Once upon a time, the heroes of the DC and Marvel universes teaming up wasn’t too uncommon a thing. From Spider-Man and Superman to Batman and Devil, or to the wild world of ‘90s comics in the Amalgam universe—where DC and Marvel heroes literally got mashed together—the two “rivals” of the comics industry have a long history of collaboration. One that, until now, has been very hard to come by officially.
This morning, DC and Marvel made a joint announcement to confirm that, for the first time in decades, all of the publisher’s joint crossover comics will be collected and released in two new omnibus hardcovers, giving readers official access to stories that have long been out of print for various reasons. Both releasing this summer, DC Versus Marvel and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age will collect dozens of comics from across decades of collaborations. The seemingly unprecedented team-up comes a few years after DC and Marvel finally got over legal disputes and helped re-publish a limited run of the JLA/Avengers crossover book in 2002, in tribute to the legendary comics creative George Pérez, who passed away just months after its re-release.
DC Versus Marvel will include stories of heroes and villains from across both universes teaming up and showing down, all the way from 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man to the 2000 Batman/Daredevil. Meanwhile, The Amalgam Age will collect all 24 one-shots created in the mid-‘90s for the Amalgam Universe, an entirely new realm—complete with a faux, storied comics publisher, Amalgam Comics—that took Marvel and DC heroes and mushed them together into brand-new creations, like Superman and Captain America as Super-Soldier, Doctor Strange and Doctor Fate as Doctor Strangefate, and many, many more.
For a lot of people, this will mark the first time that these stories have been made easily, legally accessible in a generation since they were first published—and an important look back at a shared history between the two icons of superhero comics. DC Versus Marvel and DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age will both release on August 6, 2024.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
