Wolverine meets Batman: The logical next step

Six years ago, the MCU culminated 11 years of stories by reuniting almost all of the characters we've met in the 21 films that had come out, in an event never seen before in cinema. Now in 2026 and 2027, seeking to surpass themselves, we will not only have the characters that we have seen in the 6 phases of the universe, but also characters from films older than the MCU, such as the X-Men of the 2000s. 

But what happens next? Once you've assembled all your superhero teams and their versions from other universes, what's left to do? Well, obviously, teaming up with outside characters, those from DC. Collaborations between both companies are not impossible; there have been some crossovers in the comics, the most important being JLA/Avengers in 2003. This followed the story of two rival brothers representing each universe, and who pit their heroes against each other in duels to decide which world would survive. But since this plot would likely be very similar to that of the upcoming Secret Wars, a crossover between the two companies would have to find its own story.

I imagine this crossover between companies would be the grand finale of Marvel's Phase 9, so it would premiere around 2035, by which time James Gunn's DC universe would have already introduced several important characters. And of course, just like the closing of the Infinity and Multiverse sagas, it would be in two parts.

Avengers/JLA

The post-Secret Wars phases of the MCU would focus on the Fantastic Four, Young Avengers and X-Men, with the latter group's film being the prelude to this macro-event. In this one, after Professor X was forced to "turn off" Magneto's mind, they reveal to us in the post-credits scene that the darkest side of Magnus's mind escaped into Charles' subconscious, joining his own dark side and acquiring his own body of pure energy (before you look at me strangely, this is taken straight from the comics).

So JLA/Avengers would start with a battle against this villain called Onslaught, who seeks to destroy humanity. The X-Men, Young Avengers and Fantastic Four (with his children Franklin and Valeria) would seek to stop him in an epic battle, but he would absorb Franklin Richards' reality-altering powers and use them to send the characters to another universe. Little by little, the camera would show us how they wake up in a Metropolis plunged into chaos, until falling against the asphalt we would see David Corenswet's Superman.

The Marvel heroes see Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the League trying to protect civilians, so they join them in what is revealed to be an attack by Darkseid's henchmen. Then they manage to defeat the villains, but Granny Goodness (the leader of the Female Furies of Apokolips) warns them that now her boss is coming to finish the job.

Taking advantage of the lull, the characters begin to socialize, with Batman and Wolverine competing to be the coolest, Thor flirting with Wonder Woman, The Thing arm wrestling with Supergirl, and Superman talking to Sam Wilson about how they got there. After the talk, the brightest minds of both worlds get together to see how they can return the Marvel heroes to their universe, with Batman proposing to ask Zatanna, one of DC's most powerful magicians, for help, while Mr. Fantastic decides to stay with Mr. Terrific and think of a plan B.

As the city is still destroyed by the previous battle, and the Justice League is still worried about the threat of a new attack, they decide to stay and help the police and firefighters while Batman and Thor travel to find Zatanna. Upon arrival, the situation is awkward, as Bruce and she had a relationship in their youth, but the atmosphere soon becomes tense when they informs him of the situation, because she knows that an incursion of that magnitude could destroy her universe.

Zatanna then teleports them to the JLA lair and begins to prepare everything for a spell that will return them to their universe, but when she was about to start it the satellites detected the arrival of Darkseid, his army, and his parademons, so the Avengers and the rest of the teams decide to stay to help. Darkseid's power forces Superman, Supergirl, Thor, Hulk and The Thing to fight him at the same time, until the last son of Krypton grabs Thor's Stormbreaker and Captain America's shield and with all his might manages to make the villain retreat back to his planet Apokolips.

Finally, the spell is carried out as quickly as possible before the heroes' presence there generates consequences, filling the screen in a white flash. Little by little the effect dissipates and we begin to see the city of New York and the Cap's chest, but when the camera shows the character's shield we discover that it has the Superman logo, and the actor is Henry Cavill, anticipating that the next installment is an adaptation of the Amalgam universe of comics, where the characters of DC and Marvel merged. Finishing the movie with a post-credits scene where we see Thanoseid, the fusion of Thanos with Darkseid.

JLA/Avengers: Amalgam

The film begins by showing us the merged characters living their normal lives, as if they didn't know everything that happened before, among which we have: 

• SuperSoldier (Superman + Captain America, played by Henry Cavill)
• Iron Lantern (Iron Man + Green Lantern, played by RDJ)
• Dark Claw (Wolverine + Batman, played by Hugh Jackman)
• Ororo of Themyscira (played by Alexandra Shipp)
• Spider-beetle (Spiderman + Blue Beetle, played by Tom Holland)
• Arthur Odinson (Thor + Aquaman, played by Chris Hemsworth)
• Hawk Green (Hawkeye + Green Arrow, played by Stephen Amell)
• Punishmaker (Punisher + Peacemaker, played by John Cena)
• Blade Constantine (played by Keanu Reeves)
• Invisible Canary (Black Cannary + Invisible Woman, played by Vanessa Kirby)
• Captain Supergirl (Captain Marvel + Supergirl, played by Milly Alcock) 
• Carter Summers (Hawkman + Ciclope, played by Aldis Hodge)
• Rachel Minoru ( Nico Minoru + Raven, played by Lyrica Okano)
• And many more.

We have some minor action scenes where we see some of these characters fighting their villains, such as Spider-beetle against Two Face Goblin or Dark Claw against Hyena (Joker + Sabretooth), to then reveal to us that there are two characters who are aware that the universes merged: Onslaught and Dr. Strangefate. The first of them kidnaps one of the heroes and accesses his hidden memories from his original universe, thereby discovering the power of the DC heroes and, fearing them, decides to contact and mind-control Thanoseid to get rid of them for him.

The arrival of Thanoseid would start a great fight that would break the record for the longest battle to Game of Thrones. In order to destroy their ships, some of the superheroes decide to attack the command base on Apokolips, dividing the battle into two different scenarios in a nod to Infinity War with its battle on Titan and Wakanda.

The battle would be much harder than the previous ones, and some heroes would die like SuperSoldier and Arthur Odinson. And in the end, Invisible Canary defeats Thanoseid by creating an energy bubble in the character's throat, preventing him from breathing until he dies, leaving her a little affected by having to reach that point.

Once the fight was over, Dr. Strangefate appeared and with a spell he returned everyone's memories of their respective universes, so the Avengers and the rest realized that Thanoseid's attack must have been the work of Onslaught, and that they must find him before he carries out whatever he plans. Hawkfire (Starfire + Kate Bishop) remembers that in their first fight they managed to break part of his armor and the inside was pure energy, so Scott Flag (Cyclops + Rick Flag Sr.) deduces that it must be psionic energy and they can track that to find him.

Once they arrive at Onslaught's lair, Captain Supergirl asks everyone to distract him as she is going to use her energy absorption powers to destroy his body, so everyone agrees to the plan and in the middle of the fight Danvers falls at super speed and inserts her arm into the hole in the villain's armor and begins to absorb him. But when he realized that he was not going to resist so much energy, he decided to fly away with the antagonist to finally explode in the sky when he reached the limit of his energy retention.

For a few moments, the heroes gaze up at the sky in a mixture of relief and desolation, until they see Danvers falling, and Arthur Odinson comes out to catch her. It's then explained to the audience that, unlike Captain Marvel, who dies when her energy level exceeds its limit, Kryptonians can release the energy in their system in the form of an explosion, known as a "Super Flare," leaving them without powers for 24 hours but healthy.

With the villains defeated, the heroes say goodbye and Blade Constantine along with Zatanna Panther (Zatanna + Shuri) perform a spell to separate the universes and return them to their original state. We see each character return to their world, even those who died in the amalgamated universe like Thor, remembering the heroes they met on this adventure. 

The end of phase 9.

I don't know if this crossover is possible, or how the MCU will surpass itself after Secret Wars, but I hope we see DC and Marvel cooperating in film, although such a scenario would probably mean that the superhero genre is using the last ace up its sleeve.

• If you like theories about movies and series, I invite you to follow me on Instagram where I compile the best ones: @TheBigCinemaTheories
• And if you want to read another of my articles, I have one talking about a underrated comedy: “The Scooby-Doo Project: The best Blair Witch parody”
• Or one with the best details of the new Eggers movie: “Nosferatu: The importance of choosing the right director”