Hello and welcome to In Too Deep, where I over-analyse a certain section of pop culture.
Now over the last few days I’ve been talking about the Lego Traveller’s Tale games, so while we’re here lets ask the ultimate question: Considering that Lego owns the rights to both Marvel and DC, could they make a crossover game featuring both companies? And if so, what on Earth would it be like?
So lets get the legal stuff out of the way first. They have done Marvel/DC crossovers in the past, either by having special one-off stories or having the two universes merge in an epic story in the 90s (which would have been great if it wasn’t for the fact that it was written in the 90s, where most comic books tended to suck). So having DC and Marvel characters interact is not anything new, but it is incredibly rare. But could Lego actually do it? I mean they are at the beck and call of the owners of the characters, but whose to say they couldn’t do a crossover? I mean if both parties agree to it on the basis that it will literally make ALL of the monies, then there’s no reason they couldn’t make it. So if they did, what would the make the story about?
Well it’d be tempting to have there be two parallel stories going on at the same time, one dealing with the Marvel superheroes and one with the DC superheroes. Have the DC superheroes find the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones for example, while the Marvel finds whatever the DC equivalent of it is. That’d be great and all, but what’s the point of doing a crossover if both parties are going to spend a majority of the story away from each other? You could make the first four levels like that, before having the big crossover happening in the fifth. It’s not like parallel universes are a new idea to comic books, so having a portal open up and having classic DC/Marvel characters land in the opposite universe would be fun for a little bit. Have Spider-Man swing around Gotham or Superman have to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D, that sort of thing. Meanwhile Darkseid and Thanos can be working together to destroy the universe, forcing both the heroes and the villains in both universes to come together to save the day. A standard story really, the same one they used in the 90s. But what sacrifices would have to be made in order to make it work?
For you see, one of the great things about the Lego Traveller’s Tale games is just how many character options they have. In Lego Marvel Super Heroes they have 155, so they’ll be a similar number in the third Lego Batman game. That’d be 310 characters in total, so obviously some of the less interesting characters would have to be cut to keep it manageable. But that’s just the characters you can play in the free play, how many characters would you have in the story? Lego Marvel Super Heroes features at least 20 in their main story, with some being more prominent than others. So if you came to having to write a story using only 20 odd characters at most, who do you use and why? Clearly the seven major Justice League players and the seven Avengers spring to mind. That’s 14. Spider-Man will probably need to be there, as will Wolverine from X-Men. On the flip side you’d want to through in a few DC superheroes as well. And that’s not even mentioning the villains you’d have to somehow work in. It’d be difficult, but a story would have to be created to make one side look just as good as the other. An original villain, perhaps, to elevate concerns about favouritism? It’s possible after all. So could this game work?
Ultimately, yes. As long as they don’t change the gameplay in any significant way (and honestly, why would they), then the only thing holding them back is the story. And if we’re honest, story is the last thing anyone would care about. People would be too excited to see their favourite superheroes interacting together, even if they are just made of Lego. It would be one of those rare moments in history that would live on in pop culture and always be talked about. Even if it failed, it’d be a fascinating fail, wouldn’t it?
So there you have it. My brief look at a Lego Marvel/DC videogame. If you disagree with anything, or have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment. Till next time.
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