If you haven’t noticed, we’re really into superheroes, and we have the superhero shirts to prove it. One of the best parts of following superheroes in the same universe is knowing that eventually, you’ll get the joy of seeing some of your favorite characters overlap. These are a few of our favorite superhero crossovers.
Batman and Superman
Batman and Superman are arguably the best-known superheroes of all time. While they both exist in the DC Universe, they protect different cities. Superman lives in the fictional city of Metropolis, while Batman resides in Gotham City. The first ever superhero crossover took place on the cover of the 1940 New York World’s Fair anthology comic. Although you see Batman, Robin, and Superman on the cover, their stories were completely separate inside. It wasn’t until 12 years later that you first see Batman and Superman tackle a villain together! The first time they teamed up was actually while they were both on vacation in the same place, it was a silly story that showed off some friendly competition between the two powerhouses.
Much like the 1940 World’s Fair anthology, Batman and Superman had been published under the World’s Finest comic series since 1941, but always in separate stories. In 1950, World’s Finest finally became the crossover comic we’d been hoping for! There were comics showing Batman and Superman taking on infamous villains like Lex Luthor and the Joker, and eventually, World’s Finest began to include some of our other favorite superheroes like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.
Batman and Superman crossovers have inspired fierce debates over the years. Who would win if they fought? Could Batman ever successfully challenge Superman? You can show which side of the debate you fall on by rocking your favorite Sons of Gotham superhero shirts.
Supergirl meets Batman (and Superman)
Supergirl’s origin story mirrors Superman’s in most ways, but her crash to earth was a little different than her younger cousin. A Kryptonian asteroid crashed to earth, and Superman, depressed about the reminder of being the last survivor of Krypton, left Batman to pick up the pieces. Batman was clearing Gotham Harbor of meteor fragments when he came across a spaceship that must have been embedded in the asteroid. As Batman approaches to investigate, Supergirl climbs out and proceeds to steal the Batboat! What ensues is a pure comedic chase. First, Supergirl crashes the Batboat into a pier and takes off until running into a few dock workers who try to ask if she’s okay, but she doesn’t understand them and ends up breaking a few fingers. She also manages to cause a car accident, blow up a car with her heat vision, and get into a bit of a fire-fight with the Gotham City Police. Eventually, Batman knocks her out with a piece of Kryptonite. Batman calls Superman in to discuss his supposed cousin. Batman doesn’t trust her or her intentions and concocts a plan to get her away from Superman. Which is when…
Supergirl meets Wonder Woman
Believe it or not, this is all one issue of the same comic! Batman contacts Wonder Woman and tells her he’s concerned about Superman’s so-called cousin, so they come up with a plan to have Wonder Woman kidnap Supergirl! Wonder Woman takes Supergirl to Themyscira, her home island where the Amazonians live, and begins training her in combat. She ends up getting kidnapped from Themyscira and Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman go after her to save her. The comic ends with them defeating the villain as a team and Superman introducing the world to Supergirl.
This crossover story has it all: family drama, a heartwarming reunion, female mentors, defeating the villain, and a happy ending. We recommend honoring two of the strongest women in superhero history by wearing your Wonder Woman or Supergirl superhero shirts proudly for all to see!
Into the Arrowverse
You probably know the difference between the DC and Marvel universes, but the Arrowverse is a universe within a universe and has given us some of the best crossovers yet! The Arrowverse is part of the DC Universe but refers to a specific set of TV shows that air on The CW. The Arrowverse was launched in 2012, starting with the show Arrow which follows the story of the Green Arrow. Flash was added in 2014, and in 2016 Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow were added to the Arrowverse. The crossovers in this universe are expansive, so we’re just going to highlight a few favorites.
Flash vs. Arrow
In the first season of The Flash, Barry Allen aka the Flash is still learning how to use his powers. The Green Arrow and his team come to Central City, where Barry lives, while tracking a killer. Barry is excited because a meta-human is on the loose that can control people’s emotions and he needs some help capturing him. Barry asks the Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow, for help, but all doesn’t go as planned. Oliver is less than impressed by Barry’s lack of superhero know-how, but Barry, determined to prove Oliver wrong, attempts to take down the meta-human on his own. As you can imagine, this doesn’t go well, and the meta-human corrupts Barry’s emotions, sending the Flash into a rampage that only the Green Arrow can stop. Eventually, the team is able to bring the Flashback to his right mind, which is good news since the Green Arrow now needs his help to bring down the boomerang killer. This was just the first of the Arrowverse crossover episodes, but it set high expectations for future crossover episodes, and the Arrowverse did not disappoint!
Legends of Today, Legends of Yesterday, Legends of Tomorrow
These crossover episodes spawned the hit series Legends of Tomorrow. It all started in ancient Egypt when an Egyptian priest fell in love with an Egyptian priestess. Unfortunately, she was in love with a prince. Vandal Savage, the priest, was the jealous type and decided to kill both the priestess and the prince. While he was carrying out his plan, a meteor shower hit the planet exposing them all to an unknown element. The element cursed them, and the prince and priestess were reincarnated every time they died. In order for Vandal Savage to maintain his immortality, he had to find the prince and priestess in each lifetime and kill them. Well, it just so happens that the priestess became friends with the Flash team in this lifetime. When team Flash learns about her fate, they take her to Star City for the Green Arrow and his team to watch over her. Eventually, the prince finds her, and together they all team up to take down Vandal Savage.
It turns out that the prince and priestess end up being Hawkgirl and Hawkman and together with team Flash and team Arrow they defeat Vandal Savage. Eventually, Hawkgirl and Hawkman become part of the Legends of Tomorrow team along with other Arrowverse favorites when a Time Master, Rip Hunter, informs them that Vandal Savage returns in the future and destroys Earth as we know it.
We have plenty of superhero shirts to honor the Arrowverse. You can view all our Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl superhero shirts in our store!
Crossover Superhero Shirts
All this talk of superheroes might make it hard to decide what superhero shirts you want to purchase, so we made it easy for you! We have plenty of superhero shirts that feature some of your favorite crossovers like this shirt featuring Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batgirl or this shirt featuring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. If you really can’t decide there’s always the ultimate crossover superhero shirt that shows the entire cast of the original DC Universe. No matter what shirt you choose, we can all agree superheroes are better together!