Trying to Please Everyone: Or Converting multiple Pop Culture Utopias into a Timeline.

[Marco Incognito]

Since it was asked. I did start workshopping an Early Comic Page. I thought I'd share it here and maybe begin alternating between Anime and Comics.

1900-1903 in Comics​

Foxy Grandpa(1900-1918)
Carl E.Shultz debuts his character Foxy Grandpa. Shultz drew the strip under the name “Bunny”. It ran in the New York Herald. It features an elderly grandpa and his two mischievous grandsons Chub and Bunt, who repeatedly try to prank him only for the Grandpa to prank the boys. The strip proved popular enough that it was adapted into Broadway shows and early silent films due to telling its story largely visually[1].

"Hoist" refers to William Randolph Hearst.

Happy Hooligan(1900-1932)
Created by Frederick Burr Opper, already a famous Cartoonist as a Sunday strip for William Randolph Heart’s newspaper. It followed an optimistic Hobo who always remains positive. He had two brothers named Gloomy Gus and Snobby Monty. Monty wore a tattered suit and top hat and acted rich but was as poor as the others. Allegedly the character was inspired by vaudeville entertainer Fred Lowe, who began to bill himself as “The original Happy Hooligan” after the strip became popular. Like most Opper strips, Happy Hooligan had no set schedule and was released simply when the cartoonist was satisfied with the product. Though usually, if it missed a week, Opper would make up for it by releasing two Strips extra almost like an apology for being late. It is a rumor that Charlie Chaplin based his tramp character on Happy Hooligan though he denied this and says the character just came to him.

Bugville Life(1900-1904)
A Series by the then 21 year old Gus Dirks. The strip depicted the titular Bugville, a microscopic City in which many intelligent insects coexisted used as a satire of main elements of society. It ran until 1904, when William Wallace Denslow approached Dirks with an offer to illustrate an Oz Comic strip series which he accepted. Baum and Denslow realized that Dirks was emotionally troubled, though at the time, psychiatric help was in its infancy, they promised him at least financially stability from a share of the rights to the Oz stories[2].

Weatherbird(1901-)
In the Pages of the St.Louis Dispatch, Harry B.Martin created the Dickey-Bird, later renamed to the Weather Bird, a cartoon character which accompanied the Weather Report. Martin intended to only draw three versions depending on the weather(one for Snow, once for Rain, one for when it was hot and so on) but the readers asked for a new drawing each day and Martin relented. As time went on the Weatherbird would change artists, many of which would have him comment on current news at times and he would change styles from artist to artist.

Alphonse and Gaston(1901-1937)
Created by Frederick Burr Opper. The strip features two Frenchman who are too polite, never letting the other pass by always insisting the other person goes first. It ran in William Randolph Heart’s Newspaper, the New York Journal. It was adapted into short stage plays and early films. The strip usually featured cameos from other Opper characters including Happy Hooligan, who were casually used when certain characters were needed. The duo’s bit became popular including the catchphrase “After you, my Dear Gaston.” And the term Alphonse-Gaston Situation” because of the strip.

Lady Bountiful(1901)
By Gene Carr. An adaptation of the play the Beaux’s Stratagem, makes its debut as the first text balloon comic with a female protagonist.

Billy Bounce(1901-1906)
A series by William Wallace Denslow, known for illustrating the Oz Books by L.Frank Baum. Billy Bounce featured one of the first instances of a comic character with Superpowers. In this case a boy who could grow large and bounce or possibly fly. Like the later, Little Nemo, Billy Bounce would often be transported somehow to fantasy lands.

Buster Brown(1902-1923)
Comic Strip character Buster Brown makes his debut, created by Richard D.Outcault. Supporting characters include Mary Jane and Brown’s dog Tige. Based on Buster Keaton, then a child actor in Vaudeville. Keaton would later play the character in several shows. Mary Jane was based on Outcault’s own daughter. Outcault sold the rights to the characters to the Brown show company, which used him as their mascot beginning at the 1904 St.Louis World's Fair. The character of Buster Brown was then adapted into traveling shows, theatre and early films, using pairing a little person actor with a trained dog.

Hugo Hercules(1902-1930)
Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev Korner releases the comic strip Hugo Hercules, which depicts Hugo performing amazing feats with his strength, usually to help people or simply to amaze them. These included picking up an elephant, kicking a house like a football, using a cannon like a handgun and lifting a locomotive off its tracks and carrying its contents himself at the same speed. Korner eventually retired but in 1930 was convinced to revive the character by writer Phillip Wyle. Wyle wrote a backstory for the character and brought his story to the then present[3].

Naughty Toodles(1903-1933)
Created by female Cartoonist Grace Daytonm first appeared in Hearst syndicated strips. Follows a girl who usually runs into and causes mischief, being punished for it in some way, often being followed by a little boy and a puppy[4].

Mr.Jack(1903-1935)
A Comic Strip by Jimmy Swinnerton, which ran in William Randolph Heart’s newspaper. The series follows a philandering playboy tiger in what may be the first developed cartoon animal character.

A.Piker Clerk(1903-1907)
A comic strip by Clare Briggs syndicated in Hearst’s Chicago American. The strip centers on horse racing, giving readers a tip each day. The protagonist is the thin Mr.Clerk, who has a gambling problem. The strip then focused on whether he won or lost with his tally being posted, based on how the real life horse did. It inspired similar strips and avoided cancellation by Hearst on account of its popularity[5].

Notes
[1] For Spongebob Fans, yes the “Foxy Grandpa”hat in the episode "One Krabs" Trash was referencing this strip.

[2] Bugville Life was OTL renamed to Latest New from Bugville and was cut short when Gus Dirks committed Suicide in 1902. While it is difficult to ascertain why he chose to take his own life. ITTL as the first change to the Comic Book Landscape, he survives due to the job offer being offered.

[3] OTL Korner’s Hugo Hercules was not a success and he quit comic strips and became a painter. His most famous work being A Charge to Keep, a painting kept by George W.Bush in the White House. Hugo Hercules later received recognition as the first Superhero Comic retroactively. Phillip Wyle’s 1930 novel Gladiator, featured superhuman Hugo Danner. Here they are composited as Hugo Hercules originally had no origin. It also butterflies away that story's out of nowhere ending where a lightning bolt kills him.

[4] OTl Naughty Toodles underwent a name change to Dolly Dimples.

[5]OTL allegedly Hearst had it cancelled, considering it too vulgar.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

History of Anime: 1907-1960

"Activity Photo"

The First animated film from Japan by some is considered to be Katsudō Shashin (活動写真, "Activity Photo”), which was found in 2005. It has yet to be verified if this was indeed the earliest animated film in the country, but it is dated as far back as 1907. No other Japanese Animation is known to have been created prior to the year 1916. The First foreign film in Japan reached its shores in 1910. A film known as Fushigi no Bōrudo (不思議のボールド, "Miracle Board") was discovered but it is debatable if this can be considered an animated film as it concerns a man drawing. Les Exploits de Feu Follet by Émile Cohl became the first animated film shown in Japan on May 15, 1912.

German, American and European cartoons were displayed in the country at this time and likely influenced the development of the craft. It would be these films that inspired the “Fathers of Anime”: Ōten Shimokawa, Jun'ichi Kōuchi, and Seitaro Kitayama. Kōuchi's earliest known work is Namakura Gatana, a 1917 film centering on a Samurai who tries to attack people with a blunt Katana, found in its entirety in 2004.

Namakura Gatana

Many early Animations were short films based on Japanese Fables and stories and there was little effort to preserve them in the early days. As a result many are lost with some rare exceptions. Among them is Urashima Tarō, a story of a fisherman travelling to the Underworld on the Back of a Turtle released in February 1918 and rediscovered at a market at the Shitennō-ji temple in Osaka in 2007[1].

Aftermath of the Great Kantō earthquake in Nihonbashi.

The three "Fathers of Anime" would meet and agree to work together, forming an early animation studio. When the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake struck, the three animators fled their studio, but saved as many of their works as they could. Following the incident, the trio began to push towards preservation in Japan, hoping to prevent the old films from being lost to time[2]. The Animated films that were lost were reproduced by the trio to the best of their abilities and the reproductions sent to various cities, a practice which carried over to film as well. Within a year of the Earthquake the Animation industry was up and running again. The way the early films were told would be with a storyteller narrating the silent film. In 1927, the film Singin' In the Rain was released in the US, ironically about the invention of Sound threatening the film industry. Japan experimented with making "Talkies" as well. One of the earliest attempts was with Animal Olympic Games, which attempted to include animal sounds, though often resorted to recreating the sounds during the screening.

Animal Olympics

The first successful talkie was 1931's The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (マダムと女房, Madamu to Nyōbō) and the first animated talkie was in 1933 with Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (力と女の世の中, lit. "Within the World of Power and Women" or "The World of Power and Women") by Kenzō Masaoka, which concerned an affair. It was lost but later rediscovered.

Two Characters from Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka

By the 1930’s, Animation in the country was a respected artform, often competing with Disney and other Western companies. Cutout Animation was still used by the decade’s prominent animators such as Noburō Ōfuji and Yasuji Murata, rather than the Cel animation employed elsewhere. Other Animators such as Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo made great strides while creating Government Propaganda. Several Animation studios were brought together to form the Shin Nippon Mangaka Kyōkai. The First Manga Adaptation is a 1933 adaptation of the Series Norakuro in shorts, based on the author's time in the Army played for comedy and the shorts were individual quick scenes based on scenarios such as a Roll Call and a Drill.

Norakuro, 1931 Manga

Benkai tai Ushiwaka was a 1939 Cel Animated film experimenting further with sound about a meeting with two legendary figures Saitō Musashibō Benkei, who was collecting swords for the Buddha, and Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Benkei was collecting swords for Buddha and Yoshitsune refused to hand over his own, leading to a battle which Yoshitsune wins but makes Benkei his vassal. In an attempt to integrate the sound into the animation, Kenzō Masaoka recorded his voice saying the lines for Benkei, which provides one of the few sound recordings of what one of the Pioneers of Anime sounded like. By this time and going into the 1940's propaganda was the focus of most animators, though there was some exceptions such as Masaoka's 1943 film Kumo to Tulip, in which a Spider[3] attempts to capture a Ladybug in its web with the Ladybug escaping when rain falls and drowns the Spider.

Screenshot from Momotaro: Sacred Sailors

The first full length anime was the Japanese Navy sponsored Momotaro: Sacred Sailors(1945). The film depicts animals, including a bear, a monkey, and a dog, playing on an island before meeting and being recruited by the Japanese Army as they arrive on the island during the Pacific War. They learn Japanese from them and are drafted into the war, which is played as serious. They are able to defeat a British force and it is implied that they will attack the United States next, or at least that is their next enemy.

Post-War, the Animation department was overhauled as the country recovered from devastation. Most Animation in the country appeared in Advertisements. Propaganda cartoons were scarce, often not supported by either government, though one animated short depicts a Samurai fighting a giant which he struggles to fight but refuses to give up, to the extent he nearly kills himself in exhaustion. Despite being defeated, the Giant does not kill him and instead shows him mercy, commenting that the Samurai was a worthy opponent.

The presence of American soldiers on the island would have a defining presence and influence in the development of Anime. Those Soldiers brought with them Disney Comics, depicting the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and others. As Soldiers shipped out, a Disney Comic belonging to one of the soldiers fell off a truck and into the mud. A 17 year old Osamu Tezuka would find it and pick it up. Tezuka had begun writing his own Manga. He’d watched Bambi multiple times and while he’d done some work. This was the push he needed towards creating the works that would define Anime.

Osamu Tezuka

Osamu Tezuka’s style, using simplified techniques previously employed by Disney. While intended to reduce cost and meet tight schedules, the practices would be adopted by the rest of the industry, now defining the medium, and shaping it into what it would become.

As Japan recovered, it would take until 1958 for such grand projects to return. The Earliest surviving Japanese animation broadcast on Television, Mole's Adventure, was broadcast. It concerned a mole, annoyed by the Sunlight, building a rocketship and travelling to another planet, only for it to all be revealed as a dream. However, that same year the first feature film since 1945's Momotaro: Sacred Sailors would be released. For the plot, an adaptation of the Song Dynasty Chinese folktale was chosen as the Toei Doga president Hiroshi Ōkawa wanted to reconcile Japan with its neighbors which became The White Snake Enchantress. The film was a massive undertaking due to technoligical limitations at the time and had 13,590 people working on it. The World held its breath to see if Japan could produce a feature film to rival Disney and then let out the breath. The film received awards at Film Festivals but was seen as a disappoint by the US soon after, with almost no changes, though it led to many Americans thinking a red panda was a mythical creature and not a real one. One of the in between animators, Hayao Miyazaki and Shigeyuki Hayashi, both 17at the time would later find their own success in the growing industry. The film remains a staple in Japan with images of its characters still appearing in public places to this day[4].

The White Snake Enchantress Characters on a Landmark sign in Nerima Station in Tokyo

In 1959, Toei produced their second feature film, Magic Boy, about a child named Sasuke who could talk to animals and battles a female Demon named Yakusha, who kills his pet eagle. Sasuke vows revenge and goes to train with a magician to hone his magic powers and fight the Demon. As with The White Snake Enchantress, MGM handled distribution rights, calling the Film The Adventures of the Little Ninja, even translating the songs[5]. The film was seen by many of the US as Japan's attempt to make a Disney film with songs and cute animals.

Notes
[1] OTL the rediscovery of the film turned out to be false, turning out to be another work. ITTL it was the actual film.

[2] Due to the Earthquake and World War II, only 4% of Films made in Japan before 1945 are known to exist. The Number of films saved ITTL is somewhat greater.

[3] OTL the Spider in Spider and Tulip is an example of Blackface. Not the case ITTL. It's drawn as horrific as possible, many black eyes, pincers and drooling.

[4] Regarding Production of The White Snake Enchantress. The US release translated a Red Panda into a cat and removed the names of the Japanese Production team, which they do not do ITTL. Miyazaki did not work on the film OTL but Shigeyuki did, and yes he was 17. It seemed perfect to connect Miyazaki with Japan's first modern Animated Film.

[5] OTL Magic Boy was released by MGM with the title translating to Samurai and not Ninja because Samurai had a more heroic reputation while Ninja were seen as sneaky assassins. The songs were also kept in Japanese. ITTL the original title is kept and songs translated.
​

 

[Marco Incognito]

Universal Monsters: 1931-1934​

Dracula(1931)​

The film is based largely on the stageplay running at the time, even bringing in Bela Lugosi, who had played the role onstage. Bram Stoker's book had previously been adapted in 1922 with Max Schreck in the lead role[1].

When Universal gained the rights to Dracula, seeing the success of the 1922 version, they planned to turn it into a spectacle akin to their earlier films such as Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame. Pullitzer Prize winning Novelist Louis Bromfield was brought in to write the script. Dracula became two actors, an old man when first seen that then when he began to feed on Jonathan Harker, he would change as if restored to youth by the blood. By the time Dracula reached London, he was now a handsome man played by Bela Lugosi. The films begins with Jonathan Harker travelling to Transylvania. An iconic shot exists here as the coachman arrives, his face concealed by darkness in his hat and coat, when a flash of lightning briefly illuminates his face, showing an eye and a sharp fang.

Jonathan Harker is forced to stay in the castle as Dracula changes into a handsome man gradually and Harker feels weaker. In their first meeting, a scene from the novel is recreated. Harker cuts his finger and Dracula looks hungry, then Harker's crucifix lands in the way and Dracula recoils. Harker comments that the paper cut isn't that bad. There is also a scene where we see Dracula's shadow behind Jonathan but it is revealed Dracula is in front of him. Dracula falls in love with Harker's fiancee Mina from a picture. When Jonathan says Mina is his fiancee, the shadows show Dracula's shadow strangling Jonathan's, it then pans to reveal that Dracula and Jonathan are still standing there, the incident being in Dracula's head.

Another horrific scene is when Harker is lured by what he thinks are women that he thinks are fellow prisoners. The three women attempt to seduce him and then turn into Vampires when Dracula appears and calls them off. He then throws what appears to be a baby at them. The scene is quick and he simply says "if you must eat. Eat this!" and hurls something quickly into the corner of the room and the three Vampire brides go after it. Harker screamed in horror. Many viewers are reported to have fainted in the theaters.

Dracula then boards the ship known as the Demeter and gradually kills the crew onboard. Upon arriving in England, he begins to feed, largely on Lucy Westenra. He at one point kisses Mina passionately while putting her under hypnosis. The film has an added credit to include Cinematographer Karl Freund, who had to take over several times from director Tod Browning and is created as a second director. A large mirror was used to reveal that Dracula has no reflection, something done in the play. Edward Van Sloan played Van Helsing and despite it being one of his most famous screen roles, didn't think much of it. Bernard Jukes was brought in to play Renfield, having played the role on Broadway.

The film is fairly faithful to the original book. Dracula begins to turn Lucy Westenra into a Vampire. Van Helsing is brought in when Lucy becomes sick and despite his efforts to counter Vampirism, Dracula takes her. Van Helsing is assisted by Dr.Seward(Who is a combination of the book's Dr.Seward, Quincy Morris, and Arthur Holmwood). Van Helsing and Dr.Seward then kill Lucy Westenra in vampire form after her death. Dracula then goes after Mina in revenge. Jonathan Harker is seen escaping from Castle Dracula and making his way back to London. Dracula discovers his escape and flees. The team consisting of Van Helsing, Dr.Seward, Mina and Jonathan give chase to Castle Dracula. They arrive just as the Sun is coming up and a final battle ensues in which the Brides are killed. Van Helsing confronts Dracula in his coffin and delivers a stake through his heart.

The Highest paid member fo the cast was Helen Chandler, who played MIna, at $750 a week. She also didn't care much for the role despite it being one of her most famous. The opening scene was shot in Hungary and the prayers by the peasants were hungarians. New scenes were shot on a prop ship turned into the Demeter.

Bela Lugosi expressed fear that he would be typecast in the film, which were softened by two actors playing the character. He decided he would play the next role offered to him.

The Film also received a spanish adaptation with the same sets. Many, including James Rolfe, see the Spanish Version as being superior due to different direction.

Frankenstein(1931)​

The Success of Dracula led Universal to put into production more Horror Films. Lugosi hoped to be cast as Henry Frankenstein. Producer Carl Laemmle Jr wanted him to play the monster, a role Lugosi tried and hated, quitting the role. Many consider this to be among the worst decisions Lugosi ever made, the truth is the role evolved into what it is now after Lugosi's departure, beforehand being a generic unspeaking monster and killing machine. Lugosi commented "I was a star in my own Country. I will not be a Scarecrow here". Makeup tests were also quite terrible, compared to Paul Wegener's makeup in the film The Golem. Director James Whale was brought onboard from England and given a selection of any franchise he wanted, choosing Frankenstein due to his fondness for the story. Whale compromised with Lugosi by giving him a role as the cruel hunchback assistant to Dr. Henry Frankenstein, the name of which was changed to Igor and he was given a bigger role. Whale also added more humanity to the monster.

Production designer Kenneth Strickfaden was able to secure Tesla Coils for the production from Tesla himself, who was all for the production. His involvement in the film has led to speculation that parts of it were in fact symbollic for Tesla's own complex history, fighting and finally gaining recognition, stepping out of Edison's shadow.

"Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous? Where should we be if no one tried to find out what lies beyond? Have your never wanted to look beyond the clouds and the stars, or to know what causes the trees to bud? And what changes the darkness into light? But if you talk like that, people call you crazy."

Despite Tesla's insistence it was safe, a double was used for moments of the creation scene due to Karloff being afraid of being burned by parks.

The film plotwise is the same as OTL with a few added scenes that explain minor plotholes. For example the Doctor murdered by the Monster had an assistant that he sent away to retrieve supplies. Soon after the Doctor is murdered and the assistant was the one who found his body. The father of the little girl who the Monster throws into the river actually sees the Monster flee the scene before finding her body. While in the OTL Film he seemed to conclude that he was murdered after finding her drowned. The film also has more of a soundtrack unlike OTL.

Murders in the Rue Morgue(1932)​

Without the film being rewritten to accommodate Bela Lugosi as in OTL, he was given this film as a compromise for being dropped from Frankenstein. The film keeps its original director George Melford and is a more faithful adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story, albeit extended to a full mystery concerning a circus performer using a killer Ape.

Cagliostro(1932)​

After an attempt to write a horror film around the opening of King Tut's tomb, the project was transformed into a story about Cagliostro, based on the real life mystic figure Alessandro Cagliostro and turning it into a story of a 3000 year old Magician who murdered women to keep his youth. Cagliostro was played by Boris Karloff[2].

The Island of Dr.Moreau(1932)​

Paramount's effort to counter Universal's Horror franchises. The film is not renamed "The Island of Lost Souls" ITTL. This adaptation transforms Moreau into more of an evil mad scientist type for him to serve as the antagonist. Many see the real star as sex symbol Kathleen Burke, who stars as Lota, a woman who in actually is a transformed Panther that the protagonists befriends and who is tragically killed protecting him from a more savage beast man at the film's conclusion just as they prepare to leave the burning island.

The Mummy(1933)​

The film that became Cagliostro OTL. John L.Balderston, wrote a story inspired by the opening of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. The film plotwise is similar in plot to OTL's Brendan Frasier film though different enough due to less action and different scenes. This is because Cagliostro existing meant that having Karloff as a mystic walking around would have been too similar to that film. The film is instead about the mummy going after and killing those who opened his tomb as well as falling in love with the reincarnation of his lost love in Ancient Egypt. It ends when the woman recalls her past life and summons a spell that leads the Mummy to be destroyed by the Egyptian Gods.

The Invisible Man(1933)​

based on the H.G.Wells novel and Philip Wylie's 1931 novel The Murderer Invisible, which was used to adapt more violent and gruesome scenes, which the HG Wells book lacked. James Whale directed the film with Boris Karloff in the lead(OTL Whale's wanted to take a break from Horror Movies, only to end up returning. Here that break does not happen. As a result Universal continues its trend of releasing Three Horror movies a year(if you count Spanish Dracula as its own separate film).

Phantom of the Opera(1933)​

A film starring Lon Chaney(unlike OTL he did not die of Pneumonia caught during a filming and lives a bit longer). The film was largely an effort to create a sound version of the original silent film. Bela Lugosi starred as Daroga, who is given a new backstory and is a more prominent role, playing a detective but also appearing quite sinister to those who do not know him. Lugosi hated makeup and so would not have starred in the title role(while this may seem strange, it should be mentioned that the Phantom OTL had a full face mask and skull like features underneath. The half mask design was something created by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the Phantom of the Opera Musical as the original full face mask interfered with the microphone).

Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde(1934)​

A film starring Bela Lugosi as Dr.Jekyll and Lon Chaney as Mr Hyde[2]

The Black Cat(1934)​

The Black Cat was the first film to bring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff together on screen. This time as bitter old enemies seeking to destroy each other(OTL the battle between Lugosi and Karloff became one sided as Karloff eclipsed Lugosi. Here it's more of a fight as Lugosi will have more prominent film roles under his belt). The two would serve as on screen rivals, notably in Dracula vs Frankenstein, which was almost made at this time but production was halted as both monsters had sequels coming up. The two would crossover following their respective sequels.
​

Footnotes​

[1] known OTL as Nosferatu. Here the creators successfully obtained the rights to Dracula.

[2] interestingly OTL, Universal's only dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde film was Abbott and Costello meet Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde).​

 

[Marco Incognito]

Here is a post covering Timeline 191 in its own entry with a bit more detail. Elements of What Madness is This? by Napoleon53 have been folded in, namely the Charles Oswald character and backstory.

Timeline 191
Timeline 191, Also known as the Southern Victory series, began in 1931 with the release of a short story Collection. This particular story was written by Winston Churchill as"What is Lee had not won at Gettysburg?" which was a What If story set in a world where the Confederacy had won its independence. While originally Churchill planned to end the story with both the US and the CS being absorbed into Britain through an alliance, he decided to hold off and do research on the Civil War. It was from this that he learned of Special Order 191, which was lost and began to wonder if it hadn't been. From this idea, Churchill wrote up the first story "Southern Victory", which became a novel. Dwight D.Eisenhower provided realistic battle strategies in a private correspondence.

Southern Victory(1931)
The Story begins with the messenger about to leave but realizing he's dropped a cigarette carrying the details of Special order 191. he picks it up and rides off. Without knowledge of the battle, Robert E.Lee defeats John B.McClellan and occupies Philadelphia. Britain and France recognize the Confederacy and the US is forced to do the same. The Emancipation Proclamation is never implemented, sitting on Lincoln's desk in a first draft. In the 1865, election Lincoln loses. Meanwhile in the Confederacy, they expand by buying land from Mexico, and even purchase Cuba. A second war breaks out but the British and French refuse to aid the Confederacy unless they abandon slavery, which they do under their new President Robert E.Lee. A second war begins and the US is humiliated. Lincoln becomes an avid socialist as a result.

Jumping forward to the first World War, the conflict begins again. This time Theodore Roosevelt(whom Churchill met and was good friends with) leads the Union against the Confederacy(led by Woodrow Wilson). This time with Britain and France being occupied, the Union wins. it as this point the story ends.

Settling the Score(1955)
While Southern Victory was a success, Churchill was occupied by his career in politics. However, after the Second World War, he decided to return to depict the Alternate World War II. Churchill began writing in 1955. Now fully aware of the Consequences of several earlier events he could reflect on them. For example in Russia, he made mention that the Communist Revolution failed and mentioned Lenin and Trostky. However, Churchill wanted to represent Stalin in the story and to this extent he created "Joe Steele" as Stalin who had been born in America. the adopted son of George Custer, who was a General in the first book and had been credited with weaponizing "Barrels" or Tanks in the Timeline 191 universe. George Custer's son Michael however preferred the name Joe Steele and upon realizing the truth of his origins, that he was adopted, he kills George Custer and has Theodore Roosevelt assassinated by Annie Oakley during the Victory Parade in New York(that ironically ended the last Book). Roosevelt shrugs off being shot but then begins to proclaim "It takes more than one bullet to kill a..." before he is shot, a reference to the actual assassination attempt on him. Joe Steele then helps to lead a Socialist revolution in the US, while assisting Socialist leader Eugene V.Debs. Finally in 1932, he is elected President after orchestrating the assassination of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by sitting his mansion on fire. Churchill at least wrote FDR crawling out of his wheelchair and moving towards Steele as he watched, as if trying to kill him with his last breath. Churchill would joke about coming up with sadistic ways to murder his friends.

Featherston and the Confederate armies as depicted in the book

There was a Stalin analogue, but Churchill realized he needed a Hitler. He decided he would come from the South. Thus Jake Featherston was born. Featherston was a minor character in the first book, just a Confederate Soldier, but he was turned into a failed artist and his history made to parallel Hitler's life. Though Hitler himself is shown to be just a Colonel in the story. Steele and Featherston's rivalry echoed that of Hitler and Stalin with a battle of Pittsburgh paralleling the battle of Stalingrad. Churchill also focused on the conflict in Europe. He depicted a parody of himself running Britain during the war. Germany ultimately wins the war in Europe as Einstein never fled Germany because there were no Nazis. The nukes are used on Paris and London and the war finished. In North America, Featherston survives a nuke of the Confederate Capitol but flees on foot, where he is found by several African American soldiers, who brutally shoot him down in revenge.

The Story ends with Churchill writing a story about what if it had gone differently. Joe Steele had recently died and his right hand and General Patton had taken over. Patton himself hated this part of the story because he couldn't think of any universe, real or not, where he was a dirty Commie. The book mentions that Japan had kept growing and implied a cold war between Japan and America.

Flag of the United Socialist States of America

Back in the USSA(1997)
Churchill died in 1965, however this was far from the end of what he had started. Writers Harry Turtledove and Kim Newman loved the universe Churchill had created and wrote a book continuing the story, Back in the USSA. Released in 1997, the book covered the rest of the Cold War post 1955 unto the present. The two introduced Charles Oswald, the alternate John K.Kennedy, and gave him a full backstory. Realizing that British people, including Irish individuals were prosecuted in Churchill's story due to the hatred the US has with Britain, Kennedy would likely have changed his name. As such in this new setting, Kennedy's family lived in a walled off ghetto. John F. Kennedy slipped out one day and played with a young bot until an officer spotted them and beat young John. This incident led JFK to change his name to Charles Oswald after he and his brother murdered their family. This allowed Oswald to rise in the ranks and eventually succeed Patton. Oswald became a new antagonist in the series after the big egos of Steele and Featherston, though he was far more charismatic during the Cold War. His storyline concluded with him threatening to start World War III by launching nukes until a rebellion led by Richard Nixon finally stopped him.

Other elements focused on includeThere was also a focus on Britain which became an analogue of OTL Japan as it recovered from World War II before becoming an analogue to America in this world. There's also Russia, which was similar to OTL Britain. Given the book consisted of several short stories, the details were more sparse, but interesting tidbits include Anne Frank serving a Martin Luther King Jr type role while Dr.King himself fulfills an Elie Weisel type role. Alfred Hitchcock releasing a Knights of the Round Table film similar to the Seven Samurai. The cold war ending with Emperor Hirohito's death, China becoming Communist as a parallel to China, and Kurt Vonnegut in a Gorbachev type role in the USSA.

Fan Works
The Timeline 191 series was a huge inspiration for Alternate History with Alternate History.com providing several timelines based on it such as "After the End." and a Redux by Napoleon53 that adds a lot of juicy details now considered canon. This includes George Washington Carver normalizing selling Cocaine to children, the Union carrying out genocide in Mexico and the rise of insane prophet Billy Graham. These later contributed to the release of the mod for the game Hearts of Iron IV(TTL's Kaiserreich with Timeline 191 thrown in).

HBO Adaptation
Following the conclusion of their time on Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B.Weiss announced their production of an adaptation of "Timeline 191". The production included several black actors in the creation process and HBO ensured that the Confederacy would not be portrayed sympathetically but as the undisputed antagonists, despite this there was some controversy following the announcement. Season One covers The Great War. Season Two covers the intervening period between the World Wars. Season Three cover World War II with Sean Penn as Jake Featherston. Season Four shifted focus to Charles Oswald, played by James Marsden, and Season Five focused on wrapping up the Cold War. Marsden did something thought impossible and surpassed Sean Penn as Featherston. The Cover for Season Four is now iconic, depicting the visage of Charles Oswald(JFK) wearing sun glasses and smiling sadistically as atomic bombs reflect off his lenses with his face covered in blood and the headline: "What Madness is This?"

Adrian McLoughlin as Joe Steele

Sean Penn as Jake Featherston

James Marsden as Charles Oswald

Part of the Advertisement for Season Four of "Timeline 191".​

 

[Marco Incognito]

King Kong

King Kong(1933)
The History of King Kong starts with Meriam C.Cooper's lifelong fascination with Apes that began at age 6, which grew bigger over time, until one day he looked at a tall building and imagined a giant one climbing it. Cooper made the original King Kong for RKO Radio Pictures in 1933 and it was a huge success. RKO immediately demanded a sequel to be made and released nine months later, fearing that the movie would only be a fad. Cooper convinced them to wait, saying it would take longer for the special effects to look as good as the original film. RKO allowed this. Then the first film won Best Picture at the Oscars. Cooper felt vindicated as he walked up to that stage and so RKO gave Cooper as much time as he needed to make a movie he felt would be on par with the original film, rather than a cheap cashgrab.

Screenshot from the 1933 Japanese Waisei Kingu Kongu.

Wasei Kingu Kongu(1933)
In the meantime, a Japanese remake known as "Wasei Kingu Kongu" was released the same year. The film itself acknowledges its nature as a cashgrab. It is a silent Japanese short film written by Akira Fushima, directed by Torajira Saito and featuring Isamu Yamaguchi as the title character. The film centers on a Japanese man watching the 1933 film and being inspired to turn it into a musical. This film is not lost as OTL, seeing wider distribution, making it the first Japanese Kaiju monster film ever made. It was distributed by Shochiku, who also handled the Japanese distribution rights of the original, although this film was made without RKO's permission. The film survived the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Son of Kong(1934)
Son of Kong, released in 1934, was exactly the awaited RKO sequel. While the plot was nowhere near as memorable as the original, it was still a fondly remembered movie. It concerns Carl Denham returning to the Island and finding Kong's son. There is more humorous moments, in moments such as when Denham stumbles upon a native woman making a trap to catch monkeys, who then asks him if he's ever caught one, leading Denham to stutter over his own words before responding with "Lady you have no idea". The film could also be somewhat somber, as Denham meets the friendly son of Kong and apologizes for getting his father killed(which the brilliant stop motion work on the face of the Son of Kong conveying his sadness beautifully). The Film is bigger in scope than OTL, depicting countless Dinosaurs fleeing as Skull Island sinks, using models from the previous film Creation.

King Kong Appears in Edo, 1938 Poster depicting scenes from the film.

King Kong Appears in Edo(1938)
A second Japanese King Kong film was released in 1938 as King Kong Appears in Edo in which a villain uses his pet monster ape to kidnap a girl for ransom. The monster is capable of growing and shrinking in size.

Cooper moved onto his next project, Tarzan vs King Kong. Cooper had helped fun the creation of Pioneer Studios, which was founded by investors John Hay Whitney and his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney to use the new Full color Technicolor Process, which at that time had only been used for Disney cartoons. John Whitney had bought a 15% share. At the time Metro Goldwyn Mayer was making Tarzan films, having made two, Tarzan, the Ape Man, and Tarzan and his Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller. Then an unexpected roadblock occurred. Cooper was sued by RKO Radio Pictures for using their character at a rival company. Cooper was baffled, King Kong was his creation. He brought this up with Louie B.Mayer, who proceeded to explain trademark laws to Cooper. Cooper vowed to sue RKO for the King Kong name. Louie B.Mayer through the support of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer's legal team behind him(likely with the intention that if Cooper won, he'd be more willing to cooperate with Mayer and Mayer would have stolen Kong away from RKO). The case went to court. RKO argued that since Pioneer Pictures was now a full functioning studio, anything made for them after that fact were now rendered null and void, which would mean Son of Kong. Cooper also wanted rights to profits made by RKO selling Merchandise based on the film. Cooper was able to present documents indicating a written agreement to RKO Studio Corp President Mr.Ayelsworth and a formal binding letter confirming Cooper had given the rights to RKO for only two pictures and nothing more. Meaning he was free to bring Kong wherever he wished(OTL Cooper did not bring up the legal battle until 1962 when then King Kong holders Universal were making King Kong vs Godzilla with Toho, at which point he lost the court case as the necessary Documents were lost after Cooper left for World War II military service. Since he brings it up earlier, Cooper doesn't lose the documents and is able to maintain rights to the Kong Character).

Promotional Art for Tarzan vs King Kong.

Tarzan vs King Kong(1942)
With the legal battle over, it came time for Tarzan and King Kong to meet face to face. The Tarzan series had continued unabated and if anything the Trial had boosted a desire to see such a match up take place. MGM wrote Tarzan vs King Kong as a story in which Tarzan meets a group hunting a giant Ape, which the men capture, only for Tarzan's adopted son, Korak( Boy OTL), to sneak off, having befriended Kong. Tarzan discovers Korak has boarded the plane to New York and is forced to follow with Jane. History repeats itself and the Kong creature escapes, grabbing Jane as Korak attempts to talk with Kong, being able to reach him. Tarzan climbs the Empire State Building after him and does his best imitation of a wing walker when he grabs onto a passing plane. Finally Kong falls but Tarzan leaps at just the right time to rescue Jane. The film makes no mention of whether events are repeating themselves or not(OTL this replaces Tarzan's New York Adventure for added irony).

This would be the last time the two crossed over. As while MGM was able to steal King Kong from RKO, RKO was able to steal Tarzan from MGM, bringing the same actor along. Cooper meanwhile had moved on, having served in World War II and now seeing success thanks to King Kong. Evidently still Ape Brained, he went onto create the character of Mighty Joe Young in 1949. RKO meanwhile went into bankruptcy, being folded into Universal Studios.

Godzilla vs King Kong(1963)
In 1962, the legal battles resumed as Toho approached Universal to make Godzilla vs King Kong. Universal agreed but when Cooper got wind of this he protested, claiming the deal he had made with RKO was for the first two films and King Kong character was still his. Universal relented and Toho Director Ishiro Honda immediately turned to Cooper and bowed, asking him for his permission to use Kong in the film. Cooper, as the sole owner of the character agreed and was even present for most of the filming. It was a surreal experience for him. He'd fought against Japanese people in World War II and had witnessed the surrender, but Kong meant a lot to him and he was going to see it done justice. However, Cooper cared little for the plot of the film, understanding it wasn't a remake. In the end, he got what he always liked seeing and imagining since he was a child, a giant Gorilla and a Dinosaur fighting each other.

The Film was Toho's most successful film to date. Cooper's respect grew. He was surprised when the suggestion of a sequel was brought up but then shrugged. Why not? He'd done the exact same thing and made a sequel a year later. He was there for that one two, just behind the camera. He'd grown to be close friends with Ishiro Honda, the director of both films.

The King Kong Show(1966)
In 1966, Toho wanted to create a King Kong series. They worked in collaboration with Rankin and Bass to create the stop motion series The King Kong Show. The Story concerns the Son of Kong, from the film of the same name and shows the ape survive the sinking of Skull Island and end up on nearby Mondo Island, where he is found by a Doctor named Bond and his family(a passing joke implies he is related to the special Agent James Bond). With the family, Kong battles the evil Dr. Who. The series was implied to be set between Son of Kong and Godzilla vs King Kong, giving the series a time frame between 1934 and 1962, The choice of a TV Show was odd to Cooper, who didn't see the story as something for kids, but then he saw that it would be in Stop Motion, with his old pal Ray Harryhausen being one of the many hands. He couldn't object to that. He'd not been a director in years, but he did write up a few episodes of the show, which was adapted into a film King Kong Escapes in 1967. Cooper passed away in 1973.

King Kong vs the Sea Monster(1966)
The next film made by Toho came in 1966, King Kong vs the Sea Monster. At that point, Cooper had grown to trust Ishiro Honda. At least Toho was doing more with the characters. There had been this idea that sequels didn't sell well in the US and he was front and center for each decision.​

Dino De Laurentiis, an Italian Filmmaker, had heard circles around that Michael Eisner wanted to remake King Kong allegedly as a tribute to the late Cooper. Laurentiis went to RKO to buy the rights for 200,000$. Universal filed a lawsuit against RKO, claiming that by owning RKO they owned the Kong films and once more a legal battle brewed. Mirian's son, Colonel Richard Cooper also became involved. The rights to the Novelization had expired and Universal argued that meant the story was public domain. Cooper argued the film belonged to his family. A Judge ruled that a film about King Kong could not steal ideas from the original film as that was still copyrighted. Universal eventually would make The Legend of King Kong in 1976.

The Legend of King, promotional Poster​

Universal had also sued Paramount as they had an oral agreement to make a King film. Michael Eisner had approached both studios for a potential King Kong remake. The Universal film entered production quickly in the hopes that Paramount and De Laurentis would back down from making their version, which they did. The Script was written Bo Goldman(One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) with the relatively unknown Joseph Sargent directing. Special effects artist Jim Danforth was brought onboard to create stop motion effects. The plot followed the 1933 film fairly closely and kept it in that time period. Carl Denham was played by Peter Falk. The character was more villainous. Joining the planes in combatting Kong only to fall to his death when Kong destroyed his plane, filming his own demise. Ann Darrow was played by Susan Blakely, who played the character as much more compassionate towards Kong, wanting to save him. The ship known as the Venture instead became the Panama Queen. Jack Driscoll was played by Robert Redford. Several monsters were swapped out. For example the Stegosaurus was instead a Arsinoitherium, or a prehistoric Rhinosaurus. A Parasaurolophus in place of a brontosaurus. The T-Rex however remained. A Triceratops also appears.Giant Scorpions were added to the original's Spdier Pit scene and the Pterodactyl was replaced by a giant prehistoric vulture. In 1982, Universal tried to sue Nintendo for the creation of Donkey Kong. the Judge ruled in favor of Nintendo, pointing out that no one would confuse King Kong for Donkey Kong.

Peter Jackson poses with a statue of Kong fighting to save Ann from three T-Rexes.​

Toho however kept the rights, having gotten them directly from Cooper, and making King Kong Lives! in 1985, and a remake of Godzilla vs King Kong in 1991. Universal finally acquired the rights from Toho in the early, resulting in the Universal Studios ride King Kong Encounter In Universal Studios Hollywood( unlike OTL was not destroyed in a Studio Fire), and Kongfrontation! in Orlando in 1990(closed down in 2002 due to maintenance issues but was restored later on and refurbished into being based of the 1998 Peter Jackson Kong film) and the greenlighting to create a faithful adaptation as they intended. A young director named Peter Jackson was offered the chance. Jackson was elated, King Kong was his favorite film. The film was produced by Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis also funded Peter Jackson's then recent film Tales from the Crypt presents The Frighteners which did well. Jackson even revealed to Universal a massive statue of King Kong fighting three T Rex, which was used for promotion of the film.(OTL the film was delayed for a few reasons, the first was that Godzilla and Mighty Joe Young were coming out and the Studio thought people would be tired of giant monsters. Here the Studio goes through with the film for a few reasons 1. There is no American Godzilla coming out and Kurosawa's Godzilla will likely be subtitled in english and not dubbed so there's a gap. 2. Mighty Joe Young is still coming out and Universal is taking the approach that bigger is better, not to mention King Kong being more famous mean its a surefire stomp at the box office. 3.Universal has at least now a good relationship with Toho, which means they could potentially do a Godzilla vs King Kong film, and 4. Another reason the film wasn't made was because Jackson's The Frighteners underperformed and the studio got cold feet and pulled the plug. Here the original idea for the Frighteners as pitched by Robert Zemeckis is used in that it's a feature film of the Tales from the Crypt, So by slapping that name on the film it does better(Though this adds an intro and ending featuring the Crypt Keeper, and some jokes such as one from the original film where the Crypt Keeper emerges from a coffin where a corpse at least dressed as a woman with dress, wig and a smoke in her mouth is also laying with her bony hands behind her head. He stands up naked and comments "I love it when they lay still like that".

Though often referenced OTL as a 1996 film, the Peter Jackson King Kong movie was intended for a 1998 release OTL. The Script is available online. A summary is below:

The film begins in France in 1917 where Captain Jack Driscoll is playing baseball with his friend while both are piloting Sopwith Camels. They are then ambushed by German planes, including the Red Baron. Jack survives but his best friend is killed in the battle and Jack crashes, forced to survive on his own.

We flash forward to 1933. Jack Driscoll(Played by George Clooney) is helping a British archeological dig led by Ludwig Darrow and his ambitious archeological daughter Ann Darrow(played by Kate Winslet) on a dig in Sumatra meant to uncover Hindu ruins. Filmmaker Carl Denham(played by Robert DeNiro) is there to film the dig and the wildlife for a documentary he is making. The group accidentally crash into buried ruins and discover a hidden area with a large statue of what Anne believes to be the mythical Ape God Kong and two parts of a map to Skull Island. After this discovery, the Hindu authorities arrive and shut down the dig. Mr.Darrow suffers a heart attack due to stress. An intense chase scene through the jungles follows as Jack Driscoll, Carl Denham and Ann Darrow flee the Hindu authorities towards the ship known as the Doc Venture, while being shot at. Their jeep crashes into the river where they are attacked by Giant Sumatran Crocodiles, who eat the Hindu authorities while Jack, Carl and Ann escape.

After putting a group together, the three travel to the Island, where they find the natives living near a giant wall. The natives attack them but they escape. The native later board the Doc Venture and capture Ann. Ann is presented to and abducted by Kong and taken into the jungle. Driscol and Denham form a party to rescue her. The group encounters and lose members to, a herd of hadrosaurus, an Ankylosaurus, a stampede of Brontosaurus chased by a Carnotaurus, a River Monster, and a Triceratops after they kill its child. They reach Kong but are forced to cross a log, which Kong grabs and shakes before hurling down a cliff. Most of the rest of the search party are killed by giant Insects that emerge to attack them except for Jack, Denham and a sailor named Peke. Ann meanwhile, seeing Kong as a savage beast, sings a lullaby to him to try and calm him down when he is enraged. Kong protects her from three tyrannosauruses. Ann is almost eaten as she enter one of their mouths but Kong rips the T-Rex's jaw apart in order to reach in and grab Ann. Ann survives but becomes sick from the bacteria. Kong takes her to his lair to the top of a mountain. The two bond before being attack by a flock Bat like Pteranodons. Jack arrives to save Ann while Peke is killed by an Elasmosaurus. Kong chases Jack and Ann back to the wall, destroying the village and the native people in the process. Denham has his men shoot Kong in the knees and the ape is beaten down until his is knocked out.

Denham shows Kong to many spectators in a stage show while torturing him. Ann tries to stop the show but Denham aggressively holds her back. Kong breaks free, crushing Denham in the process, and escapes into the streets of New York. Ann gives herself to him to stop his rampage and he climbs the Empire State Building to escape his pursuers. Jack, realizing they are sending planes after Kong, retrieves his old World War I plane and flies to the scene to protect Kong. While Kong destroys his plane, he is able to get onto the Empire State Building and rescue Ann, Who Kong hands over to Jack. Ann sings the lullaby to Kong for a final time before he falls off after being shot. Spectators surround Kong's corpse and a policeman comments on the planes bringing him down. An old woman comments that It was Beauty killed the Beast.

Trailer for King Kong​

The Film was a hit. Universal then asked Jackson what he wanted to do next. He turned his attention to adapting the Lord of the Rings for Universal. Aside from the odd choice of an Australian King Kong musical(with only ok musical numbers but a very impressive massive Kong Puppet, which steals the show). Universal sat on the Kong license, waiting for Toho to finish their own promotion of the Great Ape. Finally, when Toho once more rested their Kaiju franchise, Universal signed a deal with Legendary to produce King Kong films as part of the Monsterverse, allowing a Kong they owned to fight Godzilla. Peter Jackson's remake of Son of Kong in 2017 was a return to the same world created by Peter Jackson with him as Director, serving to place his Kong film into the Monsterverse. The Film relied heavily on practical effects rather than CGI to match better with the style of the 1998 film and focused on the revelation that Kong had a son, which would become the new Kong going forward. Then in 2021, King Kong fought Godzilla once more as he had done under the Toho banner. The opening of the film appropriately enough shows an image of Godzilla on a cave wall when Toho's name comes up and an image of Kong with the Universal Logo , showing how two rivals have come together to craft a legendary and iconic rivalry of East vs West. Guillermo Del Toro directed the film, intending to cross it over with Pacific Rim. The film concerns a corporation called Apex building robotic versions of King Kong and Godzilla(Mechanikong and Mechagodzilla). The robot dopplegangers instigate a battle between the two monsters by posing as the real Kaiju and attacking each other, while a group of humans aids Kong in searching for his home in the Hollow Earth(the human presence is reduced OTL, cutting out the Mechagodzilla discovery and conspiracy theory subplot). Mothra appears in the film in the final battle and aids in turning the tide as the Mechanical Imposters are defeated. Many have jokingly added subtitles to the scene where the two Kaiju clash.

"Godzilla: You were never a Kaiju. You were never even a King."

King Kong: Save...Mothra.

Godzilla: WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME!?"

Scene from 2021's Godzilla vs King Kong.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

Before DC: National Comics and The Golden Age

Fanzine commemorating Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

The Company that would become DC was founded as National Allied Publications in Autumn 1934 by Entrepeneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Its first published work was the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1, later retitled More Fun Comics with a cover dated February 1935. The Superhero trend had not taken off yet and so the series was instead an anthology of original stories in an age where most comic books reprinted newspaper strips, this included Western and Adventure. The first character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was Doctor Occult in December 1935 within Issue 6 of New Fun Comics. Arguably the first Superhero despite lacking a colorful costume, instead be an occult detective. More Comic Book lines would be launched with more serious tones such as New Comics, the first issue being released in December 1935, which kicked off the Adventure Comics series.

The final title released by Wheeler-Nicholson was Detective Comics, which began in December 1936 but was delayed three months and released in 1937 instead. Like the others it was an anthology focusing on Detective Stories and is the longest running ongoing comic series. At the time the most notable character to exist in its pages was the hard hitting Detective Slam Bradley, who was created by the combined force of Malcolm-Wheeler-Nicholson, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Problems arose in 1937, when the company owed a debt to Printing Plant owner and Magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld. Donenfeld also published pulp magazines and was a Principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News. As a result of owing him, Wheeler-Nicholson were forced to take Donenfeld on as a partner to get Detective Comics No 1 off the ground. This was when the company Detective Comics, Inc was formed. The credited founders being Wheeler-Nicholson, and Donenfeld's accountant Jack S.Liebowitz. This resolved a money problem, which led to Major Wheeler Nicholson kicking Jack S.Liebowitz, with this motion, Detective Comics, Inc was dissolved and National Allied was set up in its place.

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
In 1938, Max Gaines formed the sister company All-American Publications. National Allied also launched a new title with Action Comics #1. For this comic, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster reworked an old story they had written called "Reign of the Superman" in which a scientist grants a man powerful psychic powers which he then uses to terrorize the world, killing the scientist only to discover his powers were only temporary and return to being an unknown normal man. The reworking instead concerned Superman, who as a baby was sent to Earth from the planet Krypton prior to the planet's destruction(unlike OTL, Jor-El and Lara are glimpsed here for the first time rather than years later). He was then raised by an elderly couple known as the Kents, who name him Clark Kent. As an adult, Clark Kent dons the costume of Superman to fight crime while maintaining a secret identity and falling in love with reporter Lois Lane, who from the very beginning suspects he is Superman, not falling for his obvious disguise but struggles to prove it. Superman is credited with being the first Superhero, with the costume and secret identity aspect established. Others argue that Doctor Occult should be considered, or even earlier examples such as the french Nyctalope, or the Scarlet Pimpernel. One of the disputed contenders for the title ironically shared a spot with Superman in Action Comics #1. Lee Falk, famous for his creation of Mandrake the Magician in 1934 and The Phantom in 1936 had left his comfortable nest egg at William Randolph Hearst's King Syndicate and moved to work for National Allied. He brought Mandrake the Magician and the Phantom with him. Mandrake was given a spot in Action Comics #1(This action butterflies away Giovanni Zatara, known in mainstream Comics as the Father of Magician Superhero Zatanna, by providing a Magician Character already in existence but still provides a chance for Zatanna to exist thanks to Mandrake's inclusion). The Phantom meanwhile was thrown into Detective Comics.

Action Comics #1
Action Comics #1 also included the Texas born adventurer Tex Thompson, created by Ken Finch and Bernard Baily. With these additional properties, Action Comics #1 was a massive hit(more so than OTL thanks to Mandrake the Magician, a pre-established character, making his National Allied Debut and people checking in to see how different if any the stories are compared to King's Syndicate). Despite costing 10 cents at release, copies of Action Comics #1 are now worth millions of dollars, making it one of the most expensive and valuable comics of all time.

Detective Comics #20 premiered in October 1938. National Allied had been given the rights to create a Comic Book series out of the Green Hornet Radio Show. This issue marked the Green Hornet's Comic Debut(OTL the first Green Hornet Comics were published by Helnit Comics and attributed to Frans Striker, serving largely as adaptations of the radio stories. Here with National Allied the Comic Series will be much more successful. This also butterflies away the creation of the Crimson Avenger, who bares many similarities to the Green Hornet).

In Action Comics #6 from November 1938, An unnamed Office Boy later retconned into being Jimmy Olsen is introduced by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Detective Comics #27
Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in March 1939. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, Batman was depicted as a Bat themed vigilante who beat down criminals(unlike OTL he does not kill them in his first appearance and does not use guns, similar to Superman, who also does not kill). Many iconic elements of Batman were established in his first appearance. He is seen in a Cave, driving a Bat themed Cark and catching criminals wearing a Batsuit. The point of view character is Police Commissioner James Gordon, who is tasked with discovering the identity of the Batman. He interviews Billionaire Bruce Wayne during his investigation but is convinced it is not him. Gordon and the Batman both go after criminals, tracking down a mob boss named Jack Napier to a chemical plant, where despite Batman's attempt to save him, he falls into a vat of chemicals. Batman and Gordon talk briefly before Batman leaves. Batman's identity and history is then revealed to the reader. When Bruce Wayne was young his parents were murdered before his eyes. He then devoted himself to training to fight crime and catch his parent's killer. He tried going out in street clothes to fight crime but was badly beaten. Returning home, he saw a Bat fly through his window and took it as a sign, donning the costumed identity of the Batman.

In April 1939, All American Publications released its first Comic Series All American Comics.

Superman became the First Superhero to get his own Comic Book Series rather than be featured in an anthology. A Newspaper Strip was also launched.

In Action Comics No. 13(June 1939) The first supervillain is introduced in the form of the Ultra-Humanite. Ultra-Humanite is Bill Dunn, the character from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's The Reign of the Superman. After losing his powers he now seeks a way to bring them back. He's retained an enhanced intelligence but has been paralyzed, using his intelligence to combat Superman.

In Detective Comics #29(July 1939), Batman's Utility Belt is fully introduced in a story by Gardner Fox.

First Issue of Wonder Comics
In August 1939, National Allied Publishing's rival , Fox Feature Syndicate founded by Victor S. Fox, decided to get into Comics. He set up his office in the same building as National Allied Publishing and founded Fox Feature Syndicate. He then released a Superhero of his own in The Blue Beetle. The Blue Beetle was an archeologist named Dan Garrett, who found a mystical scarab in Egypt that granted him super powers. Will Eisner was contacted by Fox and drew the first issue of Wonder Comics, which introduced Wonder Man. Wonder Man was secretly radio engineer Fred Carson, who worked for the International Broadcasting Corporation. While in Tibet and surviving a crash, an old monk gave Carson a ring with magical abilities that were almost exactly like those of Superman. In his first issue he travels to the war torn nation of Tatonia and defeats Dictator General Attila and stops a war. He then rescues his boss's daughter, a Red Cross nurse named Brenda, who becomes his girlfriend.

National Allied Publications noticed the similarities between Wonder Man and Superman and sued Fox Feature Syndicate for Copyright infringement. The case was brought to court as National Allied Publications v. Bruns Publications, Inc.

In Action Comics #16(September 1939), Superman's Home city of Metropolis was first named, which helped to distinguish it from Wonder Man being active in New York.

In Detective Comics #31(September 1939), The Batarang, the Batplane, and a love interest for Batman in the form of Julie Madison were all introduced.

In November 1939. The Superman newspaper strip first named the Newspaper Clark Kent works at the Daily Planet(Never named the Daily Star ITTL).

Fawcett Comics emerged as DC's original main competitor in 1939.

Superman and Batman met for the first time in a story depicting the two teaming up at the Metropolis World's Fair to defeat a villain known as the Phantom of the Fair, later revealed to be Superman's archenemy the Ultra-Humanite.

National vs Fawcett

The Trial of National Allied Publications v. Bruns Publications, Inc. was underway in 1940. An excerpt from the trial:

"Each publication portrays a man of miraculous strength and speed called "Superman" in "Action Comics" and "Wonderman" in the magazine of Bruns. The attributes and antics of "Superman" and "Wonderman" are closely similar. Each at times conceals his strength beneath ordinary clothing but after removing his cloak stands revealed in full panoply in a skintight acrobatic costume. The only real difference between them is that "Superman" wears a blue uniform and "Wonderman" a red one. Each is termed the champion of the oppressed. Each is shown running toward a full moon "off into the night", and each is shown crushing a gun in his powerful hands. "Superman" is pictured as stopping a bullet with his person and "Wonderman" as arresting and throwing back shells. Each is depicted as shot at by three men, yet as wholly impervious to the missiles that strike him. "Superman" is shown as leaping over a twenty story building, and "Wonderman" as leaping from building to building. "Superman" and "Wonderman" are each endowed with sufficient strength to rip open a steel door. Each is described as being the strongest man in the world and each as battling against "evil and injustice."

In the aftermath of the trial, new rules regarding Copyright and Parody were established. Fox paid a large fine, but Wonder Man had reached a level of popularity thanks to the trial. The stories were required to be wholly original and not be caught tracing art from the Superman stories or risk being forced to be dropped. Blue Beetle and Wonder Man remained mainstays of Fox Comics. National Allied Publications also sued Fawcett Comics over their character of Master Man, who bore similar powers to Superman, including Superstrength, Superspeed, and flight. This lawsuit, due to the earlier rules set out by Copyright and Parody, went nowhere. Master Man would ultimately be dropped when the US entered the War due to fear he may have been promoting Nazi ideologies unintentionally given he claimed to be from a Master Race and was blonde haired and blue eyed. This would come full circle with the character later being repurposed as a Nazi Supervillain posing as a Superhero.

After several critics mocked National Allied Publications by abbreviating their initials as NAP, using this to claim their books were of dull quality and mock them during the trial, the company changed its name to National Comics Publications in 1946. Despite the name change, people had begun to refer to National Comics as "DC" due to the success of Detective Comics. The Company by now had multiple rivals emerging such as Fawcett Comics, Quality Comics, Charlton Comics, Fox Comics and, to a lesser extent, Timely Comics. A new company emerged led by none other than Max Gaines and Liebowitz. The two had started their own comic company to compete with National Comic in the form EC, or Entertaining Comics. In the late 1940's, facing competition and angered by the their failed effort to get Wonder Man, a blatant ripoff in their eyes, cancelled, National Comics became aggressive towards what it perceived as copyright violations. This culminated in a lawsuit towards Fawcett Comics over the character of Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel was a child granted the power by the wizard Shazam to turn into an adult Superhero. Captain Marvel was hugely profitable for Fawcett, being the first Superhero adapted into Film in 1941's The Adventures of Captain Marvel and by 1940 was the most popular Superhero in the country and sold the most issues. Fawcett had created an entire line of spinoff characters whom Captain Marvel had granted the powers of Shazam to such as Captain Marvel Jr, Mary Marvel, Uncle Marvel(ITTL, Mary Batson's actual uncle), and Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. Elements of the Captain Marvel stories had gone into the Superman stories and this was used against National Comics, including a bald nemesis in Lex Luthor, which Captain Marvel had done first in Dr.Sivana, and stories focused on Superboy, which were paralleled by the adventures of Captain Marvel Jr.

National Comics sent multiple ceased and desist orders to Fawcett but nothing happened and they filed a lawsuit. Republic Pictures was listed as Co-Defendant due to demands that they withhold the release of The Adventures of Captain Marvel, which were ignored. At the trial(Occurring earlier than OTL in the early 40's, meaning Captain Marvel is at the height of its popularity), National Comics presented over a binder of over pages in length showcasing Superman performing heroic feats and then panels of Captain Marvel doing the same event at a later date, Fawcett provided examples fo Captain Marvel doing the feats earlier than Superman and by providing examples of earlier heroes like Popeye and Tarzan doing the same thing. Fawcett employees were brought in and testified as well. However, what determined the trial was the a pending lawsuit from Superman creators from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who were fighting for the rights to the character of Superman, since Superman's rights were involved, the cases were folded together. Siegel and Shuster were given custody of Superman and asked about their opinion on Captain Marvel. The trial was decided in Fawcett's (Captain Marvel's) favor because of information Fawcett's lawyers had uncovered about Superman's copyright status. The defense lawyers provided evidence that National Comics and the McClure Syndicate failed to copyright several of their Superman newspaper comic strips, and the trial judge decided that National had abandoned its Superman copyright such that it was no longer valid. Fawcett had won the lawsuit and would survive into the new age.

Panel from Mad Magazine strip parodying the National Comics/Fawcett Trial(Yes I know Fawcett Comics Survives already used this panel in much the same way. This is the last time this will happen I assure you).

Due to the lawsuit, National Comics took a major risk and approved the 1940 Siegel and Shuster story, The K-Metal from Krypton(A story rejected by the editors OTL which would have forever changed the Superman mythos while also adding elements introduced later in canon such as Kryptonite). The story was approved because National Comics wanted to differentiate itself more from Captain Marvel and the elements it had copied. Superman was depowered by a passing Meteorite made out of K metal(TTL's Kryptonite). Superman suddenly becoming weaker led to the Superhero discovering he was an alien(which he himself was not aware of at this time, believing himself to be a human born with extraordinary abilities). The readers however were aware of this as his origin was told to the audience and that he was sent to Earth as a baby and his parents deceased by his adulthood. He was also introduced to K Metal proper by a scientist, who revealed the element granted ordinary men extraordinary abilities. In the story, the scientist demonstrates this by lifting his desk with one hand, in addition to weakening Superman. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are trapped in a cave by criminals. Just then the Meteor passes and Clark's powers return. He now sees no choice but to reveal his identity as Superman and does so, as well as saving Lois. Lois proposes she work as his partner now that she knows. Superman decided to do away with his Clark Kent identity permanently.

While the meteor passed, it was later revealed pieces had fallen to Earth, providing the new element of K Metal as a constant threat. Lois took more of a sidekick role, aiding Superman when she could. The story sent ripples through the comic book world. The Secret Identity was now far more optional and the trope of the love interest not knowing a Hero's true identity outdated.

Superman reveals his identity to Lois Lane, The K Metal from Krypton, 1940, Reprint

Going into the years of the War, National Comics released several new Heroes within this period. Many of which were grouped together in the Justice Society of America, which by mandate was required to have Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman as members in every issue(OTL Wonder Woman was a secretary and Superman and Batman were largely kept out). Together these heroes were depicted fighting Nazis and later the Japanese. However, due to many Japanese-Americans signing up to combat the Japanese Empire, propaganda against them was toned down, Japanese caricatures were more subdued and propaganda focused on avenging the attack on Pearl Harbor such as "Remember Remember the 7th of December".

Wonder Woman was a feminist Icon at the time, though admittedly created by William Marston, who often included aspects of his own fetishes into his creation, and as such there was a great deal of bondage in the early works. Marston was also the inventor of the lie detector, hence the choice of Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. As the series went on it gained more feminist elements as well as more science Fiction elements. Marston and his artist Murchison wrote a finale for the series in 1947 which brought back Wonder Woman's old villains, including Hypnota and the slavers of Saturn and a plot to start a war between Saturn and Earth which would see Slavery be abolished on Saturn. This was the last thing Marston wrote before his death.

By the late 1940's, the popularity of Superheroes began to fade and National Comics shifted to focusing on Science Fiction, Western, humor, crime and Romance. National Comics also dived into Horror, which was tame compared to their competitors, allowing them to avoid the backlash against other Horror Comics at the time. Their competitor Entertaining Comics, known for their Horror, shifted to Humor. The result was their longest living title Mad Magazine, which delighted in taking pot shots at their old enemy, mocking the Superman and Captain Marvel controversy in their first issue. National Comics was able to survive the 50's, unlike most companies. Action Comics and Detective Comics, the longest running titles, would survive, as would Superman(thanks in part to the success of The Adventures of Superman), Batman, Wonder Woman and a few others. Nearing the 60's, it was decided that a shake up was needed, starting with the company's name. It was already being called Detective Comics from both the staff and the fans. Why not make it official? And so DC was officially born.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

Universal Monsters(1935-1940)

The Bride of Frankenstein(1935)​

The long planned sequel to Frankenstein with Henry Frankenstein made to survive the first film to allow the possibility of a sequel. Director James Whale initially refused to return but after The Invisible Man, changed his mind and was seen by producer Carl Laemmle, Jr. as the only possible director. Whale didn't think he could top the original so decided to do it just for fun. After several failed scripts, the writers returned to the original book where the monster demanded a bride. Ernest Thesiger was introduced as Dr.Praetorius. Mae Clarke returned as Henry Frankenstein's love interest, Elizabeth. All actors returned. Karloff was against the monster speaking, being quoted as saying: "Speech! Stupid! My argument was that if the monster had any impact or charm, it was because he was inarticulate – this great, lumbering, inarticulate creature. The moment he spoke you might as well ... play it straight." Bela Lugosi returned to play a surviving Igor, who had the scar from being hanged by the monster. Dwight Frye played a minor character named "Nephew Glutz", a man who murdered his uncle and blamed the death on the Monster. Boris Karloff is credited simply as KARLOFF, which was Universal's custom during the height of his career. The monster's Bride is credited as "The Bride" with the actress being credited a question mark. Something done with Karloff's name for the first film. The film was largely untouched by the censors ITTL. The plot is similar to OTL

Werewolf of London(1935)​

Unlike OTL, the film stars Bela Lugosi as a man who is bitten and turned into a Werewolf. There is some confusion as to when the film is set Edwardian era costumes are used but then modern cars from 1933 at the latest are seen, thus placing the film contemporary to its release date. The Film inspired the song "Werewolves of London" and the film "An American Werewolf in London".

Dracula vs Frankenstein(1935)​

Initially intended to be a Final Film based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The Studio pushed for Dracula vs Frankenstein. While The Bride of Frankenstein had been made, it soon became clear a sequel to Dracula was not going to be made, leading to the VS film being greenlit. Characters and actors from both films returned. From Dracula there was Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing. From Frankenstein there was Karloff as the Monster, James Whale as Director, and Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein among others. The Film revealed that Igor and Dr.Praetorius were both minions of Dracula seeking to revive him. Dracula wished to command an undead army. the Vampire count is revived by Igor and his minions and intends to revive the Frankenstein Monster with Van Helsing and Henry Frankenstein both joining forces to stop him. The Frankenstein Monster is put under a spell to justify him acting in a way that contradicts his choice at the conclusion of The Bride of Frankenstein. The Bride herself also appears to justify that if the Monster survived the explosion at the previous film's conclusion, the Bride would have as well. in the end, the two monsters appear to finally destroy each other, ending their reign of terror. The Film was the biggest hit to date. Like with his previous films, Director James Whale was reluctant to do it but did it anyway and ended up topping the previous film.

Advertisements for the film began showing the two stars, similar to this OTL Video. Though both men then talk to the audience and introduce the trailer to the film.

Carmilla, Daughter of Dracula(1936)​

Based on a book ,which possibly contains the first fictional depiction of a Lesbian relationship. Carmilla's plot helped to tie up loose ends in the original Dracula, beginning with Van Helsing scouring Dracula's castle for other Vampires, missing one concealed coffin belonging to his daughter Carmilla, Carmilla awakens and follows Van Helsing back to London where she begins terrorizing women whom she seduces, however, she is shown to be searching for a way to be free of Vampirism and begins to fall genuinely in love with a woman, ending in her ending her own life. The film took some risk, such as showing a room in Carmilla's home full of whips and straps, which while never used on screen, their purpose was implied. Todd Browning returned to direct the film and did his best not to demonize Lesbianism despite the antagonist of the film belonging to such a group. The Film starred Gloria Holden in her first horror role. She disliked being in the film as she was afraid of being type cast and like many actors saw Horror films as being of a low standard of quality. Ironically, this disgust. arguably helped her performance as she plays a woman desperately trying to escape the conditions she finds herself in but still compelled to act out her predetermined role.

The Raven(1936)​

With the previous film starring Lugosi and Karloff together having been a massive hit, the plot of the Raven was changed. The Film's plot now concerning Auguste Dupin investigating a series of crimes that are modeled after Edgar Allen Poe stories, forcing the Detective and the author to work together to solve the crime as they encounter murders paralleling stories from the Pit and the Pendulum, the Masque of Red Death, The Cask of Amontillado, and the Tell-Tale Heart. Dupin is now played by Boris Karloff while Poe is played by Bela Lugosi, however the film often demonstrates a distrust between the two as they investigate the crimes.

Son of Frankenstein(1939)​

After a long break from horror films, Son of Frankenstein was released while universal considered remaking their older films, namely The Old Dark House. Karloff would return as would Bela Lugosi, and they would be joined by Basil Rathbone as the titular son of Frankenstein. Peter Lorre also joined the cast as did Claude Rains. Gene Wilder, only 6 at the time, played Baron Wolf Von Frankenstein's young son(and would play the same character in Young Frankenstein). Lugosi had fallen on hard times but then received a call from Eric Umann to appear at the Regina Theatre for screenings of Dracula, Frankenstein and Son of Kong, and shortly after was cast in Son of Frankenstein. Lugosi said; "I owe it all to that little man at the Regina Theatre. I was dead and he brought me to life." He ended up overshadowing Karloff's monster in the eyes of many.

The Script involved Wolf Frankenstein, his wife Elise and his young son Erwin travelling to the ruins of Castle Frankenstein due to his inheritance. Only for Igor to return and revive the monster to attack Wolf Frankenstein's family. The remains of Dr.Praetorius also appear in the film. The script also featured Inspector Neumüllerr, who lost an arm to the monster. While the film was a success, Karloff suffered several back problems due to the makeup and prosphetics required for the role and would retire from his role as the monster.

Richard the Third(1939)​

OTL's Tower of London, basically a horror film based on the murders alleged to have been committed by Richard the Third, using the Shakespear play for inspiration, starring Basil Rathbone.

The Invisible Man Returns(1940)​

Largely the same as OTL. Marking Vincent Price's first big film role.

The Mummy Returns(1940)​

With Son of Frankenstein and the Invisible Man Returns reviving the monster films, it was decided to revive the Mummy as well. This film plot wise is similar to The Mummy Returns of the Brendan Frasier films but several scenes are removes due to the inability to realize them at this time such as the presence of a Monkey mummies and the Scorpion King. Karloff returned but since he was taking a break from heavy monster makeup after Son of Frankenstein due to the pain it caused, he is instead revived in human form and seeks great power with another Mummy, Kharis, serving as his undead servant in life and in death.

The Invisible Woman(1940)​

Starring Margaret Sullivan, while originally conceived as a Comedy, it instead played the idea straight as a horror film, which centered on a woman who is stalked and tormented by an invisible man managing to kill him and recover the invisibility serum he used to seek revenge on several people who wronged her, resulting in several murders.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

Lord of the Rings​

The Works of J.R.R.Tolkien are revered. Beginning with the children's book the Hobbit in 1937. Tolkien had foresight in mind and chose to set up his Lord of the Rings series in his first book, weaving it in organically without bogging down the story, such as having Bilbo steal the ring from Gollum after being attacked by him.

The Lord of the Rings series followed with Tolkien choosing to cut down on the intense detail of specific objects. Among the changes from OTL are Aragon marrying Éowyn, who is his romantic interest as she was in the original draft(the various draft changes led to this being told in the appendices rather than the book itself. here the story is simplified so that it is built up since the beginning and Arwen is not introduced). Treebeard and the Ents appeared at the last battle in front of the Black Gate, after they act as The Cavalry for Lothlórien. Another divergence introduced are good Orcs, who meet Sam and Frodo, most of them being built up throughout the books by some of the Orcs in the army expressing their displeasure, before they meet and befriend Frodo and Sam and wage a Civil War(the reason why the Orcs start fighting among each other in this version). This is due to Tolkien regretting not depicting sympathetic Orcs afterwards, as being a Catholic, he did not believe a whole species was "Irredeemably Evil".

Tolkien did write another book, but released it as a short sequel story in a collection. He did not want to undo the hardship the characters of the LOTR series went through by introducing a new villain on the same scale as Sauron, rendering the struggle of the LOTR protagonists meaningless. As a result the sequel is much shorter. Set 100 years after LOTR in the Fourth Age, the series a peaceful future where boys play as Orcs and have never seen one. This era is somewhat spoiled. Never having known conflict. The plot revolves around Aragorn's Descendant stopping an evil cult from summoning a new evil into the world. Tolkien also released The History of Middle-earth which enforced his belief that his stories are the past setting of our world with the renaming of Tol Eressëa into England, setting the story clearly in our world's past.

concept art from Disney's The Hobbit.

Early Adaptations​

Even as the trilogy was being completed, there were several efforts to adapt it. The first came from Walt Disney, who wished to adapt the Hobbit around 1938. Tolkien did not wish this adaptation as he intended the series to become darker over time. The Hobbit however, worked as a children's book on its own. Disney did not yet have plans to adapt the darker Lord of the Rings stories and so a strange sort of deal was struck where Disney would adapt only the Hobbit, which satisfied Tolkien. Disney's The Hobbit was released in 1952. Disney would later begin to move towards darker stories and made plans to adapt the Lord of the Rings in 1985 after their success with Star Wars. However, these plans never materialized and Disney instead turned their attention to adapting The Chronicles of Prydian.

In the intervening time in 1956, Forest J Ackerman and Al Brodax approached Tolkien with a proposal for an animated adaptation the rest of the series. The screenplay was written up by an amateur screenwriter named Morton Grady Zimmerman. Ackerman showed artwork by Ron Cobb and Zimmerman's story synopsis to Tolkien, which condensed the story into three hours with two intermissions, and filming locations in California, the latter of which impressed Tolkien. However, he hated everything else. Though he liked the way the film intended to be done, a process involved a combination of Animation, Miniatures and Live Action. Tolkien liked the next batch of concept art by Arthur Rackham style concept art a lot more, however, he refused to hand the rights over until the script be changed. In the original script, Tolkien's objections included that Lothlorien was described to him as a fairy-castle, and the story had been greatly condensed. While Tolkien noted that a film "would be pleasant", he delayed in reviewing the synopsis until urged by Unwin, and once he delivered his initial notes to Ackerman, the agent was granted a six-month option if he could find a producer to finance the project. He intended to make the film with American International Pictures, but president James Nicholson declined, as did other studio heads.

Tolkien was sent a 55-page treatment by Zimmerman, which he still disliked. Keeping his publisher's financial interests in mind (and his own, as he neared retirement), Tolkien was polite but largely criticized the script. He complained of divergences from not only the tone of the book (such as a "fairy-tale" depiction of Lothlórien, as well as elements cut "upon which the book's characteristic and peculiar tone principally depends" but also the character representation (such as Sam leaving Frodo to Shelob and going on to Mount Doom alone). He took issue with dialogue changes as regards to the "style and sentiment" of characters, and with intercutting between the storylines of Frodo and Aragorn. He suggested eliminating the battle of Helm's Deep to better emphasize the defense of Minas Tirith, and cutting characters out instead of diminishing their roles. Tolkien protested against added "incantations, blue lights, and some irrelevant magic" and "a preference for fights".

Nevertheless, Tolkien didn't wish to kill the project. The treatment was looked at and was criticized by Ian Nathan, Tom Shippey and other Script Doctors. Kristin Thompson noted the amateur nature of the enterprise, saying that it never represented a serious attempt to make a commercial film. Zimmerman was fired and a new more professional screenwriter was brought in, changing the script to adapt only the first book. The Project was finally completed and released in 1957 as The Fellowship of the Ring. Despite its success, Ackerman was forced to let any plans for continuing go as he had fallen behind on payments and the film failed to pay for what he could not afford.

In 1959, Tolkien entered negotiations with Robert Gutwillig for an adaptation of The Two Towers, hoping for a more faithful adaptation. Tolkien told Gutwillig he had "given a considerable amount of time and thought" to how Lord of the Rings could better be adapted, noting "some ideas concerning what I think would be desirable" as well as the "difficulties" involved. Tolkien spoke with Gutwillig's agent and producer, Samuel W. Gelfman. Their discussion were amicable. Tolkien found Gelfman intelligent and reasonable, Tolkien directed Gelfman to his publishers and from there a film was made, The Two Towers being released in 1960 and continuing from the Ackerman film. Return of the King was then also adapted in 1961.

In 1961, William L. Snyder negotiated the rights to adapt The Hobbit to animation for his Oscar-winning company, Rembrandt films. He leased The Hobbit for five years. Due to a mishap in the publishing of the first edition, the book was public domain in the US(which is why Snyder wanted to adapt it). Snyder renegotiated the lease to give Tolkien and Unwin only a $15,000 advance. Tolkien thought Snyder was "sure to perpetrate[...many objectionable things" but leased the rights to the producer in 1962. Snyder commissioned cartoonist Gene Deitch to write a script for a feature-length Hobbit cartoon; this took liberties with the text, inserting a princess of Dale who goes on the quest with Bilbo and ends up marrying him. Deitch was unaware of The Lord of the Rings until later, when he incorporated the concept of the Ring of Power into the Gollum (or Goloom, as he's called in the cartoon) episode later in the writing, making a sequel based on The Lord of the Rings possible. The result was a full length animated film. It was screened in New York in 1967. Soon After the rights to The Lord of the Rings; were sold back Tolkien for a higher price. However, publisher Sir Stanley Unwin maintained that Snyder continued to hold only the rights to The Hobbit, and that they were then sold directly to United Artists when they secured the rights to The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien negotiated television rights to the books separately. Carole Ward suggested adapting The Lord of the Rings for television in 1964, to air on the newly launched BBC2. ITV launched a competing offer, according to which the book would be adapted via puppetry, which Tolkien found contemptuous, cancelling the project. Another attempt at purchasing the television rights was made in 1968, which would have put it concurrently with the cinema rights being sold to United Artists.

The idea of live-action fantasy has become fashionable in the early 1960's due to the success of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion productions. By 1967, Gelfman established Katzka-Bernie productions with Gabriel Katzka and entered negotiations with Tolkien to adapt The Lord of the Rings for United Artists, "with an option for The Hobbit.(which was less on the table due to its recent adaptation)", believing they could do it justice using Stop Motion for the monsters. As was the case with Snyder, the emerging contracts would provide United Artists with complete creative freedom over the works, and even offered UA first bidding at the television rights, which were negotiated separately but never sold to them. Meanwhile, a couple of American teenagers unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the rights to The Hobbit from Tolkien himself. Joy Hill, Tolkien's secretary who worked for Allen & Unwin, was said to have contacted Disney for the rights at the time, and it was possible this was done to place United Artists in a competitive position. MGM were also said to have been interested in the rights at the time.

United Artists were the studio behind several of the lucrative widescreen epics of the decade. In the 1960's, long widescreen epics (presented as a roadshow with an intermission) still proved successful, but few sequels were made in that genre, and therefore Katzka-Bernie commissioned Sir Peter Shaffer to write a treatment for a single, three-hour film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, which was deemed "elegant", keeping The Hobbit in mind as a potential prequel. Merchandizing was of little concern at the time, but the rights to make profit from such products were included in the contract. Tolkien had grown to dislike the idea of condensing the books into one film. United Artists had no desire for a trilogy at the time. Tolkien, feeling the end was near, set-up a trust fund for his grandchildren and his ailing wife so they could remain financially stable as the series was repeatedly adapted.

Two Posters for Lord of the Rings, 1970.​

At the time, The Beatles were on a three-picture deal with United Artists. Their previous two features, A Hard Day's Night(1964) and Help!(1965), directed by Richard Lester, were successful. When it became clear that the animated Yellow Submarine(1968) would not count as part of this deal, Denis O'Dell (head of the Beatles' Apple Films) entered negotiations for their third film. He came up with the idea of a Lord of the Rings "multimedia musical extravaganza", starring the Beatles as the four Hobbits. He learned that United Artists were in negotiations for the rights.

In conversation with studio heads David and Arnold Picker, it was decided that a "star director" was required. O'Dell shortlisted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Lean declined. O'Dell left to India to visit the Beatles, with the books in his suitcase. At the behest of Donovan, the band examined the books and began to think "seriously" about the idea. According to O'Dell, John Lennon fancied the role of Gandalf, but then wanted to swap for Frodo. Ringo Starr wanted to play Sam, while Paul McCartney coveted Frodo. It then changed as Lennon wanted to be Gollum instead, Ringo still played Sam, and Harrison would play Gandalf. Donovan was keen on Merry, and they wanted Twiggy for Galadriel.

Kubrick, just off the success of the special effects pioneering 2001: A Space Odyssey(Part of this is Space Odyssey, being different, not as slow and less vague, turning it more into a film akin to Alien), accepted the role as the studio promised to fund him dream Project Napoleon. Though the resulting Lord of the Rings film was bizarre(OTL Kubrick called Lord of the Rings unfilmable, though many agree that he was right...for the time)it is artistically surreal. It is filled with the songs by the Beatles and is not accurate to the book(not like that ever stopped Kubrick before). The plot essentially turned the Beatles(and their characters) into the protagonists, as such Gollum is more prevalent since Lennon plays him, essentially joining the fellowship once Frodo meets him, which consists largely of the four Beatles, though they are joined by others (OTL the best films to compare it to would be a cross between the 1967 Casino Royale for how surreal and bizarre it is and Excalibur though improved by Kubrick's presence). The film condenses the trilogy into one narrative and includes parts of the Hobbit to streamline the story(for example Gandalf recruiting Frodo has shades of the Hobbit where he recruits Bilbo, and the first meeting between Frodo and Gollum borrows from the Bilbo and Gollum interaction in The Hobbit. This change was brought about by John Boorman, who acted as Producer. The scene also has several psychedelic scenes, including Frodo and Galadriel having a romantic relationship and even sex.

Producer John Boorman during Production of the 1970 Lord of the Rings.
​

Other changes brought about by Boorman included the removal of huge parts of the story from the second and third books, removing Tom Bombadil, Bree, several elven characters, the Watcher in the Water, Lórien (Galadriel and her people appeared in a tent by a lake), the Ents, all which happens in Rohan and Isengard save for Edoras (with Saruman appearing in another place), Faramir, a lot of the Battle of the Pelennor, Minas Morgul, Cirith Ungol (Shelob would appear in Barad-Dur), the Eagles and the Scourge. The Council of Rivendell included a musical performance to explain the story of Sauron and the rings using kabuki puppets and the medieval circus act. Elrond was given a beard, Legolas wore an outfit made of leaves and feathers, Éowyn healed Frodo's shoulder from the Nazgul wound, though Elrond would have got Gimli ready to chop Frodo's arm to stop the black magic from spreading should the spell fail. The Nazgul had blind, skull-like faces, and the Witch King's flying steed was replaced by a zombie horse. There was a bounty placed upon the Hobbits, which forced Frodo to use the ring to escape some paupers. Gimli(whom the fan nicknamed " Hobbeatles" met on the road) was put in a hole and beaten by the Orcs in order to retrieve the password to Moria from his ancestral memory(Apparently, Boorman and his scriptwriter wrote this part because they loved Gimli, which makes one wonder what would have they come up with if they didn't). Aragorn came to blows with Boromir over the pieces of Narsil, which remained unfixed through the film, but Éowyn stopped them to make them share the sword, performing a magic ritual that made Boromir weep and kiss Aragorn. Gandalf and Saruman fought a duel of verbal magic portrayed with wordplay. Gandalf started shouting "I am the snake about to strike!"(shot of an actual snake), Saruman replied "I am the staff that crushes the snake!"(shot of a wooden staff crushing a snake) and so on. Frodo and Galadriel had sexual intercourse in order for him to gaze into her mirror, as Celeborn didn't exist here. Both Legolas and Boromir attempted to seduce Galadriel too, the former by doing a tribal dance and the latter by flexing his muscles. There was a scene where, after eating some strange mushrooms, the Hobbeatles started having hallucinations, including golden flowers, naked children running around, and sinister living scarecrows, which led to a trippy song. Aragorn's healing of Éowyn would have taken place on the battlefield and given sexual overtones(As a result of this film being made, Boorman does not make Excalibur ITTL which used plot devices and effects from the cancelled film).

At the time, Marvel Comics was considering adapting either Conan the Barbarian or Lord of the Rings. The Release of a new Lord of the Rings film convinced them to go with that idea, However, the film was very different from the source material, being too bizarre and so the comic itself was very strange, Marvel having difficulty adapting the various musical scenes. The Comic Adaptation would become an old shame as Marvel shifted to adapting the Conan stories instead. For his 400th episode, Comic Reviewer Linkara did a review of the Comic Adaptation of the Beatles's Lord of the Rings, complete with parody versions of the song and a minor cameo by Paul McCartney(Basically replaces the OTL adaptation of the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film).

In 1972, animators Rankin and Bass wanted to adapt Tolkien's works to animation as part of their series of television specials. Rankin thought adapting the whole Lord of the Rings completely in stop motion was impossible and that the audience "wouldn't sit still for it." He decided "that the Tolkien property that they could handle was 'The Hobbit'," although portions of The Lord of the Rings were optioned as a sequel given pressure from the network. At $2 million to produce, the special would prove the costliest made up to that time, and starred John Huston, a fan of the book, as Gandalf. They contacted Tolkien's Estate, who declined, but Rankin pointed out that the books were public domain in the US. The Estate, along with Saul Zaentz who had since purchased the film rights, tried to stop the production through a lawsuit, but it instead "became authorized through a series of settlement agreements" which allowed the special to air in Canada, where the books weren't public domain. Abandoning the stop motion, Ralph Bakshi, wanted to adapt the series since 1957, United Artists allowed him to adapt the Hobbit first. Rankin and Bass was looking for animators and Bakshi stepped in, adapting The Hobbit in 1977.

​

Ralph Bakshi​

Poster for the first Lord of the Rings film by Bakshi.
​

In 1957, Ralph Bakshi sought to obtain the rights for an animated version, aiming to make a Tolkienesque fantasy film "in the American idiom". This led to the animated film Wizards. After Tolkien's death in 1973, Bakshi started an "annual trip" to Medavoy, proposing that United Artists produce The Lord of the Rings as two or three animated films, with a Hobbit prequel. Medavoy offered him a script by Boorman a few times but Bakshi refused, saying that Boorman "didn't understand it" and that his movie was a cheap product like "a Roger Corman film". Bakshi was given The Hobbit as a test run by Rankin and Bass. When the film proved successful, Bakshi was given the greenlight to produce an animated trilogy of films.

In 1977, Bakshi and Dan Melnick, then-president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, made a deal with United Artists to purchase the film rights for $3 million (covering the cost of Boorman's screenwriting), and Bakshi started pre-production and writing, enlisting Chris Conkling to research the script. With $200,000 spent, Dan Melnick was fired from MGM. Bakshi persuaded Saul Zaentz to produce The Lord of the Rings. Zaentz had recently produced the Academy Award-winning adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, distributed by United Artists, and agreed to buy the project. UA stayed as the distributors. Zaentz was only able to offer a humble budget of $8 million. Since Bakshi was primarily interested in Tolkien's more adult-oriented novel, Zaentz's Fantasy films procured the rights to The Lord of the Rings. The rights to distribute the prequel of The Hobbit remained with United Artists. Bakshi later clarified that he thought the film could "make some money" to save his studio after his previous film, Coonskin, tanked.

With Conkling, Bakshi considered how to divide the story. They decided on a three-film structure and settled on three 150-minute films. The Fellowship of the Ring was released in 1978. The Two Towers was released in 1980. Peter S. Beagle was brought in to do rewrites from Boorman's second Lord of the Rings script. Bakshi consulted with Tolkien's daughter Priscilla. Beagle's changes included the correction of the pronunciation of Saruman's name(which is inconsistent at times in the OTL film, sometimes pronounced as Aruman). Bakshi constantly revised the story at the behest of anxious fans, and was approached by Mick Jagger and David Carradine for roles in the film. Carradine even suggested that Bakshi do it in live-action, but Bakshi said he'd "always seen it as animation." Both received roles. Bakshi also got Led Zeppelin to perform the soundtrack.

Bakshi went to England to recruit a voice cast from the BBC Drama Repertory Company, including Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, Anthony Daniels, and John Hurt. Bakshi then shot character actors playing to the recording in empty sound stages, and then rotoscoped the performances. Bakshi used the source footage as a guide rather than tracing over it(which he later wished he had done OTL). Live-action footage for crowd scenes was shot in Death Valley and in Spain. To cut costs, cinematographer Timothy Galfas suggested solarizing the crowd scenes, to create a pseudo-animated look. The film was animated in the United States by Bakshi's studio. Bakshi had only four weeks to edit the film, of which little was reportedly left on the cutting room floor. The whole project from pitch to release lasted about two years. The first film cost $5 Million Dollars to produce but made $40 Million.

Arthur Krim, who had supported the film, was kept on at United Artists(not being replaced by Andy Albeck as OTL) and would continue to support it. The second film ended with Frodo and Sam being led into a trap by Gollum. The first film was released without any indication that a second part would follow, over Bakshi's objections(though it would receive a second film after all when it did well). Rated PG, it was the longest animated film made at the time, and cost $8–12 million to produce; it grossed $30.5 million at the box office. The first film won the Golden Gryphon at the 1980 Giffoni Film Festival, but critical reaction was mixed; Roger Ebert called Bakshi's effort a "mixed blessing" and "an entirely respectable, occasionally impressive job ... which still falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story." The final part, Return of the King, was released in 1982, and did the best of all the films. The BBC's 1981 radio adaptation recruited veterans of Bakshi's voice cast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe to reprise their roles (Boromir and Gollum, respectively) from the film. Sir Ian Holm (later to become Jackson's first choice for Bilbo Baggins before Sylvester McCoy) voiced Frodo.

Other nations outside the US and UK had their own adaptations of the works of Tolkien. In 1971, Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television aired Sagan om Ringen, a short broadcast in two parts, consisting of live-action actors against animated backgrounds. It was based on The Fellowship of the Ring, and directed by Bo Hansson, who previously made a music album based on The Lord of the Rings, with license from the Tolkien Estate. It was based on the then recent Beatles version of the film and incorporated songs. The short can no longer be viewed outside of Sweden.

Screenshot from The Fabulous Journey of Mr.Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit.​

In 1985, Russia aired The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit (Russian: Сказочное путешествие мистера Бильбо Беггинса Хоббита), a television special based on the events of The Hobbit. Shot in 1984 as a teleplay and produced in the framework of the children's television series Tale after Tale (Russian: Сказка за сказкой), it featured actors such as Zinovy Gerdt as Narrator (Tolkien), Mikhail Danilov as Bilbo Baggins, Anatoly Ravikovich as Thorin and Igor Dmitriev as Gollum.

In 1993, the Finnish broadcaster Yle produced a live-action miniseries called The Hobbitit ("The Hobbits"). Despite the name it was based on The Lord of the Rings rather than The Hobbit; but it included only the parts of the story that the hobbits had witnessed themselves (hence the title). The nine episodes were aired on Yle TV1. The series was written and directed by Timo Torikka. Toni Edelmann composed the soundtrack. Actors included Pertti Sveholm as Sam, Taneli Mäkelä as Frodo, Martti Suosalo as Bilbo, Matti Pellonpää as Saruman, Vesa Vierikko as Gandalf, Ville Virtanen as Legolas, Kari Väänänen (as Aragorn and Gollum at the same time) and Leif Wager as Elrond. It aired again in 1998.

Peter Jackson​

Peter Jackson on the set of Lord of the Rings.
​

Peter Jackson would direct Four live-action feature films released by Warner Bros. The series is due to be expanded with a prequel TV series produced by Prime Video in cooperation with Warner Bros. Jackson first pitched the idea of adapting The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to Miramax in 1995. He'd seen Bakshi's Lord of the Rings in 1978, enjoyed it and "wanted to know more", reading a tie-in version of the book (following it up with The Hobbit and The Silmarillion), and listening to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation and the films. He realized the series was never adapted faithfully, in live action and completely by one company. Jackson watched and enjoyed (but didn't think very highly of) the fantasy films and space operas of the 1980s and other adaptations. He later read Tolkien's letters and learned that Forrest Ackerman, who appeared in Jackson's Bad Taste, had adapted the stories as well.

While he was aware that "three films would obviously be the more natural way to do" The Lord of the Rings and that The Hobbit would better be split across two films, he made a more modest offer of a trilogy: one film based on The Hobbit which, if proven successful, would be followed by two Lord of the Rings installments, released six months apart. Jackson and Walsh re-read The Hobbit and even commissioned their workshop at WETA for some concept art, the rights to The Hobbit proved difficult because they were split between Zaentz and United Artists but Jackson succeeded. Jackson truthfully admitted he was more interested in adapting Lord of the Rings than The Hobbit, but agreed to make the prequel first. The Hobbit was released in 2001 as the first film in Four. Lord of the Rings followed with the release of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2002, The Two Towers in 2003, and Return of the King in 2004. Jackson also later made remarks about potential spinoff films and even half-joking remarks about television spin-off shows.

The Hobbit cast Christopher Plummer as the voice of Smaug(he couldn't handle much travelling at his age but doing a voice was just fine). Smaug had been given four legs in addition to his wings. Tom Baker played Tom Bombadil, who has a minor role as a kind host who throws the Dwarves a feast and a respite from their travels(Jackson couldn't think of a place to put him in Lord of the Rings but he fit better into the lighter tone of The Hobbit though he replaces another character for this to work). Richard Harris, who lobbied heavily to play Gandalf, played him in The Hobbit. He passed away before The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was released(he'd dropped out of the role due to poor health)and recast with Sir Ian McKellen, while many mourn Harris's passing, many also see it as improving the film as McKellen's performance in the trilogy is seen as excelling Harris's. McKellen was also able to carry out more scenes of Gandalf fighting, which wasn't shown in the Hobbit and Richard Harris wouldn't have been able to do so at his age. It also allowed the much kinder Gandalf to suddenly become more serious and intense with the change in tone for the series and the years that passed in universe(So this is basically the TTL version of Harris playing a famous fantasy wizard before passing away and being replaced by another actor, although here is makes a bit more sense and is not as jarring as Michael "Harrydidyouputyurnameinthegobletoffiyah!" Gambon since McKellen can play a kind Gandalf as well as an intense one). Other actors included were Ian Holm as Bilbo. Bill Bailey as the dwarf Glóin. David Tennant played Thranduil.

When it came time to cast The Lord of the Rings, the older Bilbo was now played by Sylvester McCoy(there being no Radigast the Brown ITTL). The Films also cast Ashely Judd and Mira Sorvino in prominent roles(OTL Miramax executives lied and said they were difficult to work with when the truth was they had rejected Harvey Weinstein's sexual advances. Weinstein isn't in the picture here). Vin Diesel, a huge Tolkien fan, played Aragorn. He would later provide the voice of Melkor in The Silmarillion. Kevin Conway played King Theoden(OTL he chose to do Gods and Generals, which doesn't exist OTL, though he acknowledged this was a bad decision but disliked the long process the role would entail). Tom Wilkinson was also cast. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman played Faramir and Éowyn. David Bowie was cast as Elrond. Lucy Lawless was cast as Galadriel.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy plot is largely the same as OTL despite the cast changes with some added or different scenes. The Balrog is shown after falling in the water with its fire gone out and covered in slime, his fall scaring away several tentacled monsters similar to the Watcher in the Water. There was also a river rapids scene with the Fellowship(the equipment being damaged undoing the attempt to film this scene OTL). During the battle of Helm's Deep a few orcs got through, only to be caught and defeated by Éowyn who was helping a pregnant woman give birth. Most of the material that humanized the other races was kept in such as the Southron(seen in the extended edition and done by Faramir) or the conversations with orcs.

Frodo's transformation into a Gollum like creature.​

During the scene in Ithilien when Faramir attempted to take the Ring from Frodo (only to be stopped by Sam), Frodo has a moment where he changed into a hideous Gollum-like appearance, as Bilbo did in Rivendell. Smegol's flashback was placed in The Two Towers, right after Frodo calls him by his real name. The flashback ending when he put on the Ring for the first time. It was still used as the opening of The Return of the King as a variation of Previously On… (same with Gandalf's fight with the Balrog). The song at the end of The Two Towers was sung by Björk. The Wood Woses appear in The Return of the King, with Maori actor Wu Kuki Kaa playing their chieftain Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Aragorn personally dueled Sauron in the end of the film. Among the scenes included in The Return of the King, are the extended edition scene of Sarumon and Grim Wormtongue's deaths, less jokes at Gimli's expense, and an explanation for the Eagles(who saved Gandalf in Lord of the Rings when he was imprisoned by Sarumon). The Eagles outright say the ring will corrupt them if they are near it and their King refuses to allow them to become involved until the ring is destroyed(when it is in Return of the King, is when the Eagles arrive and begin to turn the tide of the battle). There are also less endings to the trilogy. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring went onto win Best Picture in 2002(replacing the OTL winner of Chicago).

Ghan-Buri-Ghan in the film.​

Guillermo del Toro's The Silmarillion was released in 2012. Rather than serving as an adaptation of the titular book. It is instead a combination of sorts of many of the ideas from the stories, used to tell one singular story of Middle Earth's ancient past and the battle with Malkor(voiced by Vin Diesel). Among the cast are Brian Blessed, Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Martin Freeman and Ian McShane as the first dwarf. Peter Jackson considered his work for New Line Cinema done. Del Toro had originally been a possibility to direct the Hobbit. With that film completed he was instead given the rather dense Silmarillion, which he chose to take ideas from rather than directly adapt. Now all that remains of what once was is the potential Amazon Series expected to be helmed by Peter Jackson. Ironic that a book series with one of the most troubled productions has finally found a solid place, leaving an indeniable mark in pop culture. What was once a book trilogy thought unfilmable has become a Film trilogy thought unsurpassable.

Tolkien Adaptations

The Hobbit(1952)-Walt Disney(Walt Disney Pictures)

The Fellowship of the Ring(1957)-Forrest J. Ackerman

The Two Towers(1960)-Robert Gutwillig

Return of the King(1961)-Robert Gullwillig

The Hobbit(1967)-William L. Snyder(Rembrandt Films), Sir Stanley Unwin.

The Lord of the Rings(1970)-Directed by Stanley Kubrick(United Artists). Starring the Beatles.

Sagan om Ringen(1971)-Sveriges Television(Swedish)

The Hobbit(1977)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)

The Fellowship of the Ring(1978)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)

The Two Towers(1980)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)

Return of the King(1982)-Directed by Ralph Bakshi(Rankin & Bass)

The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit (Russian: Сказочное путешествие мистера Бильбо Беггинса Хоббита)(1985)

The Hobbitit ("The Hobbits")(1993)- Yle(Finnish)

The Hobbit(2001)-Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring(2002)-Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers(2003)Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King(2004)Directed by Peter Jackson(Warner Bros)

The Silmarillion(2012)Directed by Guillermo Del Toro(Warner Bros)

 

[Marco Incognito]

Before Marvel: The History of Timely and Atlas Comics

Martin Goodman

Pulp Magazine publisher Martin Goodman created Timely Publications in 1939. Goodman had started a brand of Western Pulp in 1933 and wanted to expand into the new medium of Comic Books. Timely’s first office was therefore the existing company’s 330 West 42nd Street in New York City. Goodman took the titles of editior, managing director and business manager. Martin also made his brother Abraham a publisher.

Marvel Comics #1(October 1939)

Timely’s first Comic( cover dated October 1939) was Marvel Comics #1. That one issue introduced both the Human Torch(Not to be confused with the later Fantastic Four version), An android which burst into flame created by Carl Burgos, and Namor the Sub-Mariner, created by Bill Everett. The issue was a success and sold 900,000 Copies in the next month. Once getting itself off the ground, Timely broke away from its outside packager Funnies, Inc and soon was its own company. Joe Simon became the company’s first editor and Jack Kirby became an artist on the book. Simon and Kirby together created one of the first Patriotic Superheroes in Captain America in Captain America Comics #1 in March 1941. The Comic was a hit and sold nearly one million copies. At the time, America was surprisingly pro Nazi. Simon and Kirby received death threats and asked the Mayor for protection. They got it as it turns out the Mayor was a huge Captain America fan. When Simon and Kirby worked on Captain America, they would have armed guards just outside their door. This lasted until Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war.

Beyond the Human Torch, Namor: the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America, no other characters reached their level of success. A few of the notable heroes created would later be reintroduced, making appearances and flashbacks:

The Whirlwind(OTL’s The Whizzer). Renamed as the name became a source of mockery for the character OTL. Marvel’s first speedster. Miss America(Same as OTL). She witnessed an accident grant someone superpowers and then recreated the accident on herself in order to become a Superheroine. Stan Lee worked on the Comic while an intern, which helped to shift his writing of women more towards feminism rather that the mild sexism sometimes prevalent in the female characters he wrote in the 60's.

The Destroyer. The most successful of Stan Lee’s creations prior to the Fantastic Four. Unlike OTL, The Destroyer matches his retconned identity from years later. Instead of Keen Marlow, he is Brian Falsworth, a British ambassador who was in Germany when war was declared. He was sent to a concentration Camp and given a super soldier serum from a man who worked with Abraham Erskine, who created Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum. His stories were notably set behind enemy lines. The Series ended with Falsworth returning to Britain.

The Vision. The Original concept for the Vision was an alien police officer from Smokeworld that could enter our world. The Angel(Same as OTL). One of the few 100% Human vigilantes in Marvel’s roster and notably does not use a mask.

Agent Carter. A British female Agent, who became a love interest to Captain America(OTL the comic character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, so here they created the character earlier, fitting them into World War II).

Powerhouse Pepper(Subversion. The female character is the one who actually beat up the group. The Man ITTL is basically their sidekick).

Other more Comedic Comic characters included Basil Wolverton’s Powerhouse Pepper(Who is female ITTL, rather than male as OTL), who posesses super strength, which is often used to put down criminals and men who engage in lewd behavior. Powerhouse Pepper, like many characters from this era, would find new life in the 60’s where she was reintroduced as Pepper Potts the love interest of Iron Man.

Ziggy Pig Silly Seal Comics #6(Cover Artist Unknown)

A line of Children’s comics was created featuring Super Rabbit(who was later sold to rival DC, becoming the main character in their series Super Rabbit and the Zoo Crew Series. There was also the duo of Ziggy Piggy and Silly Seal. Ziggy Piggy in particular finding minor success after being bought out and becoming the mascot of a restaurant chain bearing his name.

Marvel revolutionized Comics when the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner met and did battle, providing the first example of a Shared Universe.

Stanley Lieber in 1941

On One faithful day, Goodman Hired his wife’s 16 year old Cousin, Stanley Lieber as an Office assistant. Simon left the company in 1941 and Lieber was made interim editor until they found someone who could replace Simon. He would end up keeping the position for decades due to his military service in World War II. During the war, the writer for Captain America was unavailable, leaving Stanley Lieber frantically searching for a replacement. When none was found it was Jack Kirby who suggested Stan write the story himself, which he did. Stan wrote the story under the Pen name Stan Lee, hoping to hide that he was also the editor. The issue had Captain America travel to an African Nation that had resisted an attempted Occupation by the Nazis. There he meet their King, who was also the Superhero known as the Black Panther. Together the two battled an attempted invasion by the Red Skull, during which Cap’s shield was crushed. The King of Wakanda made him a new Shield made of the element Vibranium, which was unbreakable. Cap learned he could throw it like a frisbee and it returned to his hand. With this new Shield, Cap defeated the Red Skull and returned home. The story was a huge hit and Stan Lee was kept on as writer. Lee and Kirby formed a friendship as they formed the “Marvel Method” as the Writer and Artist wrote the script together.

Stan Lee's First Publication

Stan Lee had been surprisingly progressive in his depiction of Wakanda and he carried this over to his creation of an African American Superhero. Adam Bradley was a volunteer for the Super Soldier serum and while Abraham Erskine was killed after granting Steve Rogers the formula that allowed him to become Captain America, the closest attempt resulted in Adam Bradley AKA the Patriot. African American writers would take Bradley in bold new directions in later publications, something Stan Lee hoped would happen when he wrote the character.

As World War II came to a close, Superheroes began to fade into popularity. Many Marvel Heroes had been brought together as the Superhero team known as the Invaders. Stan Lee made the shocking decision(With Joe Simons and Jack Kirby’s blessing) to kill off Captain America and Bucky(only Seemingly as it would turn out). Cap and Bucky were sent on a mission to stop Red Skull from launching a rocket to New York. Cap and Bucky battled Red Skull on the rocket itself. Cap was able to kick Red Skull off, proclaiming “I have…had…Enough of you!” Before succeeding in kicking Red Skull off the rocket, leading him to be incinerated by the rocket’s engines. Cap then meets Bucky on the rocket but he’s gotten his hand stuck trying to defuse it. Bucky says sorry. Cap asks what for. Bucky says “Sorry but the world needs Captain America more than Bucky” and kicks Cap off, causing him to fall. Shortly afterwards the rocket explodes. Cap is seen falling into the water. As he sinks narration of a letter he left to Peggy Carter play, apologizing that he won't be coming back from the war and saying that he loves her.

After Cap’s supposed Death, in the comics, the government recruited an imposter hero called the Spirit of 76’ and a young man to act as Bucky to make it appear as though they never died. The Invaders continued to operate until the war ended with the Human Torch killing Adolf Hitler in the comics, burning him to death in his bunker. The series continued after the war but dropped in sales.

One of the Final stories had the Human Torch coming home to meet his creator, only to find him being held hostage by another of his creations, an evil Android, who seeked to kill and replace world leaders. In the story, the Evil Android tried to kill Harry Truman, which was fortunately averted at the cost of the life of the New Captain America.

The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner battled for one final time. With the War over, Namor resumed his attempts to invade the surface and summoned a tidal wave to devastate New York. The Human Torch battled him and both appeared to perish in the battle when the Human Torch exploded in a self sacrifice to defeat the Sub-Mariner. Both vanished from the Golden Age.

With Superheroes falling out of fashion, Goodman shifted Timely’s attention towards other genres including Horror, Western, Comedy, Funny Animals, Adventure, Medieval and Bible Stories among others. Stan Lee himself contributed to this genre, elements of which would find their way in later Superhero stories. For example, Fin Fang Foom and Groot were both giant Monsters that appeared in Comics which would both appear in Marvel Stories(The Groot story concluding with the giant monster seemingly destroyed only for a tiny tree like creature to pop out of the ground and proclaim "I AM GROOT!" in the last panel).

Groot's first appearance

These works were distributed via the Atlas News Company, which distributed them through newsstands. This phase of the company’s history is known as the Atlas era and lasted from 1951 until 1957. Another company, Kable News, also distributed the works, all of which were from Shell companies named everything from Animirth Comics to Zenith Comics. However, the brands followed what was popular. Which was emphasized by the character of Dan DeCarlo’s Homer the Happy Ghost, meant to parody/rip off Casper the Friendly Ghost, which then became Homer Hooper in order to cash in on Archie Andrews instead. There were attempts to bring back Superheroes but these failed. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby wrote a story in which Adam Bradley became a Superhero called the Blue Marvel, who wore a mask to conceal his identity. The Super Soldier Serum had increased over time, turning his powers from a pastiche of Captain America to a pastiche of Superman. The series did not last long and ended with Blue Marvel’s mask breaking, exposing his ethnicity. He was then told by the President to retire, lamenting that the world was not ready for a Black Superhero.

Reprint Cover for the Agents of A.T.L.A.S.

Atlas itself was going under. Stan Lee commented that they lasted as long as they did because they produced Comics fast and of passable quality. Lee and Kirby wrote a final issue published by Atlas and titled Agents A.T.L.A.S. the comic involved a group of superheroes coming together to battle the 40’s villain the Yellow Claw and save President Eisenhower. The team consisted of Namora(Namor’s sister), Venus(from a 1948 series, the literal goddess), Marvel Boy, The Gorilla-Man, M-11 the Human Robot, Jann of the Jungle, and Captain 3-D. All were assembled by Jimmy Woo, an agent of A.T.L.A.S.(which later evolved into S.H.I.E.L.D.) to battle his father the Yellow Claw. While they succeeded. The group was disbanded. Stan Lee had a similar scene to the last Blue Marvel story where he had the characters in the story comment that the world wasn’t ready for a Superhero team. Hindsight has proven that three years later, they would be.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

I'm going on Vacation for the week of Thanksgiving and at this time my documents are a very slow, so I'm clearing some room by placing this chapter here now, which will likely be revised a few times in the future. Credit to Eileen Gonzalez for this article and this one by Terry, as Licensed Comics lacked a concrete recorded history to draw from.

A History of Licensed Comics: 1939-1979

Movies and TV Shows based on Comics are everywhere these days, but what about the reverse? What about Comics based on film and television? Well I'll tell you. The practice goes way back. Such works are called Licensed Comics, in that the property was licensed out. The earliest of these were newspaper comic strips. There are a few out there starring the Tramp, the silent film character created by Charlie Chaplin. They contain almost no dialogue and read a lot like the later Tintin stories. Now Disney did a ton of these, turning all of their films from Snow White onward into comics with beautiful illustrations.

It was in the early 1940's, the comic book adaptations such as those of the Green Hornet and the Saint began to takeoff. Movie Comics was created solely to adapt Hollywood films. The Comic book company Dell Comics adapted the radio program Charlie McCarthy. In fact Dell quickly rose as the leader in licensed Comics, and may have invented the TV to Comics adaptation with their Howdy Doody series. Howdy Doody first came on TV in 1947 and the comics came out in 1949. The format changed so that the puppeteer was gone. Howdy Doody was more of a toon than a puppet. There are no strings on him.

Dell and Gold Key enjoyed a comfortable niche audience making licensed comics on Warner Bros, Hanna-Barbera, and Disney properties. By the 1960's they were making comics out of every property you can name and even the one's you don't(Ensign O'Toole anyone?). For the most part, Dell played the new medium to its strength. For example, the Beverly Hillbillies Comic took advantage to tell stories and jokes a show budget couldn't such as a scene in which an entire film studio is flooded and becomes a swimming pool. Then there were times when the owners of the licensed couldn't have seen the movie and were given a rough outline instead, the results were rough, you couldn't do Singin' in the Rain without singing. So what they tried to do here is capture the emotions of the characters with the lyrics matching the emotion in the panels.

When it came to TV show adaptations it was a bit easier since they could just write original stories for the characters, but sometimes this was tough. You had Star Trek comics where the usually calm and monotone crew would get overly emotional. Spock, the emotionless Vulcan would burst out in anger. Sometimes, the comic artists forgot what the actors looked like and just drew...someone. Gold Key stuck around just because of the runaway success of Star Trek.

However, by the early 1970's Marvel was beginning to gain steam with licensed Comics of their own. Marvel gained Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja, soon spawning other Sword and Sorcery series with Robert E.Howard's characters. Marvel experimented with the sword and sorcery genre in other settings by introducing Killraven, a series concerning a human gladiator in a world where the Martians from War of the Worlds invaded Earth again. In 1972, they gained the rights to the pulp character Doc Savage, to promote the upcoming Doc Savage: Man of Bronze. Savage was included in the Marvel Universe, including a team up with the Thing. The rights to Fu Manchu allowed Marvel to make him the father of the original character Shang-Chi. Their rival,DC gained the rights to Planet of the Apes and used it to introduce the character of Kamandi. Marvel would do something similar with 2001: A Space Odyssey, which would introduce the character of Machine Man.

Marvel and DC first collaborated funny enough on an adaptation of Wizard of Oz, as Marvel wanted to adapt the books while DC owned the license to the MGM Film, and so the two combined to tell a version of the story that could possibly open the door to later adaptations of the books. Marvel used this to introduce both comic adaptations of films and retellings of classic stories.

In the 1970's, Marvel, in order to pull itself out of financial problems, began making Star Wars comics. According to Jim Shooter, only Roy Thomas at the time thought it was a good idea, no one knew if the movie would be a hit, but a hit it was. It's success pulled Marvel out of bankruptcy. Marvel received six issues to adapt the original movie with, plenty of time, and the best part, when the film was finished, Marvel was allowed to go off script and create original stories until the sequel came along. They advertised these stories as "Beyond the Movie. Beyond the Galaxy". The original stories weren't always good. One had Han Solo pull a "Seven Samurai" and recruit warriors to defend a village from bandits which included a giant green Bugs Bunny ripoff, a Luke Skywalker(something acknowledge in universe), and a Don Quixote parody called "Don-Wan Quixote" because with little to go on, Marvel assumed the Jedis were...well basically knights. There's also the early installment weirdness of a deleted scene where Jabba the Hutt is depicted as a Walrus Man.

DC meanwhile gained the rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan and chose to continue that Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics runs that spanned 24 years. They would end up losing the rights to Tarzan and them going to Marvel, which restarted the series under Roy Thomas, then known for his work on licensed adaptations after his work on Conan. DC also adapted John Carter of Mars, which Marvel would later do as well. Marvel also gained Godzilla, the film the Deep and the Human Fly based on stuntman Rick Rojatt. An author, Bill Mantlo, because the go to guy for Marvel licenses.

Marvel introduced the Marvel Comics Super Special to adapt the likes of Kiss, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Beatles, Galactica, Meteror, Xanadu, Indiana Jones, Dragonslayer, Blade Runner, Annie, The Dark Crystal Rock & Rule, Krull, The Last Starfighter, The Muppets, Buckaroo Banzai, Sheena, Santa Claus: The Movie and Labyrinth. The band members of Kiss would draw blood that was used in the ink. Bill Mantlo adapted the series Man from Atlantis and another Robert E.Howard character Comarc Mac Art, who was teamed up in a Marvel Treasury Edition with Conan, Kull and Red Sonja. However, Marvel did miss out in the adaptation of Jodorowsky's Dune, which was done by the french comic artist Moebius, due to his work on that film's storyboards.

DC meanwhile had gained Star Trek, and James Bond among others. Gold Key, still hanging on, went through a revival when they received the license to Buck Rogers, which was later reprinted by Marvel in a Treasury Edition. Galactica was another big goal for Marvel. At around the same time in 1979, they also received the Japanese toyline Shogun Warriors, though the deal prevented access to other Go Nagai series). Meanwhile Marvel UK gained the Doctor Who franchise the same year of 1979.​

 

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The Creature from the Black Lagoon(1941)​

Replacing the OTL The Monster and the Girl(No connection) Creature from the Black Lagoon is released 13 years earlier. The idea came from Producer William Alland attending a Dinner Party during the filming of Citizen Kane, where Mexican Cinematographer Gabriel Fiqueroa shared the story of the myth of a race of fish-men in the Amazon River and was then asked to direct such a film, using Beauty and the Beast as inspiration. Credited for the Gill-Man was Disney Animator Milicent Patrick, who had recently left the company(unlike OTL, Milicent Patrick is properly credited). Other creators of the suit include Bud Westmore, Jack Kevan and Chris Mueller. The Gill-man was played by Ben Chapman with water scenes shot either at Universal City, California or in Florida(I'm moving this film earlier so that the Creature can feature in the Mega crossovers such as House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, allowing for the Creature to be featured on the screen with the other classic monsters).

The Wolf Man(1941)​

Swapped with the release order of Man Made Monster, making this film Lon Chaney Jr's big debut film and one of his most iconic roles as well. The film does indeed feature a werewolf transformation on screen(OTL this appears in the sequels and it is a myth that it occurs in the first film). Lon Chaney Jr had to sit in a makeup chair for six hours with the makeup taking an hour to remove.

The Electric Man(1941)​

Originally a Bela Lugois and Boris Karoff venture, the idea was cancelled due to being too similar to another film The Invisible Ray with both actors and revived as a Long Chaney Jr vehicle with impressive effects for the time. it was also a vehicle to see if Lon Chaney Jr could play a convincing Frankenstein Monster as Karloff was unwilling to return the role due to injuries sustained while Long Chaney Jr proved to capable of moving quickly in heavy makeup and effects and the film was a test if he could prove a successor to the role.

The Ghost of Frankenstein(1942)​

The Film features the return of Basil Rathbone as the son of Frankenstein, who is forced to operate on the Monster by Igor. Igor is played once again by Bela Lugosi and the Monster by Long Chaney Jr using the same makeup as Boris Karloff. Included ITTL scenes are the Monster's bond with children, villagers storming a castle, a brain transplant sequence, and the fiery demise of the monster(OTL these elements were cut due to a warnign by the censors).

The Golem(1942)​

replacing OTL's The Invisible Agent. By this time the US had entered the War and so the focus shifted to a mix of hybrid and propaganda. While the idea of turning the Invisible Man into a Nazi fighting secret agent, this was tossed out in favor of reviving an old Universal monster, the Golem, which was of Jewish origins and could be depicted fighting Nazis in occupied Poland. Lon Chaney Jr played the monster and Peter Lorre played the Golem's creator. Universal rereleased the old Golem films(Preserved ITTL instead of lost) to promote the new film.

The Mummy's Tomb(1942)​

Largely another fairly standard Mummy sequel though with Lon Chaney Jr playing the role of the Mummy.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman(1943)​

With the success of the Wolfman, there came a desire for a crossover like Dracula vs Frankenstein. The Problem came that the Wolfman was set in the present day while the Frankenstein films were set an earlier era. The plot was changed to involve Nazis seeking to revive both monsters to use them or their secrets in the war effort. Bela Lugosi did not voice the monster or return to voice Ygor with Karloff returning in one rare moment, having recovered from his previous injuries in the role.

Cheela, the Jungle Woman(1943)​

OTL a film which involved a woman that transforms into an Ape. ITTL the series is instead about essentially a female Tarzan type character.

Phantom of the Opera(1943)​

An in color remake starring Boris Karloff as the Phantom and Deanna Durbin as Christine.

Son of Dracula(1943)​

The Film is largely the same as OTL with Lon Chaney Jr in the title role.​

 

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Archie Comics began life as C.S.G. Magazine in 1939, named for the three founders, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John L. Goldwater. Most of the founders held degrees, Silberkleit was a registered pharmacist with a law degree and John Goldwater was one of the founders of the Comics Code Authority. Initially the comics featured characters like Rang-a-Tang and the Shield, a patriotic Superhero which came to inspire Captain America. The line was relaunched as Pep and among the new stars introduced was a teenage Boy named Archie Andrews.

In 1941 in Pep Comics #22, Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead were all introduced by Writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Mantana. Archie became so popular he took over both the comic line and the company in 1946. Archie Comics was born.

The Archie character made his way into Radio stories in the late 40's. The format of the Archie stories allowed it to survive attacks in the 1950's but to branch out, Archie's Weird Mysteries was created as a safer alternative to Tales from the Crypt and other Horror Stories, starring the Archie gang encountering the supernatural.

In 1962, Harvey Kurtzman's Help! magazine featured a parody of Archie and his cast in the Goodman Beaver story, "Goodman Goes Playboy". Publisher Kim Warren was hit with a Copyright infringement suit and asked for remove the material but refused, leading to a short lawsuit. The Archie Comics Heroes were moved to a new imprint that copied the campy tone of the 60's Batman series, this did not last long and the line ended in 1967.

The time came to adapt the character into Television. Desilu, not yet hitting it big with Star Trek, made a pilot in 1962 with Frank Bank in the role of Archie but he was recast as Bank was associated with his character Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on Leave it to Beaver and couldn't be seen as Archie. With Screen Gems and Harry Ackerman's support and the bringing in an unknown actor John Simpson to play the lead Role, Archie was launched in 1964, and enjoyed some success thanks to Desilu touching up the series. The show's success led to the production of a Live Action show of the spinoff character Sabrina, the Teenage Witch on ABC. The Show took several creative liberties with the concept. Sabrina was now the teenage daughter of a Witch named Samantha Spellman who married a mortal man named Darrin Stephens. The series lasted until 1969 when actor Dick York, who played Darrin Stephens became ill. Director William Asher asked York in his hospital bed "Do you want to quit?" and York responded with "if it's all right with you." The show ended. Asher commented that "No on else could play Darrin Stephens. I couldn't find another Dick for the role."

The show initially had crossovers with the Archie series. However a problem for both shows arose. When 1966 rolled around all the shows were transitioning to color. John Simpson's hair was not red enough to make a convincing Archie on screen and Lucille Ball cancelled the Archie Show. As she later commented: "I learned from my experience on I Love Lucy that some things just only work in Black and White when they were made to be Black and White, so the Archie show just had to go. Shame, really I always loved that Wacky Redhead."

However, there was a problem. Several Crossover Episodes between Archie and Sabrina the Teenage Witch had established a long distance romance between the two, though in Archie's case, Sabrina was one of many potential crushes, but the relationship was still seen as adorable and quite popular(It was homaged a few times in other media such as in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls which also featured a female teenage magic user in a long distance relationship with a teenager redhead in High School that was later discovered to be bisexual). The Producers of Sabrina the Teenage Witch decided to pull forward with the romance in the Sabrina show. To this extent, they recast a redheaded actor for the role of Archie to bring him into Sabrina's colored world. Instead of seeing joy at the romance aspect continued, fans were angry. Many cried "Who the hell is this guy? He's not our Archie." and thus the trope gained the name "The Other Archie".

A third show was made following the cancellation of Archie and that was an adaptation of Josie and the Pussycats. Unlike Archie, the show lived entirely in the colored world following Archie's cancellation and did well in the age where bands like the Monkees were popular, along with being progressive at the time due to featuring a black member of the band front and center with the other members. Creator Dan DeCarlo(who created Josie and the Pussycats after seeing his wife Josie dress up in a costume for a party) commented that the choice to adapt Josie and the Pussycats probably saved the life of several characters that Archie was planning to remove entirely, namely the characters Albert, Sock and Pepper, which would have been replaced with new ones. Because they were adapted into the show, they gained a following and as such Archie Comics realized it could not cut them out.

By the early 70's most of the original founders of Archie Comics had stepped down with the sons of two of the founders Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater taking over and moving the company to private ownership with Coyne retiring. Richard Goldwater was made President. Goldwater refused a deal with Spire Christian Comics to tell stories with strong Christian Morales. Instead, the company went the opposite way and returned to horror stories, even seeling the rights of its Superheroes to DC.

In 1990, a new Archie series was launched, starting with the TV Movie Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again, which depicted the characters 15 years later. Archie Comics gained the license to create Sonic the Hedgehog comics and later gained the rights to other Video Game franchises like Mario, Legend of Zelda and Metroid.

On April 4, 2003, Dad's Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta was scheduled to debut a new play by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa titled Archie's Weird Fantasy, in which Archie Andrews came out as gay and moved to New York. Archie nearly sent a cease and desist order but chose to approach the makers of the play. The play was such a success that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa would become Archie's Chief Creative Officer. Archie also nearly sued the music duo known as the Veronicas but decided it was not worth it.

Following Richard Goldwater's death in 2007 and Michael Silberkleit's in 2008, Silberkleit's widow Nancy and Goldwater's half brother Jonathan became co-CEOs in 2009. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was given the position of overseeing theatre productions due to his experience but grew in the ranks. Archie himself had began to decline in comic sales, for example multiple comic book companies were now selling their comics at grocery stores, something which Archie Comics had pioneered that had led to great success. As such the time came to reboot Archie, starting in 2010 with Life with Archie. Life with Archie followed the adult Archie and two possible futures. One where he married Betty and one where he married Veronica. The comic series dealt with issues such as death, marriage woes, same-sex marriage, cancer, financial problems and gun control. Sacasa, leaning on the success of his original play, proposed a third option in which Archie was revealed to be gay. In the actual show a gay character named Kevin Keller had been introduced. The line made history again by making their entire line digital.

Aguirre-Sacasa also wrote the Horror themed Afterlife with Archie, which had Archie and friends battle a Zombie Apocalypse and included darker themes as a throwback to Archie's Weird Mysteries which had received an Animated adaptation. It was followed by The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, also by Aguirre-Sacasa. Afterlife with Archie received a finale with Archie finally ending the Zombie threat.

2014 was a big year for Archie. It began with his death. Archie Andrews, specifically both the versions depicted in Life with Archie, died saving Senator Kevin Keller from an assassination attempt. As this was going on Archie Comics also relaunched its superhero characters including the Black Hood, the Fox. and the Shield. After his death, Archie was also relaunched in 2014 under Mark Waid and Fiona Staples which became one of the Best New Comics of 2015. Warner Bros released an Archie Feature Film the same year with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa writing and Jason Moore directing. The film was a send up to John Hughes Movies starring the Archie cast. It also featured Katy Perry in a cameo role as Archie Comics character Katy Keene.

Despite the film's success, the rights towards a planned TV Series ended up going to Fox, who produced the TV follow with the same cast. Fox promised to keep the show faithful to the film's tone, making the series more of a sitcom with The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. serving as a darker companion series. The success of the series also led to a film adaptation of Archie Comics character Katy Keene, played by singer Katy Perry.​

 

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Superman in Film & TV: 1941-1998

"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"
-Superman

Common Joke among Superhero fans.​

Superman first saw representation outside of media in the Fleischer Cartoons that ran from 1941 to 1943. This clashed with an effort to adapt Superman into a Serial format by Republic Pictures, which mimicked their technique on The Adventures of Captain Marvel for flight scenes(OTL those scenes were animated and are considered the worst part for how out of place they look). The Serial features Clark Kent's father saying the words "Because of these great powers - your speed and strength, your x-ray vision and super-sensitive hearing - you have a great responsibility." which many noted similarities to Spider-Man's "With Great Power Comes Great responsibility" used fourteen years later. This has been ruled out as either coincidence since the fist issue of Spider-Man mentions the words in narration and they were later attributed to Uncle Ben or that Stan Lee simply forgot he had heard them before. This led to a popular joke online about "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" being a quote revolving around Superman. This came full circle in the Superman and Spider-Man 1977 Comic crossover where the use of the phrase was acknowledged. Superman was then played by George Reeves in television and one film, along with several cameo appearances, including in the 1978 film. The Superman radio series and the Fleischer cartoons both featured Superman fighting a thinly veiled version of the Klu Klux Klan called the Clan of the Fiery Cross.

Telly Savalas as Lex Luthor​

Superman: The Movie(1978) was in many ways a Perfect storm. Patrick Wayne could have played Superman but dropped down due to health issues concerning his famous father John Wayne which turned out to be a Cancer Scare. Most other actors were busy. In the end, fate conspired to give the part to a then unknown, Christopher Reeves, with Marlon Brando cast as Jor-El and Telly Savalas cast as Lex Luthor. Finding a Director was also difficult, Spielberg and Lucas were busy with their own respective projects, little things called Jaws and Star Wars. One Would be Director, Sam Peckinpah, even pulled a gun on producers during a meeting. The film was a hit and to top it off ended with a sequel hook. Superman hurled a missile into space, inadvertently freeing the Kryptonian Criminals, Zod, Ursa and Non.

Elliot S.Maggin wrote a book titled Superman: Last Son of Krypton, which became a bestseller due to the coincidence of being released at around the same time as the Film, it was actually an early treatment for the film and DC got egg on their face when they tried suing, not knowing Maggin's involvement on the treatment. To Compensate, DC promised to allow Maggin to write Superman III alongside Donnor(Superman I and II were made at the same time and so there was not enough time for rewrites), and so Maggin was brought on to have a hand in the creation of Superman III. His novel had also mentioned the Xerox company directly and DC was afraid of being sued, however, this only led Xerox to buy fifty thousand copies for their company book club. Xerox had previously worked with DC's Rival Marvel due to the Mutant character Xerox being a recurring figure.

On Superman II, Richard Donner was nearly fired as Director, but kept on when Brando protested and so Donner got his version(The closest equivalent TTL's version is the real life Donner Cut years later, however even that is different as Donnor does not use the "travel back in time" idea again. The only reason that was included was because Donner had it in Superman II but moved it to Superman I to give that film more of a climax). Henry Fonda plays the part of the President of the Unites States(OTL he didn't because of failing health). This is possibly a nod to the film Fail Safe in which Fonda also played an unnamed President. Jor-El permanently faded away for good in the film to restore Superman's abilities, meaning Brando would not return.

Dudley Moore, the actor who played Mxyzptlk​

Donnor and Reeve returned for Superman III. The Film introduced two new Villains, Brainiac and Mister Mxyzptlk(Mix-six-pit-lick), the former was played by Christopher Walken and the latter was played by Dudley Moore. The two villains teamed up against Superman. Supergirl, was also introduced, arriving on Earth to warn of Brainiac's arrival. Mxyzptlk was a powerful alien, incorporating elements of Maggin's script, working with Brainiac, who took on a human form named Gus Gorman. Superman ultimately defeated Brainiac with the help of Supergirl and Lex Luthor. He would end up accidentally killing Mxyzptlk in a manner similar to Alan Moore's Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? in which Superman attempted to send Mxyzptlk into the Phantom Zone but the imp said his name in an attempt to send himself back to his home dimension and was ripped apart due to being sent into two universes at once.

A spinoff film, Supergirl, was made to serve as a continuation, with Christopher Reeve making a cameo. The film centered on Supergirl, who goes off into space, believing Brainiac is not dead. It is revealed she was correct as she discovers he only sent his mind to Earth through space while he remained behind. Supergirl then battles to help save the many worlds he has captive. For a Spinoff film, This proved to be the most expensive Superman film at the time.

Superman IV, was clear to all to be the last film in the series. By this point the Alan Moore story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" had been released and it was discovered that since that story was an end to the Pre Crisis Superman, it would serve as an end to a version of Superman based on him. DC seemed to be intending to reboot every franchise after Crisis on Infinite Earths and it seemed fitting for Superman to have the same be done as well. Each member of the main cast would return for a final time, however Mxyzptlk was dead and so could not be the film's climactic villain. Instead Darkseid was brought in. To tie him into the plot, it was revealed that Brainiac had been collecting worlds in the last two films in a misguided attempt to protect them from destruction at Darkseid's hands. The original book's two villain plots against Superman were reworked into plots by Lex Luthor, including getting a sample of Superman's DNA to clone him, resulting in the creation of Bizarro, and the orchestrating an attack on the Daily Planet with action figures that leads to Superman's identity being revealed to the public. Luthor then goes to search for Brainiac's remains, finding his head, which suddenly comes to life and possesses him. Brainiac has now gone mad and allied with Darkseid due to his hatred of Superman and Supergirl. Brainiac-Luthor attacks the Fortress of Solitude, destroying it. Brainiac-Luthor is then easily defeated due to Luthor being mercy killed and rigor mortis preventing Brainiac from controlling his body any further. Darkseid then invades Earth, leading into a final battle in which he is defeated. Given Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was expected Supergirl would die, instead, the film shocked everyone by killing off Christopher Reeves as Superman, who sacrifices himself to destroy Darkseid. The film had a Soundtrack album released as well.

Nicholas Cage as Superman during Costume tests​

It was decided to reboot the character for a 1998 Film release, the 60th anniversary of Superman. This would be done with a film titled Superman Lives which dealt with Superman's resurrection, and his battle with a returned Brainiac as well. Christopher Reeves did not want to return and so Nicholas Cage was cast as Superman. Sandra Bullock played Lois Lane. Christopher Walken returned as Brainiac. Tim Burton would direct and Jon Peter Produced. Lex Luthor also returned, albeit as a possessed undead figure played by Kevin Spacey due to Telly Savalas having passed away and Doomsday was introduced as a Superweapon created by Brainiac and Darkseid to kill Superman. The film also introduced L-Ron, Brainiac's robotic assistant, voiced by Dwight Ewell. Smith turned down some of Burton's other elements. Michel Keaton cameo'd as Batman at Superman's funeral. This would set up the later Batman vs Superman film. The film concerned Superman's resurrection in a black costume before changing into his classic costume.

Superman Film Series
Superman(1978)
Superman II(1980)
Superman III(1983)
Supergirl(1984)
Superman IV(1987)
Superman Lives(1998)

 

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Batman: 1942-1983

"Batman created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane."
- Disclaimer included in every work of media depicting Batman.
​

Batman's first adaptation came in animated form with a Fleischer Studios adaptation, following their success with Superman. The tone was very different, something realized very early on as necessary. The style would go onto inspire the later Batman: The Animated Series. Batman's first foray into Cinema came in 1943, a few years after his debut in a film serial. Given the time period, the series was set during the war and starred Batman, played on screen for the first time by actor Lewis Wilson, with Robin played by Douglas Croft, and Alfred played by William Austin. The Serial was cheaply made. Bats on strings floated in the Bat Cave and the Bat mobile was a 1939 Cadillac Series 61 Convertible with some extra attachments. Originally the villain was meant to be a Japanese terrorist, but this was changed. The US passed laws allowing Japanese people living in the United States to serve in the Army and many signed up. It was important to make a distinction between the enemy and the friend in the eyes of Propaganda. Instead the Joker was made the antagonist, secretly being tricked into working for the Nazis(and when finding out in the finale, turning on them immediately, famously proclaiming "I may be a psycho!, but I'm an American psycho!". The Joker was played by Conrad Veidt(the man who inspired the character in his film The Man Who Laughs)in his final performance before his death. The film was later one of many serials which Ted Turner chose to colorize to sell the technique. He argued that the black and white meant you couldn't admire details like the Joker's green hair and purple suit. In addition the film has Commissioner Gordon(OTL the film has Charles C.Wilson playing Captain Arnold, who has the same role as Gordon, complete with Bat Signal. The reason for the change is unknown so here it is undone). Interestingly, the film also killed off the Joker. Throughout the serial he resides in a rundown Carnival and has a pit of alligators he is shown feed, nearly feeding a person to his pets. Just as Joker is about to shoot Batman, Robin pulls a lever on instinct and opens the trapdoor. Reactions imply the Joker is eaten.

Conrad Veidt as the Joker, 1943 Batman Serial.​

A sequel serial was made in 1949, though with Robert Lowery now playing Batman. The makers wanted an original villain called the Wizard, a masked criminal mastermind with advanced technology. It was suggested to use a Comic villain instead. The Wizard was therefore renamed to the Mad Monk, Batman's canonical first supervillain.

Art of Clint Eastwood as Two-Face​

Batman remained popular throughout the 50's, however he came under fire somewhat by critics about allegations of moments implying Batman and Robin were sleeping with each other and Robin was a minor(due to panels in which they share a bed). It was made more clear they had a father and son relationship. Then in the 1966 a Batman TV series was made with a campy tone starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. The Series was originally on ABC but was cancelled, later being picked up by NBC for a fourth season(OTL this did not happen as the sets were destroyed). The Series even crossed over with the Green Hornet, even having Kato defeat Robin in battle(while Batman defeated the Green Hornet), however the battle between Batman and Kato(or rather Bruce Lee) was left inconclusive. The series even an episode in which George Reeves guest starred as Superman(His death not happening ITTL) in two episodes. The word got around that being on the show was a good time and few actors took it seriously, the rare exception probably being Clint Eastwood in the darkest episodes(written by Harlan Ellison) playing Two Face and playing it damn straight. In addition to the series, there was also two films: Batman: The Movie and the crossover film Batman vs Godzilla, along with a short lived Batgirl spinoff series.

Going into the 70's Batman's popularity began to wane. He and Robin appeared in a crossover episode of the 1975 Wonder Woman series, but there was little else besides cameos and crossovers in which he was no longer the star attraction. CBS produced a made for TV movie titled Batman in Outer Space, which is responsible for the infamous "Batman Can Breathe in Space" argument among fans of the character who believe he can beat anyone. The film features Batman's enemies stealing a rocket and attacking a Space station in a nod to science fiction films of the time, which included a Lightsaber battle between Batman and the Joker. Producers Michael Usland and Benjamin Melniker purchased the film rights to the character from DC and intended to return him to his original and more comic accurate roots. The film was difficult to pitch as most studios wanted something campy. Producer Jon Peter and Casablanca Film Works joined in. A full script titled Return of the Batman was written but that title would not be used to avoid confusions of continuity with the Adam West version. It would instead by called simply Batman, often Batman 79' by fans. The film was made in the style of the Christopher Reeves Superman Movies, though less whimsical in tone. Clint Eastwood was chosen to play Batman, a choice made as he was well known as the most serious part of the 66' Batman series, and his casting had the effect that this was not the 60's Batman but the 70's Batman. A bold choice was made to feature a newer Batman villain, Ra's Al Ghul. Al Ghul was threatening Gotham City in the film's plot and Batman needed to travel the world to defeat him and his League of Assassins. Ra's Al Ghul was played by Christopher Lee, though his henchman Ubu was given a bigger role as the physical threat for the Dark Knight. The film included a comic accurate scene of a shirtless Clint Eastwood engaging in a swordfight with Ra's Al Ghul (being ITTL's version of his role as Fu Manchu in The Face of Fu Manchu). During the film, Batman would be captured and forced to escape from Ras Al Ghul's prison, with filming taking place in Kilmainham Gaol Prison(While this is where The Face of Fu Manchu was filmed, the film is basically replacing OTL Escape from Alcatraz for Clint Eastwood so here he gets an "Escape from this Prison is impossible" portion of the film and we can see this as the ITTL version of the pit from The Dark Knight Rises).

Martin Scorsese often criticized the rising Superhero films, seeing them as ascended B Movies and the equivalent of a meal with only fat and no meat. Someone suggested to him that they'd like to see him do better. The Schoolyard taunt was evidently taken to heart. Scorsese began plans to make a low budget film, intending it to be a dark take on a Comic character with a clear expy of a classic fictional character, to his surprise he was given the chance to choose a character from DC's catalogue. He unexpectedly chose a villain and began his production of Joker. Robert De Niro was immediately cast in the lead role, something that surprised no one in Hollywood. The film was originally intended to have its Joker fight Clint Eastwood's Batman but this was scrapped and it became a stand alone film instead. Scorsese reimagined the Joker as a struggling Comedian with mental health issues who lived with his mother. Like the protagonist of Scorsese's earlier film Taxi Driver, the Joker character slowly goes insane from the world around him spiraling out of control. He has a girlfriend who is his rock to reality and tries to help him see reason. She records one of his performances and, thinking he is genuinely good, sends it to his favorite talk show host Jerry Langford(played by Jerry Lewis), who mocks the tape, leading to the two breaking up and the future Joker spiraling into further madness. He is finally invited to meet his idol Jerry Langford on his talk show, when he and Langford get into an intense argument when he reveals his crimes on live TV, leading to the protagonist shooting Langford in the face and being arrested. The film was the hit of 1982, once more surprising no one given Scorsese's track record(Yes I know this borders on alien Space Bats but I couldn't resist. This film replaces OTL The King of Comedy. So instead of getting Joker, a good film compared to Martin Scorsese films like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, we get a literal Martin Scorsese film, replacing one of the movies it's been accused of ripping off. Also just FYI there's no Thomas Wayne in this film due to the setting of 1982 being contemporary. His role in the film if he has one is likely taken by Harvey Den't, District Attorney running for Mayor who gets acid splashed in his face by rioters instigated by the Joker. Also adding this later but two scenes likely included in this film are "How About another Joke, Jerry?" and Goodfellas's "Funny How. Funny like I'm a clown." scene, which makes too much sense to not be included here).

As this self contained film was released, the sequel to Batman, titled The Return of Batman was released a year later. The film would cover the origins of Robin in this new continuity and be largely based off the 1977 storyline Batman: Strange Apparitions by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. Rogers would do the concept art for the film. The story featured crimelord Rupert Thorne and the Joker(played once more by Al Pacino) in the story. Silver St.Cloud would be introduced as a love interest for Batman. William Holden played James Gordon. David Niven played Alfred Pennyworth(neither having appeared in the previous film, which focused largely on Batman and Ra's Al Ghul. As it happens both would have to be recast as both actors passed away, Holden in 1981 and Niven in 1983, meaning they would not see the film's release in 83'(intentionally after Scorsese's Joker had been released). Joker does appear but very briefly at Scorsese's insistence. He kills the main antagonist Hugo Strange before he can reveal Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne, both not wanting to know and enjoying fighting Batman too much to see him gone. Peter O'Toole appeared as the Penguin. Tom Mankiewicz had written the script. Michael J.Fox was cast as Robin under the directing of Ivan Reitman. The plot involved Dick Grayson losing his parents to mobsters, being adopted by Batman and joining his war on crime in order to stop a gang war between the Penguin and Rupert Thorne with Hugo Strange being revealed as the main antagonist. The adopting of Dick Grayson and him being unmasked leading to Strange discovering Batman's identity shortly before his death at the hands of the Joker in his surprise appearance, emerging from the shadows to shoot and kill Strange.

The Film did well but behind the scenes problems arose. Scorsese didn't want his Joker featured in other films and the Joker was deemed too important to leave out of the series. He would have to be recast. They also had two replace two of the now late actors. DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths was about to be released, effectively rebooting the DC Comics Universe. DC thought that this new direction warranted a new direction in the films as well and with it a new Director. Clint Eastwood did not return to play Batman. A new Batman film was set to be released in 1986 with Director Tim Burton at the helm. His choice of Batman Actor, Michael Keaton, was controversial. He was a comedy film actor. There was no way he could play a convincing Batman, many thought, until the world saw Batman 86'.

 

[Marco Incognito]

DC Superheroes in Film and TV(1942-1999)

Still from "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?"​

The first Adaptation of a Superhero into any other medium was the Fleischer Superman Cartoons in 1941. The success of this series led to the release of a Batman Fleischer Cartoon Series a year later in 1942. This was followed by two Film Serials for each character. Batman in 1943 and 1949 and Superman in 1948 and 1950. Other comic book characters to get their own serials were Captain Marvel(1941), Spy Smasher(1942), Hop Harrigan(1946),The Vigilante(1947), Congo Bill(1948), and the Blackhawks(1952). The Superman serial would be replaced by the George Reeve Superman series, which included Superman Smashes the Klan as the pilot Movie. However it would not be until the success of the 66' Batman series that DC would consider shifting the spotlight to other DC Characters. This began with a short lived Batgirl series, however DC would try again, this time bringing in female writers to pen a Wonder Woman series in 1967. The pilot script for Wonder Woman was written by Stan Hart and Larry Siegel with rewrites performed by Stanley Ralph Ross and was titled Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?. The piece starred Ellie Wood Walker(Robert Walker Jr's wife) as Diana Prince and Linda Harrison as Diana's Wonder Woman Alter Ego.The series stayed faithful to Wonder Woman's origins, though depicted Diana as a magical split personality she would transform into. The Series was one of many to crossover with The 66' Batman series.

Character Designs for the Teen Titans series.​

DC also handed Hal Seeger Productions into producing an Animated Plastic Man series, believing the character would not work in Live Action but was perfect for Animation, being essentially a cartoon character already. The rights to Plastic Man would be bought by Hannah Barbera to appear as a member of their new series Justice League, changed from the original intended name "Superfriends" as DC requested the show being more dramatic than the original plans, which warranted the removal of several more comedic characters, namely kids named Marvin and Wendy and the Superpets. The show lasted from 1973 to 1985, though a spinoff series of sorts with an animated Series based off Marv Wolfman and George Perez's Teen Titans run in 1980. DC also greenlit an Animated Series based on MAD Magazine titled MAD TV. While watched by kids, a lot of the series humor gained it an adult following as well. In Live Action TV, Filmation produced the series Shazam! and it's spinoff The Secrets of Isis.

Promotional Poster of Swamp Thing holding Alec Holland's corpse(ITTL, a bigger budget means a better looking Swamp Thing).​

As the Superman and Batman Film Series continued, there remained a desire to continue the focus on only the two Heroes. The TV Show Superboy was produced in 1988 to provide Superman with earlier adventures and a chance for him to encounter villains he would not in the films. Martin Scorsese's Joker pushed the production of a Comic Adaptation of Swamp Thing to 1989, which turned out to be a blessing as the film was now released after the character was reinvigorated by Alan Moore, another work of which, Watchmen, had recently been a huge success in 1988, allowing Swamp Thing to swoop into production and be released the following year after rewrites to more faithfully follow Moore's stories, billing itself as "From the creator of Watchmen". The Film was more horror than possibly any other Comic book film before it.

Screenshot from the Justice League TV series.
​

The Early 90's saw a boom of new TV Shows, with the hope these shows would crossover at some points, despite different owners. This effort was headed largely by Swamp Thing. It was decided that a Films Series was insufficient to cover the number of quality stories told by writers such as Moore, Gaiman, and later Miéville so a TV Show format was adopted instead. Still it made sense to many that Swamp Thing would lead this endeavor given his film's popularity. The Swamp Thing Show was joined by a The Flash TV Show, a Green Arrow TV Show, a now more obscure show called Human Target(OTL the original Script was abandoned and the actual series being released two years later but being cancelled) and Justice League. Justice League was made by Magnum Pictures and featured the Justice League International Roster, which meant more obscure characters, namely showcasing Booster Gold, Blue Beetler, Fire and Ice, made up the team, though Swamp Thing, Flash and Green Arrow from the other shows often crossed over. These series would be overshadowed by the premiere of Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 to tie in with the release of Batman Continues, kicking off the DC Animated Universe. DC originally wanted the Batman film to be lighter, more akin to the Adam West series but this was decided against after the success of the extremely gritty Watchmen and the plan to release a Plastic Man film, which served to provide a more family friendly comedic character that same year. Both films aired at around the same time so parents would take their kids to see Plastic Man, which starred Jim Carrey. Rumors persist that Jim Carrey would have played a similar role in a more comedic take on the Mask, but this was abandoned. The Mask would instead be adapted into a much more faithful to the Comic and Violent film by David Cronenberg(Yeah if you didn't know the original Mask Comic Book is extremely violent and gory. Here all that Carrey energy got transferred to Plastic Man, who's powers are tweaked for more of the jokes to work so he's basically the Mask, basically being able to make objects out of his plastic body and change their color).

A Badge of Schwarzenegger's Sergeant Rock​

In 1993, fresh off the success of Watchmen. Arnold Shwarzenegger would appear as Sergeant Rock, despite the odd nature of a Germany playing an american during World War II. An explanation was provided that Rock was half German and was a personal film for Arnold as his father had deeply regretted his role as a member of the Nazi party and the film quickly became about the German people proving that they were not all Nazis by depicting a largely german cast as the protagonists. The film was a breather of sorts and Arnold would return in 1995 for the sequel to Watchmen. That same year Tim Burton's Catwoman was released along with Batman and Robin. The film even included a Catwoman animated short before it by Bruce Timm. This was a test run to see if audiences would sit still for an animated short before the films. This would carry over into Batman: Triumphant and Superman: Lives. It was a way of calling back to the old serials. Said short soften depicted the titular characters of the main film to avoid confusion and posters often mentioned the short in their wording.

In 1999, the first of two duel series premiered. The first of these was Smallville. After the end of Lois & Clark, it was decided to take the next series in a new direction and depict Clark Kent growing up in Smallville. At the same time is was decided a series depicting Bruce Wayne growing up and training to become Batman would be made titled Gotham(OTL the original idea for Smallville was a Bruce Wayne series but it was changed to a Superman Series. Here a compromise was made and both shows are put into production in a kind of "Do this show for me and I'll greenlit the project you really want to make." The creators of Lois & Clark did a sequel series of their own, set chronologically in the same setting as Smallville and Gotham but focusing on the romance between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, titled Diana & Steve.

 

[Marco Incognito]

Last of the Classic Universal Monster film updates. Next up is Friday the 13th and then some overhauling of the Marvel Films and Television

The Invisible Man's Revenge(1944)​

Part of a deal made with H.G.Wells to produce two Invisible Man films between. 1943 and 1951. The film starred Claude Rains in the lead role.

The Mummy's Ghost(1944)​

Directed by Reginald Le Borg. Acquanetta starred in the main female role.Lon Chaney returned to play the Mummy Kharis.

Credit to 4Gottenlore on Deviantart
​

The Wolfman vs Dracula(1944)​

Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr returned to play their iconic roles with the Wolfman fighting against Dracula's control while seeking to stop him.

The Mummy's Curse(1944)​

A Sequel largely using stock footage from previous Mummy films.

DVD cover art by Alex Ross​

House of Horrors(1945)​

This film brought together Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, The Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Mummy. Bela Lugosi , Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr returned with Petter Lorre also appearing in the role of a hunchback assistant and Claude Rains reprising his role as the Invisible Man though not as the antagonist. The Premise involves Dracula assembling the monsters in his plan for world domination, which include killing the Nazis as well, which include Peter Lorre. The Invisible Man is offered a chance to join Dracula's alliance but refuses and aids the heroes, which include John Carradine and several other Universal Horror alumni. While the film was successful, after the release of the film and the end of World War II leading to Horror falling out of favor due to the real horrors revealed during the war. Not helped was that the monsters die in ironic or fitting ways. Dracula is staked through the heart. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is shot, the Mummy is broken apart, the Frankenstein monster is set on fire, and the Wolfman is shot by a silver bullet, complete with the Invisible Man dying and reappearing after death.

The Creeper(1946)​

A Film starring Rondo Hatton, who suffered from several heart attacks which took his life, as a result the film was released in his memory.

She-Wolf of London(1946)​

A Film starring Forrester Harvey and featuring Una O'Connor in a smaller role. The Film is considered lackluster compared to other Universal films, meainly concerned with a woman that believes she becomes a werewolf at night from evidence she finds suggesting this every morning after a full moon such as werewolf hair and destruction to the room along with the discovery of bodies that have been ripped apart. Rare for Universal Monster movies at the time, the monster is revealed to not be real but an elaborate frame up job by the antagonist.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein's Monster(1948)​

With the popularity of the Universal Monsters in decline in the face of the horrors of the war, the age of monsters came to an end. It was Abbott and Costello, the then popular comedic duo that suggested to give the Monsters a sendoff, which came into existence with this film. The main difference is in how the monsters meet their demise. Dracula dies from sunlight and the Wolfman dies once more from a silver bullet. Boris Karloff returned to play the Frankenstein monster a final time along with Bela Lugosi and Long Chaney Jr. Chaney Jr also jumped into the role of the monster a few times to give Karloff some time off in the role. Vincent Price also cameos as the Invisible Man, scarring Abbott and Costello at the end.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man(1951)​

Vincent Price plays the Invisible Man but Arthur Franz plays the body of the Invisible Man since the titular Invisible Man was a boxer to provide more comedic opportunities such as Abbott in a boxing match being secretly helped out by the Invisible Man.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy(1955)​

Lon Chaney Jr plays the titular monster, Klaris, the cousin of Kharis, a different mummy to provide more comedic scenes with the Mummy without contradicting the original character's menace.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

I needed a break from my writing of Doctor Who and other entries. So I threw this together while going back to old Posts. Since I'm planning to overhaul the Comic Stuff, I was thinking of doing a series of posts covering multiple Media per "Age" i.e. Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Modern Age, since very early on there are not enough entries in one Medium to justify their own post. As we move up in time, they will obviously split up a bit such as having Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four centered posts covering their Films with the same happening to Television, Animation and Video Games.

Before Marvel: Timely and Atlas in Film and Television

Film Serial

Captain America:
Production Studio: Republic Pictures
Number of Chapters: 15
Release Date: 1944

Due to Marvel not existing yet. This is the Film Serial under the Timely Name. The Serial concerns Captain America trying to stop the release of a deadly gas known as "The Purple Death". Differences from OTL include Captain America actually using his Shield in addition to his gun. The inclusion of Bucky Barnes. The renaming of the Gail Richards character into Peggy Carter, making her more competent, and the replacement of the villain the Scarab into the Red Skull.

Televison Series

Namor
Release Date: 1954
Producers: Frank Saverstein, Herb Shriner, Arthur Godfrey
Story Consultant: Bill Everett

Like with Captain America and Timely, Namor was the only non comic release by its successor Atlas Comics. The Series adapted stories from the 30's and 40's, intentional as Creator but moved the action to the 1950's. While Namor still attacked the shores of America, he would also battle Soviets instead of Nazis, demolishing their submarines. He was far more antagonistic that Superman and would go on rampages while working to limit casualties. His only friend on the New York police force was the attractive Betty Dean.
​

An Interview between Bill Everett and Roy Thomas from the Late 1960's.

Roy Thomas: Would you mind telling me about the Sub-Mariner TV series?

Bill Everett: Yes, I can tell you as little as I know about it. I was called into the business manager's office, one day, just out of a clear blue sky.

Thomas: This was about '53 or '54?

Everett: '54. And I was introduced to a man by the name of Frank Saverstein, whose father was a producer, and he was following in his footsteps, and producer of some pretty good stuff. He was involved, I think, with Goodson-Todman and a few things. He had an idea to produce a Sub-Mariner series. He had been a great Sub-Mariner fan. He had Herb Shriner, the Hoosier comedian, who was also a Sub-Mariner fan.

Thomas: This was also during the time when the Superman show had been very popular. That was probably the influence.

Everett: Yes, they figured if you could do it with Superman, you could do it with The Sub-Mariner. And it would be different, quite a different thing and different to film, and novel. And so then they got the money interests; they had Arthur Godfrey backing them, moneywise. They went so far as to buy a PT Boat and get all kinds of underwater equipment, even before they got to the business negotiations. They were that sold on the idea of making the pilot.

Thomas: Did they have a star in mind?

Everett: Yes, they had Richard Egan planned from the start. I guess he agreed to do it. I couldn't quite see it, but that was beside the point.

Thomas: Was Egan personally acquainted with the Sub-Mariner character before filming?

Everett: I don't know anything about that. All I know is that Frank said they had the actor picked out. They wanted Richard Egan and he had agreed to make the pilot. That's all I know. I don't know how much interest Egan had in it before or after.

Thomas: You never met him in connection with the negotiations?

Everett: No, no, not at all. I was only in on the sessions that determined what we could do. Actually, it was designing responsibility. I was the story consultant, but the scripts would be written by their company. But I was to okay them and to advise them as to what The Sub-Mariner could and couldn't do. I think that they wanted to go with the original Sub-Mariner, as I understand it. Frank and Herb both were fans of the original Sub-Mariner, as he was before the war, but wanted to bring him into modern situations.

Thomas: Probably with the same anti-Communist thing which you were doing in comics.

Everett: Main discussions were about who's going to get credit and who's going to get paid for this, how we were going to run the operation.

 

[Marco Incognito]

Marvel in Film and TV: 1944-1999​

Patrick Duffy as Namor​

The First depiction of a Marvel Property outside the Comic Pages was the Captain America film serials of 1944. Namor would surprisingly gain two TV shows, one in the 1950's starring Richard Egan, and one in the early 1970's starring Patrick Duffy that was even more short lived(replaces OTL "The Man from Atlantis").

Following the companies's revival in the 1960's as Superheroes returned to popularity, a series of Cartoon adventures were released. The first of these was The Marvel Super Heroes, which featured segments highlighting different Marvel Heroes, namely Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, and the Sub-Mariner. The Cartoons where largely adaptations of the Comics, with cameos from both the X-Men and the Avengers as well as Spider-Man, who would later get his own animated series in the lineup in 1966. The Show was preceded by a Fantastic Four Series by Hannah Barbara. Earlier deals made crossovers possible despite different airing rights, though the oddest crossover was a storyline in which the Thing was sent back in time to Bedrock in Fred and Barney Meet the Thing in 1979(OTL despite the name, the characters never met and it was more of an anthology, half Flintstone stories, half Fantastic Four stories). This process continued into the 1980's with Spider-Man getting another series, this time with Iceman and Firestar as "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends". This was followed by an Incredible Hulk animated series after the conclusion of the live action show(with the Hulk in the show made to resemble Ferrigno's depiction).

The Opening to the Original Marvel Superheroes​

Live Action Marvel Shows continued to appear, including the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and the Sub-Mariner. The Spider-Man 70's show starred 15 year old actor Tom cruise, who was a bus boy in New York at the time. Born in 1962, he was as old as Spider-Man was and the show was written around him being a teenager in High School trying to balance a Superhero life. Stan Lee got his chance to play J.Jonah Jameson in the series. There was an attempt at a Doctor Strange series in 1978 with a pilot starring Vincent Prince but it was dropped as the Live Action format could not do the character and his trippy 60's world justice. The Pilot is now mostly remembered due to an internet review. Reviewers Linkara, Nash, Jewwario, and Film Brain collaborated on the project. Jewwario(Justin Carmichael) passed away and the review was released. Earlier in the review Jewwario was knocked out by an electrocuted door knob, which was intended to keep him from leaving the room so he could participate in the review. When the review ends, Jewwario moves to leave only to be electrocuted because the reviewers forgot to turn off the electricity used to keep him there. He is then electrocuted and after pausing in shock, the reviewers run to him and the episode ends with a cut to black. By coincidence that was the last review Carmichael did before his death and is essentially considered Jewwario's canonical death.

Stan Lee as J.Jonah Jameson.​

In additon to a Blacksploitation Blade film( done in the vain of OTL's Blackula), There was also a series starring Angela Bowie as Black Widow(Natasha Romanova) and Ben Carruthers as Daredevil titled Daredevil and Black Widow, which focused on their romance, such as Black Widow defecting from Russia after falling in love and fighting her brainwashing , with shades of the Daredevil and Elektra romance as well, including Black Widow being stabbed from Bullseye and being brought back to life in a two parter. The series crossed over with the Incredible Hulk in the TV Movie, the Trial of the Incredible Hulk, in which Matt Murdock must defend Bruce Banner(unlike OTL, the character's name is not changed to David Banner, which came about as a producer thought he sounded Gay, another element is Ferrigno's Hulk speaking, albeit in Hulk speak. The Trial of the Incredible Hulk actually features the trial and scene of Banner turning into the Hulk during the trial, which was only a dream sequence in the film. The film features the Ben Carruthers Daredevil and Angela Bowie's Black Widow instead of the original to the film version OTL). The Show also had a crossover with Patrick Duffy's Namor, in which Namor tries to sue the surface world for the crimes it performed on Atlantis. Matt Murdock is hired as his lawyer. Namor eventually goes on a rampage and Daredevil attempts to stop him. While Daredevil stands no chance and is defeated. He continues to fight despite his injuries and how outclassed he is. He finally passed out after refusing to give up, still punching at Namor. Namor comments that he's fought gods and Monsters and yet this mortal man was the bravest soul he ever met. Namor then leaves in peace.

Angela Bowie and Ben Carruther as Black Widow and Daredevil​

Overseas in Japan, a series of licensed action shows appeared. The First of these was the affectionately nicknamed "Japanese Spider-Man." or "Suppaidaman". The show pioneered the Sentai series. It was followed by Battle Fever J, which adapted several Marvel Superheroes into different versions, including Captain America and the Avengers into Sentai heroes.

1980s​

The early era of Marvel Animation was coming to an end. A 1980 Iron Man Series, an Ant-Man and the Wasp series, and a Daredevil series(abandoning an idea of giving him a superpowered guide dog), Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Fantastic Four(which unlike OTL could actually use the Human Torch), Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, and the Incredible Hulk.

In 1983, German producer Bernd Eichinger met with Marvel Comics' Stan Lee at Lee's Los Angeles home to explore obtaining an option for a movie based on the Fantastic Four. Warner Bros and Columbia Pictures both expressed interest but the potential cost was a problem. Lee had a great working relationship with Walt Disney(the company and the man) and it was through Disney some of the shows had been released. Marvel could be credited with originating the Shared Superhero Universe and doing so in Animation as well was no easy feat. Now they wished to do so in film. However, one film would be released first that would derail those ambitions.

Graphic Novel adaptation of the Dazzler Film​

1984's Dazzler was among the trippiest Superhero films ever conceived with KISS appearing alongside Marvel Superheroes to help save the world from an evil enchantress. The film served as a vehicle for the introduction of Dazzler, played by Bo Derek, whom was modeled after the actress. While the film was more of a cult classic than anything else, it did help increase the funds needed for the later Fantastic Four Movie, even though the studio, and to a lesser extent Marvel itself, deemed the film too surreal and feared association with it. Another Marvel film released the same years was Howard the Duck, an animated film produced by George Lucas was able to nab Ralph Bakshi, who turned the film into something resembling Fritz the Cat in town, allowing Bakshi to take pot shots at Disney(which is also something Howard the Duck's original creator(and by extension Howard himself, loved to do). Lucas has admitted if he couldn't make it animated, he'd have tried to make it live action. An animated show by Marvel called The Young Astronauts, was also released in 1985 as a Saturday morning cartoon, concerning a family on an Insterstellar ship known as the Courageous(think Lost in Space as a cartoon)

Roger Corman was approached to do a Spider-Man movie but the brief option expired. Marvel then offered Spider-Man to Cannon Films with Tobe Hooper to Direct. Hooper was currently working on Invaders From Mars and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and so was unavailable. The heads of Cannon films, Golan and Globus then went to writer Leslie Stevens, creator of The Outer Limits, and it became clear they had not ever heard or even bothered to research the character, just made assumptions they believed were right. In Stevens' story, a corporate scientist intentionally subjects ID-badge photographer Peter Parker to radioactive bombardment, transforming him into a hairy, suicidal, eight-armed monster. This human tarantula refuses to join the scientist's new master-race of mutants, battling a succession of mutations kept in a basement laboratory. Naturally, Stan Lee pulled the plug on this version and had a new screenplay written by Ted Mewsom and John Brancato, which introduced Doctor Octopus, who is created in the same accident, an explosion that radiates a Spider that bites Peter. Doctor Octopus attempts to recreate the experiment, an effort to gain the Fifth Force, threatening to engulf New York and the world. Joseph Zito, who had directed Cannon's successful Chuck Norris film Invasion USA, replaced Tobe Hooper. The new director hired Barney Cohen to rewrite the script. Cohen, creator of TV's Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Forever Knight, added action scenes, a non-canonical gesture for the villain, gave Doc Ock the catch phrase, "Okey-dokey", and altered his goal from the Fifth Force to a quest for anti-gravity. Producer Golan (using his pen name "Joseph Goldman") then made a minor polish to Cohen's rewrite, which removed the "Okey-dokey". Zito scouted locations and studio facilities in both the U.S. and Europe, and oversaw storyboard breakdowns supervised by Harper Goff. Cannon planned to make the film on the then-substantial budget of between $15 and $20 million.

Zito cast actor/stunt man Scott Leva as Spider-Man's stunt double. Bob Hoskins was to play Doctor Octopus. Stan Lee wanted to reprise his role as J.Jonah Jameson. Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn were approached for the role of Aunt May with Hepburn winning out. Peter Cushing was cast as Justin Hammer, a corrupt Businessman who incurs the wrath of Doctor Octopus. Adolph Caesar was cast as a Police Detective later revealed to be named George Stacy, who was to be killed by Doctor Octopus in the film. Scott Leva continued to promote the film. The Film would fall through at the last moment, due to a failure to find a director for the picture.

Around 1989, Stan Lee and Chris Claremont entered in talks with Carolco Pictures and Lightstorm Entertainment to make a film adaptation of the X-Men comic book series, with James Cameron as producer, Kathryn Bigelow as director and Gary Goldman as writer. Bob Hoskins was originally going to play Wolverine, but both realized that if there were ever crossovers, Bob Hoskins playing Doctor Octopus(which he was still possibly slated to do if the Spider-Man film was made) and Wolverine would have been confusing. Instead they had the ingenious idea of hiring actor Paul D'amato, who had inspired Wolverine's creation, after his appearance in the Canadian comedy Slapshot, to play Wolverine himself. Actress Angela Bassett played Storm. However, Stan Lee himself derailed the film's creation when he and Cameron talked and Lee piques Cameron's interest in making a Spider-Man film instead. While a Spider-Man film was already in the works, Cameron was promised the sequel. X-Men needed another director. With short time, Chris Claremont stepped into the director's chair. Ian Mckellen was added to play Magneto while Patrick Stewart was cast as Professor X. The film was released in 1992, complimenting the X-Men Animated series which began at around the same time with the pilot Pryde of the X-Men having been released around the announcement. Other Animated series followed including the obscure Solarman, and a Ruby Spears produced Thor series.

Paul D'amato as Wolverine.​

1990's​

In the Early 90's animation was beginning to resume and would later in the decade with Spider-Man, Avengers and X-Men: The Animated Series among others. Spider-Man in particular is noteworthy for killing off Mary Jane Watson, then introducing Gwen Stacy as a replacement love interest(Unlike OTL, this Spider-Man series is never censored to the same extent, meaning they were able to kill of Mary Jane Watson ITTL).

In 1991, a cartoon series based on Power Pack was created. It did alright but the spinoff would steal its thunder. Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius, was a show from the same creative minds as Calvin and Hobbes: The Animated Series and had the same art style but followed the solo adventures of Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four, and his robot helper H.E.R.B.I.E. Saban wanted to do a Captain America series, but settled for redubbing and editing Japanese Spider-Man and Battle Fever J as they had done with Power Rangers. Another series produced was the now forgotten Stealth Warriors.

Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno returned for Revenge of the Incredible Hulk, despite the Death of the Incredible Hulk, killing off the character, the Film brought him back to life. A She-Hulk live-action motion picture was released in 1992 with Larry Cohen as writer and director. Brigitte Nielsen played the title role. In order to explain She-Hulk existing before a Hulk Movie, the Incredible Hulk TV Show was made canon to the film. Bruce Banner was caught and forced once more to stand trial. Matt Murdock could not reach him in time. Instead, Jennifer Walters offers to defend him(she is not his cousin in the film as this would lead to her not being allowed to defend him if discovered). When assassins gun down Walters and she is hospitalized, Banner offers to give a blood transfusion, transforming Walters into She-Hulk. The Hulk was once played by Lou Ferrigno.

That same year, stealing most of She-Hulk's success, was Quentin Tarantino's Luke Cage, starring Laurence Fishburne, which Tarantino did to gain funds for his next planned film, Pulp Fiction.

Poster of the Spider-Man Movie.​

Production began on James Cameron's Spider-Man. Toward the end of shooting True Lies, Variety carried the announcement that Carolco Pictures had received a completed screenplay from James Cameron. This script bore the names of James Cameron, John Brancato, Ted Newsom, Barry Cohen and "Joseph Goldman(OTL this was a confusion of Manaheim Golan's pen name, and Marvel Executive Joseph Calamari). Arnold Shwarzenegger was originally to play as Doctor Octopus but was dropped from the script, later appearing in the second film. Cameron instead introduced Electro and Sandman Cameron's treatment or "Scriptment" as he put it, was 57 pages long. Electro and Sandman were villains. The original script renamed the characters. Electro was an evil billionaire named Carlton Strand and The Sandman was simply named Boyd. This was changed to be more comic accurate(Electro being Max Dillon and Sandman being Flint Marko), and Norman Osborn was added as a villain, though he did not don the Goblin costume, simply fulfilling the corrupt businessman role. Electro was played by Lance Henrickson. Sandman was played by Michael Biehn. All three villains, with the exception of Osborn, being actors Cameron had used in the Terminator. Maggie Smith played Aunt May, Robin Lively played Mary Jane Watson. Stan Lee wanted to return as J.Jonah Jameson but Cameron replaced him with R.Lee Ermey.

R.Lee Ermey as J.Jonah Jameson before Mustache.​

The Sandman's origin is depicted in what is considered one of the best scenes in the film. He is accidentally exposed to Philadelphia Experiment-style bilocation and atom-mixing, getting caught in a nuclear blast on a beach. He then struggles to put himself back together and grab a locket with his daughter's picture. He is then forced to serve Osborn who had a hand in the test that created him.

Osborn attempts to recruit Peter Parker(Leonardo DiCaprio) and uses the Sandman and Electro as his enforcers. Peter also begins to commit to a relationship with Mary Jane, who he reveals his identity to. The film uses profanity and has a scene of Spider-Man and Mary Jane having sex on the Brooklyn Bridge. These elements gave the film an R Rating. Spider-Man in the film has organic webbing. The villain tempts Spider-Man into joining his "master race" of mutants; from the original screenplay and rewrite, weird electrical storms causing blackouts, freak magnetic events and bi-location; from the Ethan Wiley draft, a villain addicted to toxic super-powers and multiple experimental spiders, one of which escapes and bites Peter, the bite causing a hallucinatory nightmare invoking Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis; from the Frank LaLoggia script, a blizzard of stolen cash fluttering down onto surprised New Yorkers; and from the Neil Ruttenberg screenplay, a criminal assault on the New York Stock Exchange.

Roger Corman's Fantastic Four film would go through several rewrites, including replacing the original villain known as the Jeweler with the Moleman and several scene improvements. The film would premiere on Labor Day Weekend in 1993. Trailers for the film ran in theaters and on the video release of Director Roger Corman's Carnosaur. The cast members hired a publicist, at their own expense, to help promote the film at a clips-screening at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and at the San Diego Comic-Con International. By this time, the world premiere was announced to take place at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota with proceeds from the event earmarked for the charities Ronald McDonald House and Children's Miracle Network.

In 1989, Erik Fleming, then a film student from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and Robert Letterman approached Marvel Studios and Constantin Film's producer Bernd Eichinger to ask permission to make a short film featuring the Silver Surfer, as a proof of concept for the use of CGI in creating a realistic silver coloured human figure. Supervised by Steven Robiner, this 5-minute short film, completed in 1991, premiered at First Look USC Film Festival on September 21, 1993, led to significant interest from major studios in a feature-length Silver Surfer project. However, in 1992, Quentin Tarantino, fresh from his critical success with Reservoir Dogs, had come to Constantin Productions with a Silver Surfer script and this film was accepted with Fleming and Letterman providing special effects. However, it was eventually decided to fold this film into the sequel Fantastic Four Film. Corman was replaced by Tarantino for the 1994 sequel film Fantastic Four: Galactus. The Film largely helped to introduce the Silver Surfer, who arrived on Earth to prepare it for the arrival of Galactus. The Silver Surfer, after meeting the Thing's blind girlfriend Alicia Masters, turns on his master. The Fantastic Four meanwhile sneaked onto Galactus's ship to obtain the weapon known as the Ultimate Nullifier, they fail but Reed Richards is able to create a duplicate(that would not have worked) and trick Galactus into mistaking it for the real thing. R.Lee Ermey appears as J.Jonah Jameson towards the film's conclusion, holding a newspaper dubbing Galactus a hoax.

Sequels for both X-Men and Spider-Man were in the works. The X-Men sequel X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, based on the storyline of the same name, which Chris Claremont had written and now directed was released in 1995. A TV show, Generation X, was released, intending to explore the lives of other Mutants in the X-Men word, with the cast making occasional. appearances. A Spider-Man sequel: The Amazing Spider-Man was released in 1996. The film introduced Doctor Octopus, with Shwarzenegger in the role. Concepts of the original draft for the Spider-Man film were used, including Doctor Octopus building a weapon. Norman Osborn, the Sandman and Electro returned. Since New Line Cinema was working on a Venom Movie, it was decided Doctor Octopus would be working on creating the Symbiote as a way to benefit humanity. Eddie Brock was introduced in the film as Peter Parker's childhood friend. Their parents worked on the Symbiote together before Osborn stole it away from them and Doc Ock now seeks to finish what they started. Peter Parker gained the Black Suit. Its power is shockingly demonstrated when after an earlier battle in which Spider-Man suffers a humiliating defeat by Doc Ock, Electro and Sandman, he has a rematch with the Black Suit and easily defeats them, using their powers against them, only for it to later be revealed Peter was asleep the entire fight and the suit was controlling him. Peter eventually has to free himself from the suit, which infects Eddie and turns him into Venom. Eddie Brock was played by Eminem(who even recorded a song for the soundtrack), however when he was Venom, to demonstrate his physicality, and his deeper voice, he was played by Dolph Lundgren.

In 1997, David S. Goyer finished the script for Venom for New Line Cinema. Dolph Lundgren reprised his role without Eminem with the explanation that the Symbiote had transformed Eddie completely.. The main villain of the film was Carnage, who's origin was told in the film. Venom was released in 1998

Movie Poster for Venom.​

Universal had their own contender. Hoping to tie in the the opening of Universal Studio's Island of Adventure, a Hulk film was planned with the idea that the Hulk would go toe to toe with Superman(specifically Superman Lives) at the box office in the summer of 1998. She-Hulk also returned but Bill Bixby had to retire due to poor health. Billy Crudup would play Bruce Banner who discovered that two other people had been exposed to the same gamma bomb that had created the Hulk, one became the Abomination, which had the Hulk's strength but retained a normal intelligence and the Leader, who was as smart as the Hulk was strong. It was now up to the Hulk to defeat the two evil beings. Jonathan Heinsleigh directed the film. Despite Marvel's best efforts, the Hulk was defeated by Superman at the box office.

Billy Crudup with mockup of the Hulk

Instead the end of the decade was dominated by the conclusion to two mighty trilogies. X-Men's 1998 conclusion to the trilogy adapted the story of X-Men: Days of Future Past, and followed the story faithfully, though adding the detail of Magneto reforming and his hearing being bombed triggering the events leading towards the apocalypse, which a time travelling Kitty Pryde attempts to stop, seemingly succeeding.

Finally 1999 saw the release of The Spectacular Spider-Man. The Film brought back Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro, Venom and Carnage, with Norman Osborn finally donning the Green Goblin mantle, completing the Sinister Six, and attempting to get revenge on Spider-Man, with Venom switching sides part way through the movie. In the final battle, most of the villains were killed. Despite the end of both trilogies, this was not the end of Marvel's presence in Superhero Films. For as DC was beginning to head towards their big onscreen team up, Marvel wasn't too far behind.​

 

[Marco Incognito]

James Bond: The Fleming Novels
Ian Fleming had wanted to write a spy novel during the days of World War II, using his own experience as a spy. He began writing Casino Royale in February 17 1952 at this home in Jamaica, known as Goldeneye. He finished the book in two months and had it published thanks to his brother Peter Fleming supporting the book through his own connection. The book was a hit and sold out in less than a month with further reprints also selling out. Fleming had a job as the Foreign manager of Kemsley Newspapers and negotiated a deal to allow three months off every year to write his books. This resulted in the birth of the character of James Bond, originally named James Secretan before Fleming heard of the Ornithologist James Bond and liked the name. The character of Bond was based on Hoagy Carmichael and Fleming himself. Within the first few pages, several iconic elements of Bond are established such as his Bentley and his signature drink served shaken not stirred(revealed ITTL to be purposefully watered down so that Bond would be at less of a risk of being drunk during missions). Fleming admitted that most of Bond's habits were seen as attributes of a gentlemen when he wrote the book, though he would tone them down in the books, including choosing not to depict Bond as Racist and toning down his sexism while keeping his active sex life.

Fleming wrote Casino Royale(1953), Live and Let Die(1954), Moonraker(1955), and Diamonds are Forever(1956)(which has a minor change in the character of Kidd is named Dolly) but by the time he reached From Russia with Love(1956), he was considering retiring the character and wrote two endings which he combined. The first was a relationship between Bond and Romanova and the second was the possible death of Bond from poisoning in case Fleming decided to end the franchise. Fortunately he decided to continue it with Dr.No(1958).

Clint Eastwood, the American James Bond, 1954

In the summer of 1958, the CBS television network commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale as an episode of the CBS television series Climax! which starred Clint Eastwood as James Bond in his first role. Fleming eventually wrote episodes for the TV show James Bond: Secret Agent(also known as American James Bond retroactively). The series included condensed episode versions of the 5 existing Bond novels. This was followed by the Fleming scripted episodes From a View to Kill(the backstory to the Moonraker villain Hugo Drax) , Quantum of Solace, The Hildebrand Rarity, For your Eyes Only, Risico, The Living Daylights, 007 in New York, The Property of a Lady, and Octopussy, among others(these stories were mostly written for the cancelled show so it stands to reason they would exist as television episodes ITTL). The success of the show would lead to plans for feature length films of the Bond character. Eastwood refused to reprise his role, believing that a British actor should play Bond. In the meantime, Fleming continued his work, releasing Goldfinger(1959), Thunderball(1960), The Spy Who Loved Me(1961), On Her Majesty's Secret Service(1962), You only Live Twice(1963), The Man with the Golden Gun(1964), Spectre(1965), and No Time to Die(1966). In the final book, Fleming made the choice to kill off Bond on his own terms, sensing the end approaching for him as smoking and alcohol caught up to him. Fleming suffered a final heart attack in 1966, his last words were the the paramedics and echoed those of Bond: "We have all the time in the world."​

 

[Marco Incognito]

Godzilla: Showa Era(1954-1979)​

Godzilla's production came about on a return flight when Producer Tomyuki Tanaka was daydreaming, looking out the window into the sea. The plans to make the film in The Shadow of Glory had been cancelled due to political tension between Japan and Indonesia. The monster was not yet fully conceived. it went from a giant octopus, to a fire breathing Ape with a mushroom cloud for a head, then to another ape crossed with a Whale. Eventually, the producers watched The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and changed the creature to a reptile but kept the name "Gojira"(meaning Gorilla-Whale) from the previous version. Plans to make the monster stop motion failed as it would have taken too long.Eventually the Giant Lizard we all now and love materialized in his classic look in the 1954 film.

The Sequel: Godzilla Raids Again, was released a year later in 1955 and introduced a second Godzilla, along with the monster Anguirus. Despite sequels not being seen as profitable at the time in the US, the film was released under its translated title, distributed by AB-PT Studios, saving the company from bankruptcy and allowing it to persist in making monster films.

Then came the oddest of Sequels in 1956 titled Bride of Godzilla, the film focused on a scientist building a naked female robot to combat Godzilla, which he would then fall in love with. The robot then activated a nuke in its chest that self destructed, presumably killing Godzilla. The script also introduced a hollow Earth location filled with other Kaiju, including other Godzilla and Anguiruses, which appeared to be destroyed when the nuke went off. The Film is considered to have killed the Godzilla franchise for some time. One of the Kaiju depicted(A giant Archeopterix)was eventually revealed to have survived and starred in their own film as Rodan(Rodan was almost an Archeopterix, which was set to appear in Bride of Godzilla, since the film is made. Rodan is an Archeopterix here.

Design of Archeopterix Rhodan from Bride of Godzilla.

The Four Fathers of Godzilla shifted to other projects away from the Godzilla franchise, considering it done after a decent trilogy of films. The same team released The Mysterians in 1957, which featured Moguera as a Cyborg Monster to differentiate it from other Kaiju, including the Bride of Godzilla.

Then in 1962, Toho, having acquired the rights to both King Kong and Frankenstein from Universal(or at least permission to use them), chose to bring Godzilla back with a crossover for the ages in the form of Godzilla vs King Kong, as part of Toho's 30th Anniversary. Frankenstein was planned as well but removed. Filming took place in Sri Lanka. The film quickly removed scenes where Frankenstein was originally stated to appear(for example the element of King Kong eating electricity to gain power was changed to an electric shock from power lines instead basically functioning as a defibrillator and jump starting Kong's heart after he appears to die in one scene. The film began when Godzilla emerged from the water, a few lines reveal that an underground World had been destroyed in a Nuke(not mentioned but hinted to be from the explosion in Bride of Godzilla). An Island had now began to form when the remains of the underground world reached the Surface(becoming what was later known as Monster Island). The Island is being explored and a member of the King Kong species is discovered, which one greedy businessman has captured and taken back to Japan despite protests and the government outright forbidding him from doing so. It is hypothesized in the film that the King Kong of the original film was an infant and that Kong's species grows larger over time. The Film ended in an unclear victory. Two versions were shot and released, one for Japan and one for America. Both monsters fell into the ocean from a cliff. In the Japanese version, Godzilla emerged and left but King Kong did not. The Opposite occurred in the American release. Other Versions had neither monster emerge, implying they destroyed each other.

The film was a huge success and an immediate Sequel was made in 1963 titled Continuation: Godzilla vs. King Kong, released in English with the Punny name "Godzilla vs King Kong: The Battle Kongtinues". The Film begins with a Japanese plane crashing in Africa(and actual African extras were used), resulting in a search party lead by a man named Nomura. He discovers a single child survived the crash and is being cared for by Kong(the same Kong as Godzilla vs King Kong) in the ruins of an ancient city. When a giant scorpion arrives and battles Kong, Nomura rescues the child and they flee to Japan with Kong hot on their trail, believing they've kidnapped the boy. At the same time Godzilla's body washes up on shore and is found and transported to a theme park on an island in the Seto inland sea(Godzilla is thought dead but is actually in a form of hibernation due to injuries sustained by Kong as witnesses claimed to have seen Godzilla emerge from the water injured before collapsing. When Kong arrives at the theme park Godzilla awakens and the two battle again. It ends in a draw with each kaiju going their own ways but Kong goes straight to Japan looking for the child. Eventually Kong and Godzilla have a finally battle at Mt. Aso which erupts with both the kaiju being swallowed up by the Volcano.

Godzilla was subject to another crossover, this time with Mothra, as Godzilla vs Mothra was released in 1964. The Film concerned a Mothra egg washing up on the shores of the fictional country of Rolisica(an odd mix of both the American and Russian sides of the Cold War, possibly a commentary on how to the Japanese the two were no different. Godzilla awakens and heads towards Rolisica, leading to the people requesting Mothra's assistance. Mothra, in their Imago(adult) form, fought Godzilla but was killed. The Mothra egg hatched and the twin larva inside then attacked together and defeated Godzilla by trapping him in silk and causing his tied up form to fall into the Ocean.

Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster introduced the titular Monster, who required an alliance of Rodan, Godzilla and Mothra to defeat.The biggest difference is that due to the Two Godzilla vs King Kong films being a success, there is a bigger budget and the creators are able to have Mothra fly in the film(OTL version of the movie only depicts a Larval Mothra due to already having two monsters that fly).This film ended up being a turning point in Godzilla's life in Universe, as they enjoyed fighting to save the Earth from Ghidorah and from then on became a hero(something translated by Mothra's little helpers).

In 1965, Toho launched the first in their Frankenstein Toho series, directed by Ishiro Honda. The story featured German Scientists uncovering the Frankenstein Monster but failing to awaken it, leading it to be moved to Hiroshima for further tests in the hopes it could be used to create an undead army and turn the tide of the War. When Hiroshima is nuked, the Frankenstein Monster is mutated into a giant, which awaken to rampage across Japan, battling the monster Baragon un the process. That same year saw the release of Invasion of the Astro Monster, which once more pit Godzilla and Rodan against Ghidorah.

Still from the Stop Motion Rankin and Bass The King Kong Show.

In 1966, Toho wanted to create a King Kong series. They worked in collaboration with Rankin and Bass to create the stop motion series The King Kong Show. The Story concerns the Son of Kong, from the film of the same name and shows the ape survive the sinking of Skull Island and end up on nearby Mondo Island, where he is found by a Doctor named Bond and his family(a passing joke implies he is related to the special Agent James Bond). With the family, Kong battles the evil Dr. Who. The series was implied to be set between Son of Kong and Godzilla vs King Kong, giving the series a time frame between 1934 and 1962, making it a prequel to Godzilla vs King Kong. To Continue the franchise, a Live Action Adaptation was planned which would revive Kong after the events of Continuation: Godzilla vs King Kong.Kong would be rescued from the Volcano by his old friends from his series and engages in battle with the giant Lobster Sea Monster Ebirah, while also falling in love with a woman(The original plan for what became Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, later changed to include Godzilla, leading to Godzilla showing some odd behavior often attributed to Godzilla, such as falling in love with a human woman. The Film was titled King Kong vs the Sea Monster.

with King Kong helming his own series, another Crossover was planned. The Batman TV Series starring Adam West and Burt Ward was becoming popular. A strange idea was conceived to have a crossover movie between Batman and Godzilla. Remarkably the idea was agreed to, becoming a film in 1967 titled Batman Meets Godzilla. The plot went a little something like this:

Screenshot from Batman Meets Godzilla(Frequently memed).

Barbara Gordon and her father, Commissioner Gordon, are taking a boat across the Far East when one of Barbara's friends from Vassar, Reiko Hammamoto, appears. Eventually, a tidal wave capsizes their boat that was seemingly caused by Klaus Finster, a German meteorologist who, after 20 years of being holed up in Argentina, has migrated to Japan; and now has a secret lair underneath Mount Fuji. Finster is played by iconic actor Boris Karloff. The mad Finster claims to have a weather machine that he'll use to destroy Japan unless given 20 million dollars worth of gold. He has also recruited Batman's top four villains(The Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin and Catwoman). Gordon realizes there are only two men for this job; the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder themselves, Batman and Robin.

Unknown to the Dynamic Duo and their allies, Finster doesn't have control over the weather, but actually has control over Godzilla. Finster uses his control to make the giant reptile leave the Mariana Trench and head towards Japan once more. Batman and Robin, after battling a robotic copy of their ally Count Draidl and the villains, meet with Gordon and the Japanese police. Batman, having suspicions of Godzilla's involvement, watches footage of the beast's battle with King Kong to make sure he's right(actually just the movie).

A waiting game ensues, and when a Kabuki show turns into a sword fight, Reiko is revealed to be one of Finster's spy robots after an accidental decapitation. Batman and Robin give chase to Finster and the villains, and the duo are trapped in a poison gas chamber that was disguised as a taxi cab. Barbara, now having donned the Batgirl attire, frees them with a pocket-sized blowtorch. After a chase through a Japanese bathhouse, they finally encounter Godzilla; this first time is a turbulent recon mission in the Batcopter.

The mission causes Batman to go into a state of nervous agitation, and they take a bullet train to Osaka when word arrives that the city is Finster's next target. They eventually devise a plan; lure Godzilla with a mating call and knock the giant out with explosives. After this, he surveys the Japanese people, who unanimously vote to send the creature into space.

With their plan in place, and after a chase and fight with Klaus Finster and the villains that ends with the villains defeated and the mad scientist falling to his death, Batman, Batgirl and Robin all engage Godzilla with their vehicles, with the giant beast grabbing Batgirl during the fight. Batman, unflinchingly, uses the call anyways, causing Godzilla to throw Barbara Gordon away, with the young woman landing all the way at the Daibutsu Buddha. Batman scales Godzilla(in a scene calling back to the scenes of Batman scaling the walls) and plants the bomb on his neck, tying it to the beast with Batrope before he moves to safety and detonates it, knocking the beast out.

Japanese scientists build a rocket around Godzilla while he is unconscious, before ultimately launching the rocket into orbit above the Earth's surface, with Godzilla forever contained within(at least until the next movie).

Then Came All Monsters Attack Directive( "Godzilla: All Monsters Attack" in English, OTL All Monsters Attack does not exist, being a bizarre attempt to make Godzilla appeal to kids that fell flat and featuring Minilla, which does not exist ITL as Batman meets Godzilla took the spot of the film that canonically introduced him, meaning the idea was not conceived before Toho decided to attempt to end the franchise) in 1968, the film intended to be the Distant finale to the Godzilla franchise. Set in 1999, all Tokyo Monsters have been exiled to Monster Island. Every single(alive) Kaiju appeared in the film, including those from other franchises like the King Kong and Frankenstein series. This also included, Gaira the Green Gargantua, Maguma the giant walrus from Gorath, Ebirah,Baragon, Varan, King Kong and others.

The plot kicks off when aliens called the Kilaaks return to Earth, having discovered and brainwashed Godzilla as their weapon. The monsters are brainwashed by the aliens until the United Nations Science Committee discover the technology allowing the brainwashing and fight monsters with monsters, ending with the aliens revealing a much stronger and more advanced King Ghidorah as a secret weapon which all the monsters then destroy in an intense fight where they work together.

This was not the end of Toho's Kaiju films. Space Amoeba came out in 1970. The Destruction caused is far more global(as originally planned. Many of the "What could have beens" involving the Godzilla franchise are caused by Budget reasons, to butterfly them away, the Godzilla franchise here is more successful, mostly due to better marketing in the West(an even bigger customer base) and the many crossovers(King Kong and Batman), along with some ironic enjoyment(Bride of Godzilla and the general surreal nature of Godzilla fighting Batman and King Kong brings the movie into enjoyable insanity territory). Since the destruction is much worse in Space Amoeba(entire Continents are sunk), the film is set in the very distant future. The special effects were supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya, the last film he worked on before his death of a heart attack(OTL the Heart Attack killed him during the film. Here he lives long enough to finish it).

Godzilla returned with Godzilla vs Hedorah in 1971, which was chronologically set after Godzilla's return in All Monsters Attack. The film was a hit and led to a sequel by the same director, Yoshimitsu Banno, who was delighted to make a second film, simply Godzilla vs Hedorah 2 in 1972. 1972 also saw the release of Godzilla Meets Ultraman a collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions, creators of the Ultra Series and saw Godzilla fight a family of monsters, which he needed the aid of the UltraSeven(An Ultraman sequel series set in the "Not too distant Future" now retconned to be 1999 to gel with the events of All Monsters Attack. Time Travel brought the original Ultra Man in as well to defeat the Monsters(Based on the cancelled Godzilla vs Redmoon with the Ultra Series thrown in since Tsuburaya Productions was collaborating with Toho on this one).

Drawing Commemorating Godzilla vs Gamera.

(Two more films have been butterflied away, the first is Godzilla vs Gigan as the new setting for the Godzilla movies and death of King Ghidorah at the hands of most of the Toho monsters means creators are less willing to overwrite his death in All Monsters Attack and so do not bring him back. Godzilla vs Megalon does not exist as Jet Jaguar is not created, largely because Toho now has a working relationship with Tsuburaya Productions. Why make a giant monster fighting superhero when you can legally use the most famous Giant monster fighting Superhero of all time? In place of Godzilla vs Megalon is another long awaited crossover(since Toho Godzilla in this Universe has sort of become the Crossover King, being for Crossover Movies what Ryu is for Crossover fighting Games). Daiei Films, having much more difficult competing with Godzilla due to all those blasted Crossovers, finally allows a long awaited film to be made: Godzilla vs Gamera. The Gamera series was also going through a dry spot with no new films since 1971. It was the hope the film could bring life to the Gamera Oasis. The setting of the 1999-ish future also allowed them to bring Gamera into a new setting to play in( Toho, thanks to the large success of their films, could afford to portray an advanced future setting).

Two final films were made in the Showa Era, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla. The first film centered on an alien race from the future travelling to the 1999 Era Earth. They had conquered the Earth in their time and "robotocized" several Kaiju, including King Kong(who's roboticized form was previously seen in King Kong Escapes but the villain of that film lied and said he created a robot Kong when the Aliens, called the Garugans, had actually given him the Robotized Kong to him as a test against the real thing). Godzilla, Anguirus, Mothra and King Kong fight Mechagodzilla together in this(OTL Mothra was replaced with King Caesar). The film cemented Mechagodzilla as Godzilla's main enemy(overtime it had gone from King Kong to Ghidorah to Hedorah and now to Mechagodzilla).

Poster and Screenshot from "Nessie" by Toho and Hammer Horror.

Toho collaborated with the Legendary British studio Hammer Horror Films on Nessie, a Kaiju film based on the Loch Ness Monster. Hammer Horror's Golden Age was coming to an end. Henry A. Sapterstein pitched the idea for a Godzilla Animated Series to be released in 1988(predicting the rise of the medium by that point)(Saperstein OTL wanted a film where Godzilla fought one of the Gargantuas, but here that already happened in All Monsters Attack, albeit briefly). Toho agreed as they were beginning to feel the space setting was being overrused(ironically Star Wars would revitalize it). Most writers felt that they had written themselves into a corner with the shift into the future. Wanting it to end, Toho greenlit a script that was possibly the most bizarre Godzilla "Things" to ever exist and that includes Bride of Godzilla. Created by Katsuhiro Otomo(Writer and Director of Akira) and directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, director of the extremely surreal film Hausu. The resulting film, A Space Godzilla. Was one of the oddest things ever conceived. Released in 1979, the film revolves around the discovery of a pregnant female alien who resembles Godzilla and is dying of diabetes. A ship containing the Female Godzilla is launched into space. The son of the female Godzilla then goes on a journey to find the father of the alien son before becoming one with the Cosmos, all told in a style akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey. There was also Alien Godzilla's father fighting an alien with breasts that threw Shuriken shaped like Swastikas. it was the oddest notes the Showa series could have ended on. Still it was clear Toho was hoping to reboot the franchise. Already planned was the film King of Monsters: Rebirth of Godzilla. Coming soon.

Textless Cover for the DVD release of A Space Godzilla.

Film Release Order for the Showa Series:

Godzilla(1954)
Godzilla Raids Again(1955)
Bride of Godzilla(1956)
Rodan(1957)-Later Incorporated.
The Mysterians(1958)-Later incorporated
Varan the Unbelievable(1959)-Later Incorporated
Mothra(1961)-Later reincorporated
Godzilla vs King Kong(1962)
Continuation: Godzilla vs King Kong 2(1963)
Godzilla vs Mothra(1964)
Ghidorah, the three Headed Monster(1964)
Invasion of the Astro Monsters(1965)
Frankenstein Conquers the World(1965)
King Kong vs The Sea Monster(1966)
Batman Meets Godzilla(1967)
King Kong Escapes(1968)
Destroy All Monsters(1969)
Godzilla vs Hedorah(1971)
Godzilla vs Hedorah 2(1972)
Godzilla Meets Ultraman(1973)
Godzilla vs Gamera(1974)
Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla(1975)
Terror of Mechagodzilla(1976)
A Space Godzilla(1979)