DC versus Marvel: the 1996 crossover and the reader votes

DC versus Marvel: four issues, two publishers, a title that flips

In 1995, the comics market is going through a crisis. The newspaper The Virginian-Pilot describes it in February 1996, quoting Mike Dean of the Comics Buyer's Guide. Paul Levitz at DC and Terry Stewart at Marvel are then looking for a big splash to revive sales, according to the oral history published by the website SKTCHD in 2016. They hand the project to two editors: Mike Carlin for DC, Mark Gruenwald for Marvel. The two companies already know each other: twenty years earlier, the 1976 crossover had brought Superman and Spider-Man together on the same cover, with no vote at all.

The series runs four issues, with the publishers taking turns. DC puts out #1 and #4 under the title DC versus Marvel. Marvel puts out #2 and #3 under the title Marvel versus DC. So each publisher puts its own name first in the title of its own issues. The price is $3.95 an issue. The covers are dated February to May 1996. The US on-sale dates, however, start as early as December 14, 1995: it's a series dated 1996, but launched before Christmas 1995.

Marz, David, Jurgens and Castellini: who does what

Two writers share the story. Ron Marz writes #1 and #3, Peter David #2 and #4; each time, the other one is thanked in the credits. The Grand Comics Database (GCD), SKTCHD and CBR agree on this split. The fan wikis DC Database and Marvel Database, however, credit Marz with #4. Three independent sources name Peter David: his is the name that appears in the table above.

On the art side, Dan Jurgens and Claudio Castellini don't divide the issues by publisher. They share every issue, in blocks of about eight pages, according to the GCD's page-by-page breakdown. Joe Rubinstein inks Jurgens's pages, Paul Neary inks Castellini's. What does follow the publisher is the covers: Jurgens draws those of #1 and #4 at DC, Castellini those of #2 and #3 at Marvel. Gregory Wright handles the colors, Bill Oakley the lettering. The kickoff meeting, with Marz and David, had been held at Mark Gruenwald's place, SKTCHD recounts.

The two Brothers and Access: what's at stake in DC versus Marvel

The starting point is cosmic. Two entities, which the summaries call the Brothers, each embody a universe: one is DC, the other Marvel. They become aware of each other and decide to fight it out through champions. Eleven duels are planned. The losing universe must cease to exist. And the story never actually gives them the name “Brothers Cosmic” that you sometimes read: it's an index label, the GCD points out.

Moving between the two worlds is a character created for the event, Access, whose real name is Axel Asher. He can cross from one universe to the other. The solicitation text for #3, reproduced by Marvel Database, presents him as a hero jointly owned and created by the two publishers. Finally, two guardians take no part in the duels: the Spectre, on the DC side, and the Living Tribunal, on the Marvel side. In #4, they help Access separate the universes. Don't confuse them with the Brothers.

On the DC side, Superman readers are already familiar with the idea of several realities that coexist. Here, the logic is reversed: two universes that knew nothing of each other discover each other, and only one may survive. That's what gives the fights their stakes.

#1: Juggernaut in Metropolis, Ben Reilly at the Daily Planet

Before the duels, the two universes start to blend. In #1, on sale in the US on December 14, 1995, Juggernaut, who comes from Marvel, lands in Metropolis and runs into Superman. Ben Reilly, who is wearing the Spider-Man costume at the time, becomes a photographer at the Daily Planet under the name Peter Parker, alongside Clark Kent. Ron Marz wanted it that way: he was set on putting a Peter Parker news photographer at the same paper as Clark and Lois, he tells SKTCHD.

The Superman in this series wears his hair long, as he has in his own titles since his return after his death. Marz would have preferred a short-haired Superman, but the team chose to follow the actual state of the DC books. In the story, Clark and Lois are engaged: their wedding doesn't come until the end of 1996, in Superman: The Wedding Album. That same #1 also contains the ballot, where Superman and Hulk face off in one of the matchups.

The DC versus Marvel reader votes: how they worked

Issue #1 ends with profiles of the ten fighters in the five votable matchups, and with a ballot. Those five matchups are Superman vs. Hulk, Superboy vs. Spider-Man, Wolverine vs. Lobo, Batman vs. Captain America and Wonder Woman vs. Storm. Issue #2 runs similar profiles for the six other duels, which don't go to a vote: the creators decide those on their own.

There are three ways to vote, according to CBR (2019): mail the ballot back, drop it off at a comic shop, or write to an AOL email address, one per fighter. The press of the time confirms the “VOTE HERE!” posters in stores and the online voting. Voting closes on December 31, 1995, even though some internet users are still voting in early January, notes The Virginian-Pilot. The results come out in #3, on sale in the US on February 22, 1996, according to the indexes.

To keep up that suspense, both outcomes had to be prepared. Peter David says Marz had to write every votable fight twice, with pages that were never printed: in one version of Wolverine vs. Lobo, it's Lobo who gets back up. CBR (2021) explains that the scenes were built so that a single page, often a single panel, would change depending on the vote. The two accounts disagree on how much work it took. One point is certain: alternate endings were prepared, and none of them was printed. An unpublished page, in which Hulk beats Superman, was nevertheless shown online in April 2020.

The eleven fights: six written by the creators, five voted on

Eleven duels count toward the score: three in #2, eight in #3. The six that the team decides end in a tie, 3 apiece. In the story, Lois's front page in the Daily Planet even announces that 3–3, according to Marvel Database. The five votes then give three wins to Marvel and two to DC. Final score: Marvel 6, DC 5.

On the DC side, several of Superman's allies are in the ring. Shazam, then called Captain Marvel, loses to Thor: Billy Batson turns back into a human, and the hammer Mjolnir intercepts the lightning that would have transformed him again. The Superman vs. Thor duel has its own article; those two don't face off here. Wally West, the Flash of the time, beats Quicksilver thanks to superior speed. Aquaman beats Namor when a whale comes crashing down on him. Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern of 1996, is knocked out by the Silver Surfer after a collision.

Robin, then Tim Drake, ties up Jubilee after a decoy with his cape. Elektra slices through the whip of Catwoman, who ends up in the sand. Other encounters, which don't count toward the score, go by in a few panels: Captain America beats Bane, Wolverine takes on Killer Croc, and you catch a glimpse of Iron Man facing Steel and Green Arrow facing Hawkeye.

Superman vs. Hulk in DC versus Marvel: what the pages show

The matchup is known even before the release. On October 10, 1995, the Chicago Tribune announces the series for December and already mentions this face-off. The choice of matchup comes from the creators: Ron Marz explains to SKTCHD that Superman was pitted against Hulk rather than Spider-Man, because that fight would have been too short. The result, on the other hand, belongs to the readers. Superman vs. Hulk is one of the five voted duels, as the GCD, CBR, DC.com and Wikipedia confirm.

In #3, Hulk is first fighting Metallo in the middle of Metropolis. Superman arrives, and the two of them hit Metallo together. The Brothers then teleport them to the Grand Canyon, far from any witness. Hulk strikes first. Superman answers with his heat vision, which hurts Hulk without stopping him. The blows keep coming. Superman ends up hitting with all his strength: Hulk is slammed into the canyon wall, the rock collapses on top of him, and he's knocked out.

One detail matters: this Hulk isn't the savage beast. It's the intelligent version of the time, with Bruce Banner in control, CBR and 13th Dimension note. The result was seen as predictable: DC.com, in 2024, speaks of votes cast according to the popularity and image of the characters. If you want to compare the two powerhouses outside this story, that's the subject of the Superman vs. Hulk duel, covered separately.

Superboy, Wonder Woman, Lobo, Batman: the four other votes

That same #3 contains a defeat for Superman's family. The Superboy of 1996 is the clone Kon-El, who even introduces himself to Spider-Man as a clone of Superman. Facing him, Spider-Man is Ben Reilly. Superboy charges at Spider-Man, who covers him at the last moment with “impact” webbing. Hurtling at full speed, Superboy crashes into an electrical transformer: a Marvel win, by vote.

Wonder Woman loses to Storm. Diana is holding Mjolnir at this point in the story; she lets go of it for a fair fight, then falls to the lightning. That result came as a surprise: DC.com writes in 2024 that it caught every DC fan off guard. CBR (2021) sees it as the only real mystery among the five votes, and CBR (2019) links it to the popularity of the X-Men in the 1990s.

Lobo loses to Wolverine, behind a counter, off-panel, and then Wolverine gets back up. Peter David said in 2016 that, as far as he's concerned, Wolverine can't beat Lobo. That's his opinion; the vote went to Wolverine. Finally, Batman beats Captain America in a flooded sewer, with the help of a batarang. Cap nearly drowns, and it's Batman who saves him.

Amalgam Comics in brief: Super-Soldier, the merged Superman

At the end of #3, the losing universe doesn't disappear. The two universes merge into one, the Amalgam universe. The summaries don't agree on the exact act that triggers the merger; the result, however, is clear. The following week, twelve one-shots come out, six from DC and six from Marvel, with covers dated April 1996. Super Soldier #1 and Doctor Strangefate #1 go on sale in the US on February 29, 1996, according to the GCD.

Superman's counterpart is called Super-Soldier. He's Clark Kent, a fusion of Superman and Captain America. In his one-shot, written by Mark Waid from a plot shared with Dave Gibbons, who draws it, he takes on Luthor and an “Ultra Metallo.” He returns in Super Soldier: Man of War, cover-dated June 1997. In the same wave, Spider-Boy fuses Superboy and Spider-Man (Ben Reilly), from Karl Kesel and Mike Wieringo.

In #4, Access recovers two fragments hidden in Dark Claw and Super-Soldier and, with the help of the Spectre and the Living Tribunal, separates the universes. The Brothers then fight each other directly. Batman, Captain America and Access step in. Seeing the story of Batman and Captain America, the Brothers give up and restore the two worlds. So Amalgam isn't a DC Elseworlds tale: it's a temporary universe, born of an agreement between two publishers. A second wave of twelve titles follows, cover-dated June 1997, along with DC/Marvel: All Access and Unlimited Access.

Sales, reviews and editions of DC versus Marvel

Issue #1 reportedly sold about 325,000 copies in the US, according to the Comics Buyer's Guide as quoted by The Virginian-Pilot: it's the only source for that figure. Comichron puts #4 at the top of Diamond's orders for March 1996, and at the top of the whole year 1996 in units. Careful: Marvel wasn't distributed by Diamond at that point, so #2 and #3 are missing from those rankings. Mike Carlin, at DC, was talking at the time about “the superhero fistfight of the century.”

Recent takes remain divided. ComicBook.com (2025) believes that bringing the fans into the equation was a stroke of genius. 13th Dimension (2025) criticizes fights wrapped up in three or four pages. In 2022, Gail Simone puts the 1996 duels to a poll again on Twitter, including the ones the creators had decided, Screen Rant reports. Superman beats Hulk again there, with 77%. Among the five duels voted on in 1996, only Storm vs. Wonder Woman flips; among the others, Namor beats Aquaman this time, narrowly. It's an informal poll, not the 1996 vote.

If you want to read the series, a collected edition comes out as early as 1996. It's also included in the omnibus DC announced under the title DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus, on sale in the US on December 31, 2024, along with the Amalgam one-shots and the Access sequels. The DC Versus Marvel Omnibus, released in the US on October 29, 2024, doesn't contain it. In France, Semic publishes a DC versus Marvel magazine starting in January 1997. The sources consulted mention no adaptation as a movie, a TV series or an animated project. The meeting carries on in comics: Superman/Spider-Man came out from DC on March 25, 2026, then Spider-Man/Superman from Marvel on April 22, 2026, fifty years after the oversized 1976 treasury.

Conclusion

DC versus Marvel comes down to four issues dated 1996 and one simple idea: let the readers decide five fights out of eleven. Superman beats Hulk by vote, Superboy and Wonder Woman go down, and Marvel wins 6 to 5. Then everything blends together in Amalgam, with Super-Soldier as the merged Superman, before things return to normal in #4.

To go further on the Superman side, reread the 1976 meeting with Spider-Man, then compare Superman to Thor in another DC-Marvel duel. And if Superboy is the one who interests you, his article traces the journey of Conner Kent.