Metropolis

The problems of Metropolis.



Metropolis is a silent dystopian sci-fi film from 1927.

In DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, Roy Thomas revealed the Metropolis took place in the future 23rd century of Earth-2.  Rotwang was Luthor's descendant and the robot that replaced Maria became known as Mekanique.

Following the events of the film, Mekanique was given the abilities to time travel, and apparently even greater powers of time and space.

In the final issues of All-Star Squadron, which tied into Crisis on Infinite Earths, Mekanique arrived in 1942 to save a little girl from being hit by a car, because that will ensure Rotwang's future Metropolis timeline.

But then, it's revealed that the Crisis had ended, which means that Earth-2 should have ceased to exist, replaced by the new post-Crisis universe.  Mekanique had been holding back the effects of the Crisis from affecting April 1942 on Earth-2 until her mission was complete, but once she ensures her future, she then allows the Crisis effects to happen, thus causing Earth-2's timeline to be erased and replaced by the post-Crisis reality.



Though the timeline she saved then disappeared because of the Crisis, she remained in the post-Crisis reality.

Now in a reality not her own, she joins forces with time traveler Per Degaton and has frequently menaced the post-Crisis and even post-Infinite Crisis versions of the Justice Society of America and their children in Infinty, Inc.

In 2018, Jean-Marc Lofficier presented a story in Tales of the Shadowmen titled "J.C. in Alphaville", which involved Metropilis and the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

In this story,, Rotwang was a scientist who helps Hitler, but seeing the war coming to an end, goes into hidign as Domius Blicero and lives in California.  Ten yeas later, he and the other super-villains gather together and create pocket universes that they then travel to and rule.  This is the origin of Rotwang's Metropolis.

Both All-Star Squadron and Tales of the Shadowmen have strong connections in the TVCU, and both these stories involve the Crisis.



So I've got a theory.

Why would Mekanique work so hard to save a timeline then allow that timeline to be destroyed moments later?



Mekanique is apparently powerful enough to hold back the effects of a cosmic event like the Crisis.  Keep this in mind.

I propose that in 1954, Rotwang of the TVCU created a pocket reality, which I'll name in a second.  This reality was very similar to the TVCU.  When travelling to this pocket reality, using his super-science, he traveled to the 23rd century of this alternate timeline.  There, he killed the man who was that universe's Luthor's descendant and took his identity.  He then became ruler of that world.

He used that same super-science that created a pocket reality and embedded that technology in Mekanique.  As stated in the Shadowmen Tale, he had been aware of the Crisis in 1954, an event that touched many realities and time periods.  He used the effects of the Crisis to create the alternate Earth timeline.  He saw that his pocket reality was threatened by the very Crisis that had powered it.  He sent his robot back to his pocket reality's 1942 where she triggered a shockwave that in fact stabilized and protected Rotwang's pocket universe.  She however, found herself pushed out of the pocket realm and trapped in the main TVCU timeline.

So, this helps me.  Batman'66 is the TV version of Batman.  I tried to include the golden and silver age Batman using the popular generational gimmick applied by folks such as Dennis Power and John Byrne.  But the recent Batman'66/Wonder Woman'77 crossover showed that Bruce Wayne aka Batman was a child during World War II with parents Thomas and Martha Wayne, and met Wonder Woman.  I just can't reconcile this without making leaps that are even more out there than the generational thing.  I've thought of adding even more Batmen, but I fear going into the realm of making up too much stuff and overcomplicating things.

But imagine if Earth-2, for TVCU purposes, was the pocket reality created by Rotwang, and the post-Crisis "golden age" was in the main TVCU timeline.  That could could in placing Batman'66 in the TVCU with Bruce and Dick as Batman and Robin, and this pocket reality being a "Classic TVCU", where Batman was a golden age, pulp-like hero instead.  Perhaps this Classic TVCU timeline is where other older TVCU concepts I adopted and later abandoned still exist, like Power's Ollu and Buzsla, the MONSTAAH version of the Munsters, and Offspring of Zed, which I'm going to be replacing with a new concept once the Cartoon Crossover Encyclopedia is complete.

And now that I've explained all that, let's look at a crossover chronology for Metropolis:

To keep things straight:

I'm putting all the stories in one chronology.  So main TVCU stories will be in black.

Rotwang's world will be in Blue.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will be in Green.

Other timelines in Red.



1857--TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN VOLUME 10:  ESPIRIT DE CORPS--"The Next Omega"--A young Doctor Omega meets an older Doctor Omega.  The older Doctor Omega is carrying the head of Maria, the robot from the future city of Metropolis.  This robot is also known to us as Mekanique.  Given all we have gathered about Mekanique, clearly she eventually returns to the future world of Rotwang's pocket reality, only to lose her head, literally.  [Doctor Omega gained the head when he visitied Metropolis in Tales of the Shadowmen Volume 7.]  Normally, I have presumed based on TVCU Crew consensus, that Doctor Omega is the First Doctor before we see him in the first episode of Doctor Who.  However, in this story, the older Doctor Omega has had adventures from classic Doctor Who episodes already, thus must be a future incarnation of the Doctor in this story.  He also inquires if his younger counterpart has had those experiences yet, implying that the younger version may also be a future incarnation.  Considering the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Special shows that at some point in the future, the Doctor will take the form of the Fourth Doctor again, it's not improbable that he may take the form of the First Doctor and go back to calling himself Doctor Omega at some point in the future in another incarnation.  Other crossovers include:  THE TIME MACHINE, LECOQ, SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE WANDERING JEW'S DAUGHTER, MISS MARPLE, CHANDU, THE ADVENTURES OF A PARISIAN AERONAUT IN THE UNKNOWN WORLDS

THE BLOODY RED BARON: ANNO DRACULA 1918 (NOVEL BY KIM NEWMAN)

Release Date:  November 1995 (Setting is 1918)

Series:  Anno Dracula

Animated Series Crosses:  Peanuts

Other Crosses:  The Shadow; Biggles; Sherlock Holmes; The Vampyre; Ashenden; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; Fantomas; Dr. Thorndyke; Bulldog Drummond; The Saint; The Island of Doctor Moreau; Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos; Batman (Silver Age); Harry Flashman; Doc Savage; Captain Midnight; Sidney Reilly; Lord Peter Wimsey; Lady Chatterley’s Lover; Arrowsmith; The Sun Also Rises; Averoigne; Enemy Ace; Grave of the Vampire; Hellraiser; Dawn Patrol; Robur the Conqueror; La Bete Humaine; Alraune; The Great Gatsby; A Rebours; The Black Cat; All Quiet on the Western Front; Sadie Thompson; Lemora; The Blue Angel; The Roaring Twenties; Gigi; Tarnished Angels; The Good Soldier Svejk; Jules et Jim; Le Roi de Coeur; The Last Flight; Billy Bunter; Judex; Dad’s Army; The Vampire Thrills; The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp; Faustine; Citizen Kane; The Bridge on the River Kwai; Oh! What a Lovely War; Paths of Glory; Metropolis; The Spy in Black; Near Dark; Forever Knight; Parade’s End; The Heap; Where Eagles Dare; Fright Night; Journey’s End; Dracula; The Big Parade; Anak Pontianak; The Blue Max; Necroscope; Revelations in Black; The Dragon Waiting; Paths of Glory; Under Two Flags; Doctor Who

The Story:  During World War I, 30 years after the events of Anno Dracula, the Diogenes Club tries to stop the Nazis from creating undead fighter pilots.  

Notes:  The Anno Dracula Universe is a divergent timeline, where Dracula married Queen Victoria during the events of Bram Stoker’s novel.  This led to a very different reality.  Snoopy appears in this story, having been shot down by the Red Baron.  In the main Cartoon Universe, Snoopy’s battles with the Red Baron didn’t really happen, and were merely part of Snoopy’s imagination.  It seems that in this divergent timeline, Snoopy indeed existed as a pilot in World War I, placing those imaginary scenarios and two popular songs in this divergent timeline.  Perhaps the Snoopy of the main reality gets visions of his alternate timeline counterpart, which inspire his playtime.  Other crosses listed above are also divergent versions that exist in the Anno Dracula timeline.

1920s--DOCTOR MABUSE--The robotic Maria is seen in a drawing among Mabuse's plans. Perhaps Rotwang and Mabuse had co-conspired on the creation of the android.

1920s--DOCTOR MABUSE: ETIOPOMAR--Dr. Mabuse, criminal mastermind - returns in this epic steam punk thriller, in which six interwoven tales document the downfall of Dr. Mabuse and his city "Etiopomar". The Machine Man aka Maria and Rotwang from Metropolis appear in the film. The Machine Man was the robot who was transformed into Maria in that film.

1939--BEFORE TOMORROWLAND--Werner Rotwang is the villain, but he's meant to be THE REAL Rotwang who inspired the character from the fictional Metropolis. He too is a German scientist with expertise in robotics who works for the Nazis. I could say that this is Carl Rotwang, but it's easier for me to presume this is Carl's brothers to support a theory that the future Rotwang that Carl replaces is part of his own family tree.

Prior to 1941--LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN--To further complicate things... According to Alan Moore, Doctor Carl A. Rotwang was a scientist in the Berlin Metropolis who created the humanoid robot Maria and both Rotwang and "Maria" were members of the German League. Rotwang's android technology was later adopted by Heinz Goldfoot and Martin Bormann. Rotwang allegedly passed away prior to 1941. So, I do place most of the 20th century events of the League series to be a divergent timeline. So in this divergent timeline, Rotwang did not travel to the 23rd century of a pocket reality where he became ruler, but he did still create his Maria android. In this timeline, he died prior to 1941. The Maria android later became an enemy of Britain's League and was destroyed by Janni Dakar in 1941.

1941--NEMO: THE ROSES OF BERLIN--This takes place in Alan Moore's LOEG divergent timeline. Germany resembles Metropolis from Fritz Lang's silent film, and is ruled by the Great Dictator (as originally portrayed by Charlie Chaplain.) The daughter of Captain Nemo and her husband, Broad Arrow Jack, must rescue their daughter and son-in-law, the son of Robur the Conqueror, from Nazi Germany. Ayesha and the German League appear.

THE CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS

April 1 to 12, 1942--ALL-STAR SQUADRON # 54 to 60--"The Crisis Comes to 1942"--The skies turn blood red, strange weather patterns occur, and movement between time and realities becomes easy and accidental. Because of this, Mister Mind of the Captain Marvel Universe discovers the TVCU and gathers together villains as his first Monster Society of Evil. Later, they must deal with a time travelling robot (from the future of METROPOLIS.) Eventually, the world is restored to normal without anyone really knowing what happened.

The Spectre, Johnny Thunder and Johnny's Thunderbolt free the JSA from Hyperspace, but all the items they brought with them from Hyperspace vanish. At Mekanique's urging, Green Lantern and Firebrand save a young girl from being hit by a car, altering history; unbeknownst to the heroes, their actions will permit the evil Rotwang, Mekanique's creator, to dominate Mekanique's native era, the 23rd century. Hawkman is elected cochairman of the Squadron. A photo of virtually the entire Squadron is taken for FDR. NOTES: This story illustrated the changes wrought by the Crisis. The photo depicts Superman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, but then later in the story, the photo changes, and these heroes are replaced by Uncle Sam and Doll Man, the Ray, Plastic Man, Black Condor and Phantom Lady, and adding the Human Bomb and Jester. After this, All-Star Squadron changes to a "secret origins" style title, treading water until the launch of the post-Crisis Young All-Stars.

THE YOUNG ALL-STARS # 12 “‘M’ IS FOR ‘MONSTERS’” (DC COMICS)
Release Date: May 1988 (Setting is May 1942)
Series: Young All-Stars
Horror Crosses: Creature Commandos; King Kong
Non-Horror Crosses: All-Star Squadron; TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite; Aarn Munro; Hawkman (Golden Age); Robotman (Golden Age); Miss America; Justice Society of America; Superman (Golden Age); The War that Time Forgot; Wildcat; Metropolis; G.I. Robot; R.U.R.
The Story: Deathbolt attacks Project M to steal a T-Rex and place the Ultra-Humanite’s brain in it.
Notes: King Kong’s remains are seen at Project M. Project M is from the Creature Commandos series, which has been brought in via a New Adventures of Frankenstein tale by Donald F. Glut. This story does not bring in the entire Young All-Stars series or DC Comics line. The Utlra-Humanite was introduced in the golden age Superman series. Most people only know Luthor and Zod as Superman's foes.

TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN VOLUME 6: GRAND GUIGNOL “J.C. IN ALPHAVILLE” (STORY BY JEAN-MARC LOFFICIER)

Release Date: 2010 (Setting is 1944-1964)

Series: Tales of the Shadowmen

Horror Crosses: Nosferatu; Stephen King Universe (works of Stephen King)

Non-Horror Crosses: Metropolis; Dr. Mabuse; Crisis on Infinite Earths; Alphaville; Gravity’s Rainbow; Mullartown; Last Year in Marienbad; La Invencion de Morel; The Castle; Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse; Chronicles of Amber; Wampus; Bunker Palace Hotel; Brazil; King Ubu; Bloom County

The Story: Four great super-villains who had worked to support Hitler see that the Third Reich is soon to fall and go off for ten years under new identities. Rotwang takes up the identity of Dominus Blicero in California. Leonard Orlok becomes Leonard Von Braun in France. M becomes Morel in Argentina. And Ohisver Muller goes to Turkey but keeps his own name. In 1954, they gather again with a plan to create four pocket realities of which to rule their own ways. Rotwang creates his Metropolis. M creates Marienbad. Muller created Mullartown. And Von Braun creates Alphaville.

Notes: Ready? Orlock is stated to have had a vampire ancestor, referring to Nosferatu. When the mad scientists discuss the multiverse, there is mention of the reality of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Rotwang’s Metropolis dimension is from the silent film Metropolis. Thus, as far as the Horror Universe is concerned, that film takes place between 1954 - 1964 in an artificial pocket dimension. Dr. Mabuse is from a series of silent films. The Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 1985 - 1986 mini-series by DC Comics. In it, all of the infinite alternate realities were threatened. Every major DC Comics character appeared. In the end, the multiverse was destroyed and replaced with a single DC Universe. However, shortly after, it was shown that other realities did still exist, and actually only a finite number of realities (the DC ones) were mushed together, and even then, shadows of those previous versions still existed in Hypertime. But non-DC owned realities still had inter-company crossovers showing that the DCU was not alone. And some of those other realities had even shown that they were somehow affected. Companies like Marvel Comics would display that the Crisis did reach all the way to them, but had little effect. Thus, we can assume based on this story, since these scientists in 1954 were aware of the Crisis (which affected time as well as space), then the Horror Universe must have been one of those realities that was not destroyed but still felt the effects, at least briefly. So, having said all that, we should note that the external time/space anomalies may have reached the Horror Universe, but the DC characters in that series were all from their DC Comics realities, and not the Horror Universe, even if the Horror Universe does have some counterparts to DC Comics characters. Alphaville is a 1965 French black and white film about an alternate reality that combines film noir with science fiction. Rotwang’s alter ego as Blicero was the main foe of the novel Gravity’s Rainbow. Though published in 1973, it is set during that 1944 - 1954 period. Mullartown (aka the House of a Thousand Floors) is a 1929 novel by Jan Weiss about a man who wakes with amnesia in a place that isn’t quite right. Last Year at Marienbad is a 1961 French film that is also very bizarre, about a man who seems trapped in a dream-like reality. In The Invention of Morel, a fugitive in Polynesia finds his reality coming apart and doesn’t know if it’s food sickness or something else. The Castle is the setting of said castle in the novel of the same name and also the location where the agent who comes to stop the villains meets his contacts. Michael Moorcock has several comics.that occur in separate but interconnected realities. His multiverse is also mentioned, which implies that the Horror Universe is part of the same Omniverse as Moorcock’s multiverse and the DC Multiverse. The Chronicles of Amber is a series of fantasy novels, which are mentioned by the scientists as existing as an alternate reality in this multiverse. Wampus is a French comic book character, later brought into modern literature by Jean-Marc Lofficier. He also seems to exist in one of the alternate realities connected to the Horror Multiverse. Within the story, it’s shown that the Bunker Palace Hotel, from the 1989 French film of the same name, exists within the pocket dimension of Alphaville. The 1985 film Brazil is also shown to take place in the Alphaville pocket dimension. Meanwhile, King Ubu (Ubu Roi) is from a French improv play that originated in the 1890s. In this story, we find that he exists in the Outlands. This may be a reference to the short lived spin-off of the comic strip Bloom County. Oh, and yes, I just did a Crisis crossover!!!

LATE JULY 1985--CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS/JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA/INFINITY, INC.--Per Degaton and Mechanique attack a team of heroes based in Detroit that are calling themselves the Justice League of America and a group of the offspring of the JSA. NOTES: THE CRISIS IS A HUGE TIME/SPACE EVENT THAT JAMES BOJACIUK WILL BE COVERING IN A FUTURE BLOG POST. THE "SUPER FRIENDS" ARE STILL OPERATING AT THIS TIME, BUT THIS DETROIT TEAM WAS CREATED OUT OF ANGER BY AQUAMAN WHEN HE FELT THE JLA WAS LACKING IN RESPONSE TIME. THE TEAM CALLED INFINITY INC ARE THE KIDS OF THE JSA, WHO DISBANDED IN THE 1950S. DURING THE CRISIS, A VILLAIN FROM THE FUTURE CALLED THE TIME TRAPPER TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE WEAKENING OF REALITIES TO ONCE AGAIN MAKE THE WORLD FORGET ABOUT SUPERMAN AND OTHER SUPER-HEROES, SO THAT AFTER THE CRISIS, THOUGH THESE HEROES STILL EXISTED, THE WORLD IS LIKE ONE IN WHICH THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS SUPER-HEROES. THE TIME TRAPPER THEN ALTERS THE MEMORIES OF CLARK KENT JUNIOR AND HIS PARENTS. IN THIS DISTORTED REALITY, BABY CLARK IS FOUND BY JONATHAN KENT (COUSIN OF THE KENT BROTHERS) AND MARTHA CLARK KENT (COUSIN OF THE CLARK SISTERS) IN SMALLVILLE BY NO COINCIDENCE. THIS BABY IS ALSO NAMED CLARK JOSEPH KENT II AFTER THEIR FAMOUS JOURNALIST COUSIN. HE EVENTUALLY MOVES TO THE GREAT METROPOLIS OF NEW YORK TO BECOME A JOURNALIST AND MAKES HIS DEBUT IN 1986 AS WHAT SEEMS TO BE THE FIRST AND ONLY SUPERMAN. THIS CLARK DOES HIDE HIS EXISTENCE FOR THE FIRST FIVE YEARS OF ADVENTURES BUT IS FORCED TO GO PUBLIC, AND THEN DOES NOT TRY TO HIDE FROM THE PUBLIC AFTERWARD, YET MOST PEOPLE STILL DON'T RECOGNIZE HIS EXISTENCE, DUE TO THE SPELLS OF BOTH THE WIZARD AND THE TRAPPER COMBINED.

December 1985--MICHAELANGELO # 1--"One Unconventional Robot"--*Among the robots at the Robot Expo are R2-D2, Robbie the Robot, the robot from Lost in Space, a Dalek, Maria from “Metropolis” and the Fugitoid. Michigan J. Frog and Cyberman are also there.

1992--MORTAL KOMBAT PREQUEL NOVEL--From Matt Hickman:  It's mentioned at one point Kano teamed up with a swordsman form Scotland named Conner. This is clearly Connor MacLeod. it might seem odd that Conner would team up with someone as evil as Kano but perhaps there was an evil Immortal who was a member of the Red Dragon clan, a criminal empire at war with the Black Dragon clan so they had to team up to take the Immortal down. Also mentioned is that Kano's Bionic Eye and Hsu Hao's artificial heart were installed by Dr. Rotwang form Munich, Germany. Pretty sure he's supposed to be the same as the one in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.



2056--TIGER & BUNNY--It's 45 years after super-beings known as NEXT (Noted Entities with Extraordinary Talents) have emerged.  A scientist named Rotwang works on robots that can become replacements for super-heroes.  Note that this of course is not Rotwang from METROPOLIS despite the implication.  But if the theory is that Carl Rotwang traveled to the 23rd Century of a pocket reality, where he replaced the Rotwang who was a descendant of Luthor, then this Rotwang must be part of that pocket reality's family tree.  Perhaps Lena Luthor, the daughter of Alexander Luthor Junior, married a man named Rotwang.  Hey, maybe that man named Rotwang is the grandson of "Werner Rotwang", the cyborg from BEFORE TOMORROWLAND.  This is presuming that many elements of Rotwang's pocket reality timeline were similar to the "real world", and if we presume that the pocket reality is "Classic TVCU", then that would be true.



23rd Century--TOWERS OF METROPOLIS--Ron Fortier of Airship 27 Productions brings us an anthology prequel to the 1927 silent film.



23RD Century--METROPOLIS--Rotwang creates a robot inspired by his lost love but is forced to model her after a common laborer named Maria.  The original film placed the events in 2026.  DC Comics moved it to the 23rd century.  If we recognize it as taking place in Rotwang's pocket reality and not in the main TVCU timeline, then the 23rd century works fine.  2026 is just a little to close.



23rd Century--EXPRESS YOURSELF--This Madonna music video is set in the future world of Fritz Lang's Metropolis.  



23rd Century--RADIO GA GA--This Queen music video is also set in the future of Metropolis.  

23rd Century--METROPOLIS:  SUITE I (THE CHASE)/THE ARCHANDROID--Janelle Monáe based both her concept albums on the original film including her EP, Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) released mid-2007 and The ArchAndroid released in 2009. The latter also included an homage to Metropolis on the album cover, with the film version of the Tower of Babel among the remainder of the city. The albums follow the adventures of Monáe's alter-ego and robot, Cindi Mayweather, as a messianic figure to the android community of Metropolis.

23rd Century--LADY GAGA--Pop singer-songwriter Lady Gaga has made a series of references to Lang's film within her music videos. Visual allusions to the film are noted most predominantly in her music videos for "Alejandro," "Born This Way," and "Applause."

23rd Century--VERTIKAL/VERTIKAL II--Swedish Post-metal band Cult of Luna drew inspiration on Metropolis and its bleak dystopian ambient for their 2013 albums Vertikal and Vertikal II. The 2014 music video "Digital Witness" by St. Vincent in collaboration with Chino Moya presents "a surreal, pastel-hued future" in which lead singer Annie Clark is a stand-in for Maria.

23rd Century--QUEEN OF THE NIGHT--This Whitney Houston video also set in Metropolis.  

23rd Century--SPAM ATTACK:  THE MOVIE--A lonely alien, the last of his species, comes to Earth when it is under the rule of an evil dictator, and helps participate in a rebellion.  The film ends showing the alien living in the Tower of Babel from Metropolis, confirming the setting.  

23rd century: All-Star Squadron #60--Much of the world comes under the tyrannical rule of the scientist Rotwang. After failing to undermine a worker's revolt by replacing the workers' leader, Maria, with a robot, Rotwang sends the robot back in time to change history in his favor. The robot appears in the year 1942, where Robotman dubs it Mekanique. Mekanique persuades members of the All-Star Squadron to complete her task, thus ensuring Rotwang's dominance. NOTES: This story is adapted from Fritz Lang's 1926 silent film Metropolis, added to DC lore by Roy Thomas. It is unclear whether these events are still in continuity: although Mekanique apparently destroyed herself in Infinity, Inc. Annual #2 (1988), she DID successfully complete her original task in All-Star Squadron #60.



November 3007--FUTURAMA--"Bender's Big Score"--The travel tubes from Metropolis are in use in New New York of the main TVCU timeline.  See my Futurama timeline for an explanation of how many divergent timelines "re-merged" by the 31st Century.

July 3010?--FUTURAMA--"The Mutants are Revolting"--When the mutants are swept away, Leela's father says 'They're with the C.H.U.D.s now.' This is a reference to the 1980's film C.H.U.Ds (Cannablistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers) and to it's sequel Bud the C.H.U.D.  The Westside Pipeway's design and location (under the city) is a reference to the "M-Machine" from the 1927 movie Metropolis.