Silver Age Super Stars Switch

[johnreiter902]

This is an idea which is based on my Golden Gage Super Stars Switch. This time, I want to switch Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman of Earth-1 with the most popular hero franchises of Marvel's silver age, the Fantastic Four, the Original X-Men, and Spider-Man.

Just as before, their families now exist in the other universe, as well as Paradise Island and the planet Krypton.

Because of the fluidity of the silver age chronology, I and synchronizing the timelines by the first appearances of Superman and the Fantastic Four. On Earth-1, the Fantastic Four will have the space flight in May of 1970, and then settle in Metropolis. Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man 7 months later in Gotham City, and Charles Xavier begin recruiting the X-Men that same month, starting with Cyclops.  On Earth 616, Superman will first appear in New York City in August of 1961. Batman debuts 5 months later (year two of the marvel compressed timeline), and Wonder Woman debuts a year after that.

[DocQuantum]

I don’t believe WW was more popular than the Flash in the Silver Age. Even Batman wasn’t too popular at the time until he got his new look and then the TV series, but he could still work. Maybe WW should be replaced by Barry, though.

[DocQuantum]

Sorry misread your OP. I realize you didn’t say these were the most popular DC heroes of the Silver Age.

[johnreiter902]

Here are some of my initial thoughts, just on the absence and presence of these heroes before their first appearances. i focused only on the ones whose absence will, I think, have a noticeable impact.

REED RICHARDS

No Nathaniel Richards on Earth-616 means that neither Kristoff Vernard nor Kang the Conqueror will be born. This also means that En Sabah Nur will never become a mutant, or form any of the Horsemen of Apocalypses. Nathaniel Essex will still be a mad scientist in the late 19th century, but probably die long before the age of heroes. The major time traveling villains will be Zarrko the Tomorrow Man and Alioth. The Human Torch and other Horton-type androids will also not exist. When Gormuu invades Earth, it will likely be Superboy who defeats him.

Meanwhile, on Earth-1, Nathaniel Richards will still build his time machine, which will still strand him in the future. For plot reasons, he will probably be stranded in the world of Kammandi, and will help rebuild civilization there. Reed Richards may help deal with one or two of the threats Superboy would have dealt with.

SCOTT SUMMERS

On Earth-616, the Shi'ar scout ship will have an uneventful voyage. The Starjammers will not be formed. Jack Winters will be captured by a different superhero.

On Earth-1, Major Summers' plane will be destroyed by different aliens (possibly one of the species that tried to invade earth and were stopped by Superboy) and Scott and Alex will bail out while their parents are abducted. Scott will likely grow up with his brother, and not fall into crime even temporarily. Christopher Summers will still probably escape in time.

CHARLES XAVIER

The Ruby of Cyttorak remains undiscovered. Moira Kinross meets Logan while in college, when he comes looking for help against an evil mutant. The two become partners, and end up traveling the world to recruit young mutant to become the M-Men. In the absence of the original X-Men, they recruit many of the mutant Charles ignored, such as Nightcrawler, Colossus, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Thunderbird. Legion is never born. Magneto kills Baron Strucker in the 1950s, and Hydra factions early. The Quist invasion is stopped by Superboy. The Shadow King operates for longer before being discovered, enslaving young Ororo Munroe. Eventual, Robin (Bruce Wayne) passes through Cairo in the final year of his training to become Batman. He battles the Shadow King, and manages to free Ororo from his control. instantly going mad from the things she has experienced, Ororo calls down the full fury of a hurricane on the building, killing both herself and the Shaodw King. Bruce survives, and it confirms his dedication to spend his life battling evil.

Meanwhile, on Earth-1, Caine Marko becomes a non-superpowered mercenary. Charles Xavier still becomes a globe-trotting adventurer after college, battling many of the threats Superboy would have stopped. His legs are crippled stopping a different alien invasion (possible the warlords of Wexr II, who never formed the Superboy Revenge Squad in this reality).

SUPERMAN

Superboy will still make a name for himself as a teenage hero in midwestern America, from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. There will be plenty of monsters, aliens, and other threats described in marvel's horror magazines for him to cut his teeth on. Superboy will spend most of his time in the present day, since there is no Legion of Super-Heroes for him to join.

On Earth-1, without Superboy, Smallville will not be nearly as nice of a place to live. However, other heroes will step in to fill the void. Lana Lang will definitely become a superhero, given all the alien devices and magical relics her father finds int eh Superboy stories. I like the idea of her remaining active as Gravity Girl. Also, as we saw in the Pocket Universe, without Superboy Lex Luthor will likely become a superhero. I like the idea of him calling himself Amazing Boy (based on the issue were the adult Luthor pretended to be a hero called Amazing Man).

[johnreiter902]

I imagine that Superman will mostly fight the Fantastic Four's foes, and Batman will mostly fight Spider-Man's, though with some exceptions, and some overlap. Living in the same city, Superman and Batman will likely begin teaming up much earlier. Superman will work at the Daily Bugle, but I don't know who his love interest would be. Betty Brant is too young, and Alice Masters is not his type.

Superman will probably be the one who saves John Jameson. If JJJ is foolish enough to start a feud with Superman over this, I don't think it will last long. Superman is far more charismatic than Spider-Man. Because Superman will stop the Skrull invasion, the Super-Skrull will have the powers of Superman, not the Fantastic Four. Since Reed Richards isn't there to invent the Negative Zone Projector, the Negative Zone will not be discovered for many more years, until Janus the Negative Man stumbles onto it.

Batman may end up developing the same strong relationship with Captain Stacy that he had with Commissioner Gordon. At the time when Batman would be looking to recruit a partner, he would meet Hobby Brown, who would otherwise have become the Prowler. I think Hobby will become the Robin of this reality (I though about Rick Jones, but the chronologies just didn't work out). I might be stretching it, but I wonder if Gwen Stacy would become Batgirl?

[johnreiter902]

Reed Richards will still build the Negative Zone Projector, which will lead the Fantastic four to battle the Weaponers of Qward over a year before they would have fought Green Lantern.

I have no idea who the X-Men will mostly fight, since there are fewer mutant on Earth-1. Mostly, they will probably fight non-mutant threats, and since most of the world's mutant are X-Men, they will be a lot more popular.

Peter Parker will work for the Gotham Gazette. He'll get much better press, and he looks and sounds even friendlier than Batman, so I imagine he will also be a much more popular hero on Earth-1. However, I don't think he will have as good a relationship with Commissioner Gordon as Batman had. Like Captain Stacy, Gordon will view Spider-Man as "a good hearted young man, who really ought to leave police work to the professionals." There will be no Spider-Signal on Police Headquarters. Dick Grayson will still become a superhero on his own, but He'll have to teach himself, so his career will begin later, as a young adult. He will probably be a friend/rival to Spider-Man. I wouldn't be surprised is Barbara Gordon becomes Peter's love interest. She is more likely to meet him than Dick in this reality, and she is definitely his type.

[johnreiter902]

talking of the formation of major teams. . .

On Earth-616, the Avengers will still form when Loki manipulates them into fighting the Hulk. With no Fantastic Four, the Teen Brigade will send out an all points bulletin for heroes. This will bring Thor, Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. Together with the Hulk, when Loki is defeated, these seven will form the Avengers. The Hulk will still probably leave soon after. His personality is not well suited to being a team-player. Captain America will join soon after, and I expect he will become good friends with Superman and Batman. When the original Avengers disbanded in the main timeline, Iron Man left for health reasons, and Giant-Man and the Wasp retired to get married. Thor didn't want to leave, but did so when he realized all his friends were leaving. In this timeline, because Superman and Batman are not leaving, Thor stays as well as Captain America. Hawkeye will probably still join, so instead of the Kooky Quartet, we will have a Cosmic Quintet. It will most likely be the Avengers, in the absence of the Fantastic Four, who are called up to fight Galactus.

On Earth-1. The Justice League will still form to stop the Appelaxian invasion. Spider-Man will stop the Mercury Blob (which will attack Gotham, for plot reasons). Amazing Man (Lex Luthor) will stop the Diamond Man in Antarctica. Amazing Man will probably become the leader of the Justice League. He has seniority (having bin active as a hero for years, including his time as Amazing Boy in Smallville) and he is a natural leader. Spider-Man would be considered an elder statesman as well among the heroes, since he has been active publicly for 4 years, longer than almost any of them except for Luthor. However, he is not a natural leader,and is also the youngest in age. Martian Manhunter has been active much longer than anyone, including Luthor, but only went public a few months earlier. Green Lantern is also a natural leader, but has the least experience, having begun his career one month earlier. Green Arrow and the Atom will still join the League over time. When Hawkman joins, I think Hawkwoman will join at the same time. I suspect Superman was the origin of the rule against duplicate powers the League had originally. It sound suspiciously similar to the rules for the Legion of Super-Heroes. No superman means no rule against duplicate powers, so Shayara will join at the same time as her husband and bring the membership up to 10.