DC/Marvel: Superman/Spider-Man and its counterpart Marvel/DC: Spider-Man/Superman are a duo of Crossover comic books between DC Comics and Marvel Comics, commemorating 50 years since Superman and Spider-Man first crossed paths in 1976's Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
Continuing the format established by Marvel/DC: Deadpool/Batman and DC/Marvel: Batman/Deadpool the previous year, each issue contains a main story involving the two heroes, followed by a series of shorter backup stories, this time with a heavier focus on characters that have close ties to our leads.
Superman/Spider-Man
- Superman/Spider-Man: Written by Mark Waid with art by Jorge Jiménez.
- Lois Lane & Mary Jane: Written by Tom King with art by Jim Lee.
- Superboy-Prime & the Amazing Spider-Man: Written by Christopher Priest with art by Daniel Sampere.
- Superboy & Spider-Man 2099: Written and drawn by Sean Murphy.
- Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen & Carnage: Written by Matt Fraction with art by Steve Lieber.
- Jonathan Kent & Ben Parker: Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Rafa Sandoval.
- The Daily Planet & The Daily Bugle: Written by Greg Rucka with art by Nicola Scott.
- Power Girl & The Punisher: Written by Gail Simone with art by Belén Ortega.
Spider-Man/Superman
- Spider-Man/Superman: Written by Brad Meltzer with art by Pepe Larraz.
- Spider-Man Noir & Superman: Written by Dan Slott with art by Marcos Martin.
- Gwen Stacy & Lana Lang: Written by Joe Kelly with art by Humberto Ramos.
- Mysterio vs Superman: Written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank, also featuring the Thing.
- Hobgoblin vs Steel: Written by Louise Simonson with art by Todd Nauck.
- Ghost-Spider & Supergirl: Written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Phil Noto.
- Miles Morales & Superman: Written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Sara Pichelli.
- Symbiotes in Metropolis: Written by Jason Aaron with art by Russell Dauterman, featuring Thor and Wonder Woman.
- An alternate Spider-Man/Superman crossover story, written by Jeph Loeb with art by Jim Cheung.
As with Deadpool/Batman and Batman/Deadpool, two exclusive one-shots were released to both companies’ respective apps, with DC releasing DC/Marvel: Supergirl/Blade and Marvel putting out It's Jeff!/Aquaman.
Tropes
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General
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Compared to the Deadpool/Batman crossover issues, the backup stories of two issues almost entirely pair up two similar characters from each hero's supporting cast, with only four stories breaking the rule: a story where Jimmy Olsen encounters Carnage, a team-up between Power Girl and The Punisher, a remix of War of the Realms that involves Wonder Woman and the Symbiotes, and a battle between Steel and Hobgoblin.
- The Cameo: During several stories, numerous other DC and Marvel heroes and/or villains pop up in the backgrounds, foregrounds, or sidelines doing their things in a panel or two while the main characters are occupied in the main action.
- Merged Reality: All characters act like they have always cohabited the same universe, which is obviously not the case in DC or Marvel continuity.
Superman/Spider-Man
Superman/Spider-Man: Truth, Justice and Great Responsibility
- Adaptational Villainy: While Doctor Octopus has occasionally proven willing to endanger everybody on Earth, most notably in Ends of the Earth, he usually only does so out of desperate circumstances or because he believes his actions will benefit the Earth in the long term. Here, he threatens to slaughter thousands of people in Metropolis by offloading Brainiac's virus just to have the opportunity to finally get away from what he sees as an "ungrateful" planet.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Downplayed. Brainiac pins down Spider-Man and immediately transfers himself to another body rather than make sure the webslinger was dead first, allowing him to break free, shut down the K-radiation band and allow Superman to stop his ship from crashing into Metropolis. Brainiac could've killed Superman and destroyed Metropolis in one fell swoop if he'd bothered to finish Spider-Man off, although by that point he'd already gotten what he wanted by purging himself of the virus so he had no reason to stick around.
- Brought Down to Badass: Downplayed. Superman is greatly weakened by the Kryptonite which Doctor Octopus and Brainiac are using to power their neural net, to the point of being visibly injured by simple fire, but he's still able to keep pace with Spider-Man and fight against the villains.
- Determinator: A commonality both Superman and Spider-Man share. Even on death's door, neither of them refuse to give in and continue fighting to stop Brainiac from destroying Metropolis to the last second.
- Dramatic Irony: Peter (albeit jokingly) justifies that this is his reason for working at the Daily Bugle and putting up with all the abuse JJJ slings his way: he can't resist the irony that the man who hates Spider-Man the most is paying his way through college.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: The unnamed "sentients" of the planet orbiting star A-252 managed to infect Brainiac with a deadly virus before being destroyed, forcing him to rely on Doctor Octopus to save himself.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Discussed when Clark questions why Peter would bother to spend his life taking pictures of himself for Jameson, who turns around and uses them to make him look like a villain. Peter insists that he isn't bothered since he's the only one being hurt by Jameson's propaganda and loves the irony of being paid by the man who despises him most, though he adds that he wouldn't mind working in a city that actually likes him.
- It's All About Me: Both villains have their schemes rooted in their own egos: Brainiac is willing to slaughter thousands of innocent people by offloading the virus infecting him into their minds just to save himself, while Doctor Octopus is willing to help him do it for the chance to get away from the Earth and go to planets that would respect his genius.
- Jerkass Ball: Superman is more impatient than he usually is during this story, which Spider-Man notes as Superman nearly leaves him behind at one point. Clark later explains that he can't understand why Peter puts up with J. Jonah Jameson and his smear campaigns, especially after Perry White didn't underpay Peter like Jameson usually does.
- Karma Houdini: Brainiac ultimately escapes by transmitting his consciousness to another one of his bodies near Betelgeuse, now free of the debilitating virus and able to terrorize the universe unimpeded.
- Logical Weakness: This comes up in both battles against the villains. Doctor Octopus is deadly with his tentacles—and even more so to Superman once they're enhanced by Kryptonite—but he's completely reliant on them, meaning that he easily goes down to a few blows from the weak but still physically superior Superman. On the other hand, Spider-Man has incredible reflexes but he requires space in order to take advantage of this, which Brainiac does around by analyzing the weaknesses of Octavius' lab with his superior intelligence and then collapsing the entire building down on Spider-Man.
- Mundane Utility: Superman flies Spider-Man back and forth from Metropolis to New York, because Peter is too broke to afford a plane ticket.
- Never My Fault: Brainiac denies any responsibility for the mass murder his virus has unleashed, blaming the weak minds of humankind for being unable to sustain the corrupted data.
- No-Respect Guy: Doctor Octopus feels this way about himself, as his scientific genius is constantly overlooked in favor of more reputable scientists like Will Magnus and Bruce Banner. He agrees to help Brainiac specifically for the chance to leave the Earth behind and spread his genius to a more appreciative cosmos.
- Oh, Crap!: Peter and Clark immediately recognize the seriousness of Doctor Octopus' robbery at S.T.A.R. Labs when Dr. Klyburn informs them that their experiments with fast neutrons used Kryptonite as a radiation source.
- Opponent Switch: If unintentionally, Superman and Spider-Man end up switching foes: Superman faces Doctor Octopus armed with Kryptonite tentacles in Brainiac's ship, while Spider-Man comes face-to-face with Brainiac in Ock's lab in Metropolis. Even with the Kryptonite on his side, Superman is able to easily clobber Doc Ock with his superior strength; while in spite of his superior reflexes, Spider-Man is defeated by Brainiac using his intelligence to collapse Doc Ock's lab on top of him.
- Plot Armor: Brainiac's virus quickly incapacitates everyone in Metropolis, but Superman and Spider-Man are able to fight it off enough to get to work saving everyone and stopping the villains.
- Plot Tailored to the Party: Spider-Man and Superman's respective skills both come into play: Spider-Man is able to use his scientific genius to deduce how Doctor Octopus is using a K-Radiation Band to transmit Brainiac's virus, and maintains all of his superpowers even as Superman weakens from the Kryptonite, even using his webbing as a protective shield to cover him. Superman, meanwhile, uses his super-senses to find the villains, and his flight to go into space to deal with Brainiac's ship and stop it from crashing into Metropolis.
- Power Incontinence: Spider-Man runs out of web fluid at the exact moment he needs it most.
- Speaks in Binary: As a side-effect of Brainiac's virus, the people of Metropolis begin speaking and thinking in binary.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Dr. Klyburn and her team at S.T.A.R. Labs unwittingly make themselves a target for Doctor Octopus and Brainiac by using Kryptonite radiation to power their fast neutron technology. Not only does this technology provide the perfect avenue for Brainiac to offload the virus that is killing him, but the radiation band also weakens Superman so that he struggles to deal with the villains.
- Villain Team-Up: Doctor Octopus allies with Brainiac, whose broken remains he'd somehow stumbled-upon sometime before the story's events, with the latter promising Ock his genius will be recognized on a galactic scale in return for helping him get rid of the virus that is destroying him.
- Wetware CPU: Brainiac plans to transfer a virus contracted on planet A-252 to the people of Earth.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While fighting Doctor Octopus, Superman mentions that he once wrote an article about him, calling Otto a brilliant man and the next Einstein before the accident that changed him. Otto is visibly shocked that someone actually remembers that part of his life, and it seems Superman’s words genuinely get through to him. Sure enough, after saving the city, Otto is carted away by the police without putting up any further resistance.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Brainiac leaves Doctor Octopus behind on his ship specifically because he rigged it to crash into Metropolis once he was finished freeing himself of the virus.
Lois Lane & Mary Jane: The World's Finest
- Bus Full of Innocents: Lois and Mary happened to be on a bus full of kids when the Sentinel attacked, but they managed to get them out before things got too dangerous. Naturally, Lois and Mary are the ones who couldn't get away in time, with Spider-Man having to catch the bus with his webs when the bridge collapses underneath it.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: As Mary Jane points out, Spider-Man has a problem with getting involved with everyone else's troubles. She and Lois deduce that the Sentinel attacking them is after someone else, and both Spider-Man and Superman just happen to be caught up in it.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: It's two of comics' most famous superhero girlfriends, of course they're going to treat the danger around them like it's not a big deal.
- Catchphrase: Mary Jane's famous "Face it tiger, you hit the jackpot!" is lampshaded and deconstructed. Having met different variants of herself from across the multiverse, Mary Jane is completely annoyed that all of them have used this expression and that a cool line she made up when she was nineteen is tied to her identity across the multiverse.
- Commonality Connection: Mary Jane and Lois Lane bond over the fact that they are love interests and supporters of superheroes who wear red and blue tights.
- Contrived Coincidence: Lois just happens to have a deck of cards on-hand that she uses to play high bridge with a guard at Stryker's Island in exchange for information, which she hands over to Gambit so he can get to work.
- Death Is Cheap: Lois and Mary make note of this in their conversation.Lois: Ah, but let me ask you this, you ever died?
Mary Jane: What? Like this month? Sure, a couple of times, but not really any big, serious ones. - Fastball Special: Played for Laughs. Superman attempts this by hurling Spider-Man at the Sentinel, but since he doesn't have Wolverine's claws or enough strength to break through the invincible robot, he just bounces off it harmlessly.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Lois and Mary come across a man still on the bridge, hastily searching for a deck of cards and speaking in French. Once Lois presents him with a deck of cards from her purse, he turns around to reveal himself as Gambit, aka the reason why there's a Sentinel to begin with.
- Make Sure He's Dead: Superman and Spider-Man tear the Sentinel apart, and Gambit uses a stack of cards provided by Lois to vaporize its remains so it can't rebuild itself.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Lois Lane & Mary Jane.
- Seen It All: Life threatening perils, giant robots, the multiverse, death—both Lois and Mary Jane have experienced it all and are pretty over it by the time of the story.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The X-Men's very own Gambit causes the entire plot by being present on a bridge, drawing a Sentinel to his location.
- Take That!:
- MJ bemoans how sick she is of her multiversal counterparts always spouting out the same "Face it tiger, you hit the jackpot!" catchphrase, frustrated that a line she said when she nineteen has become integral to her identity in every universe.
- MJ later tells Lois that Spider-Man has a thing about bridges because he's never been able to get over the death of his old college girlfriend.
- Both Lois and MJ scoff at the idea that they could ever walk out of their respective heroes, not-so-subtly dissing One More Day and other stories intended to break both franchises' iconic couples.
Superboy-Prime and the Amazing Spider-Man: Pages
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Literally. Superboy-Prime punches the sky over Manhattan and carries Spider-Man out of the pages of the comic.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: Superboy-Prime has been trapped by the High Evolutionary for a year, and almost sells out Spider-Man to free himself. He still makes sure that Spider-Man can escape, even though he could have flown away in that moment, and nearly gets trapped again, but Spider-Man saves him right back.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: Superboy-Prime, as always, is a version of the character from our world, where the heroes of DC Comics are just that — comic book superheroes. This story reveals that he also reads (and is a fan of) Marvel's comics, having seen the Symbiote's first appearance in Secret Wars (1984) and noting that he'd arrived "a couple issues late" to actually team up with Symbiote-suit Spidey.
- I'm Not a Hero, I'm...: Spider-Man comments that wanting to be a superhero is like wanting to be a firefighter: riding the truck is cool, but fire is scary. Both he and Superboy-Prime decide that they're just boys who wanted to ride the truck.
- Naked First Impression: Peter walks into his apartment to find Superboy Prime in his underwear, talking to the black suit as if it's a person.
Superboy & Spider-Man 2099: Beyond the Cobwebs of Tomorrow
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The story takes place during 2039, where Terry learns that Miguel came back from 2099 to stop a merger of LexCorp and Alchemax that led to Doom ruling the world, while Superboy is from the 30th century because Luthor had become a Mechanical Abomination by that time. All three team up and head to the Source Wall to find what's become of Luthor in that time.
- So Much for Stealth: Terry and Bruce are spying on Miguel and Superboy until Miguel swings right into the cloaked Batwing. Bruce tells Terry not to say anything, but Superboy's super-hearing picks up his voice over the comms, recognizing him as Bruce.
- What Are Records?: Terry has no idea what a grappling hook is (remember, his Batsuit has rocket boots and a glider built in), even though it's a staple of Batman mythos.
Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen & Carnage: Jimmy Con Carnage
- Accidental Misnaming: Before they part ways at the Bugle, Jimmy calls Peter "Peter Piper".
- Adaptational Jerkass: Played with. How low Jameson is willing to stoop to make Spider-Man look like a menace varies from adaptation to adaptation, and even in the main universe he's committed some outright villainous deeds. But usually he wouldn't be willing to exploit the death of one of his own employees as part of a Frame-Up scheme. Though he does at least insist he'll make sure Jimmy is remembered as a hero... for proving him right.
- Anachronism Stew: While set in a Deconstruction of both DC and Marvel's Silver Age, a thing like firmware updating came much later with mass wireless systems, plus Carnage's debut wasn't until 1992.
- Big Ball of Violence: Carnage initially roughs up Jimmy in a cloud of dust.
- Brick Joke: Peter tells Jimmy to pronounce "Spider-Man" with a hyphen or else people will think he's a tourist. Shortly after, when he mistakes Carnage for "Spiderman", Cletus picks up on the lack of hyphen and insults him for being a tourist.
- The Cameo: Phil Sheldon is present and asleep when Jameson hires Peter and Jimmy, and then again the next day during the fallout, asleep again.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: Smart watch, in this case. Jimmy finds out too late that his Signal Watch is undergoing a firmware update before he can summon Superman to save him from Carnage.
- Deconstruction Crossover: Turns out being a Weirdness Magnet like Jimmy is much, much more dangerous in a town/series where the villains are more sadistic, supporting characters are more frequently killed off, and Superman isn’t around to keep an eye out.
- Downer Ending: Jimmy is killed by Carnage, with his pictures of his assailant used to permanently destroy Spider-Man's good name.
- Expy: The narrative captions poke fun at J. Jonah Jameson's similarity to Perry White, describing him as "arguably quite similar, archetypally, to [Jimmy's] old boss but not legally actionable".
- Failed a Spot Check: Jimmy doesn't notice the remains of a corpse, including a visible severed foot, as he runs into the alleyway.
- Karma Houdini: Carnage murders multiple people, including Jimmy, and gets away scot free. And to top it off, Jameson ensures that Spider-Man will take the heat for his murders using Jimmy's last photo as "proof" of his crimes.
- A Lady on Each Arm: Peter walks off with Mary Jane and Felicia, leaving Jimmy to his own devices.
- Lemony Narrator: As a story that take plenty of cues from the Silver Age of DC, the narrative captions ham it up tremendously.
- Mood Dissonance: The ending sees Jameson proudly lauding Jimmy for proving him right about "Spider-Man", all the while Peter is beside himself with grief for (accidentally) leaving the poor guy to get killed.
- Title Drop: In keeping with the Silver Age-inspired nature of the story, this happens on the first page.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Whereas every other comic in Superman/Spider-Man is either a comedic romp or focuses on superhero action, this one sees Jimmy Olsen get quickly murdered by a serial killer supervillain, and Jameson taking advantage of his death to frame Spider-Man for murder.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Peter leaves Jimmy to his own devices to find Spider-Man, which ultimately gets him killed by Carnage.
Jonathan Kent & Ben Parker: The Bridge
- Heroic Lineage: Jonathan and Ben, the men who raised Superman and Spider-Man, work together to save some children before a tornado tears through the bridge they're on.
- Nurture over Nature: Clark and Peter bond over being raised by a man who wasn't their respective father, who taught them right from wrong.
The Daily Planet & The Daily Bugle: Bias
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Jameson gives his argument for why he hates heroes that wear masks, Lois points out that his way of thinking involves judging people based on how they look instead of their characters. Jack Ryder cuts her off before the accusation can go any further.
- Doesn't Trust Those Guys: Lois quickly figures out that Jameson doesn't trust people in masks. Jameson freely admits it's true, and adds that it's not limited to Spider-Man; he doesn't trust Batman either.
- Dramatic Irony: Jameson praises Superman as one of the real heroes with nothing to hide, which Spider-Man quietly notes is ironic since the general public doesn't know Superman has a Secret Identity.
- Pass the Popcorn: Spider-Man is having a ball watching Lois and Jameson's debate live from the studio rigging.
Power Girl & The Punisher: Blind Date
- Covert Pervert: After Karen makes a crack about his Chest Insignia, Frank comments that it would be a shame if she had one.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Five Badass Normal supervillains (and Gentleman Ghost) versus Power Girl and the Punisher. It ends as quickly as you would expect.
- Everyone Has Standards: As much as she finds Paul aggravating and his hairdo silly, Power Girl refuses to let any harm come to him.
- Evil Versus Evil: Subverted. The villains in the club think that they're going after Vandal Savage, but in reality their target is just Paul.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Hearing that the Punisher's motive for hunting down criminals is that he lost his family, Power Girl retorts that she lost her entire planet and still doesn't go around killing people.
- Hated by All: Paul doesn't get any respect from anyone in the story—Power Girl concludes that he's an annoying loser, Punisher bosses him around and to top it off, six supervillains try to murder him after mistaking him for Vandal Savage.
- Mistaken Identity: For whatever reason, the supervillains in the club have received intel that Paul Rabin is actually Vandal Savage and try to take him out to claim the bounty on his head.Catman: I swear I thought he was a lot bigger.
- Mythology Gag:
- The club Punisher and Power Girl wind up at is exclusive to supervillains and is so secret it doesn't even have a name, likely as a nod to the Bar With No Name.
- Catman is the only one to recognize that "Vandal Savage" should be a lot bigger. That's because he's the only villain in the room who's actually met Savage, in the pages of Secret Six.
- Production Throwback: As a throwback to Gail Simone's previous work, Catman is one of the six supervillains looking to claim the bounty on Vandal Savage.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Paul ditches the date after the fighting starts. According to Karen, he decided that trying to win Mary Jane back was less hazardous.
- The Smurfette Principle: Power Girl is the only featured female character. And on the villains' side, Diamondback is the only woman.
- Take That!: Who's Power Girl's blind date? None other than everyone's favorite Spider-Man supporting character, Paul!Paul: Don't worry, nobody likes me at first. I don't know why, I swear, I'm a nice guy!
Power Girl: ...Where's that waiter with the wine list? - This Is Gonna Suck: The minute Power Girl spots Paul's ponytail, she knows that their blind date is going to go down in flames.
- To Be Continued: The story ends with Frank and Karen heading off to another adventure overseas. Or maybe just a proper date.
- Villain Team-Up: Chameleon, Catman, Killer Moth, Diamondback, Taskmaster and Gentleman Ghost join forces to claim the bounty on Paul, aka "Vandal Savage".
Spider-Man/Superman
Spider-Man/Superman: Our Kryptonite
- Batman Gambit: The villains weaken Superman with Kryptonite so they can infect him with the Venom Symbiote and set him loose on Spidey.
- Brick Joke: Peter worries about Aunt May and Ma Kent not getting along, to which Clark suggests setting them up to fight. Later in the evening, May and Martha are seen arm wrestling while Clark, Peter, and Jonathan egg them on.
- The Cameo: Quite a few of both hero's rogues showed up to watch the Venom Superman attack Spider-Man, including Doomsday, Doctor Octopus, Braniac, Electro, Parasite, Kraven, Deathstroke, Taskmaster, and Rhino.
- Fighting from the Inside: As soon as Spider-Man removes the Kryptonite Pumpkin Bomb, Superman overpowers the Venom symbiote with heat vision and sheer strength and throws it off with a Shockwave Clap.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: Upon realizing that Superman is using X-ray vision on him, Spider-Man covers his crotch with his hands.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Venom is dealt with, Superman and Spider-Man attack their various rogues, with only Lex and Norman staying behind while the rest choose to flee.
- Villain Team-Up: This story sees Lex Luthor and Norman Osborn team up to take on Superman and Spider-Man.
Spider-Man Noir & Superman: Metropolis Marvels
- Composite Character: Lex Luthor is the Kingpin of Crime.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Jameson is upset the next day, not because of the framing, but because the Daily Planet got his story on the front page instead of the Daily Bugle.Jameson: You should've let them fry me!
- Hired on the Spot: Jameson tries this with Clark, offering to pay him "almost half as much" as what the Daily Planet currently pays him. Clark understandably doesn't take the job.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To the first appearance of Superman, in which he had to save an innocent man from the chair.
Gwen Stacy & Lana Lang: Sweethearts
- The City vs. the Country: Gwen is the City Mouse and Lana is the Country Mouse. When they compare notes, they both agree that the people are the same, the city just says the quiet part out loud.
- Commonality Connection: Gwen and Lana start comparing their respective boys, noticing how they're both in love with a man who appears to be an open book at first glance but always seems to have an invisible burden, constantly excuses himself from dates (poorly), and has another, more aggressive woman pursuing him.
- Covered in Gunge: Clark arrives covered in sand, while Peter arrives soaking wet.
- Dramatic Irony: Gwen and Lana end their exposition about the boys by simultaneously saying "I think I'm gonna marry that guy." Anyone who knows how their respective love stories go knows it won't happen; Lana and Clark end up as Just Friends, while Gwen and Peter's romance gets cut short by her death.
- Food Slap: Two dudebros see Gwen and Lana getting into a debate and start hooting about a "feminist cat fight". Two panels later, one of them is covered in Lana's soda while the girls coolly walk away.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Superman versus Sandman and Spider-Man versus Metallo, which each get one panel of focus as the girls talk about their boys.
Mysterio vs. Superman: Identity War
- Aside Glance: When the narration explains how Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) fought off the influence of a Red Power Ring once, Hal turns to the reader and informs them it was twice, actually.
- A Day in the Limelight: The point-of-view character is Ben Grimm, who narrates the lead-up to the current crisis and how it gets resolved.
- Hate Plague: Mysterio and Saturn Queen infect the Hulk with a Red Lantern's light, which projects off of him and onto everyone else in the world, causing heroes, villains, and civilians to fight at the slightest slight.
- The Immune: Superman, Stargirl, Captain America, She-Hulk, Green Lantern, and the Thing are all immune to the Hate Plague for varying reasons, allowing them to defuse the conflict.
- Let's You and Him Fight: The main conflict (or rather various conflicts) of the story, where various DC and Marvel Heroes are battling each other in a rage.
- No-Sell: Superboy is seen slugging the Blob in the gut, to no avail.
- Noodle Incident: Captain America had a team-up with Pat Dugan during the war.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Apparently, aside from the Squadron Supreme versus the Justice League, there was the Power Pack vs. Titans and X-Force in Gotham.
- Talking the Monster to Death: How Superman manages to break Hulk out of the Red Lantern/Mind Control.
- Villain Team-Up: Mysterio works with the Future Legion villainess Saturn Queen into making the heroes not only fight each other, but the other villains to finish them off.
Hobgoblin vs. Steel: Ghosting
- See the Invisible: While a coating of steel dust hides Hobgoblin from eyesight and technologic tracking, Mjolnir is magical, and homes in on him even while he's invisible.
- Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: Hobgoblin steals John Henry Irons' steel dust in an attempt to upgrade his equipment. John Henry takes the opportunity to test out how steel dust works and how it can be countered.
Ghost-Spider & Supergirl: Remarkable
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Most of the dialogue between the two revolves around tossing jabs and snark at each other.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Neither Supergirl of Ghost-Spider is particularly impressed with encountering one of the many heroes derived from Superman and Spider-Man, even as they take down Livewire together.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Despite their first meeting being a rocky start, Ghost-spider actually respects Supergirl, especially Supergirl left a autograph for her during the end of the story.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man & Superman: The One Thing...
- Villain Team-Up: Brainiac and Dormammu team up to bring forth a dark dimension apocalypse.
- Why Am I Ticking?: Miles finds Superman with a glowing magical blob that simulates kryptonite stuck to his chest. As soon as Miles webs it off and slingshots it away, it explodes.
Symbiotes in Metropolis: The Wondrous and the Worthy
- And I Must Scream: Odin is mentioned as having been trapped in the Source Wall, allowing Darkseid to lay waste to Asgard.
- The Bet: The Justice League had a bet on who the new Thor was. Superman was convinced that she was Lois Lane, while Wonder Woman believed she was Donna Troy.
- Fusion Fic: A retelling of War of the Realms, with DC characters added.
- Take That, Critics!: Diana snarks that Batman kept grousing about the new Thor having the old Thor's name, which was one of the louder criticisms of Jane Foster as Thor.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jane isn't comfortable being Thor at this point, even trying to give up the hammer to Diana mid-battle. Wonder Woman says otherwise, telling her that Mjolnir is right where it belongs.
Spider-Man & Superman: One of Those Days
- Misery Poker: Discussed; Superman tells Spider-Man that there's no gold medal for "Best Grief".