Marvel and DC have a lot of differences but one thing they have in common is the crossover comic. Crossovers have existed for almost as long as comics have, as publishers saw big money in putting their characters together. In fact, superteams in general have always been crossover comics and modern event comics are the ultimate distillation of the crossover.
However, while there are lots of great crossover comics, not all of them have been beloved by fans. In fact, there are have been plenty that fans have hated with a passion. These crossovers are among the worst ever made and fans have treated them as such.
10 Zero Hour Tried To Recapture Crisis On Infinite Earths's Thunder And Failed
It's hard to say whether writer/artist Dan Jurgens' Zero Hour is hated but it's been largely ignored almost from the beginning. Billed as a "Crisis In Time", it saw DC characters from multiple timelines show up on the Earth, all because of the manipulations of the mysterious villain Extant. While it introduced some rather important characters, it had little impact even when it was being published.
Zero Hour has been treated with something worse than hatred in a lot of ways - indifference. It was a failed attempt to try to replicate the success of Crisis On Infinite Earths and it just didn't work. Most modern DC fans don't even remember it.
9 Age Of X Was Marvel Going Back To The Well
The Age Of Apocalypse is one of Marvel's most beloved crossovers and Marvel has tried more than once to go back to that well. The first time was Age Of X, which was an X-Men crossover that took place in an alternate universe that was different from what came before in many ways, from characters and costumes to the way the universe worked.
Age Of X was a cynical attempt by Marvel to make lightning strike twice and it didn't work at all. It's been completely forgotten by history, with no reprints even available, and it wasn't even well received at the time it was published.
8 Age Of X-Man Was Yet Another Attempt By Marvel To Milk AoA
Age Of X-Man was Marvel's 2019 attempt to bring back that old AoA flame, with one of the original story's characters, X-Man, acting as the catalyst for the whole thing. Transporting most of the X-Men into an alternate universe of his making, it barely even felt like a story that needed to be told at the time and was basically a speed bump in the road on the way to Jonathan Hickman's Dawn Of X.
It's hard to even find any fans of the books and it was pretty much hated from start. It was completely overshadowed by what came next and it's rare to find an actual fan of the story, with responses ranging from complete hatred to not caring about it enough to hate it.
7 Infinity Crusade Was The Third Part Of The Comics' Infinity Saga And No One Liked It At All
Infinity Gauntlet is one of the most beloved Marvel stories of all time and its sequel Infinity War expanded on it, focusing more on Adam Warlock. Infinity Crusade, by writer Jim Starlin and artist Ron Lim, was the third part of the story, with the heroes of the Marvel Universe pitted against the Goddess, Adam Warlock's "good" side.
Infinity Crusade started out well but fell off quickly. Most readers can agree it's not even close to being as good as its two predecessors, with many fans not even finishing the comic. Lost to time, it's a story that no one has ever enjoyed.
6 Amazon Attacks Gives Off So Bad, It's Good Vibes At Least
Amazon Attacks, by writer Will Pfieffer and artist Pete Woods, is one of the worst DC event books of the 21st century. When Wonder Woman is imprisoned by the United States government, the Amazons take action, attacking the country to free their princess, all while being manipulated by a shadowy foe. Amazon Attacks was basically a placeholder event, taking place between Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis, and it shows.
The story quickly veered into so bad, it's good territory but that doesn't make it any less hated. The entire thing felt like an afterthought even when it was being published and it was an unmitigated failure, with it only being brought up on the worst of all-time lists.
5 Convergence Was The Worst Crossover Of The New 52
Convergence, by writers Jeff King, Dan Jurgens, and Scott Lobdell and artists Ethan Van Sciver, Jason Paz, Carlos Pagulayan, Stephen Segovia, Andy Kubert, Ed Benes, Eduardo Pansica, and Aaron Lopresti, had an uphill battle. Spinning out of the bi-weekly series Future's End and Earth-2: World's End, it had strikes against it and never really recovered from the fact that its lead-ins weren't exactly beloved.
While it would bring back the post-Crisis Superman and Lois Lane while also introducing Jon Kent and having some good crossover mini-series, no one enjoyed the main story and it was DOA, with more fans making fun of it than enjoying it.
4 Countdown To Final Crisis Was A Massive Failure
After DC's success with the weekly series 52, it was decided to try the whole thing again with Countdown To Final Crisis. Overseen by writer Paul Dini and worked on by multiple writers and artists, it was supposed to build up to Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, but creative in-fighting hurt the whole thing. Morrison wasn't talked to at all and DC editorial, led by Dan DiDio, had way too much control over the story.
What followed was a sloppy mess of a weekly series that didn't actually build up to Final Crisis and almost killed the weekly series format. No one was happy with the series and it died on the vine.
3 Inhumans Vs X-Men Just Compounded Marvel's Mistake With The Inhumans
Because of film rights, Marvel decided to push the Inhumans, sacrificing the X-Men. However, fans rebelled, and eventually, Marvel gave fans the confrontation they had been building towards with Inhumans Vs X-Men, by writers Charles Soule and Jeff Lemire and artist Leinil Yu. While it closed out the entire story, it still went out of its way to make the X-Men look bad.
On top of that, fans had gotten tired of the hero vs hero comic in general. It sold well, but in the end, no one really liked it, with X-Men fans being unhappy with how it made the mutants look and Inhumans fans not happy with the story either.
2 Secret Empire Could Have Been Special But It Was A Bloated Mess
Secret Empire, by writer Nick Spencer and artists Steve McNiven, Rod Reis, Daniel Acuna, and Andrea Sorrentino, is one of the most lampooned crossover events of the last decade. Many took issue with making Captain America the leader of Hydra but the run-up to it was very good, as it felt like it was making a statement on the growth of fascism in contemporary America.
However, the series ended up becoming an over-long, bloated mess, a meandering comic that lost sight of its goals to become yet another generic hero vs hero book that no one was happy with.
1 Civil War II Was A Soulless Movie Tie-In That No One Enjoyed
It's hard to say if Secret Empire is worse than Civil War II, but at least Secret Empire was built up by years of stories. Civil War II, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Marquez, was completely a cynical move on Marvel's part to cash-in on Captain America: Civil War. The story pretty much came out of nowhere and no one wanted it.
Focusing on a battle between Captain Marvel and Iron Man over the future seeing Inhuman Ulysses, it was basically Minority Report with superheroes and no one was happy about it. Fans didn't like it and while the art was good, the story wasn't.
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