Denny O’Neil wrote some of the greatest Batman and Superman stories of all time, but the legendary writer thinks having the two exist in the same universe was a huge mistake. While the two heroes will always be intrinsically tied together in the DC Universe, for the late O’Neil, pairing them together never made any sense.

Appearing on the Word Balloon podcast in 2018, O’Neil explained to interviewer John Siuentres why he believed, “these characters have never belonged in the same universe,” and that bringing them together into a shared continuity shaped the trajectory of comic book storytelling.

“It’s an accident of publishing history that they are,” in the same narrative universe, O’Neil said, citing changes to the comic book medium in the mid-20th century that led to the two distinct characters being integrated into the earliest version of the DC Universe.

DC Legend Says Batman & Superman Shouldn’t Exist In The Same Universe

The Late Denny O’Neil On The DCU

O’Neil elaborated further on the idea, pointing out the inherent differences between Batman and Superman:

“It’s not a good idea, ‘cause one guy juggles suns and one guy can bench-press probably 500 lbs…They’re not the same kind of character, the mythology is really different.”

O’Neil makes a valid point with his argument, and with his explanation of how Superman and Batman came to live in the same universe, the author offers a stark reminder of how these things have often come to be throughout the ages of comic book history. It is important to remember that the original creators of many of the superhero characters never set out to create a “universe” when telling their stories.

Batman and Superman wound up being paired together because they were DC/National’s most popular characters at the time, with World’s Finest Comics featuring both characters in separate stories. While World’s Finest was initially 96 pages long, publishing cuts in the 1950s saw a reduction of the page count, lessening the amount of stories included per issue. That eventually led to Superman and Batman co-starring in the same story, starting with their first team-up in World’s Finest Comics #71 in 1954. For decades, they had existed in parallel, and it was only real-world practical concerns that brought them together.

An “Accident of Publishing History” Led To Some Of Comics Greatest Stories

Batman & Superman Can Be Used Together Effectively

Of course, Batman and Superman have appear in many classic comics together in the decades since, leading to unforgettable stories that would transcend the medium like The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come and Batman: Hush. Despite their differences, many creators have used the “polar opposite” nature between Batman and Superman to great effect. There can’t be any shadow without light, after all, so the two characters complement each other by being opposites. All that said, it’s still interesting that Denny O’Neil thought that Batman and Superman didn’t belong in the same universe.

Source: Word Balloon