AU to Narutoverse.

What if the 9 tailed beasts, had a role and purpose during their period of free from human cages.
After a century (or near a century) of all the tailed beasts jailed, not attending their duties has dire ramifications.

Maybe they are part of the world immune system against other supernatural threats ?
Some elements of canon have to change to make it fit.
It is an idea I'm playing with.

 

Digging through my old drive files and found this brief Ned Stark divergence.



The Stranger heard his secret prayers, and passed them onto the weirwood in the forest-sept above. And a stranger it was who appeared at his cell door with the quiet whiff of a lantern alighting and the clank it made when the man - for that much at least Eddard could still determine through the long days and nights of his captivity, thin, tall, lithe in the movements in a way that was suddenly familiar - set the only source of light down and rattled the lock momentarily. A thin waif of a sword clicked the tumblers and the door swung inward with the squeal of protesting iron.

By the old gods, if there was anyone who had not heard that racket... had his throat been wet enough to utter his complaint he might have. Instead he rasped tonelessly, swallowed the blood which broke in his throat and slid down with a sickening copper taste.

"A Hand predisposed is an arm which bleeds to death." The hint of Braavosi was enough to answer the why behind the sense that he knew this man after all. Arya's swordmaster. Syrio... Forel? Yes, that felt right. Anger rose up inside of Eddard then. Syrio Forel was supposed to be teaching Arya, keeping her safe, not... breaking into this dungeon, and certainly not breaking him free before the trial would be announced. He already knew of the outcome, for of that Cersei Lannister had made clear only two nights passed. Condemnation for treason against the King's heirs, a falsehood that stung even now at his cold pride, and banishment to the Wall, the absolution of his titles, deeds, and all inheritance.

"Come, come, a Hand cannot lie docile, or atrophy shall accomplish what malnutrition and despair cannot." Syrio stretched out one long, lithe leg for balance, and bent to place a hand beneath Eddard's right arm.

I cannot leave this cell. Not if there is to be any peace for Sansa, and Arya, who are nearest at hand, and Bran, alone in Winterfell with his mother, and Robb at march even now to protest.

"No." He shrugged out of the Braavosi’s hold, but in an instant his body had been catapulted into a gut-wrenching rise, and Syrio spun them both to their feet.

"No more protests. The late King would not approve, and it is you who he had proclaimed the rightful sovereign until Joffrey comes of age."

None of that matters anymore, Eddard swore. What his throat and lips offered was a senseless garble.

Syrio sighed. "A Hand is too straightforward, aware of the knives which dance between finger and finger, yet as blind as the head which is covered by a fine cloth." The Braavosi said no more then but rather struck Eddard hard in the stomach and more carefully in the throat. All the air in his lungs rushed out with a painful wheeze, and when he tried to inhale he found that he simply could not. The already dark cell grew darker and began to swim as he rasped to no avail. Is this how I die? He would not know, not now. His eyes rolled weakly up to Syrio's own, and the Braavosi's face seemed to change. The last thing that he heard was Syrio utter, "A Hand is a fool, noble or not."

Then there was darkness. And dream.

Outside of the cell and up the stairs, the disapproving visage of Syrio Forel fell away and the Faceless Man beneath carried on with nothing to display.

/end. Never got any further than this, probably because it isn't that great an execution and the idea isn't really that good either. Never considered what would happen from here, or why the Faceless Man(who was meant to be whats-his-name who helped Ayra later) was let out and hired/ordered to do this.

 

A Superman self-insert in a generic DC universe.

A guy wakes up in Clark Kent's body just before his first appearance as Superman. He doesn't get Kal-El's memories, but he does have some basic control of his powers.

The problem is what he should do now. At first he decides that the world can do without Superman and using his powers decides to set himself up as a successful someone and just live his life as easy as possible in this world.

Only, the lack of Superman starts to affect the world in more ways than he predicted. While supervillains population is increasing, there as a lot less superheroes to fight them because apparently the Man of Steel was a big inspiration for many of them. Even the big heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman can't handle both their villains and Superman's too, slowly getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers of them. The Justice League project somehow helps, but it's not enough.

Finally realizing how important Superman is, especially worrying what will happen if bad guys like Darkseid win, the guy decides to become a superhero. Only problem? He's not even close to a person that Clark was. He's lazy and selfish. He's a coward too, afraid of fighting anyone that can actually hurt him.

His advantage is his familiarity with various DC universes and characters, giving him a necessary edge in dealing with them safely. As his main goal is increasing number of superheroes and general survival, he's not above making some questionable deals. Like becoming a face of Lexcorp's campaign "You Can Be A Hero". Or hiring more money focused supervillains for his Redemption Squad instead of fighting them.

Some more paranoid superheroes like Batman have their doubts about him, especially his public "heroic" persona, but as long as he stays on the good side, they let it go.

There is only one person that isn't going to and plans to expose Superman for a fraud he is. That person is the star reporter of Daily Planet, Lois Lane.

 

@Celestin

I'm interested in your opinion on this: How would one go about creating a good mix of Marvel and DC? Essentially take most (not all) characters from both universes and put them into one.

Now, I'm not talking about such silliness like the Amalgam universe, that was just weird. And, of course, you shouldn't take all the hundreds of characters from both worlds.

Bonus points: have a realistic timeline, in the sense that each character enters the scene the year they were introduced. So you have Superman and Captain America in early 40s while guys like Spider-Man and Fantastic Four show up in the 60s.

I'd be down for developing a timeline like that, sounds fun.

 

This is actually an interesting idea @Andrela. Bringing in people in the correct time means that even by the 60s you're going to have a wildly divergent timeline. Superman alone shakes the world massively with his presence. Marvel has several heavy hitters, but unless we're going cosmic not too many are as powerful or active as superman. Sure you have people like Franklin Richards, but they tend to constrained or not too active around the world. So having Supes appear in the 40s means everything else would be different. His first title appears in 1939. What does World War 2 look like with Superman around? Especially when it's one who has entirely a different sense of morals than what we have today. He might object to the war at first, but the second he learns about concentration camps he's in that, if only to stop the concentration camps. There's also the issue to a world wide response to the United States having a nuke before they were even a thing. It would probably be messy. All this to say, I'd probably start the timeline differently.

Superman is too strong and visible to be the hero of the 40s. Captain America starting the combined universe is the best bet. He's a strong image that inspires future heroes, but he isn't some super strong world breaker. Fighting the Nazi's and disappearing towards the end of the war is more than enough. It solidifies the idea that heroes can exist, and allows us to start to skip forward. This is important because the Marvel we know today doesn't start until the 1960s. The only big name characters recognizable from the 40s are Captain America, the Human Torch, Vision, and Namor. Two of them are entirely different incarnations, while the other two are barely recognizable. Older comics reflect America at the time, so attitudes were a little different. Having Cap and a few others as legends to modern heroes works a little better.

The timeline starts in the 1940s with the adventures of Captain America. He, and the rest of the Justice Society of America, fight the nazis and inspire the world in general. Unfortunately after his disappearance in 1945 they begin to splinter. Namor returns to Atlantis, disappointed with humanity in the aftermath of the second great war. Green Lantern, Alan Scott, abandons earth for the most part. Focusing more on threats in other parts of his sector. The Flash would unfortunately die, a result of his powers overcharging his body. Diana of Themyscira would return to the island because men had nothing to offer, and she hates the name Wonder Woman. Doctor Fate would forever be unremembered by humanity, as the nazis proved they weren't ready for the wider knowledge of magic. The V.I.S.I.O.N program would be scuttled in favor of more advancing robotics. Finally the unofficial mascot of the society, Metal Lad, would disappear entirely.

Their legacy would inspire many in the late 40s and early 50s, but the lack of abilities stymied their rise. Here is where I would throw in some of the old names that aren't really as relevant but can help to build a combined universe. People like Patriot and Destroyer would be around but not too influential. They would be local celebrities and not all that strong. Enough to beat up some muggers. The most serious name from this era would be Angel. No one knows who he is or what he can do, but they know when he comes into town criminals disappear. He mostly is against the mob and other organized crime groups.

Really the world doesn't heat up until the late 60s and the mutant crisis. Mutants started to appear after WW2. At first they were a delightful novelty, a guy who can grow super long hair or throw a fireball. That would change with the destruction of Dallas. A mutant lost control of his abilities, and would massacre the city. It would take the military almost a day to finally stop him. They don't manage to kill him, and thus the Hulk roams free. After these events the attitudes in America, and the rest of the world, would start to change. In 1964 the United States government would unveil the Sentinels. Built to protect the United States from mutants and commies, they would begin a campaign of capturing mutants to segregate them from the general population for their own safety. The brutality would instead inspire Metal Lad to come out of retirement and save his people. Taking the name Magneto he and his friend Charles Xavier would go on a campaign to protect and save Mutants around the world.

Elsewhere Reed Richards is selecting his crew to go into space and pierce the universe.

A young Bruce Wayne has just been taken in by Thomas Halloway, an old family friend.

Arthur Curry finds out the identity of his father, and what comes with it.

Clark Kent graduates from high school and moves to New York City, to attend Metropolis University for journalism.

Dr. Stephen Strange's car slides out of control and falls down a mountain.



I'll expand on this idea a bit later. I just threw this together in about an hour because the idea really hooked me.

 

I'm pretty sure I tried do something like that, but at first focused on joining them on cosmic and mystical levels, starting with the beginning of the Universe. The Guardians, the Old Gods and the New, the Elders, the Celestials, Galactus, Phoenix, the Endless and many more could simply be put together without much interactions, but I wanted a setup where the existence of one affect all the others.

On Earth level, making timeline based on their first comics is tempting, because it already gives you a timeframe and your focus is on making it work within it. That said, finding out a sequence of their appearance that gives you the biggest potential is just as fun in my opinion and that's the method I'm using.

My starting point would be Superman's first appearance. It's not like there weren't proto-superheroes before, like masked vigilantes from Gotham, colourful soldiers from WWII, or even just scary mutants, but he finally defines what it means to be one.

The moment Superman saves the plane is the beginning of the Age of Heroes.

Having that point, the next step is figuring out what year it should happen. The turn of the century, 2001, could work well enough.

The tricky part, one that doesn't usually work even within original DC and Marvel universes, is having events, small and big, be caused by one another.

Things like Superman's appearance giving financial boast to research of the past heroes, helping find Captain America. The Justice League and the Avengers formations being two different answers to question how superheroes should operate with the League being more responsive and the Avengers more proactive. Spider-Man using blue and red colours because there are Superman's colours and he in turn was taking them from Captain America. Bruce deciding to not use guns once he creates Batman after being Punisher's "student" for some time and witnessing what monster he became in his quest for revenge.

 

About Superman specifically: what if his powers were like in his earliest appearances and never went to the ridiculous levels like today? No Superboy-Prime punching a hole in reality nonsense.

 

You're moving along similar lines as what I was gonna go for, only difference being timing and how events push off. I did have Punisher becoming Bruce's student in the 90s though. He'd be a replacement for Dick and become a Punisher/Nightwing hybrid. Punisher would leave Bruce because he believes that criminals need to be stopped for real. Something Bruce hasn't done since the brutality he witnessed being raised by Halloway. Superman would defintely take inspiration from Cap as well, and then Spiderman from him. I wasn't gonna have Peter enter until the late 80s though. Also the Avengers vs. Justice League would be government sponsored vs. independent heroes. Justice League comes first and eventually becomes a part of UN/World Governments as kind of a global enforcer. Being part of the UN though means they have to let in some people they don't want to and start to lose reputation. Avengers would come about because some heroes see the Justice League as useless at best, and corrupt at worst. Depends on which team you're interacting with. Only thing I didn't wanna deal with was Cosmic stuff, cause it wouldn't really come up in the story I'd tell.

 

The X-Men become a global sensation almost overnight. From their first appearance in the Congo, to battling crazed Sentinels in Chicago, they attracted massive attention. Magneto and Xtraordinary led and acted as figureheads for the entire mutant cause. Very strong ones at that. Magneto, who was also Metal Lad of the Justice Society, was known worldwide for fighting Nazis with Captain America. Xtraordinary was born into a well known New York family, very respected old money, and one of the most eligible bachelors. Together they changed the common image of mutants from those with physical abnormalities and uncontrollable powers, to suave and debonair Super-Heroes. A carefully selected team of mutants behind them further helped their image. All of them were young, attractive, and relatively powerful. Until their Splinter in 1975, the X-Men would be the world's premier Superhero team, and lay the groundwork for a lot of future teams make ups.

On December 21st, 1969 Reed Richard's Discoverer space plane takes off. It's destination is a point much further than the usual Mars joyride. Reed intended to go to a point within Saturn's Ring that he believes is a warp gate. No one believed his theory, and looked at it as another scientist taking a rich man on an expensive space joyride. Unfortunately for everyone, he was right. Reed finds his warp gate, transporting his whole ship to the Phantom Zone.

Bruce Wayne's parents would die four days later. A vicious christmas day break in that would see his parents tortured and killed. Young Bruce would only be saved by the sacrifice of Alfred, and a series of hidden passages within the manor. The Police would never find the perpetrators. One year later Angel and cherub would. Thomas Halloway, an old family friend, would adopt Bruce Wayne. Seeing the anger held within the boy, he would bring him into his life. After a year of gruesome training Angel and Cherub would debut. After slaughtering the mob family that ordered the hit on the Waynes, they would go cross country. Spending the next seven years hunting down and exterminating organized crime groups. A few masked villains as well, but they weren't quite popping up yet. Six months before his 18th birthday Bruce would leave Thomas behind and settle in his native Chicago under a new mantle. With modified tech from his namesake conglomerate, Batman would bring his city to the light.

Arthur Curry led a perfectly normal life. He worked at the dock, smoked weed, and drank with his buddies. Sometimes all at once. Nothing in life prepared him to come home and find a bunch of guys in armor tearing apart his house. Nor for them to all bow when he walked in the door. Finding out his deadbeat dad, who ran out on his mom and left her to die giving birth to him, is Namor is the last straw. Especially because he is now expected to return under the sea and assist his ailing father. Given no choice he is quickly taken to Atlantis and crowned Prince. He meets admirers, is taught atlantean magic, and learns about his own awesome powers. Now equipped he is sent to the surface to be an ambassador of the Atlantean people, as Aquaman! Based in LA he becomes a staple of superheros in the seventies, even doing a few movies. Meanwhile in Atlantis, Namor's health continues to deteriorate and the quiet civil war gets louder and louder.

Inspired by the Justice Society of America, and Captain America most of all, Clark Kent knew he would be a Superhero. From a boy he was told of crashing down from the skies in a Starship, a little blessing to his parents. He carefully hid his powers and worked hard to be a model student, citizen, and son. Getting accepted to Metropolis University would finally make his dreams come true. With rapidly expanding abilities he would quickly make a name for himself in the city. A caped crusader who blinked in and out, there long enough to stop evil doers. The city would get it's first good look at him when he fought the crazed Sentinels during the 4th of July Parade. Where the X-Men used teamwork and fantastical combos to take out the robots in Chicago, Superman did it through pure strength. Flying around with laser eyes, batting Sentinels with other Sentinels, he firmly cemented his place as a heavy hitter. And while the X-Men would spurn the government, and authority all together, Superman would happily embrace them. So much so that when the Justice League would be revealed in 1972, Superman would be right up front. In 1974 when the Heralds would destroy Vienna, and nearly break the X-Men, Superman would be there. In 1978 when the UN ratified the Justice League as a global peacekeeping force, Superman would be there.

Dr. Stephen Strange is a driven man. It would be said when he graduated with his bachelors at 20, and again with dual P.H.Ds at 24. When he completed the first Brain surgery thought to be impossible at 26, he would have it put as a vanity plate on his Porsche. The same one that drove down the side of a cliff during a vacation in upstate New York. The next four years would be spent searching for a way to fix his hands. When science and technology failed him, he turned to the mystical arts. Under the tutelage of Dormammu, Stephen would learn magic the likes of which he could never imagine. With this knowledge he would hunt down and steal the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, killing the Ancient One. Equipped with the mantle he would go on to do wondrous things, dark and wondrous things. Eventually, he would come to the attention of Doctor Fate.

Hal Jordan would touch down on December 1st of 1974. The missing pilot of the Discoverer would warn of his lost crew and what they were bringing. Equipped with the ring of Alan Scott, he would be taken semi-seriously. On December 5th, Reed Richards and the rest of his crew would return. Where six left, seven returned. All of them touched by the Phantom Zone in different ways. Reed Richards himself was malleable and ever changing. Sue Storm was paler than fresh snow, and her eyes a bright almost glowing purple. Johnny Storm was fire, unending fire. Ben Grimm became a thing. Barry Allen, the chemical engineer, was faster than anything. Finally they also brought Jon Jones, the last martian and Silver Surfer. Under his guide they would take the name Heralds of Galactus, and plead for humanities surender. So that they may all accept his mercy and live in a new era of prosperity. It would take the combined forces of the Justice League, X-Men, and several independent European heroes to finally stop the Heralds. It would also kick off a new era of what it meant to be a costumed villain. Robbing banks and kidnapping is nothing to holding the globe hostage. Everyone would up their ante now.

From here it would go into the late 70s and all of the 80s. With the big theatrics of the Heralds, villains decide to take it up a notch. This is when it would start to get more comic book like in the villains and problems the heroes would be facing. Along with several notable names on opposite sides. Doctor Doom taking his country back from the Soviet Union had tremendous government support. Wakanda decided to take over all of Africa was met with some resistance. It wouldn't be enough resistance until it was far too late though. Of course the Atlantean Civil War did kind of mask the opening shots of that takeover. Themyscira of course objects once the Wakandans reach their island, but that's another conflict.

 

Pokemon Emerald Plot Bunny:

While drilling a tunnel to create their hideout, Team Magma encounters several ancient ruins and an old gateway. After figuring out a way to activate it, they open a portal to our world. More specifically the Japanese island of Kyushu (which the Hoenn region is based on).

The year is 2005 (which is when Pokemon Emerald came out in North America) and Magma Grunts begin arriving in our reality.

Eventually they find out that Pokemon don't exist in our world and are in fact fictional. Team Magma Leader Maxie finds out about the plot of the Hoenn games and isn't impressed that his plans to capture Groudon end in failure.

He therefore changes his plans and decides to (of course) take over the world with Pokemon. Meanwhile, May and Brendan find out about Team Magma's plans and decide to intervene. Then there's Team Aqua which has a spy in Team Magma...

 

Weebs bumrush the tunnel from the whole world over. Screen cuts to black.

 

Bonus points if most of them get eaten by wild pokemon.

 

I thought about doing something about like that with a timeline for Marvel alone (Marvel + DC is way too many characters for my taste).

I think there are a few things that you should think about:
1. Moving supporting cast to adjust to the main character - some characters are strongly tied together and there is no sense in having them debut separately.
2. Supertech - This is a problem of both Marvel and DC (but more of Marvel as it has more supergeniuses) the supertech has no influence of the world. Do you plan to keep it like that or having the world actually progress. I am not sure how well versed you are in the Marvel and DC, but Marvel actually has an explanation for random supertech appearing during the early twentieth century - Kang and his town of Timely.
3. Cosmology and the working of the universe - What's the cosmic hierarchy? Is TOAA and the Presence the same? Or is Presence Yahweh? How the Maltusians and Celestials fit together? Which version of Greek gods will you go with or maybe merge them? How do Lords of Chaos and Order fit with Lord Chaos and Master Order. What's with Death? And how does magic work? Those are actually important questions if you want to do more with the universe as they heavily shape the origins of many characters.
4. Space politics - Similar situation as above. How do the Green Lantern Corps and Novas fit together? Did Green Lantern Corps reacted to Kree-Skrull war, and did Apallaxian's even attempted invasion on the planet that's between those two warring forces?
5. Atlantis - Basically a similar case as Greek gods where you have multiple versions (because DC changes their constantly) and they need to be made sense of.
6. AU character imports - There were multiple AUs showing next generations of heroes. Of particular interest are probably MC2, Avengers of 20XX and Beyond period of DCAU.
7. Speaking of AU comics, of interest should be New Frontier (does what you want to do in terms of the timeline but with Golden Age - Interregnum - Silver Age transition of DC and Superman & Batman: Generations which is another DC attempt at an evolving timeline, though a rather bizarre one.

I think some very long-lived characters could provide a good PoV since they could see multiple generations. Superman, Dr. Strange, Captain America, Wolverine, Magneto.

 

I just want to caution the people planning the Marvel/DC one, don't let the fic have too large a reach or be too expansive. Comics work like that because there are multiple series, all coming together in one general universe.

That said, with fanfiction, it normally gets annoying when fics start building up and getting too big. It's honestly confusing. Focus on one main character. Let him interact with everyone else. There need not be a million side characters. Maybe brief mentions of many, but don't let it get out of control.

 

All (or at least most) of these problems can be solved by introducing one simple rule:

1. Whatever came earlier is the definitive version.

Q: Which Atlantis we should use?
A: The one that came first.

Q: Which Superman?
A: The first one.

You get the idea.

Also, by having the characters debut in the world at the time they first showed up in our world, you remove the problem of them never aging. Example: The Punisher first debuted in 1974, by 2019 he'd be either an old man or dead. The Batman would definitely be dead, having debuted in 1939.

EDIT: As for the supertech influencing the world, I'd have it a mix. After all, some people like to share and some don't.

 

Continuing the SI Superman fics. The finale could be about his transformation from an egoistic dude into a true superhero when it's up to him to defeat Doomsday. He's perfectly aware that the Man of Steel is the only person capable of that and the price he's going to pay for that victory, yet despite his fears and doubts he fights the monster. The ending could be that he probably will return like Superman did in the comics, but since his transformation would be complete, there wouldn't be much point do a sequel.

Now for something completely new.


A generic self-insert into DC Comics with elements of Gamer.

After waking up in the superhero universe the SI does what probably is one of the better choices in this situation. He contacts the Justice League and pretty much tells them everything. Since he initially ended up in Gotham and Batman was first to meet him, the Dark Knight decides to take care of him. That he has much more time to interrogate him about everything is just a bonus, really.

The SI quickly discovers his Gamer powers and decides to become a superhero. As the Player he joins one of the teams.

With help from his powers, he learns and improves and the information he has makes him a very valuable member of any team and allows to avoid a crisis or two. Though it's weird at first since many of people he interact with were just fictional characters to him not that long ago, SI gradually makes friends with many of them. Even Batman becomes his sort of mentor and teacher, and just the last week Supergirl agreed to a date. Everything is as perfect as you could expect from the superhero world that is on a verge of being destroyed every other Friday.

Then SI gets a call that there was a serious incident and Joker is dead. Batman finally killed the clown.

The SI is perfectly aware what will happen next and does his best to stop it, but by the time he gets to Gotham, it's too late. He tries to surprise Batman and take him down before the transformation into the Batman Who Laughs is completed, but gets captured instead.

From that point the BWL forces him to witness as he methodically kills everybody. "Why so serious, Player? Wasn't reading about a suffering of the superheroes your favourite hobby in the past?"

Finally, SI manages to escape with help from the last of surviving superheroes. Before the BWL manages to get him back, he accidentally finds a way to move from the Dark Universe into a normal one using his Gamer powers. To his surprise, it's like instead of travelling between worlds, he travelled in time and everything is exactly as it was when he first arrived. Only this time he's unsure what to do and has trouble meeting anyone.

He wants to help them, but every time he meets them, talks to them, he realizes that despite being exactly like them, they aren't his friends. Friends that the BWL killed while forcing him to watch. And will do it again if SI gets close to anyone before permanently stopping his old mentor. Because he's sure that they will meet again sooner than later.

A general concept is to have the first part of fic be as close to fix-it fics and Mary Sue fics as possible, but without making it completely boring by giving some small challenges for the main character to overcome. His relationship with Batman and others must feel earned, but at the same time, it's kind of like he's playing on easy setting or in a tutorial mode. And that's exactly what's happening. The Dark Universe is really just a tutorial for him to get a feeling of the setting and its rules before being transformed into the "real" world. The SI is not aware of it, but Batman figured it out and until he became the BWL, he sort of accepted that this world was doomed to disappear once it finished its purpose.

The BWL has a different plans though and despite what SI believed, he wasn't just captured to be tortured, but studied too. The next time they will meet, the BWL will be even more dangerous than he expects him to be.

 

Why would you do that? Anyway why would he be aware/think that happen, when it is not something that would happen in a normal DC universe and a Dark Multiverse aberration?

 

Definitely. I probably would even write a warning at the beginning of this fic that bad stuff is going to happen. While I like surprises, I don't like a false advertising. If something is not going to be a feel good fics then it should be stated before someone wastes their time reading it.

Even then I would expect half of the readers to get angry and quit it after getting to that part.

You mean why SI expected Batman to transform into the BWL? Batman killing Joker is not something that should happen at all and once that happened he's preparing for the worst case scenario.

 

A bit late to the party, but here is my take on a DC+Marvel Universe, plus a bunch of world building unrelated to the fusion as well as some random changes due personal taste.

Firstly some cosmic stuff. The Guardians of the Universe would be younger and of far lesser reach than canon. In general, I'm not too fond of universal organizations due how unthinkable the scale is. So they wouldn't be as old as the universe, but would predate pretty much every other local civilization and would preside only over a few large galaxies (plus the surrounding smaller ones). As the Maltusians were studying the Glow (i.e. the Emotional Spectrum) they build the Central Lanterns for the seven colors, aggregating/stabilizing the light on their region of space (maybe there is a limiting mystical/sci-fi border around this area). The Emotional Embodiments would be born as consequence of this aggregation. The first organisms that were particularly attuned to an emotion ended up in the Central Lantern after their death and became that Light's personification/elemental.

The schism of the Maltusians spread the Central Lanterns, most of which would be of unknown location in the present. As a small change, I would have Larfleeze being an Maltusian driven mad by the Orange Light instead of a random thief. Not sure how to fit in Krona, as he is related to too many universal scale shenanigans (also, don't know/care much about the character to be honest). I'm entertaining the thought of having Thanos take his place as the evil Maltusian, with his focus being on the Black Light, as to match his canonical obsession/love with Death.

The Celestials on the other hand, since they don't have much direct involvement into politics as the Guardians, can be more powerful and mysterious. Their range of operations are greater than the Guardians (by an unknown amount), but they are mostly non interventionist, only seeking knowledge, with their experiments being the explanation for many strange beings and structures' existence. As for all the different races and empires of the cosmos, I'm honestly not very knowledgeable about them. Plenty of space for every critter from both franchises even in my reduced space. The Green Lantern Corps would probably diminish the aggressive expansionism of many a Empire. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Reach and the Shi'ar would be the big boys around, with them and the GLC settling on a three way Cold War of sorts. As for Galactus, I think he would serve best as a Event Crossover kind of dude, an enormous threat from outside this galactic cluster.

Matching the characters to a time-line it's not my cup of tea. It's neat from an world building perspective, as it's spread the millions of characters, but I like the guys I like to be peers and be able to interact more easily. I would have Captain America being the "first" superhuman, discounting all those myths, magical charlatans and grainy photos of mutants, of course. His powers (MCU style superhuman) would come from the super soldier formula plus the vita rays. The latter being science's name for Chi, something present in the humans in this setting (and fairly scientific in nature), explaining how the "normal" heroes are definitely super-humans by our standards. Also tying together Iron Fist and all the martial artist from both universes.

Shortly into his adventures in the war, Cap is joined by a young Wonder Woman, because it's just to easy to fuse the two blond Steves (may or may not include a romance between the two). Might have his shield's origin come from WW, since that damn Frisbee doesn't obey physics at all may as well make it magical. Diana replaces Steve original shield with the legendary Aegis after his old one gets irreparably damaged. The Nazis might have Captain Nazi (the powered personification of Nazi Germany) on their side to even things out. No Spear of Destiny though, never like the damn overly convenient thing. Steve "dies", Diana goes back to her island and the remaining of the 20th century pass with only few superhumans appearing, mostly super-soldier experiments and early mutants. The intention is for Superman to be mark the start of the superhuman boom.

When I first started to think about this I was having doubts on how to include the X-men, they're already badly blended in the regular Marvel universe, never mind adding DC to the mixture. But I quite like what I came up with. Starting of with Apocalypse, instead of having him be a Egyptian mutant with Celestial tech, here he is the New God of Evolution. Yes, Apocalypse of Apokolips. Not sure if I love it or hate it, well, if Hades can be the Lord of Hades. Apocalypse would have been the ruler over the planet before Darkseid, implementing a nice and cosy only the fittest survive Social Darwinism, much like his canon motivation.

Eventually, Darkseid takes control of the Omega Effect and mostly annihilate Apocalypse's body and soul, taking the throne for himself as the fitter ruler. Apocalypse survives due his godly domain giving him incredible adaptability and survivability and escape to a remote personal research facility on Earth. A little before his defeat he had discovered an incomprehensible genetic structure among the primitive inhabitants and now that discovery would become the key for his return to his rightful place. While the arduous recovery of his mangled metaphysique is in process he spreads a technorganic virus made out of his own flesh (let's call this the Legacy Virus) and use it to nurture, study and corrupt the Metagene. Here, the metagene's existence can be due the Celestials experiments or/and the Life Entity presence (who also may be a Phoenix in this crossover).

As the millennia pass he manages to increase the number of metagenes among the population, both infected and not. Maybe each metagene "linage" requires careful study and manipulation over generations to be fully "mutated", so there would be plenty of younger untouched genes. As the full recover of Apocalypse approaches, he activate the metagenes he gained control of and the mutants start to appear in mass (a few appeared before that, like Xavier and Magneto). To differentiate from the other metas, I would have the mutants all have physical transformations of varying degree. More in the same vein as those from My Hero Academia, nothing grotesque/debilitating and often having the physical modifications tie in with the power. The Legacy Virus, due its Apokoliptian origin also gives out a certain subconscious negativity, either by design or nature. This physical and psychic characteristics both reinforce the anti-mutant sentiment (while keeping the other metas out of it by most).

Also connecting with the New Gods we have Thor. If my sources are right, Kirby intended to finish Thor with the Ragnarok and from the ashes the Old the New Gods would be born. Obviously Marvel nixed the idea, who ever heard of a story ending? In my crossover, when Ragnarok happened millennia ago, Odin, having failed to prevent his fate, uses the last of his power to save his sons. Thor, nine paces after slaying Jormungand, disappears into the future. Loki, predicting his father, had bound his spirit to Thor earlier and piggybacks with him. Just as Odin planned. Thor appears on Earth, poisoned, exhausted, Mjolnir cracked, alone. Jane Foster nurses him back to health . Loki, little more than a ghost, goes to Gotham City, where he starts to cause chaos in order to gain some mystical fuel (and for the entertainment).

I would probably have Thor stay away from mainstream super heroics, with most characters nerfed, he would potentially be the most powerful hero. The start of his story would be about him regaining his strength, going to repair Mjolnir by meeting with Wonder Woman (who would be his sister, as both are children of the Elder Goddess Gaea) and having Hephaestus fix it. Then his role would be going on cosmic adventures in search of a way to restore Asgard and its inhabitants, helping out earth with the habitual Great Threat when needed.

I suppose some time-line is unavoidable. A bare bones is that if the story begins in 2000, I would have Batman and Superman both operating for about 10-8 years (the former as a urban legend for several years). Justice League would be one year old. The Mutant Wave started 5-6 years ago, this mass activation of metagenes also made easier for the non-mutant gene carriers to gain their powers. Most powered individuals would apear after this time.

This is getting long, I'll go into some stuff per topic:

Justice League: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Sorry Avengers, your name isn't very heroic. Pretty much default JL, heroic heroes facing the greatest threats. For a starting League I prefer a small roster of power houses (with Batman as an exception for his enormous out of combat utility) so they would be mostly DC. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern (Stewart), Iron Man for certain. I would like some more Marvel heroes, but I'm drawing blanks, maybe Scarlett Witch, though I don't know if I want muties on the League or not. Captain Marvel (Danvers) is good in theory, but I'm not familiar with her background to properly implement her. A psychic is always a good addition, Manhunter or an X-man.

Shield and Avengers: Shield would be a spy/defense agency much like in Marvel (may be International or purely American), though generally more morally dubious. Task Force X is its anti-metahuman team directed by the recently promoted Amanda Waller. Members would include Hawkeye, Black Widow, Deathstroke as well as many military anti-heroes and mercenaries from both universes (that I'm too lazy to name). Captain America is found and taken from his iceberg by SHIELD and joins this team. But as Waller makes increasingly edgier decision, he deserts together with the non asshole members and makes his own team, the Avengers. A more tactical, stealthy and low powered alternative to the JL. Later, some fusion between the two heroic organizations may occur.

Hulk: I think Hulk could easily fit in with the Emotional Spectrum. Bruce Banner starts researching into a certain type of multi-colored radiation. The raw Glow proves to be temperamental, and either due a super-soldier experiment gone wrong or his own metagene, Bruce is changed by it. He becomes the Hulk as the Red Light of Rage latches onto his suppressed anger issues. The only bad part of this, IMO, is that I would have to make Hulk red, which kinda sucks. Similarly, the other Gamma radiatees would retaining their powers but change its source and color. She-Hulk keeps being green as her canon transformation improves her confidence, Abomination is Yellow as he is monstrous I guess, The Leader is Orange because he wants to rule the world or something. As you can see, perfect match.

Flash: Not much to change for him. Definitely power him the fuck down, keep him hyper-sonic, and get rid off all the time travel and speed force shenanigans. He could be used as an interesting contrast between mutants and metahumans by comparing him with Quicksilver. As for their relative strength, I would have Flash faster (at most by 50%), but his speed is more physics breaking than Pietro, so the latter hits harder and causes more destruction in his wake.

Wolverine: Here he would be one of the many sons of Vandal Savage, Earth's First Metahuman (according to Vandal Savage). Initially Logan wouldn't be a mutant but a metahuman. Savage, over his long life became aware of Apocalypse machinations and uses one of his sons as a test subject to learn more about the Legacy Virus. The Weapon X project succeed in mutating Wolverine, giving him a more bestial appearance and a metal skeleton, though the forced process severely damaged his psyche. Only time and a convenient healing factor allowed him to snap from his madness, though a whole new person.

Doctor Strange: Strange's story can remain much the same as canon, except the Ancient One is Nabu. He's about to become a Lord of Order and thus requires a proper sucessor to take his responsibilities as Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. After training Strange he ascends to the plane of Order, leaving his helmet as a link to aid Strange should he requires. Doctor Doom may share origins with Strange as a fellow student, with his personality naturally getting in the way of being the sucessor. Doom would go full magitec (instead of Mad Scientist and Sorcerer poorly stapled together), with Order magic working particularly well with technology. He also serves as a living example that Order and Chaos does not match moral alignment.

Magic and Gods: May as well put magic system here, it's even less canon compliant than the stuff before. Magic has three sources. First is the magician own Soul. This is the base, by itself is mostly psychic stuff, but it's the mean to interact with the other types of magic. High level Soul magic can be more reality warping due the soul possessing a link to the Source (kinda sorta God), but that's not for mortals. It's the reason demons want souls, so they can poke it with a stick and get all the Source juice to empower themselves and their realms.

The second is the energy from the planes connected to Earth, these are 7. The planes of Order and Chaos, the planes of the four classic elements and the plane of life which is subdivided into The Green (plant life), The Red (animal life) and the other scrubs (The Rot may ironically be part of this plane). The energy of these planes bleed into earth, mixing and negating one another creating the neutral and non-reactive Mana, which is what most wizards use. This Mana is pretty safe and can be transformed into many forms, through that takes time (i.e. the spell casting). Taking energy directly from the planes is pretty risky and normally requires some help from the other side.

Which ties into the last source, Deities and Demons. Depending on the wizard's Soul Strength, he can become a bridge for the power of otherworldly beings, and let them do the heavy lifting. Exceptions aside (like the Endless), these guys are created through the Dreams of mortals until they mature enough to become actual beings with their own Realms separate from the Dreaming. Within their Realms they are incredible powerful, but to act in the "real" world they require an invitation of sorts, either by faith, summoning or evocation. There are a multitude of Realms near Earth, for every Pantheon and Demon Lord.

The Elder Gods (e.g. Gaea), Old Gods (e.g. Odin) and New Gods (e.g. Darkseid) differ as they were created by the Presence itself, so they live in the real world so to speak and have no reliance on worship.

And finally, some of the more uncertain bits:

Fantastic Four: Maybe I'll connect them with the aforementioned planes of the classical elements? They were based on these elements and science and magic tend to be pretty blended up in comic universes anyways. I'd definitely nerf Richards super-science, limiting his genius to something like dimensional physics.

Atlantis: Aquaman have the better Atlantis I believe, though I more familiar with it through Young Justice. On the other hand, Namor is a pretty compelling character (though those little wings are dumb). Have him be the leader of another oceanic city state (under the prerogative that Atlantis is first among equal cities)? Maybe he was a previous royal that was mutated by the Legacy Virus and banished due the Apokoliptian bad vibes?

Well, I'm a bit tired. I welcome questions and suggestions, especially after the work this thing was.