Elite Facts Presents
6 Shared Universes That Were BEFORE Marvel's Cinematic Universe
6.
Star Trek Universe - There was a time where Star Trek dominated the airwaves.
While the Original series, with Kirk, Spock and Bones was cancelled after 3 seasons in
the 60’s, Star Trek found it’s home on the big screen, with the release of several
movies, each with varying success.
The Series came back in 1987, with “The Next Generation” which quickly garnered
2 other series, set around the same time, to be produced, “Deep Space Nine” in 1993
and “Voyager” in 1995.
So during the 90’s you had the Original Cast in the movies, who were later replaced
by “The Next Generation” Cast, with 3 different series on air (only 2 airing at
a time), with connecting stories, cameos from characters and this sense of world building
and interconnectivity that hasn’t been felt since.
However, with a series of this magnitude airing constantly, infusium began to waver, leading
to the final “Next Gen” film “Nemesis” being released in 2002 and the shows eventual
cancellation in 2005 with “Star Trek: Enterprise”.
The Over saturation of their product eventually drove it two it’s 2nd grave.
The series has since then been rebooted into a new spin-off universe in 2009 with a younger
cast and a much needed adrenaline boost.
Following the success of these movies, a new series is in production, set in the original
time line, called “Star trek: Discovery”.
Little is known of this series and of the confirmed 4th reboot movie, all we know is
that they will boldly go where no one has gone before.
5.
The Ubisoft Universe - Game developer “Ubisoft” are most well known for their “Assassin’s
Creed” Franchise, where players enter the memories of various long dead assassins in
order to save the present.
But did you know that Ubisoft's other games “Far-Cry” and “Watch_Dogs” take place
in the same universe?
While there hasn’t been a direct cross-over between the franchises, there are enough winks
and nudges that establishes a consistent canon in universe.
WARNING: Things are about to get complicated as we try to explain the mad history of the
Ubi-verse.
In this universe, the human race was created by these precursor beings who treated them
like slaves.
After a solar flare hit the earth, everything was destroyed, leaving the humans to scrounge
themselves together and live on.
This is when “Far-Cry Primal” take place, where you can meet a guy who performs the
first “Leap of Faith” that the Assassins would later adopt.
You then have the rest of human history, where most of the Assassin’s Creed Games take
place, leading right up the modern day.
In “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” You play as an intern at the 21st century
“Abstergo” facility, which is run by Olivier Garneau, who mysteriously disappears later
in the campaign.
In “Watch_Dogs”, protagonist Adrian Pierce, expert Hacker and vigilante, assassinates
Olivier after seeing the Assassin’s Brotherhood want him dead.
There are more easter eggs and connections between the 3 franchises, but those are the
main points.
Whether there’ll be an official crossover remains to be seen, but who really knows what
Ubisoft has planning.
4.
The DC Animated Universe - It’s somewhat baffling that DC is struggling to get traction
on the big screen when they’ve already achieved it on the small screen, to children no less.
Based off the DC Comic book characters of the same name, this universe is highly regarded,
not only among fans of the different shows, but also by critics.
In 1992, Batman the Animated Series hit our screens, presenting arguably one of the best
adaptations of Batman to date.
With it’s dark colour pallet, intense story telling, stellar voice work, It is the standard
to which most Batman media is compared to today.
It was promptly followed suit by Superman: The Animated series, which was also great
in it’s own right.
Batman Beyond and Static Shock followed suit, culminating with the outstanding Justice League
and Justice League Unlimited series.
Just because it was a kids show didn’t restrict it from dealing with some important issues
and dark story lines.
It struck a great balance between serious storytelling and more light hearted moments,
very reminiscent to what Marvel would do with their movies a couple years down the line.
It just goes to show that you need a little light to offset the dark.
Hint Hint Warner Brothers.
Quite frankly, if you haven’t been satisfied with the current slate of DC films, then journey
back to the past and watch a series that’s in a league of its own.
3.
Godzilla’s Expanded Toho Universe - Bet you didn’t see this coming!
Yes, the King of the Monsters is the head of his own franchise universe.
For the uninitiated, The Godzilla films follow one of two paths.
Either He’s here to kill us and destroy our cities or He’s to protect us from an
even worse giant monster… by destroying a city.
Starting back in 1954, with the release of the original Godzilla movie, the series features
all of the Zilla movies, Par the two American adaptations, several spin-off movie based
around fellow giant monsters Rodan and Mothra, a number of strange Sci-fi series, and most
interesting of all…
Super powered up versions of Frankenstein and King Kong.
Get this, King Kong even has an enemy called “Mecha-kong”, who’s just a giant robot
monkey.
Japan, Never change.
The most recent entry in the franchise is 2016’s “Godzilla: Resurgence”, which
could very well pave the way to many more Godzilla films down the road.
But if you find yourself preferring America’s 2014 version of the character, then you’re
in luck, since that was the start of a franchise of it’s own… leading up to a rematch between
Godzilla and King kong from the new “Kong: Skull Island” movie.
In the words of Ken Watanabe…
“Let Them Fight!”
Bit of a fun fact for you.
Did you know that the 1998 version of Godzilla appears in a the 2004 film "Godzilla: Final
Wars".
In this film, he get's the absolute crap kicked out of him by the real godzilla!
It's pretty satisfying to watch to be honest.
2.
Doctor Who’s Whoniverse - Meanwhile, In Jolly Old England, Their very own Time Travelling
Physician has a whole universe of possibility for spin-offs and tie-ins.
The First attempt came in 1981, where Ex-companion Sarah Jane Smith acquired a Robot Dog called
“K-9”, hence the title “K-9 and Company”.
The Pilot wasn’t picked up and their wouldn’t be any attempts at making another spin-off
until the turn of the century, where a more adult-oriented show “Torchwood” found
it’s way onto our screens, following the adventures of a team of alien hunters, headed
by the immortal “Captain Jack Harkness”.
Not wanting to leave the kids out, Sarah Jane got a 2nd crack at a series, this time called
“The Sarah Jane Adventures”, where the investigative journalist teamed up with a
bunch of school kids to save the world.
These 2 shows ran alongside Doctor Who from 2006 to 2011, with Sarah Jane starting in
2007, and was a veritable golden age in Modern Doctor Who History, 2008 being noted as a
particularly great year.
Both Torchwood and Sarah Jane were eventually cancelled for different reasons, but in 2016,
a New Spin-off simply titled “Class” began airing.
Whether that show will last for more than one season remains to be seen, But in any
case, it’s nice to know that the world will always be safe, even when The Doctor isn’t
around.
31.
These are only a few examples of this expansive universe, However given all the limited crossovers,
you can easily tell that this cinematic universe wasn’t perfect in that sense, however it
was revolutionary as it sowed the seeds for other shared universe to come.
That’s our list.
Did we miss any out?
Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for watching!
And Geoffrey Radcliffe (The Invisible Man played by Vincent Price), in his respective
2 films and Abbott and Costello meets Frankenstein.
Dracula appearing in all of his respective films as well as House of Frankenstein and
Frankenstein meets Abbott and Costello (Yes that happened),
Crossovers such as Frankenstein appearing in all of his respective films and appearing
in House of Dracula,
They began with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera to kick off the
universe with both films being silent films.
Thing about this universe is that crossovers didn’t really happen until the later films
in the franchise.
(And no we’re not talking about the recently rebooted dark universe) is a phrase used to
describe the horror, suspense and science fiction films made by Universal Studios during
the decades of the 1920s through the 1950s.
1.
The Universal Monsters Universe The cinematic universe that technically started
it all!
Universal Monsters, Universal Horror or Dark Universe
Thanks for watching!
Elite Facts