Ongoing DC Comics publications such as the Black Label imprint's Beyond the White Knight and The Deadly Duo prove that there's still room for alternate-timeline Batman tales. Though they seem to be a thing of the past by the looks of the current state of the medium, some of the Dark Knight's past Elseworlds stories involved bold crossovers with Marvel Comics.
Some might not be worth mentioning over others, but Batman has had his fair share of memorable team-ups and clashes. Batman's adventures with Captain America were a love letter to the Golden Age of Comics, while his pairing with Spider-Man was an exciting mesh of each publisher's most popular heroes.
Batman/Captain America
Both Batman and Captain America are icons for their respective comic book publishers in their own rights, the team-up between the two proved to be a seamless fit for the Golden Age versions of the heroes. Created by John Byrne and Patricia Mulvihill, Batman/Captain America saw the Marvel hero and his partner Bucky Barnes get assigned to a covert mission leading to the Red Skull and, as a result, end up meeting Gotham City's Dynamic Duo.
The two pairs discover they're on the same case as the Red Skull and Joker are on the same side. Batman/Captain America was an effectively colorful and swashbuckling homage to the days of the Golden Age.
Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights
The Punisher is popularly regarded as Marvel Comics' most famous antihero, and he makes a case for being the most well-known one in the entirety of the comic book medium. And given the murky gray area that Frank Castle operates in and Bruce Wayne/Batman's staunch moral standing against guns and murder, a crossover between the two naturally made for a tense conflict.
Put together by veterans of the industry Chuck Dixon, John Romita Jr., and Klaus Janson, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights was an exciting mashup that saw the two begrudgingly work toward the same goal and (inevitably) clash heads. A criminal underworld-focused plot sees Batman and Punisher try to thwart the Joker and Jigsaw in Gotham.
Spider-Man And Batman: Disordered Minds
Arguably even more obvious than Captain America, it was inevitable that DC and Marvel would pair the Dark Knight with New York's beloved Wall-Crawler. Spider-Man has some of the most prolific runs in comics, and his crossover with the brooding Batman made for some memorable crossover material from each character's deep mythos.
Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds is the first series featuring the two heroes together. The former comes to Gotham City when he discovers Carnage went to ally with the Joker, naturally calling upon both Spider-Man and Batman to take this sadistic combined force down.
DC Vs. Marvel Comics
Though not uniquely Batman-centric, the DC vs. Marvel Comics miniseries certainly qualifies given that its premises pit the most storied characters from each universe against each other. It was an interesting concept in practice, as the series saw DC characters fight their Marvel counterparts and the outcome was decided by reader polls.
DC vs. Marvel featured a fun collection of bouts, including Storm vs. Wonder Woman, Superman vs. Hulk, Lobo vs. Wolverine, and more. Meanwhile, on the Batman side of things, the Dark Knight managed to defeat Captain America after consecutive hours' worth of melee combat.
Batman/Daredevil: King Of New York
Batman and Marvel's Man Without Fear have some ing similarities in of tone. And considering the DC hero butting heads with the Punisher ideologically is also similar to Daredevil's feud with the antihero, having the latter meet Batman felt like another natural pairing, especially with the two tending to take on grittier street-level conflicts.
A one-shot comic by Alan Grant, Eduardo Barreto, and Matt Hollingsworth, Batman/Daredevil: King of New York featured the Caped Crusader venture outside his native Gotham and into New York, where he allied with Hell's Kitchen's Guardian Devil to defeat a villainous team comprised of Ra's al Ghul and the notorious Kingpin.
Batman & Spider-Man: New Age Dawning
Spider-Man allying with the Caped Crusader is hardly Batman's strangest comic book crossover, and given the positive reception of Disordered Minds, a sequel was also only a matter of time. DC and Marvel's biggest money-makers collide again in New Age Dawning, with new foes posing as threats.
Similar to the Daredevil team-up Batman & Spider-Man: New Age Dawning saw the two go up against Ra's al Ghul and Kingpin, as well as Talia al Ghul being thrown into the mix. This sequel was similarly well-received for building off their initial encounter. Specifically, it was warmly regarded for developing the heroes' friendship and bringing some fun moments of levity.
JLA/Avengers
In what became the last major crossover effort between DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the two publishers produced the fitting JLA/Avengers series. Two industry legends in the form of Kurt Busiek and George Pérez came together for this early-2000s limited series where each team was tasked with preventing the devastation of their universes, with a similar structure to the aforementioned DC vs. Marvel Comics miniseries.
The Justice League and the Avengers are among the most prolific superhero teams from each publisher, making this concept a no-brainer. But it panned out well quality-wise as well, as JLA/Avengers paved the way for some memorable "comic book blockbuster" caliber moments.
Daredevil/Batman: Eye For An Eye
King of New York was ultimately a sequel to Daredevil/Batman: Eye for an Eye. In the latter, the two brooding vigilantes have to team up to stop the duo of Two-Face and Mr. Hyde from utilizing a dangerously manipulative computer chip that's as proficient as a human brain.
ittedly, the story itself isn't anything particularly special, however, it does have a series of fun fights involving the two popular street-level heroes. Likewise, it features a creative tie between Matt Murdock and Harvey Dent during their law school days.
Batman Vs. The Incredible Hulk
Farther back in the history of DC and Marvel Comics crossovers, Len Wein, Dick Giordano, and José Luis García-López put together a surprising series pitting Batman against the Hulk. Published in the late '70s and running to the early '80s, Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk is an imaginative tale that has Bruce Banner working at a branch of Wayne Enterprises developing a Gamma Gun in the hopes that it will help him from uncontrollably turning into the Hulk.
However, the Joker manages to manipulate Banner as the Hulk to fight the Dark Knight. It was an unlikely combination despite both being extremely popular in their respective universes. Nonetheless, it's one that paid off and holds up as a colorful comic book event series that earns its premise.
DC/Marvel: All Access
In the mid-to-late '90s, Marvel Comics published another crossover limited series bridging the gap to the DC Comics universe seeing two iconic superhero teams clash with each other. However, this time, in place of the Avengers, DC/Marvel: All Access saw the widely acclaimed X-Men abruptly come face-to-face with the Justice League.
The conflict leads to the introduction of the Amalgam universe, which contains versions of famous DC and Marvel characters morphed into new ones. DC/Marvel: All Access is certainly a wild concept at its core, namely with the Amalgam universe. However, for many comic book fans at the time, this was a delightfully bombastic '90s adventure.
