Panel Biter Podcasts

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Amalgems (Combining Marvel & DC Characters)

Marvel Comic's "Infinity Warps" event will see the amalgamation of several Marvel characters into new identities like Scarlet Witch and X-23 becoming Weapon Hex and Black Panther and Ghost Rider becoming Ghost Panther. But before Marvel started shoving their own heroes together, Marvel played ball with DC Comics back in the 1990's to create the short-lived Amalgam Comics. Featuring Captain America plus Superman creating Super-Soldier and Batman plus Wolverine creating Darkclaw. I've seen a lot of online comic book fans pitch their amalgamated characters, so I thought it would be fun to throw my hat into the ring! Here are five Marvel and DC characters I think should be combined!

The Martian (J'ohn Ban'ner/John Banner)
The Hulk + Martian Manhunter
They're both green. Nah, I always thought this would be a fun combination because when you really think about The Hulk, he's a character with two sets of skills. As Bruce Banner he is an intelligent scientist and experienced survivor. As The Hulk he is a world-breaking embodiment of rage. Martian Manhunter can be summed up in two categories too. One half of his powers are passive and mental and used to fight without fighting. The other half of his powers rival him to Superman and allow him to take the form of whatever giant monster he wants. So what if you took Martian Manhunter's origin of being sent to Earth after the death of the Martian race and established he took the identity of an Earth scientist. However, due to the trauma of his people being killed John Banner accidentally created an alternate personality based off his rage simply called The Martian. As Dr. Banner, John is a brilliant scientist with telepathy, telekinesis, the ability to turn invisible and phase through walls. And as The Martian, he can alter his size, transform parts of his body into weapons and animals, and had the strength to rival Gods? He'd be as much an asset to justice as a danger to humanity.

Aquabolt (Arthur Boltagon)
Black Bolt + Aquaman
Both are kings, both are plagued by their own heritage, and both are low-key powerhouses of their respective universes. Let's say Arthur Boltagon is the son of a human and an Inlantean (Atlantean + Inhumans) who becomes King of Inlantas and an under appreciated superhero. He is super strong, durable, and he can use his uncontrollable sonar scream to destroy his enemies and command the creatures of the sea. His wife is Queen Meradusa (Mera + Medusa), his evil brother is Ormax The Mad Master (Maximus + Ocean Master), his archenemy is Black Shark (Black Manta + Tiger Shark), his advisor is Vulgon (Vulko + Gorgon) and his strategist is Garnak (Tempest + Karnak). Both of them even have dogs! 

John Hellstrom
Daimon Hellstrom + John Constantine
Here's a fun one. Daimon Hellstrom is the Son of Satan, John Constantine is a practitioner of the dark mystic arts. Their both untrustworthy bastards who ultimately want to do good. So John Hellstrom is a seemingly normal human who made a bet with a demon and lost. John gained demonic powers, but it cost him his soul. He know tries to redeem his sinful deal by using his skills as a magician to help people. Not out of kindness, but out of his desire to be free of corruption. He goes by "The Son of Satan", "The Hellblazer", and "The Flaming Magician", and the person who should be the most wary of him, is himself.

Freebird (Sam Grayson)
Falcon + Nightwing
So I really liked the idea of combining Captain America and Superman. And I also like the idea of Jason Todd/Red Hood combing with Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier. So I figured I just give the Robins to the Super-Soldier series and combine The Falcon and Nightwing. Sam Grayson was still a circus kid who's community-supporting parents were murdered by organized crime, but he wasn't taken under the wing of some billionaire, but instead was adopted by the living legend Super-Soldier. As Eagle The Boy Wonder, Sam's acrobatic skills were put to work helping Super-Soldier fight crime. However, when Sam reached his late teens and saw his mentor bend more and more to the orders of the government, he decided to strike out on his own and be the people's hero and not some government tool. So he designed a wing-suit, his own acrobatic style of fighting, and became Freebird, hero of the people. The Falcon's story is heavily connected to the American people and their response to a hero like him, and Nightwing is regarded as the friendliest of heroes with how many connections he's made, so I thought they'd work perfectly for each other.

Black Jewel (Dinah Jones)
Jessica Jones + Black Canary
Ending off with a more down-to-Earth combination, we have Jessica Jones combined with Black Canary. I really think these two characters share a lot of personality qualities, and I think you build upon the already interesting Jessica Jones stuff with Black Canary's characteristics. Basically, Dinah Jones is initially a superpowered hero known as Black Jewel and she fights crime with her super strength and flight, but she soon comes in contact with Johnny Purple, a suave man with a magical wish-granting genie. Using his genie, Johnny hypnotizes Dinah into becoming his girlfriend. Together they commit crimes and attack heroes and have uncomfortable romantic relations. However, after Johnny wishes for Dinah to have a super-scream power to give her some ranged abilities, she manages to deafen Johnny and escape his spell. After Johnny is locked up and Dinah is free, she never finds that superhero drive again. Now Dinah Jones she runs Canary Investigations, wears leather and fishnets, and uses her powers to catch people at their worst.
Thanks for reading.
What Marvel and DC characters do you want to see combined?

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