The End of a Universe

We’ve looked at a few weird comic crossovers in the past. Superman/Aliens, Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Inherently each of these crossovers share a common thread (despite them all being written by different writers and being set in different worlds): there’s a goofiness to their concepts that simply can’t be shaken. The best of them lean into their weird concepts, reveling in how bizarre and weird the idea of mashing up BatmanOne of the longest running, consistently in-print superheroes ever (matched only by Superman and Wonder Woman), Batman has been a force in entertainment for nearly as long as there's been an entertainment industry. It only makes sense, then that he is also the most regularly adapted, and consistently successful, superhero to grace the Silver Screen. and the Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesOriginally dreamed up as a parody of Marvel's Daredevil comics (going so far as to basically reproduce to opening shots of that comic's hero gaining his powers), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles not only launched a sudden boom of anthropomorphic fighting animal comics but have, themselves, starred in multiple comics series, TV shows, and movies. can be. If you’re going to do a crossover like this, you really have to lean into it.

At least, I thought that was the case. And then I read Aliens vs. Avengers and I realized that, if written the right way, a concept could be taken to its natural conclusion and treat the subject matter seriously. Sure, the idea of putting xenomorphs up against superheroes can be silly (see also: Superman and Batman Versus Aliens and Predator), but these are characters that, on their own, can be quite serious. The heroes of the Marvel universe have been through a lot, seen a lot of drama, and then slapping them up against dangerous killers from another universe would logically make for a dramatic work.

That’s exactly what the creative team of Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic, Ive Svorcina, and Cory Petit gave us in Aliens vs. Avengers. Set in the future of the Marvel universe, the comic series looks at what would seriously happen if xenomorphs suddenly started arriving on every populated planet in colonized space. Would the heroes win or would the xenomorphs do what they do best, kill everything in sight? It’s a tense, tightly plotted, and very strong set of four issues that gives us a dark glimpse into what could happen if both of these mashed-up universes truly met each other.

Aliens vs. Avengers acts as a kind of natural conclusion for both universes. As we learn, the Davids, the androids that discovered the goop that could lead to xenomorphs, have spent a long time perfecting their creations, customizing them into the killers we all know. With their perfectly engineered specimens ready, they unleashed their creations fully into the universe, using them to create a new perfection, that of a dead universe with no other sentient life alive. That suits their purposes until, one day thousands of years later, they discover a portal into the multiverse. There’s more life out there, in other universes, and the Davids want to eradicate all life there as well.

The universe they drop into is the Marvel universe (closely designed on Earth 616, although I’m sure Marvel would say this is some parallel future world). It’s the future of the Marvel universe as well, thirty-ish years from the current continuity, with all the heroes we know either in their middle age or even older. It feels like the proper time for them to hand off their great works, to let the next age of heroes rise up… except then the xenomorphs show up. These perfect killers quickly rip through whole worlds, killing the populations on every colony world, every safe haven, everywhere. That puts the heroes up against the wall. Can they save what’s left of humanity before the xenomorphs (and those aligned with them) manage to kill off the very last threads of life left in their universe?

There is no denying it, Aliens vs. Avengers is bleak. It starts off darkly enough, with the spacefaring Wakandans finding a derelict xenomorph ship, but not in time to stop the ship from shooting out its payload of xenomorph eggs across the galaxy. That is a common theme for the story, with the heroes making big moves at each point only to discover that they’re just too late, that something has happened that foils their plans yet again. It’s like the universe is out to get them, pushing them farther than they’ve ever been pushed before, with every last hope dashed before their eyes.

Honestly, the darkness does suit the story. We’ve seen plenty of crossovers where the aliens effectively are treated like a goofy concept, a threat that feels less dangerous than it should. I think that’s in large part because the creatures were crossed over with the DC universe, which is inherently more bright and shiny than the Marvel universe. Marvel, by comparison, has had plenty of truly dark stories that have shaped and formed their universe, stories like Days of Future Past, Dark Phoenix, and Age of Apocalypse. Each of those added to the idea that Marvel are the more mature storytellers (at least for the fans of that universe). Putting the aliens into this universe, then, would lead to darker stories in general.

I would question, though, if that makes it better. I won’t deny I’m not a Marvel fan; I like my DC more, even if I do read Marvel comics as well. While I respect and appreciate that this comic takes its tale seriously, I do miss just a little of the goofiness of the other xenomorph crossovers we’ve gotten. Those ones were fun, cheesy at times sure, but there was an inherent glee to them with the superheroes dealing with these engineered killers. By taking the story dead seriously we do get a very dramatic tale, but it lacks any of the fun.

These are over-the-top heroes, larger than life and with awesome powers. To play it deadly serious is certainly a choice that I know plenty will like, but these are guys that should, at their core, also have a little bit of fun to them. Superheroes are escapist fantasy, presented with powers and abilities no real person will ever have. Watching them get taken out by the xenomorphs might be realistic, sure, but it does kill that escapist fantasy. It lacks the punchy fun you want from superheroes, and I think that takes away a little from the story.

Also, honestly, at a certain point all the death and chaos gets a little tiring. The point of horror is to put the main characters through hell so they come out the other side strong, with a renewed hope for their future. Aliens vs. Avengers doesn’t have that. It’s more Alien 3 than Aliens, bleakly looking ahead with bleary eyes, realizing that the end is in sight and there’s basically no hope for the future. It’s functionally a conclusion for both the Aliens universe and Marvel’s superheroes, and while interesting for a time I don’t think it is enough to sustain the story through to its conclusion. There really is no hope here, and that makes the story less vital than it could be.

I do appreciate what Aliens vs. Avengers is going for, looking to push both universes to their natural conclusion. But unlike other crossovers we’ve seen, or even other Marvel mashups like Marvel Zombies (the comics, not the television series), there’s a spark of fun that’s missing. I don’t mind a bleak story where there’s fun, or hope, waiting for us at the end. But Aliens vs. Avengers goes grim-dark and never lets up and, in the end, I feel like it’s weaker for it.