6 Movie and TV Universes That Overlap in Mind-blowing Ways
#3. Conan the Barbarian and Cthulhu: Best Buds Forever?
Cthulhu art via fantasyflightgames.com
One is an action/fantasy hero famously portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and his once mighty pectorals. The other is perhaps the most significant creation in 20th-century horror literature and H.P. Lovecraft's signature character. A Conan/Cthulhu connection seems unlikely, if not impossible -- and probably would be if not for the fact that their creators were BFFs.
Wikipedia
Their dapperness united them.
H.P. Lovecraft and Conan's creator, Robert E. Howard, published their most famous stories in the same pulp magazine, Weird Tales. The two writers became friends in the 1930s, and as friends often do, started slipping references to each other's work in their stories. For example, the very first Conan story mentions Lovecraft's "Old Ones" and explicitly named Cthulhu in the original draft. That's right: Conan's adventures were part of the Cthulhu mythos from the beginning.
Get the ftaghn out.
There are numerous other references to Lovecraft in Conan stories, but we'll admit they don't seem so shocking now, what with Cthulhu showing up pretty much everywhere these days ...
South Park
There's also that Simpsons episode where Homer helps him deal with his fear of escalators.
However, this is different because Lovecraft himself included several shout-outs to Conan in the original Cthulhu stories -- one story features a character from Cimmeria (Conan's homeland) who is named after Conan's nemesis, and another mentions the Serpent Men of Valusia, best known as the bad guys from the cheesy Conan cartoon:
In fact, in that same cartoon (as in Robert Howard's stories), the Serpent Men worship a snake god called Set -- that's another name for Yig, one of Lovecraft's Old Ones. Incidentally, the Snake Men from He-Man are thinly veiled rip-offs of the Serpent Men (just as He-Man is a thinly veiled rip-off of Conan) and worshipped practically the same ancient snake deity. And say, what did Skeletor's lair look like, again?
retrojunk
"In his house at R'lyeh, Dead Skeletor waits dreaming."
The snake monsters and such are probably the only connection to Lovecraft that still survives in the Conan franchise -- just take a look at the trailer for the new movie. As Conan's popularity exploded (and the character started being dumbed down for other media), most Cthulhu mythos references ended up being edited out of his original stories and ignored by subsequent writers.
fantasyflightgames.com
"Edited out" in this case means "forcibly removed from the memories of."
But hey, at least he didn't become an overused Internet meme.
#2. The Guy from Wolfenstein Is the Grandfather of the Kid From Commander Keen
You probably won't be too shocked if we tell you that id Software, the company best known for shooting games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, also did a cutesy Mario-like platform game called Commander Keen. After all, this is nothing new -- the company that made Resident Evil also did the Megaman series, and the creator of Dragon Quest also published disturbing toddler porn games for PC. In fact, video game companies rarely stick to doing the same type of game over and over.
Of course, there are exceptions.
What's surprising in this case is that id Software seems to have gone out of its way to link its vastly different franchises together -- you wouldn't expect one of the kids from Yu-Gi-Oh! to show up in Silent Hill, or Ms. Pac-Man to be an unlockable character in Mortal Kombat.
Although we could totally see that happening now.
Commander Keen was id Software's first big hit in the early '90s, and it stars an 8-year-old boy called Billy Blazkowicz who fights cartoony aliens and vegetable people with his pogo stick. It's a pretty Nintendo-esque game, which is explained by the fact that it started as a project to bring Super Mario games to PC.
That thing on his head is a helmet, and sadly not a glorious chinstrap beard.
A couple of years later, the same company released Wolfenstein 3D, a violent first-person shooter about an Allied soldier shooting his way through a castle full of Nazi atrocities. The name of the protagonist? William Blazkowicz, Billy's grandfather.
"Sit on my lap, Billy, and let me tell you about the time I blew Robot Hitler's head off."
There's more: id Software's next hit was Doom, an even more violent shooter about a futuristic soldier fighting space demons (or something: nobody's quite sure). The identity of Doom's protagonist has never been officially revealed by id Software, but it's been hinted that he's a member of the Blazkowicz family, too: In Wolfenstein RPG, the Nazis summon a demon called the "Harbinger of Doom." William Blazkowicz defeats the demon by cutting off an arm and a leg, and as he's banished back into hell, the demon swears to return one day and haunt William's descendants.
If you've played the original Doom games, you might remember the exact same demon from this part:
Note that the robot parts replace the limbs William blasted off.
So apparently the Doom guy is the descendant of Wolfenstein's protagonist, which means he's a family member of Commander Keen, too -- unless they are actually the same person.
This screenshot from Doom 2 says otherwise. id Software -- you're sick, sick people.
#1. Daredevil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Were Created in the Same Traffic Accident
Superhero crossovers are nothing new, but what makes this one special is the blatant illegality and in-story significance of it. Daredevil had existed for 20 years before the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showed up in the '80s -- and yet their origins establish that they are both the products of the same traffic accident and the same mysterious goo.
Daredevil's origin, as shown in Daredevil #1, is that when he was young he saved a blind man from getting hit by a truck, only to have a radioactive canister fall off the same truck and hit him in the face. This was before, of course, the "Put Some Time into Securing Your Radioactive Shit" shipping laws that we take for granted now.
Daredevil #1 (1964)
"Call an ambulance? No, I'd rather stand here and commentate."
Between the radioactivity of the substance, the impact of the hit and the cylinderness of the container, Daredevil was left blind. But he was extra good at his other senses, so he ended up a superhero, obviously. The real question wasn't "How is getting blinded by a can after saving a blind guy an origin story?" It was "What happened to the mysterious canister after it bounced off proto-Daredevil's kisser?"
Getty
It doesn't look like it did Ben Affleck any harm.
Fast forward 20 years: The creators of the Ninja Turtles were big fans of Daredevil, especially the issues by Frank Miller. Not content with simply borrowing Daredevil's origin, they actually went ahead and wrote their characters into it. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, we see the exact same scene as before only from a different perspective. The radioactive canister hits the boy in the head ...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1984)
... then falls into a sewer and mutates some baby turtles into cowabunging ninjas.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1984)
As opposed to, say, sewer alligators.
Of course, the boy is never explicitly identified as the future Daredevil, but that's because the character belongs to Marvel Comics and the Ninja Turtles do not. Still, it's pretty obvious that it's the same kid, and the fact that the canister turned out to be full of mutating goo does explain how getting hit in the head by something could possibly give someone superpowers. (Life tip: It usually doesn't.)
Daredevil #1 (1964)
You're usually advised to open the lid first, duh.
So if young Daredevil hadn't been there, the canister probably wouldn't have fallen into the sewer and those four regular turtles probably wouldn't be fighting crime today. All the TMNT cartoons and movies show variations of the same origin, and the radioactive ooze in particular has become an iconic part of the Turtle brand -- even though it was completely stolen from another comic.
kokos
"Warning: May cause irrevocable blindness."
Maxwell Yezpitelok lives in Chile and likes to waste his time writing back to scammers or making stupid comics.
For more strange relations, check out 10 Animals You Won't Believe Are Closely Related. Or see your favorite fictional kids all grown up.
Genocide is brought onto countries like Bulgaria for tactical reasons involving American Elitist co-operations and Rothchild Zionists and you people laugh at us while we suffer and die at the hands of those who once did the same things to your own ancestors.
Replyand yet here you are on the internet instead of doing something about it. shame on you crazy person
And that has WHAT to do with this article?
Bones and The Finder are also. The Finder guy works for Booth and Bones in Bones, Both Hodgens and Sweets are in episodes of The Finder. So there's that.
ReplyDo they play Hodgens and Sweets, or is it just the actors? I've seen commercials for The Finder where the guy that plays Sweets was there, but I've never actually watched that one. Love Bone, but never watched The Finder.
That's not so much as HOLY COW THEY'RE RANDOMLY CONNECTED as The Finder is a spin off of Bones. That's like saying WOW Frasier started out on Cheers? Holy crap! lol
I think there's a simple explanation for the whole St. Elsewhere problem. It's entirely possible that the autistic kid just thought of characters from shows he had seen while he was daydreaming.
Reply"In fact, video game companies rarely stick to doing the same type of game over and over.
ReplyOf course, there are exceptions."
Yeah, because Nintendo never made Metroid or Eternal Darkness or anything like that.
Holy s**t, you mean they made a joke? ON THE INTERNET!?
The Green Hornet and Lone Ranger connection is interesting. Years ago I read a book by Phillip Jose Farmer called "Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life," in which he connects various literary figures and heroes to Doc, from the Scarlett Pimpernell to Sam Spade. The book makes the case for Doc's Dad to have changed his name from Wildman, a character in a Sherlock Holmes story. Another character from Holmes (a cab driver in "Hound of the Baskervilles") turned out to be Trazan's father (John Clayton, but he didn't change his name).
ReplyOH SHIT! COMMANDER KEEN! Old-school reminiscing 'bout Windows 98 Games... Commenced.
Replyso like... That means that The Trailer Park Boys tv series is also in the same universe as The X-Files, cause they had a "The Wire/TrailerParkBoys" mashup combo video on youtube awhile ago...
ReplyHehe... OmniMunch returns!
ReplyThe saddest part of this article was that you had to actually explain Commander Keen. That was the biggest slap in the face, and the final nail in the coffin of my childhood. Excuse me while I bawl uncontrollably in a corner.
ReplyAaaannnd that's the point I've always tried to make when people cry about piracy and copyright (or intellectual property) rights. Now I'm not advocating straight out wholesale theft, BUT everything we create is built on the backs of works that have come before, if only in the depths of our subconcious. Has anyone been hurt by the examples in this article? Isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery? Draconian copyright and anti-piracy laws only hurt innovation. Great article.
ReplyThere is a significant difference between creating a derivative work and piracy. In one, you use the IP of another party to create a new work, in the other you don't bother creating anything, you just take an existing work without paying for it, or (even worse) reproduce the existing work to sell on to others without paying for it.
Well that just blew my mind wide open. Really great article.
ReplyInterestingly, the Ninja Turtles from The Next Mutation were on an episode of Power Rangers In Space. So if that version of the Turtles were created by the same accident that created Dardevil, that would put not on the Ninja Turtles, but all the various incarnations of the Power Rangers in the same universe as the various Marvel heroes.
ReplyActually that explains why people dont move away from Angel Grove to get away from the weekly giant robot fights: anywhere else they go would still have super powered freaks causing insane amounts of collateral damage...
Dont be to surprised now that Power Rangers would exist in the Marvel Universe. Disney owns both IPs now and can inner change them when ever they like.
Ah. What cracked article would be complete without that picture of low-res robot hitler?
ReplyAll of Sam Rami's older movies have that yellow Plymouth.
Replyit's a 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88, and it's not just in the older ones.
There's also an implied idea that, if a game was made by EA and has the word "Sim" somewhere in the title, it's all part of the same universe. Medieval Sims is a prequel to the rest, the jobs you do in The Urbs: Sims in the City are what the "Sims" from The Sims are doing when they go to work, the ants crawling around on the dirty kitchen floor are the same ants from SimAnt, the cities in Sim City are full of tiny "Sims", etc.
ReplyThis may or may not apply to Spore since it's dificult (though not impossible) to make anything that looks like a human or the aliens from The Sims 2, and "Sim Everything" was just the working title.
I really hope that when I trap people in Roller Coaster Tycoon, some player's character in The Sims never comes home.
You trap people in RollerCoaster Tycoon? I just put them on waterslides that don't end over water, or put them on a high speed coaster with an unfinished track.
Or maybe. MAYBE Tarantino likes violence in his movies since there's nothing deep or meaningful about them other than violence! Really, does every Tarantino fan have the need to find "symbolism" in his movies?
Reply Hide All See All 3 Repliesyah, quentin tarantino movies do have a lot of violence in them, but i guess thats all that you seem to see because clearly you don't understand any of the amazing dialogue that is in every single one of his movies.
There's violence in Beowulf, lord of the Rings, The Matrix McBeth and The Divine Comedy too. What's your point?
Don't forget Star Wars and Star Trek, Harry Potter, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers... violence is one of the potentials for conflicts that can move the story.
Most things by J.J. Abrams operate in the same universe because of the Slusho drink that he uses in viral marketing on some of his projects. Its in Cloverfield, Super 8, Star Trek, Alias, Fringe, and from that previous comment about Lost and Fringe from idonthavedsl gives lost a link to these shows. This might explain why the clover field monster, the star trek monster and the super 8 monster have similar looks. :)
ReplyClerks 1/2, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob strike back are all in the same universe as the Scream movies.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesLate reply, but wrong-o. The cameo by Jay and Silent Bob in Scream 3 simply don't make any canonical sense, and are just a funny shout-out. In the Askewniverse it's made very clear that the Scream franchise is fictional (the production of Scream 4 in J&SB Strike Back). In addition, a copy of Clerks can be seen in Scream, making the Askewniverse fictional in the Scream universe.
It's called being silly for the heck of it. :p
how did you leave out chasing amy and mallrats? and then take the time to mention JSBSB and clerks 2? for shame dude.
In #1 You forgot the Scagnetti link between Reservoir Dogs and Natural Born Killers. I always thought Terantino used similar character names because he's not that great of a writer.
ReplyAll Nippon Ichi games are connected, which makes sense since they're all basically the same game. Still damn fun to play, though.
Reply