crossover in children's television was PBS ' 1971 program The Electric Company . Crossovers can take the form of a promotional cameo appearance , used to draw attention to another work of fiction, with little rational explanation in

700-447: A cameo to a full comedy sketch or episode—is an extremely popular way of circumventing this problem. By various means, such crossovers typically avoid outcry from fans by being obvious parody or homage . However, on rare occasion, the humor of such crossovers can be used by one show make a narrative point by capitalizing on the audience's experience of the other program. Parodic crossovers can be directly established as being outside

800-469: A case in the turmoil of the time after the fall of the Berlin Wall . The episode was produced during the short transition period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany . Damnation (comics) Damnation is a comic book limited series written by Donny Cates and Nick Spencer , illustrated by Rod Reis, and published in 2018 as four monthly issues by Marvel Comics . It

900-659: A counter spell from the Darkhold. The "Siege of Darkness" consisted of two subsequent stories in which the Midnight Sons fought groups connected with the two major villains, Lilith and Zarathos . In the first story arc, covers were black with vague outlines, and the Midnight Sons fought the Lilin who were invading the earth in a mysterious smoke emanating from Cypress Hills Cemetery. Lilin included in this arc include Bad Timing, Martine Bancroft, Blackout, Dark Legion, Meatmarket, Nakota, Outcast, Pilgrim, Sister Nil, Stonecold, and Bloodthirst, who

1000-450: A crossover "event". In one case, a New York City blackout caused by Paul Reiser 's character on Mad About You was experienced by the characters on Friends and Madman of the People . Such "event nights" can also be linked by a single character's quest across multiple shows on the same evening. ABC attempted this kind of "event night" crossover with its Friday night programming during

1100-577: A device in establishing continuity in a shared fictional universe. This crossover is common in the Star Trek universe , where minor guest stars from one series have appeared as featured guest stars later ones. A good example of this crossover is that of the Klingons Kor , Koloth , and Kang . After the passage of about a century of narrative time, the three onetime adversaries of Captain Kirk appeared together in

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1200-614: A different incarnation of the team was featured in Marvel Zombies 4 after being teased in Marvel Zombies 3 . More like the Legion of Monsters than a traditional Midnight Sons line-up, this team included Morbius , Daimon Hellstrom , Jennifer Kale , Werewolf by Night , and Man-Thing . The Hood briefly assisted. The story was loosely continued in Punisher: Frankencastle and Legion of Monsters . An unnamed team similar to

1300-465: A grandchild. He was later killed and Lilith gave birth to Blackout along with her other children, thus indeed making him one of her actual children). Though she would have a lot more of her children to help her, the rest had forsaken Lilith. After she was imprisoned, many of the Lilin were either scattered or killed. Those who were scattered forgot the ways of Lilith and moved on with their lives, except Lilith's most faithful servants. The team consisted of

1400-504: A large scale vampire invasion during the Blood Hunt event with the vampire invasion being led by Blade. They end up figuring out that Blade is possessed by Varnae . The Midnight Sons, renamed Midnight Suns , appear in Marvel's Midnight Suns . This version of the team has existed since the 17th century, with Ghost Riders as prominent members throughout the various iterations of the team and

1500-470: A major Valiant hero. Cartoon crossovers are not uncommon, and most of them – like comics or live-action TV shows – will often feature characters owned by the same company or network. One example is Cartoon Network 's The Grim Adventures of the KND . It features five crossovers – Ed, Edd n Eddy , Codename: Kids Next Door , The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy , a reference to The Powerpuff Girls , and

1600-493: A mystical stasis. In his place appears Strange , a mystical construct Doctor Strange based loosely on himself. Strange joins the rest of the Midnight Sons in the fight against The Fallen. Ghost Rider confronts Zarathos one on one, and Ghost Rider is apparently destroyed and his power absorbed into Zarathos. The Midnight Sons then fight Patriarch, Metarchus, and Atrocity to a standstill, and the Fallen retreat. Caretaker reveals that there

1700-725: A new limited series was released, entitled Midnight Suns . The 5-issue miniseries was written by Ethan Sacks with art by Luigi Zagaria. While not directly connected to the Midnight Suns video game of the same year, the two concurrent versions featured loose similarities in both name and roster. The comic team featured Blade , Kushala the Spirit Rider , Magik , Wolverine , and Nico Minoru . Shortly after, Marvel announced another miniseries in 2024. Coming from writer Bryan Hill and artist Germán Peralta, Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt will tie into Marvel's summer-long Blood Hunt event. Along with

1800-460: A new version of the team was brought together when Strange Academy student Zoe Laveau projected a vision to supernatural characters across the Marvel Universe. Featuring Blade , Kushala , Magik , Wolverine , and Nico Minoru , the series also included prominent appearances by characters such as Agatha Harkness , Clea Strange , and Doctor Doom . The original Midnight Sons reunite to fight

1900-619: A number of different works. Illustrator Howard Pyle conceived his work Twilight Land as one such crossover. In it, a nameless narrator is transported to "Twilight Land" and meets famous fairy tale characters for a soirée in an inn: Mother Goose , Cinderella , Fortunatus , Sinbad the Sailor , Aladdin , Boots , the Valiant Little Tailor , and others gather in the framing device and tell each other adventurous tales featuring other literary personages. French author Jules Lemaître wrote

2000-543: A quote from Scooby-Doo , which are all licensed Cartoon Network series. During the 1970s and 1980s, crossovers were particularly common among the Hanna-Barbera properties. Some of the earliest examples happened on The New Scooby-Doo Movies which featured appearances by characters from Harlem Globetrotters , Josie and the Pussycats , Jeannie , Speed Buggy , Batman and Robin , and The Addams Family . Later,

2100-655: A rich family history by speculating familial connections between them (such as a blood-relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan ). Roger Zelazny 's novel A Night in the Lonesome October combines Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Frankenstein, Jack the Ripper, and the Cthulhu Mythos, although he never specifically identifies them as such ("The Count", "The Good Doctor", "Jack", etc.). Occasionally, authors will include into crossovers classic fictional characters whose copyright

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2200-418: A sort of sequel to Cinderella , named Princess Mimi , where Cinderella's daughter is courted by Polyphemus and Charles Perrault 's Hop-o'-My-Thumb . It is also common for authors to 'crossover' characters who have passed into the public domain, and thus do not require copyright or royalty payments for their use in other works. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

2300-541: A traitor. The team following Morbius, which includes Louise Hastings, hide out in one of Morbius' old labs. Louise Hastings finds out Morbius has been infected by Lilin blood, and Morbius secretly kills her. Morbius has been taken over by the Lilin Bloodthirst. He then requests entry into Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. Unaware that Morbius has been possessed, Doctor Strange allows him to enter which allows other Lilin to follow. Doctor Strange convinces Morbius to fight

2400-547: Is a fighting game engine that features many fan-created and fictional characters and stages from various television series, movies, as well as other video games. 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 , DC , or Valiant comic books frequently interact with one another since they live in

2500-520: Is able to possess the soulless body of Doctor Strange. While the Midnight Sons and Scarlet Spider fight the demons, Ghost Rider rides his motorcycle to the top of Hotel Inferno to confront Mephisto. After Mephisto removes the Ghost Rider from Johnny Blaze, he throws Blaze from the roof. The Midnight Sons have been fighting the possessed Avengers for hours. Mephisto appeared on the battlefield and gloated on them sending Johnny Blaze to attack him. Just then,

2600-493: 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, and all are characters of different authors and creators brought together within one massive extended universe. Many of the works of Philip José Farmer 's Wold Newton family sequences (which has also been explored and developed by other authors) also utilize and interweave numerous otherwise unrelated fictional characters into

2700-767: Is called a team-up . A crossover in comic book terms only occurs when a story spans more than one title. This has led to "crossover events" in which major occurrences are shown as affecting most or all of the stories in the shared universe; see Category:Crossover comics . The earliest such crossover event was Gardner Fox 's Zatanna's Search which took place in Hawkman #4 (October/November 1964), Detective Comics #336 (February 1965), The Atom #19 (June/July 1965), Green Lantern #42 (January 1966), Detective Comics #355 (September 1966), and Justice League of America #51 (February 1967). This story dealt with Zatanna attempting to reconnect with her father, Zatara , and seeking

2800-474: Is clearly intended in appearance and description by other characters to be Dr. Fu Manchu appears as a significant villain; however, as this character was not in the public domain at the time of writing and the rights still held by the estate of his creator Sax Rohmer , he is not directly named as such in the work and is only referred to as 'the Devil Doctor'. Crossovers involving principals can also occur when

2900-476: Is killed by Modred, and James Raydar joins the Midnight Sons along with Embyrre, Raydar's daughter and one of The Fallen who turns against Zarathos when she sees Morbius' nobility. Meanwhile, Victoria Montesi finds out that she has been impregnated with Chthon. Doctor Strange helps her just as he is being attacked by Salomé, one of The Fallen, who claims she is the rightful Sorceress Supreme. Doctor Strange disappears into another dimension and places Victoria Montesi in

3000-444: Is more common on animated programs, such as when Bender found and ate Bart Simpson 's shorts on Futurama , or Milhouse had a talking Bender doll on The Simpsons . This would seem to be another case when a popular franchise is acknowledged as fiction and not a crossover of the stories. Perhaps the most obvious parodic crossover is found when characters from two series interact outside either series. This occurs most commonly on

3100-502: Is one more member of The Blood they have not contacted, Foundry. The Midnight Sons track down Foundry who gives them a sword called Justiciar. She claims it must be tempered in her own blood and sacrifices herself. Blade then uses Justiciar to kill Patriarch, Metarchus, and Atrocity with the help of the other Midnight Sons. They believe the destruction of The Fallen will weaken Zarathos. They attack Zarathos directly. Embyrre and James Raydar also attack and are killed. Ghost Rider, whose spirit

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3200-458: Is still held by the original authors (or at least their estates), but who are nevertheless considered iconic or 'mythic' enough to be recognised from a few character traits or descriptions without being directly named (thus not requiring royalties payments to be made to the copyright holder). A prominent example occurs within The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One , wherein a character who

3300-483: Is that of Mad About You and Friends , which share the character of Ursula Buffay . Neither show shares any production or distribution commonality, but rather an actress ( Lisa Kudrow ), a setting ( New York City ) and a schedule ( Friends initially followed Mad About You on NBC 's Thursday night schedule ). Mad About You and Friends share another type of "network crossover". On rare occasions, networks have chosen to theme an entire night's programming around

3400-566: Is when the characters from all three shows split into groups, where the members all share the same clichéd character archetypes, such the main characters Goku, Luffy, and Toriko falling into the dumb, good-natured, strong character archetype. Manga artist Leiji Matsumoto has been known to cross over the characters of his various stories and characters such as Captain Harlock , Galaxy Express 999 , and Queen Millennia , all of which were originally written as separate, self-contained stories. In

3500-903: The Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10 set of movies involved several crossovers, including such combinations as The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones . This was taken to an extreme in the 1977–79 series Laff-A-Lympics , which was essentially a gathering of the Hanna-Barbera characters for a regular series. Crossovers are not necessarily composed of characters under common ownership. Two of the most notable cartoon crossovers consisted of characters from different companies. Disney's movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit had characters from various companies, most notably Disney and Warner Bros. The film also includes cameos of characters from MGM . Another cartoon crossover would occur in 1990, Cartoon All-Stars to

3600-519: The Maetel Legend , Queen Promethium is revealed to be having been Yukino Yaoi, the protagonist from Queen Millennia . Matsumoto has also created various crossovers with Space Battleship Yamato , an anime on which he served as director, although the rights to Yamato are actually owned by Yoshinobu Nishizaki. The first film crossover in a series of Universal Studios monster films was Frankenstein Meets

3700-538: The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, " Blood Oath " – as the Klingons and Federation had become allies in the century between, the former villains are now portrayed as heroes. The distinction between "spin-off" and "crossover" is sometimes narrow. The two terms can become especially conflated if two shows are linked by a guest star with a single appearance. There is debate, for instance over whether Out of

3800-741: The Nightstalkers ( Eric Brooks / Blade , Frank Drake and Hannibal King ), Morbius, the Living Vampire , the Spirits of Vengeance ( Danny Ketch / Ghost Rider , Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider , and later Michael Badilino / Vengeance ), and the guardians of the Darkhold , the Darkhold Redeemers (Sam Buchanan, Victoria Montesi , Louise Hastings, and later Modred the Mystic and Jinx). While secretly assembling

3900-644: The Scarlet Witch as a former member. In the present, the Caretaker enlists the Hunter, Nico Minoru , Blade , Magik and Robbie Reyes to join forces with the Avengers and stop Lilith and Hydra . Fictional crossover A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings , or universes into the context of a single story . They can arise from legal agreements between

4000-521: The 1997 season. There, they proposed that the title character of Sabrina the Teenage Witch should chase her cat, Salem , through Boy Meets World , You Wish and Teen Angel because it had run away with a "time ball" that was displacing each show through time. In 2013, the Canadian crime drama series Republic of Doyle and Murdoch Mysteries produced a crossover, which was complicated by

4100-570: The Avengers fighting demons. It's later revealed that the rescue was all an illusion and that Clea was a possessed Captain Marvel who posed as her to trick Doctor Strange. While inside Doctor Strange's body, Bats' ghost and Doctor Strange's mind find themselves in the Realm Between where they find the souls of those that Mephisto has trapped while he controls their bodies. It is here where Doctor Strange finds

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4200-467: The Blue is a spin-off of Happy Days , or whether the star of Out of the Blue merely crossed over into Happy Days . Often, the problems of bringing together two shows with different narrative ambitions make the writing of a crossover burdensome. Such difficulties are encountered by situation comedies that wish to crossover with dramatic television programs. The satirical crossover—ranging in length from

4300-645: The Chipmunks , the Smurfs , ALF (from his short-lived cartoon spinoff ), Garfield , and the trio of Baby Kermit , Baby Piggy , and Baby Gonzo (from Jim Henson's Muppet Babies ). Animation companies granted unlimited, royalty-free use of their cartoon characters for this project, a feat that has been unequalled before or since. This cartoon was also introduced by then- President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush , and would be distributed to schools and video stores free of charge nationwide. Webtoons (animated shows from

4400-569: The Famicom in 1988. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games , released in Japan two months before Super Smash Bros. Brawl , was the first time that Mario and Sonic (as well as their associated characters) appeared in a game together. In literature , some authors also engage in crossovers by including characters from different novels they have written in one. The first popular crossover in literature

4500-416: The Marvel Universe. The advertisement also claimed the Midnight Sons was the "first distinct family group." "Siege of Darkness," however, marked the cancellation of Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins , and the Midnight Sons brand did not last much longer. Nightstalkers only lasted three more issues. A Blade and Blaze series failed to catch interest. The Midnight Sons logo was eventually dropped from

4600-820: The Midnight Sons appeared in the 5-issue Spirits of Vengeance series in 2017 by Victor Gischler and David Baldeón. This series featured Johnny Blaze , Daimon Hellstrom , Blade , and Satana . In February 2017, Moon Knight artist Greg Smallwood expressed interest in a revamped version of the Midnight Sons, featuring a team composed of Moon Knight, Blade , Ghost Rider , Doctor Strange , Punisher , Daimon Hellstrom , Jennifer Kale and Hannibal King . Although this never came to pass, Smallwood did contribute variant covers for Doctor Strange: Damnation by Donny Cates , Nick Spencer , and Rod Reis, which featured another modern Midnight Sons team: Wong , Blade , Doctor Voodoo , Elsa Bloodstone , Johnny Blaze , Moon Knight , Iron Fist , Scarlet Spider , and Man-Thing . In 2022,

4700-459: The Midnight Sons'. This brand is placed on the arms of all the members of the new team aside from Frank Drake , a member of the Nightstalkers and a human descendant of Dracula and the Ghost Rider who had apparently been destroyed. Drake was disallowed from taking the brand due to his relative normalcy compared to the other members who were supernaturally afflicted and destined to be outsiders. He

4800-594: The Midnight Sons, Iron Fist is found by Fat Cobra, who takes him to a fight tournament where the star fighter is Orson Randall, a former Iron Fist who died some time ago. After discovering what forces him to fight, Danny decides to help Orson escape by fighting in the tournament. During this time, the demon fight promoter brings in Danny's long-lost sister Miranda Rand-Kai, who is sent to fight Orson, as well as Fat Cobra's deceased mother. After fighting 12 monster demons, Danny and his friends are able to escape, though Orson dies during

4900-617: The Rescue . This cartoon featured popular characters from children's Saturday morning cartoons, banding together to promote an anti-drug message. ABC , CBS , Fox , and NBC aired this half-hour special one Saturday morning with characters from all their networks, including Huey, Dewey, and Louie (from Disney's DuckTales ), Winnie the Pooh , Tigger , Slimer (from The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters ), Michelangelo (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ), Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Alvin and

5000-507: The Wolf Man , in 1943. After the comics publishing house Marvel Comics ventured into movie production , they set off to produce solitary films with popular superheroes from the Avengers team, with characters from upcoming films making cameo appearances in films starring another superhero, leading up to the crossover film The Avengers (2012). Inspired by Marvel's success, Warner Bros. , who hold movie rights for DC Comics ' heroes, announced

5100-500: The agent has issues over possibly becoming a sperm donor, with David Boreanaz (who plays Booth) repaying the favor in " Road to the North Pole ". An appearance by Elmo , from Sesame Street , was made, in a hallucination of Connie Ray 's, on TV sitcom The Torkelsons . Fan fiction fusions between different science fiction movies and series are often created, such as Star Wars and Star Trek or Babylon 5 and Stargate . M.U.G.E.N.

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5200-683: The aid of Hawkman, Batman, Robin , the Atom, Green Lantern, and the Elongated Man along the way. The first major crossover event was spearheaded by the Marvel Editor-in-Chief at the time, Jim Shooter . As a way to further toy sales he devised the Secret Wars crossover which brought all the major Marvel heroes into a 12-issue miniseries to battle a common threat. After the threat was dealt with, they all returned to their regular titles. Secret Wars

5300-452: The characters have no prior relationship, but are related by time period, locale or profession. The Law and Order series, for example, afford a commonality of setting and profession which lends itself to crossovers, both within the franchise and in a wider universe. Following the cancellation of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live and its high-rated finale, several characters crossed over into

5400-424: The circles of Hell until they reach Mephisto's throne. After fighting through demons, Johnny manages to claim the throne and becomes the new King of Hell. The series debuted to a mixed critical reception. The first issue received an average score of 6.9 out of 10 according to review aggregator Comic Book Roundup . Because the central premise is based on an event that occurred a year earlier, Comicbook.com found

5500-430: The citizens of Las Vegas and springs into action. While fighting demons alongside the Midnight Sons, Scarlet Spider gets separated from the group and faces Mephisto, who tries to trick him into giving up his path to redemption. When Ben refuses, he sends a possessed Kaine Parker after him. After a long fight, Ben manages to free Kaine from his possession and convinces him to help defeat Mephisto. After being separated from

5600-435: The context of the hosting show's narrative. When not clearly presented as parody, this is frequently scorned by fans as blatant commercialism. A notable example of this is The Simpsons episode " A Star Is Burns ", in which the character of Jay Sherman (from The Critic ) appeared. It originally aired on March 5, 1995, on FOX right before The Critic began its second season, its first season having aired on ABC. This episode

5700-444: The continuity of one or all of the properties being crossed over. A good example is the crossover between The Simpsons and The X-Files , which was largely accepted as being outside standard X-Files continuity. They can occur by virtue of a dream sequence , in which the characters of one show will appear as part of a dream had by a character on another show. This method was perhaps used most famously to explain to audiences that

5800-639: The control of Bloodthirst. Doctor Strange then casts a spell that causes the Sanctum Sanctorum to explode. The Spirits of Vengeance then confront Lilith and Zarathos in Cypress Hills Cemetery and use the Medallion of Power to send Lilith and the Lilin back to Shadowside. The Medallion of Power disappears. After Lilith is exiled, it appears as if a group called The Fallen, loyal to Zarathos, has returned from exile. The Fallen are an offshoot of The Blood,

5900-410: The count to four. The first issue was released February 21, 2018. The crossover plot includes tie-in issues from some of Marvel's other contemporary ongoing series. These include Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #15–17, Doctor Strange #386–389, Iron Fist #78–80, and Johnny Blaze: Ghost Rider #1. Damnation is Cates' last story with Doctor Strange. When the limited series concluded, he left

6000-639: The end of Marvel Zombies 3 and fully appears in Marvel Zombies 4 . Man-Thing and the Hood join the team later in the series. During the Damnation storyline, Wong and the ghost of Doctor Strange's dog Bats assembled Blade, Doctor Voodoo, Elsa Bloodstone, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Iron Fist , Scarlet Spider and Man-Thing to form the third incarnation of the Midnight Sons so that they could help Doctor Strange fight Mephisto's forces in Las Vegas. Some time later,

6100-504: The entirety of Newhart had been the dream of Bob Newhart 's character on The Bob Newhart Show . It has more recently been used to demonstrate that cast members of The Young and the Restless appeared in a dream of a character on The King of Queens . Parodic crossovers can take the form of " gag " cameos by characters of one property appearing on another. Crossovers of this type can also be completely wordless. This type of crossover

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6200-439: The fictional setting, and have to be ignored by the series' respective continuities . Still others intentionally make the relations between two or more fictional universes confusing, as with The Simpsons and Futurama , where each show is fiction in the other. In contrast with legal crossovers, unofficial crossovers are created solely because of the artistic pleasure derived by their creators. Unofficial crossovers often take

6300-405: The fight. After sending Miranda, Fat Cobra and his mother to his place, Danny heads out to rejoin the Midnight Sons to defeat Mephisto. After Johnny was thrown off the roof, he passes away. This is all part of Wong's plan. In Hell, Johnny Blaze finds the now-independent Spirit of Vengeance and persuades him to help reach Mephisto's throne. The two of them combine together and make their way through

6400-452: The financial reward of combining two or more popular, established properties. In other cases, the crossover can serve to introduce a new concept derivative of an older one. Another intention is to give fictional characters more emotional credibility and thus increase immersion for the fans. Crossovers generally occur between properties owned by a single holder, but they can, more rarely, involve properties from different holders, provided that

6500-408: The first time in the history of Marvel, one of our family groups is getting its own distinct family imprint and cover treatment. On the outside of the books, this means all titles in the family will share a new cover symbol, the Midnight Sons dagger as well as similar cover treatments. Inside, the Midnight Sons titles will have stronger continuity, making for a more exciting, tightly knit sub-section of

6600-457: The form of fan-written fiction and fan art , but the trope is increasingly prevalent in amateur films and audio . Whereas official crossovers are frequently stymied by such concerns as copyright, royalties payments, quality of writing and ownership of the characters, unofficial crossovers are unfettered by such concerns, so long as property holders do not exercise their right to enjoin the distribution of such material. A good example would be

6700-447: The group to which Caretaker belongs. The Fallen left The Blood to follow the wizard Zarathos. The Fallen quickly beat the Midnight Sons and take Caretaker captive. The Midnight Sons regroup at The Nightclub, and Caretaker sends a message that The Fallen plan to recruit or kill surviving members of The Blood. The Midnight Sons then find James Raydar, Patriarch and Truthsayer with varying degrees of success; Patriarch joins Zarathos, Truthsayer

6800-594: The inherent legal obstacles can be overcome. They may also involve using characters that have passed into the public domain with those concurrently under copyright protection . A crossover story may try to explain its own reason for the crossover, such as characters being neighbors (notable examples being the casts from The Golden Girls and Empty Nest ) or meeting via dimensional rift or similar phenomenon (a common explanation for science fiction properties that have different owners). Some crossovers are not explained at all. Others are absurd or simply impossible within

6900-553: The internet) can also have crossovers with different webtoons, franchises, YouTubers and more. Some examples are when Kate from TomSka 's Crash Zoom series makes an appearance in Eddsworld as a trick or treater who possesses Matt and Edd in the episode, "Trick or Threat". In addition to this a couple of characters from Eddsworld make appearances in some Crash Zoom episodes such as "Orcs and Dorks". Anime has also participated in many crossover events featuring characters or shows from

7000-555: The latest incarnation of the Midnight Sons . Mephisto has turned Doctor Strange into a Ghost Rider-like creature. While Wong has assembled the Midnight Sons, they were overpowered by the demons roaming around Las Vegas. This attack got Wong and Bats' ghost separated from the rest. While the Midnight Sons were saved from the Ghost Riders by Scarlet Spider , Wong and Bats' ghost ran into Doctor Strange's Ghost Rider form. Bats' ghost

7100-736: The monsters forming teams in numerous movies, much like the Marvel movie franchise. Godzilla , Mothra and Rodan (Radon) each first appeared in standalone films before being set against each other or even teaming up against stronger enemies. Their first encounter was in 1964, first in Mothra vs. Godzilla and a few months later of all three in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster . In 1962, Toho released King Kong vs. Godzilla . Crossovers in video games occur when otherwise separated fictional characters, stories , settings , universes , or media in

7200-584: The monthly title, later going on to write his run of Venom from 2018 to 2021. In the 2017 crossover event Secret Empire , Las Vegas was destroyed when HYDRA Helicarriers were dispatched to raze the city. After reclaiming his Sorcerer Supreme status from Loki , Doctor Strange uses his magic to restore it and resurrect the people who died. He is opposed by Mephisto , the ruler of Hell who has already claimed their souls as his own. He orchestrates events that causes his demons to bring Doctor Strange to his recently created Hotel Inferno. Mephisto claims that

7300-526: The network's remaining soap opera General Hospital , remaining in the same timeline as their former show. Though most common on shows of the same production company (see, for example, " Hurricane Saturday "), crossovers have also occurred because shows share the same distributor or television network . A notable example of this kind of link is that between Murder, She Wrote and Magnum, P.I. These shows were made by different companies, but owned by Universal Studios and broadcast on CBS . Another case

7400-543: The other Midnight Sons join the fight, they discover that, instead of killing Lilith and Zarathos, Ghost Rider and Blaze have opened a portal to Shadowside where the Lilin had been exiled. They split into two groups, one led by Ghost Rider and one led by Morbius. Caretaker , Doctor Strange and Vengeance also join the fight. Caretaker claims Zarathos is more powerful and they must protect the Medallion of Power. Doctor Strange teleports Ghost Rider's group to his Sanctum Sanctorum . They find out from some Lilin that Morbius' team has

7500-438: The people of Las Vegas, Doctor Strange fought Mephisto in a game of blackjack . The deal is that Mephisto had to return the souls to Las Vegas if Doctor Strange won and that Doctor Strange's soul would be claimed if Mephisto won. Though Doctor Strange won by cheating, Mephisto found out and had Doctor Strange tortured. After being tortured, Doctor Strange is rescued by Scarlet Witch, Clea and Loki and jump into action when they see

7600-515: The plot immediately felt dated. Although Jesse Shedeen felt the issue was too much setup and too little story, he said it captured the charm of the Cates' monthly Doctor Strange series. His review for IGN concludes that the plot may have worked better if dealt with exclusively within Doctor Strange instead of in a crossover. Bleeding Cool was less impressed, calling it a "shocking misfire from

7700-420: The possessed Avengers attack Mephisto as Wong revealed that Mephisto rendering his throne vacant has enabled Ghost Rider to become the new ruler of Mephisto's realm. After Doctor Strange returned from the Realm Between, he assisted the Midnight Sons and the Avengers into preventing Mephisto from returning to his realm to reclaim his throne. Though Doctor Strange defeated him, Mephisto fled back to his realm where he

7800-518: The production of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and further plans to develop the cinematic DC Extended Universe , while Paramount Pictures and Entertainment One announced plans to create a cinematic universe on the Transformers film series . There have been numerous crossovers in Japanese cinema. The boom of kaiju films saw a lot of crossovers produced at Toho Studios , with some of

7900-406: The relevant copyright holders (known as intercompany crossovers ), common corporate ownership or unofficial efforts by fans . This is different from a spoof , where one discrete character, setting, or universe, copies another character, setting, or universe, often in a comedic manner. Crossovers often occur in an official capacity in order for the intellectual property rights holders to reap

8000-442: The remaining titles, cover-dated September 1994, although Morbius , Blade , Blaze , Doctor Strange , Ghost Rider (vol. 3), Marvel Comics Presents and the final three issues of Midnight Sons Unlimited continued on under the normal Marvel logo. The Marvel Edge imprint debuted in 1995, incorporating some of the same ongoing titles as Midnight Sons, including Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme and Ghost Rider . In 2009,

8100-578: The remnants of Las Vegas were in his realm before it was restored. Hotel Inferno starts to have an effect on the people of Las Vegas. It also had an effect on Black Panther , Captain Marvel , Falcon , Hawkeye , and Jane Foster 's Thor form where they were all turned into Ghost Rider -like creatures. The ghost of Doctor Strange's talking dog Bats sought out Wong so that he can help Doctor Strange. To help Doctor Strange, Wong summoned Blade , Doctor Voodoo , Moon Knight , Elsa Bloodstone , Ghost Rider , Iron Fist , Scarlet Spider , and Man-Thing to form

8200-464: The return of the classic name, the book is also expected to feature most of the original Midnight Sons together again for the first time since 1994. The cast so far is confirmed to include Blade, Johhny Blaze, Danny Ketch, and Victoria Montesi. The team was formed by Ghost Riders, Danny Ketch and Johnny Blaze after Ghost Rider received a vision in which he learned that Lilith, Mother of All Demons ( not Dracula's daughter, another Marvel character of

8300-444: The same company or network. One of the biggest projects down would be Dream 9 Toriko x One Piece x Dragon Ball Z Super Special Collaboration as it includes three Shonen Jump franchises, being Dragon Ball Z , One Piece , and Toriko , crossed over into an hour long special-like most crossovers, this special is filler, a fan-service episode that follows the common plot line in most crossovers. What makes this crossover unique

8400-399: The same name) was being resurrected and posed a great threat. She planned to use her demon children, the Lilin, to take over Earth. Though Lilith had many children, she had four children who were very loyal to her. Their names were Pilgrim, Nakota, Meatmarket, and the most powerful of the four, Blackout , Ghost Rider's old enemy (Blackout was not an actual child of Lilith originally, but rather

8500-510: The show amid a cast comprised otherwise of the sketch show's own stable of actors. Parodic crossovers can be used to lend verisimilitude to the fictional world of a program. Characters from a fictional television series may appear on a stylized version of an established non-fictional television series, such as game shows or reality shows . These crossovers between celebrity hosts and fictional characters are quite common on situation comedies . Mama's Family once appeared on Family Feud and

8600-499: The shows' incompatible historical settings; Murdoch Mysteries is a historical series set in the 1890s, while Republic of Doyle is set in the present day. The problem was solved by having the actors cross over as relatives of their primary characters; Allan Hawco appeared on the November 25, 2013 episode of Murdoch Mysteries as Jacob Doyle, a 19th-century ancestor of his regular character Jake Doyle, while Yannick Bisson appeared on

8700-401: The souls of the Avengers that Mephisto is controlling as well as Dormammu . With the souls of the Avengers, Doctor Strange's soul plans to find a way out of the Realm Between. Doctor Strange then manages to find a way to escape the Realm Between and helps the souls of the Avengers return to their bodies. During the rise of Hotel Inferno, Ben Reilly sees the effect that the hotel has caused on

8800-480: The team and the sub-teams within, from behind the scenes, Doctor Strange didn't officially join the team until the Siege of Darkness storyline. The second major meeting between the Midnight Sons occurred when Blade, with a page from the Darkhold, became the demonic creature Switchblade. He killed most of the Midnight Sons, subsequently taking on the power and weapons of each. He was finally stopped when Louise Hastings used

8900-702: The townsfolk of The Vicar of Dibley have had their heirlooms valuated on Antiques Roadshow , for instance. One of the earlier instances of crossovers in TV productions outside the US is the episode Unter Brüdern  [ de ] (1990), which was produced by WDR and DFF as a crossover between the West German crime series Tatort and the East German crime series Polizeiruf 110 . Their respective popular heroes Horst Schimanski and Peter Fuchs join forces to solve

9000-637: The unauthorised live action fan film Batman: Dead End which brings together the properties of Batman , Alien and Predator in one setting. Unofficial crossovers can also occur in a "what-if" scenario. Roger makes frequent cameo appearances in Family Guy , while Brian makes cameos on American Dad! . Roger, Rallo Tubbs , and Klaus Heissler were seen in the final Family Guy Star Wars spoof, " It's A Trap! ", as Moff Jerjerrod , Nien Nunb , and Admiral Ackbar , respectively. Stewie also appears as an interactive hallucination of Booth on Bones when

9100-409: Was absorbed by Zarathos, now apparently attacks him from within and Blade stabs Zarathos with Justiciar. Zarathos, with the sword through his chest, turns to stone. Johnny Blaze, Vengeance, Morbius, Blade, Hannibal King, Strange, and Caretaker then go through a ceremony in which they are branded with the symbol of the flaming dagger. Caretaker says they have become the successors to the original 'Order of

9200-414: Was allowed, however, to be an associate member. A new Midnight Sons team is sanctioned by A.R.M.O.R. , a government agency that monitors and polices alternate realities from Earth-616 . The team is chosen by Morbius, who enlists Daimon Hellstrom , Jennifer Kale , and Werewolf by Night to contain the zombie virus outbreak from further spreading into the 616 universe. The team makes a brief appearance at

9300-485: Was defeated by Johnny Blaze and the different Ghost Riders from across the Multiverse . After Johnny Blaze sent Mephisto back to Earth, he was kept at the top of Hotel Inferno in countless restraints as Hotel Inferno remained on Earth. As Doctor Strange, the Avengers, and the Midnight Sons left upon Las Vegas returning to normal, Wong remained behind to keep an eye on Hotel Inferno's casino. As Hotel Inferno starts to affect

9400-449: Was featured in two consecutive issues of each Midnight Sons title as well as four issues of Marvel Comics Presents (#143-146), and two issues of Doctor Strange , a title that was newly included in the line. It was advertised with an eight-page insert in several comics in October, November, and December 1993. According to the text of the advertisement, written by Jeffrey Lee Simmons. For

9500-557: Was hailed as both a critical and commercial success, largely because the events of the crossover had lasting effects on the characters (such as the introduction of Spider-Man 's black suit which would later become the villain Venom ). Jim Shooter later perfected his crossover technique at Valiant Comics with the Unity event. Unity brought all the Valiant characters together to defeat Mothergod , but

9600-721: Was largely condemned by fans of The Simpsons as existing to promote The Critic , an animated series considered inferior by comparison. Even Simpsons creator Matt Groening objected, preferring to remove his name from the credits of that particular episode in protest. In its simplest and most common form, a television crossover involves a starring character on a parent show appearing on a spin-off or vice versa because of established character relationships. An obvious example of this type of crossover occurred when Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show visited his daughter, Denise , on A Different World . More complex multi-production franchises can utilize crossovers of characters to serve as

9700-516: Was possessing Morbius. In the second story arc, covers featured a dripping blood design, and the Midnight Sons fought The Fallen, a group loyal to Zarathos. The Fallen include Atrocity, Embyrre, Metarchus, Patriarch, and Salomé. At the beginning of the story, Ghost Rider and Blaze tell The Nightstalkers, The Darkhold Redeemers, and Morbius that they have killed Lilith and Zarathos. The Nightstalkers, who are skeptical, investigate but find mist containing Lilin now emanating from Cypress Hills Cemetery. As

9800-1150: Was the 1885 Mark Twain novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , which had an important guest appearance by Tom Sawyer . Similarly, Lady Glencora Palliser from the Pallisers series of Anthony Trollope appears towards the end of Miss Mackenzie , a novel published between the first and second Palliser novels in 1865, a character first introduced in the novel, Can You Forgive Her? (1864). Andrew Lang 's 1890 collection, Old Friends: Essays in Epistolary Parody , contains letters combining characters from different sources, including one based on Jane Austen 's Northanger Abbey and Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre . Kim Newman frequently uses this device, as does Stephen King . The works of James Branch Cabell , J.D. Salinger , William Faulkner , Margaret Laurence , Thomas Pynchon , Kurt Vonnegut , Mordecai Richler , Sir H. Rider Haggard , Edgar Rice Burroughs , Robert Heinlein , and Isaac Asimov also cross over with each other, linking different characters and settings together over

9900-433: Was the main story in a crossover event with some plot elements occurring in tie-in issues of related ongoing series also published by Marvel. Damnation builds on events depicted in the 2017 crossover Secret Empire by Nick Spencer and various artists and the Doctor Strange ongoing series written by Donny Cates. The series was announced as a five-issue limited series on November 16, 2017, but later details reduced

10000-458: Was told within the existing Valiant Comics titles (and two bookend special issues). Readers were not obliged to buy all 18 chapters as the story was coherent when reading just one title, but far more layered when all were read. Like Secret Wars , the Unity crossover had lasting effects on the Valiant universe; most notably the introduction of Turok , the birth of Magnus, Robot Fighter and the death of

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