Amalgam « 33 Grams of Blog

IF YOU COULD CREATE YOUR OWN AMALGAM UNIVERSE CHARACTER, WHO WOULD IT BE?

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll explain. Back in the late 90s/early 2000s (I could look it up, but I’m feeling lazy at the moment), the Big 2 in the comic book industry, Marvel and DC, did a huge crossover event. During this event, the main Marvel universe and the main DC universe merged together, creating the Amalgam universe; a universe whose heroes and villains were a combination of one character from each of two original universes. For example, years ago, I mentioned in a post that the most badass character in comics came from the Amalgam universe: Dark Claw, a combination of Wolverine and Batman. Imagine Wolverine, with his adamantium skeleton, claws, and healing factor, but also having Batman’s intelligence, resources, and fighting skills. Most badass character in comics.

His nemesis, Hyena (a mixture of Joker and Sabretooth), was pretty badass too. Some of the others I remember are: Super Soldier (Superman + Captain America), Amazon (Wonder Woman + Storm), Speed Demon (Ghost Rider + Flash, a combination I never would have thought of), and Sparrow (Robin + Jubilee). There were many more, but those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

As for my answer to the question, I put a lot of thought into it. I wanted to create a conflicted character, so I started thinking of two characters who were complete opposites. The first thing that came to mind was Superman and the Punisher, but Injustice Superman was basically that combination. Then, I went to Deadpool and Batman, the least serious comic book character and the most serious. But, finding a balance between the two would be tricky. It’s probably a little too tricky, so I moved on from that. That’s when I thought that maybe I should do two characters with opposite powers as opposed to opposite personalities. After pondering that one for a bit, I realized I was overthinking it, and I should just go with a combination I liked.

That’s when I came up with the Cajun Hood. I’m still not sold on the name, but I was trying to include both characters in it, and it’s the best I’ve come up with so far. The Cajun Hood is a combination of Gambit and the Red Hood. Both already wear body armor. When fighting up close, he’d use Gambit’s quarterstaff. When fighting from a distance, he’d use Red Hood’s guns, but he’d imbue his non-lethal rounds with Gambit’s mutant kinetic energy ability. He’d have Remy’s Cajun heritage and thief upbringing, but the Jason’s tragic backstory of being killed and brought back to life.

Personally, I think that would be an awesome character.

What about you? What would your Amalgam universe character be?

This should probably be categorized as one of my random thoughts (because it was), but I’m going with having it on its own. It was just a random thought that made me remember these comics. And, now that I think about it, I may have already blogged about this before. Hell, I’ve been doing this blog for a long time. It’s certainly possible. So, if I have, prepare to hear this again.

Around 20 years ago (I could actually look this up, but I’m lazy), DC and Marvel got together and did a big crossover event where they pitted their heroes against each other and let the fans vote on who would win. Some of the matchups were cool: Hulk vs Superman (Superman won), Batman vs Captain America (draw), Thor vs Shazam (Thor won). Others pretty much blew: Wolverine vs Lobo (take a wild guess on who won that one), Quicksilver vs The Flash (again, you can pretty much figure out the winner), Robin vs Jubilee (who cares?).

Out of this story came the Amalgam Universe. It’s a universe that contained mashups of DC and Marvel characters and some of them were pretty badass. There was Amazon, who was a mixture of Storm and Wonder Woman. Or, Super Soldier, who was a mix of Captain America and Superman.

My favorite, however, was Dark Claw. If you don’t know already, can you guess which two characters they combined to make him? No Google either, you cheaters!

Think you got it?

The correct answer is: Batman and Wolverine.

Now, I want you to stop and think about that for a second. Here’s a character that not only has Batman’s resources, fighting abilities, and smarts, but also Wolverine’s adamantium claws and healing factor. Do you know how much ass Dark Claw could kick with that particular set of skills? (You just read the phrase “particular set of skills” in Liam Neeson’s voice, didn’t you?)

A lot. He could kick a lot of ass

A while back, I did a post with my ultimate comic book team, five characters from any comic book company that would be my crime fighting team. I chose the five I did based on how much I liked the characters, not on their abilities. If I was to make one based solely on ability, Dark Claw would certainly be on my list.

Unfortunately, the Amalgam Universe was something that DC and Marvel had no intention of maintaining. They did a #1 issue for around 12 different characters or teams to coincide with the launch of the main DC vs Marvel storyline. Then a year or two later, they did the same for around 12 new titles, with nothing else ever since.

Sadly, we may never know how Dark Claw’s struggle against his villainous foe, Hyena (Joker and Sabertooth combined), concluded. Maybe the companies will get together on an anniversary of the original story and release something new from the Amalgam Universe.

I seriously doubt it will ever happen, but I can dream, can’t I?