JLA/Avengers (issues #2 and 4 are titled Avengers/JLA) is a comic book limited series and crossover published in prestige format by DC Comics and Marvel Comics from September 2003 to March 2004. The series was written by Kurt Busiek, with art by George Pérez. The series features the two companies' teams of superheroes, DC Comics' Justice League of America and Marvel's Avengers.
Publication history
In 1979, DC and Marvel agreed to co-publish a crossover series involving the two teams, to be written by Gerry Conway and drawn by George Pérez. The plot of the original crossover was a time travel story involving Marvel's Kang the Conqueror and DC's the Lord of Time. Writer/editor Roy Thomas was hired to script the book based on Conway's plot, and although work had begun on the series in 1981 (Pérez had penciled 21 pages by mid-1983) and it was scheduled for publication in May 1983, editorial disputes – reportedly instigated by then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter – prevented the story from being completed. The failure of the JLA/Avengers book's publication also caused the cancellation of a planned sequel to the 1982 crossover issue The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans.
An agreement was reached between the two companies in 2002, with a new story to be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Pérez. In a joint panel at WonderCon 2000, Busiek (then writer of the Avengers title) and Mark Waid (the then-writer of the JLA title) stated they had nearly come to an agreement to begin the crossover within the regular issues of the respective titles, but the two companies could not come to a business arrangement. When the series was approved, however, Waid was unavailable due to an exclusive commitment with the company CrossGen, and Busiek became the sole writer on the project. Pérez also had an exclusive commitment with CrossGen, but had a clause written into his contract allowing him to do the series if and when it was approved.
JLA/Avengers is in canon for both companies: the cosmic egg appeared in DC's Trinity and the crossover itself is described in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. The series was reprinted by DC Comics in 2004 as a two-volume collector's edition hardcover (which included for the first time the original 21 Pérez-penciled pages from mid-1983), and then re-released as a trade paperback in November 2008. The trade paperback was reprinted in 2022, with 64 pages of extra content, to help Pérez with the medical costs from his cancer treatments.
Plot
Krona, an exiled Oan, travels across the Multiverse and destroys universes seeking the truth of creation. When he arrives in the Marvel Universe, the Grandmaster — wanting to save his universe — proposes that they play a game. If Krona wins, the Grandmaster will lead him to Galactus, a being in that universe who has witnessed creation. If he loses, Krona has to spare the Grandmaster’s universe. Before choosing the players to participate in this game, Krona demands to swap champions, so the Avengers (the Grandmaster’s longtime adversaries) will represent Krona and the Justice League (from Krona's home universe) will fight for the Grandmaster. This means that the Avengers must lose the game in order to save their universe.
The Grandmaster informs the Justice League that to save their universe, they have to gather 12 items of power — six from each universe — while his ally Metron tells the Avengers that they have to do the same to prevent their world from being destroyed. The six items from the DC Universe are the Spear of Destiny; the Book of Eternity; the Orb of Ra; the Medusa Mask; the Bell, Jar and Wheel of the Demons Three; and the Green Lantern Power Battery of Kyle Rayner. The six items from the Marvel Universe are the Ultimate Nullifier; the Evil Eye of Avalon; the Wand of Watoomb; the Casket of Ancient Winters; the Cosmic Cube; and the Infinity Gauntlet.
The Justice League travels to the Marvel Universe and are dismayed (especially Superman) by the Avengers' failure to improve their Earth's condition; for example, the Flash (Wally West) encounters a non-human-looking mutant running away from an anti-mutant mob and the Flash protects him from the mob. Convinced that the Flash is a member of Magneto's Acolytes, the mob attacks him as well. The Flash also discovers that the Speed Force (the source of his powers) does not exist in this universe. When the Avengers visit the DC Universe, they are surprised by the "futuristic" architecture of its Earth's cities and the honors that the Justice League and other native heroes receive for their deeds. As a result, they (mainly Captain America) become convinced that the Justice League are fascists who demand that civilians hero-worship them.