2000 AD crossovers

Did You Know?

• Some work in 2000 AD has been done by people using pseudonyms to prevent readers from guessing that their series were connected, when writing stories where the connection was to be a surprise.
• People from the comics world, as well as public figures, have made cameo appearances within 2000 AD including B.L.A.I.R. 1, clearly based on British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
• Since 2003, Sinister Dexter has been running a storyline where criminals from a parallel Earth, led by "Holy" Moses Tanenbaum, have been trying to take over the city of Downlode in the main universe.

Connections between stories

In the world of 2000 AD, series can connect through crossovers or spin-offs, and sometimes a mix of both. Independent series, often created by different writers and occasionally appearing in separate comics, were later linked. This happened either through a crossover story where characters from different series meet, or through a line of dialogue or caption that references events or characters from another series. For instance, the Judge Dredd stories "Top Dogs" and "Judgement Day" both featured Johnny Alpha from Strontium Dog in a major role. Since Alpha lived more than fifty years in Dredd’s future, the crossover used time travel to bring him back to Dredd’s era. Another example is the Judge Dredd story "The Cursed Earth," which included a dinosaur named Satanus. Satanus was described as the clone of the offspring of a female dinosaur that had appeared in most episodes of the earlier, unrelated series Flesh. The importance of these links varies: sometimes the connection is central to the plot, like Alpha’s role in Judge Dredd; other times it is a brief homage that does not affect the story, such as the reference to Satanus’s ancestry. Once a link was made, it was often reused. "Top Dogs" had a sequel in "Judgement Day," and the Flesh reference in Judge Dredd was later matched by a cameo of a Mega-City judge in Nemesis the Warlock Book V, which itself crossed over with Flesh by featuring Satanus in a major role.

Crossovers

Most crossovers in 2000 AD take place within a single timeline rather than across parallel worlds, thanks to time travel technology invented early in the 22nd century—a widespread but unreliable method. Pat Mills wrote the majority of these crossovers. In Judge Dredd’s “The Cursed Earth,” the dinosaur Satanus appeared, linking Dredd to the strip Flesh. The first ABC Warriors series, “Golgotha,” featured Satanus’s son, connecting ABC Warriors to Flesh as well. Nemesis the Warlock’s “Book IV: The Gothic Empire” brought in both the ABC Warriors and Ro-Jaws from Ro-Busters. “Book V: The Vengeance of Thoth” gave Satanus a major role and included a cameo from a Mega-City One judge, tying Nemesis to Flesh and Judge Dredd. In a later Dredd strip by Mills, Dredd mentioned Satanus’s return to the Cretaceous in Nemesis, though how he knew remained unexplained. The Dredd story “Hammerstein” placed ABC Warrior Hammerstein in the Cursed Earth after President Booth’s Atomic Wars in 2070, linking ABC Warriors to Dredd beyond the Satanus connection (though later strips retconned this). The Volgans, enemies of Bill Savage in Invasion!, also appeared in early ABC Warriors episodes as foes of Hammerstein and creators of Blackblood. Savage Books 5, 6, and 7 incorporated characters and backstory from Ro-Busters. Writer Ian Edginton has linked his pseudo-historical strips both subtly and directly.

Intercompany crossovers

2000 AD has crossed over with other publishers like DC and Dark Horse many times, often featuring Judge Dredd due to his prominence. In one story, Mr Bones finally enacts his revenge on Mega-City One by releasing a Xenomorph, referred to as the Incubus, inside the Grand Hall of Justice. Dredd has faced Batman in four separate encounters: they teamed up against Judge Death, Mean Machine, and the Scarecrow, though the two heroes clashed; Dredd traveled to Gotham to rescue Batman from the Ventriloquist; the Riddler staged a fake deathmatch between them; and the Joker allied with the Dark Judges, becoming a fifth member. These Batman crossovers left lasting marks on Dredd’s world. A vision from the fourth crossover, Die Laughing, prompted Cassandra Anderson to return as a Judge, as the story was written before she quit and was delayed. Judgement on Gotham led to Judge Death’s capture. Die Laughing also sealed the Dark Judges in plasteen crystals, a form they kept in later tales and the Dredd Vs. Death game; the 2002 story My Name is Death had Dredd mention “that Gotham clown.” Lobo, popularized by Alan Grant’s writing, naturally collided with Dredd. The Predator, having visited Earth across multiple timelines, inevitably fought Dredd; the first Predator film and comic are part of Dredd’s continuity, with Psi-Judge Schaefer being a descendant of Dutch Schaefer. Dark Horse released a four-issue Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Aliens miniseries in July 2016. In May 2018, writer Michael Carroll and artist John Higgins produced a crossover with their independent comic Razorjack.

Timeline

In the 2000 AD universe, crossovers often rely on a shared timeline where characters and concepts from different strips appear in each other's pasts or futures, sometimes via time travel. The sequence begins with the Big Bang around 13.8 billion years BC. Roughly 200 million years BC, a male Nothosaurus named Big Hungry causes chaos in Atlantis, a Trans-Time station located in the Triassic Period. By 65 million years BC, a female Tyrannosaurus called Old One Eye kills her son Satanus after he attacks her. Flesh Base 3, another Trans-Time station in the late Cretaceous, is overrun by dinosaurs and local creatures. Thoth, the son of the alien warlock Nemesis, releases a Satanus clone into the wild. Around 20,000 years BC, Trans-Time employee Earl Regan stops terrorist activity in the Quaternary Period. In 793 CE, Viking Wulf Sternhammer helps Search/Destroy Agent Johnny Alpha capture the Max Bubba gang. During the late 15th century, Spanish Grand Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada meets his future descendant, Torquemada, and kills Thoth to avenge his children's murder by Nemesis. In 1945, Johnny Alpha and Wulf Sternhammer detain Adolf Hitler. A reality breakdown occurs between the late 1970s and late 1980s. In 1978, defective pesticide makes Brazilian ants grow enormous, attacking Brazil and Argentina before being destroyed. The 1980s see a Scottish oil boom. In 1987, Johnny Alpha and Durham Red rescue U.S. President Ronald Reagan from Kaiakos-K guerrillas, and humanity first encounters the Predator. A 1990 nuclear accident melts the Arctic Ice Cap, flooding much of Britain for weeks. A second Predator attacks New York. The Volgan occupation of Britain starts in 1999, with King Charles III and the Royal Family evacuated to Canada. Construction of the Trans-Atlantic Tunnel begins in 2010. Mr. Moonie starts exploring the Moon in 2014. In 2031, Chief Judge Fargo creates his elite street judges to deliver instant justice without due process. Around the 2040s, Satanus, the first dinosaur cloned from Tyrannosaurus DNA, hatches from a surrogate alligator egg. By 2050, Aeroball—a mix of football, kung fu, and basketball—grows popular, and John 'Giant' Clay is born. Around the 2050s, Golgotha, Satanus's son, hatches. The timeline continues into the mid 21st century.