Shared universe

A shared universe is a fictional universe in which multiple works are set. One or more authors may contribute works to a shared universe. The works within the universe may share characters, settings, and other story elements, with or without continuity. Shared universes can be found in literature, comic books, films, television, anime and manga and are most commonly seen in fantasy, science fiction, comedy and a few more genres.

Definitions

There is no formal definition of when the appearance of fictional characters in separate works constitutes a shared universe. Fiction in some media, such as most television programs and many comic book titles, is understood to require the contribution of multiple authors and does not by itself create a shared universe. Incidental appearances, such as that of d'Artagnan in Cyrano de Bergerac, may instead be considered literary cameo appearances. More substantial interaction between characters from different sources is often marketed as a crossover. While crossovers occur in a shared universe, not all crossovers are intended to merge their settings' back-stories and are instead used for marketing, parody, or to explore "what-if" scenarios.

The term has also been used in a wider, non-literary sense to convey interdisciplinary or social commonality, often in the context of a "shared universe of discourse."

Characteristics

Intellectual property issues and types of author participation

The modern definition of copyright, especially under United States copyright law, considers the expansion of a previous work's setting or characters to be a derivative work. This often necessitates licensing agreements for new material being considered for publication (unless the author is the same). For this reason, fan fiction and other amateur works written in established settings without permission are sometimes distinguished from shared universe writings or described as employing a "stolen universe". However, fair use claims have been raised and not all authors believe that fan fiction should be distinguished from other literature in this manner.

In a process similar to brand licensing, the intellectual property owners of established fictional settings at times allow others to author new material and create an expanded universe. Such franchises, generally based on television programs or film, allow for the creation and distribution of novels, video games, original sound recordings and other media based on the original product. However, not all shared universe settings are simply the expansion or combination of pre-existing material by new authors. At times, an author or group of authors engineer a setting specifically for development by multiple authors, often through collaboration.

Continuity methods and issues

It can become difficult for writers contributing to a shared universe to maintain consistency and avoid contradicting details in earlier works, especially when a shared universe grows to be very large. The version deemed "official" by the author or company controlling the setting is known as canon. Not all shared universes have a controlling entity capable of or interested in determining canonicity, and not all fans agree with these determinations when they occur. A fanon may instead find some degree of consensus within the setting's fandom.

Some writers, in an effort to ensure that a canon can be established and to keep details of the setting believable, employ tools to correct contradictions and errors that result from multiple contributors working over a long period of time. One such tool is retconning, short for "retroactive continuity", which resolves errors in continuity that came about through previously-written conflicting material. While most retcons serve to preserve continuity, a more severe form of retcon involves a wholesale rewrite of the groundwork for the entire setting.

Contributors to expanded universes, also known as tie-in writers, have sometimes been stereotyped as "hacks" because such writing is perceived as less creative or of consistently poor quality. These stereotypes have been disputed by authors who consider contributing to a larger work "intellectually demanding." The inclusion of professional and award-winning authors in this category have also done much to change public perception of writing in a shared universe.

Readers may also object when a story or series is integrated into a shared universe, feeling it "requir[es] one hero's fans to buy other heroes' titles", or leads to mischaracterizations and inappropriate comparisons.

Expansion of existing material

In 1941, writer Gardner Fox at All-American Comics (later part of DC Comics) created the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics #3, credited with being the first superhero team-up and laying the groundwork for the DC Universe, the first comic book shared universe. By 1961, Marvel Comics writer and editor Stan Lee, working with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, merged the bulk of the publisher's comics characters into the Marvel Universe. Both settings have suffered from the creative difficulties of maintaining a complex shared universe handled by large numbers of writers and editors. DC has substantially altered its in-universe chronology several times, in series such as Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, Zero Hour in 1994, and Infinite Crisis in 2005. As of 2007, Marvel has rebooted its continuity only once, in Spider-Man: One More Day. They instead set stories in an increasing number of alternate realities, each with an assigned number in a greater "multiverse". DC and Marvel have also periodically co-published series in which their respective characters meet and interact. These intercompany crossovers have typically been written as self-limiting events that avoid implying that the DC Universe and Marvel Universe co-exist. Exceptions include the twenty-four comics released under the metafictional imprint Amalgam Comics in 1996, depicting a shared universe populated by hybridizations of the two companies' characters. Marvel has since referred to this as part of its setting's greater multiverse by labeling it Earth-692.

The Star Wars franchise takes a unique view regarding the canon properties of its expanded universe, introducing a four-tier system based on compatibility with the original six films. Star Trek canon is less well-defined, generally excluding not only licensed works such as books and video games and acknowledging that "even events in some of the movies have been called into question". Both franchises have blurred the lines between canon and non-canon content by adopting unofficial material into later official productions.

The spin-off media extending of the universe originating in Doctor Who is particularly complex due to the permissive stance on licensing and canon taken by the BBC. This expanded universe has relatively little consistency given its division into audio plays produced by Big Finish and the BBC, the New Adventures universe novel, or a universe based on comics published in Doctor Who Magazine and other publications.

The expansion of existing material into a shared universe is not restricted to settings licensed from movies and television. For example, Larry Niven opened his Known Space setting to other writers initially because he considered his lack of military experience to prevent him from adequately describing the wars between mankind and the Kzinti. The degree to which he has made the setting available for other writers became a topic of controversy, when Elf Sternberg created an erotic short story set in Known Space following an author's note from Niven indicating that "[i]f you want more Known Space stories, you'll have to write them yourself". Niven has since clarified that his setting is still to be used only "under restricted circumstances and with permission", which Niven granted to the several authors of the Man-Kzin Wars series. By contrast, author Eric Flint has edited and published collaborations with fan fiction writers directly, expanding his 1632 series.

A setting may also be expanded in a similar manner after the death of its creator, although this posthumous expansion does not meet some strict definitions of a shared universe. One such example is August Derleth's development of the Cthulhu Mythos from the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, an approach whose result is considered by some to be "completely dissimilar" to Lovecraft's own works. Less controversial posthumous expansions include Ruth Plumly Thompson's and later authors' sequels to L. Frank Baum's Oz stories and the further development of Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin.

Original settings

Although DC and Marvel's successful shared universe approaches to comics have set them apart from competitors in the industry, other companies have attempted similar models. Valiant Comics and Crossgen both produced titles primarily set from their inception in a single, publisher-wide shared universe, known respectively as Unity and the Sigilverse.

Many other published works of this nature take the form of a series of short-story anthologies with occasional standalone novels. Examples include Robert Lynn Asprin's Thieves' World, C. J. Cherryh's Merovingen Nights and Janet Morris' Heroes in Hell.

Role-playing games are inherently designed to include some aspects of the shared universe concept, as individual games are derived from the core material. Campaign settings, such as Dungeons & Dragons's Faerûn, Dragonlance and Eberron, provide a more detailed world in which novels and other related media are additionally set. Living campaigns, including the RPGA's Living Greyhawk or the AEG-sanctioned Heroes of Rokugan, provide an opportunity for individual games hosted worldwide to take part in a single continuity.

The influence of the Internet on collaborative and interactive fiction has also resulted in a large number of amateur shared universe settings. Amateur authors have created shared universes by contributing to mailing lists, story archives and Usenet. One of the earliest of these settings, SFStory, saw its spin-off setting Superguy cited as illustrative of the potential of the Internet. Another example is the furry-themed Tales from the Blind Pig created at the Transformation Story Archive, which differs from many amateur settings both by having an organized effort to maintain consistent canon and by having seen some limited publication. Other early examples include the Dargon Project and Devilbunnies.

At least one publisher has introduced a division specifically for encouraging and handling shared universe fiction.

List of shared universes

Books

Literature

• Thomas Hardy's "Wessex"
• L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series
• H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos
• Agatha Christie's universe
• J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium comprising The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion
• Isaac Asimov

• Isaac's Universe (short fiction anthology)
• The Foundation series

• Frank Herbert's Dune
• Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Noon Universe
• David Eddings
  • The Belgariad and The Malloreon
  • The Elenium and The Tamuli
  • The Dreamers
• Larry Niven's Known Space
• Sime â€" Gen Universe by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
• C. J. Cherryh
  • Alliance-Union universe
  • Foreigner universe
  • Finisterre universe
  • The Gene Wars universe
• Janet Morris's Heroes in Hell
• Stephen King's novels and short stories
• Eric Flint's Assiti Shards series
• Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden universe
• David Brin's Uplift Universe
• David Weber's Honorverse
• S. M. Stirling's Nantucket/Emberverse series
• Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series
• All of Bret Easton Ellis's novels share places timelines and characters including Camden, a fictional college
• Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians (its spin-off The Heroes of Olympus) and The Kane Chronicles
• J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter
• R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor
• David Mitchell's universe explained in his novels Black Swan Green and The Bone Clocks
• Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files
• Joe Hill's universe comprising his novels and other works
• Cassandra Clare's The Shadowhunter Chronicles
• Erin Hunter's Warriors
• Brandon Sanderson's "Cosmere" includes Elantris, The Stormlight Archive and other works

Comic books

• DC Universe
  • Wildstorm Universe
  • Vertigo universe
  • Tangent Universe
• Marvel Universe
  • Ultimate Marvel
  • Marvel 2099
  • Marvel Zombies
  • New Universe
  • Marvel Noir
• Image Universe

Top Cow universe

• Valiant Universe
• CrossGen Universe/Sigilverse
• 2000 AD and Judge Dredd
• Ultraverse
• Donald Duck universe

Films

A film universe is a derivative of the shared universe that applies to films. Notable examples of the film universe include:

Live-action films

• Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe
• The Showa era of Toho's daikaiju films, including Godzilla, Mothra, and the television series Zone Fighter
• The original Superman films starring Christopher Reeve, alogside Supergirl and Superman Returns.
• Alien, Predator, Alien vs. Predator and Prometheus
• Bongy Westphall Universe
• Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse
• The Stargate franchise comprising the original film and other related media.
• X-Men and the Fantastic Four reboot
• The Librarian
• Transformers
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe, comprising of feature films, short films, television series and other related media
• DC Comics' new universe comprises the films Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and future Justice League films

Animated films

• The flim Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, followed by two spin-off series:
  • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and Planet Sheen
• Most of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies take place in different universes, with the exception of:
  • Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and its sequel, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
  • Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox as the start of a new universe based on The New 52.
• Marvel's Heroes United films featuring Iron Man in companion of Hulk and Captain America

Television

A "television universe" is composed by a number of sister shows of spin-offs. It appears in different series, but also in sitcoms, soap operas or telenovelas.

Live-action series

1950

• Guiding Light and other sister shows:

• Our Private World and spin-off As the World Turns
• Another World and spin-offs Somerset and Texas
• Days of Our Lives
• The Young and the Restless and spin-off The Bold and the Beautiful

• Jim Henson's The Muppets and Sesame Street
• 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye and Surfside 6

1960

• Coronation Street
  • Emmerdale
  • Grange Hill
  • Brookside
  • EastEnders
  • Hollyoaks
• The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction,Green Acres and Hogan's Heroes
• General Hospital
  • The Young Marrieds
  • One Life to Live
  • All My Children
  • Ryan's Hope
  • Loving
  • The City
  • What If...
• The Whoniverse, comprising Doctor Who and related media
  • Torchwood
  • The Sarah Jane Adventures
  • K-9
• Batman (including its spin-off film) and The Green Hornet
• The Star Trek, universe comprising the original series and its four spin-off television series and 12 movies
• Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency! and Sierra

1970

• The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant
• The "Toei tokusatsu universe" comprising Kamen Rider, Kikaider, Super Sentai and Metal Hero
• Cannon and Barnaby Jones
• Battlestar Galactica (1978-1980; rebooted in 2004)
• Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life and Hello, Larry
• The Dukes of Hazzard and spin-off Enos
  • Followed by the film Moonrunners

1980

• Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon. Whiz Kids, Murder, She Wrote and The Law & Harry McGraw
• Cheers, The Tortellis, Wings, Mad About You, The John Larroquette Show, Frasier, Friends, Caroline in the City, The Single Guy and Joey
• The Cosby Show and spin-off A Different World
• The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses and The Golden Palace
• L.A. Law and Civil Wars
• Matlock, Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Jake and the Fatman, Diagnosis: Murder and Promised Land
• Full House, Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Step by Step, Boy Meets World, Meego and Girl Meets World

1990

• The Law & Order franchise
• Power Rangers, Masked Rider and Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
• The X-Files, Millennium and The Lone Gunmen
• NYPD Blue, Public Morals and Brooklyn South
• Walker, Texas Ranger and Sons of Thunder
• ER, Third Watch and Medical Investigation
• The "JAG/NCIS universe" comprising the series JAG and its spin-off franchise, NCIS
  • It includes First Monday, Hawaii Five-0, and Scorpion
• Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens
• The Pretender and Profiler
• The Practice, Ally McBeal, Gideon's Crossing, Boston Public and Boston Legal
• The Buffyverse, comprising Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spin-off Angel and related media
• Dawson's Creek and spin-off Young Americans

2000

• The CSI franchise comprising CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and three spin-offs (Miami, NY and Cyber).

• It also includes Without a Trace and Cold Case.

• Crossing Jordan and Las Vegas
• The Firefly franchise comprising the original series, followed by the film Serenity and other related media
• Smallville
• Disney Channel sitcoms produced by It's a Laugh Productions that share the same universe:

• That's So Raven and spin-off Cory in the House
• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, sequel The Suite Life on Deck and spin-off Jessie
• Hannah Montana
• Wizards of Waverly Place
• I'm in the Band
• Good Luck Charlie
• Shake It Up
• Austin & Ally
• Liv and Maddie

• One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected
• Nickelodeon sitcoms produced by Dan Schneider share the same universe: Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious, Sam & Cat and Henry Danger
• Prison Break and Breakout Kings
• Bones and spin-off The Finder
• Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Alphas
• Flashpoint and The Listener

2010

• Pretty Little Liars and spin-offs Pretty Dirty Secrets and Ravenswood
• The Walking Dead and upcoming spin-off Fear the Walking Dead
• All seasons of American Horror Story shared the same timeline
• Arrow and spin-off The Flash. It will include an animated series based on Vixen.

Animated series

An animated universe is a derivative of the shared universe that applies to animated works, including animated television series and films, which share the same characters and continuity with each other. It may also derive from the characters and continuity of previous literary serial works, including comics, and thus may be termed the same as the literary work it was derived from. Notable examples of the animated universe include:

1900

• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
• Several Hanna-Barbera cartoons have also shared the same universe. These are The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Top Cat, Wacky Races, etc.
  • It also includes Archie Comics' Josie and the Pussycats and DC Comics' Super Friends.
• The "Trumptonshire Trilogy" comprising Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley
• Masters of the Universe, which included He-Man and She-Ra in the 1980s
• Series produced by Sunbow Entertainment, including G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Transformers, Jem and the Holograms, and Inhumanoids
• DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Raw Toonage, Bonkers and Quack Pack
• Tiny Toon Adventures (and spin-off The Plucky Duck Show), Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain (and spin-off Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain), and Freakazoid!.
• Rugrats and spin-off All Grown Up!; The Wild Thornberrys and Rocket Power
• The DC animated universe.
• X-Men and Spider-Man (1992-1998)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
• Iron Man, Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk (1994-1997)
• Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls
• Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel
• Recess, The Proud Family, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch and American Dragon: Jake Long
• Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show (1999â€"present)

2000

• The Grim & Evil franchise, comprising the series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne
• Avatar: The Last Airbender and spin-off/sequel The Legend of Korra
• Ben 10 and The Secret Saturdays
• Handy Manny and Special Agent Oso
• Wolverine and the X-Men and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! (2009-2013)
• Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (2012â€"present)
• Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Rescue Bots and Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Anime and manga

Japan has also created many animated universes:

• Akira Toriyama's various serious including Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball and his other one-shot manga series (1979-2007)
• Gundam "metaseries" (1979â€"present)
• Mazinger has crossed over with other robot fighter anime such as Devilman, Getter Robo and Grendizer
• The Scramble Wars universe includes AD Police, Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force and Riding Bean
• Super Dimension series
• The Brave series of the 90s particularly had GaoGaiGar spawning Betterman in the same universe
• Gokinjo Monogatari and its spinoff Paradise Kiss
• Outlaw Star and Angel Links (1998-1999)
• Higurashi When They Cry and Umineko: When They Cry have a character in common
• Fate/stay and Tsukihime have a character in common, and most other works by Type-Moon and stories by Kinoko Nasu have more or less distant links between them.
• Reki Kawahara's universe consists of Sword Art Online and Accel World
• The CLAMP group's series including Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicle and xxxHolic among others
• Dijiko and Puchiko of Di Gi Charat are also characters in Cromartie High School (episode 25)
• A Certain Magical Index and its spin-offs A Certain Scientific Railgun and A Certain Scientific Accelerator
• Marvel
  • Marvel Mangaverse
  • The Marvel Anime universe comprising four anime series and two films
• Detective Conan and Magic Kaito
• Transformers: Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon and Cybertron)

Games

Role-playing games

• Dungeons & Dragons by Wizards of the Coast

Video games

• Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt by Rockstar Games
• Half-Life and Portal by Valve Corporation
• Eve Online by CCP Games
• Dead or Alive and the Ninja Gaiden reboot by Tecmo
• Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi by Koei
• King's Field and Demon's Souls by From Software
• Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Klonoa, Baraduke and Mr. Driller by Namco
• Hero Universe by Hero Games
• NeoGeo Battle Coliseum by SNK Playmore
• The Mega Man franchise by Capcom

The original series followed by the X, Legends, Zero and ZX series share an specific timeline

Battle Network and Star Force co-exist in a timeline that is separate from the original series

Nintendo

• The Mario franchise
  • Donkey Kong
  • Yoshi
  • Wario
• The Legend of Zelda
• F-Zero
• Star Fox

Ubisoft

• Rayman and spin-off Raving Rabbids
• Tom Clancy's gaming universe comprising Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and H.A.W.X
• Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Watch Dogs

Sega

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Super Monkey Ball
• Shinobi
• Golden Axe
• NiGHTS

Maxis

• SimCity, The Sims and other related Sim games
• Spore

Crossover-based universes

Comics

• Amalgam Universe (mixture between DC and Marvel)
• Fables

Films

• Who Framed Roger Rabbit
• Freddy vs. Jason
• Wreck-It Ralph
• The Lego Movie

Television

• The Simpsons and Futurama
• Disney's House of Mouse
• Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

Video games

• Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden and Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin
• Compati Hero series (crossover between Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Gundam)
• Super Robot Wars
• The King of Fighters
• Fighters Megamix
• Super Smash Bros.
• Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 and Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
• Segagaga
• Kingdom Hearts (mixture between Disney, Final Fantasy, and The World Ends with You)
• Namco Super Wars
• DreamMix TV World Fighters
• Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy
• Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy
• Sega Superstars
• Namco × Capcom
• NeoGeo Battle Coliseum
• Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars
• Nicktoons Unite! series
• Battle Stadium D.O.N
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
• Cross Edge
• Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall
• Lego Universe
• Poker Night at the Inventory and Poker Night 2
• Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion
• Street Fighter X Tekken
• Pokémon Conquest (crossover between Pokémon and Nobunaga's Ambition)
• Project X Zone
• Street Fighter X Mega Man
• Disney Infinity
• J-Stars Victory VS
• Hyrule Warriors (mixture between The Legend of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors)
• Tekken X Street Fighter
• Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem

See also

• Expanded universe
• Fictional crossover
• Fictional universe
• Intercompany crossover
• Media franchise
• Setting (narrative)
• Sister show
• Spin-off (media)
• Tommy Westphall Universe
• Wold Newton Universe

References