Shared Universe Wiki

## Welcome to the Shared Universe Wiki

The Shared Universe Wiki serves to document the vast network of worlds in fiction connected by characters, events, locations and artefacts.

## What makes a Shared Universe?

A **shared universe** is distinct from any other crossover in that the franchises involved are implied in some way to take place in the same world, either simultaneously or at different points in time, rather than in two separate worlds that somehow join together.

To distinguish a shared universe from a crossover between separate universes, the interaction between franchises must follow certain rules to be counted.

* **The crossover between franchises must not involve universal travel.**

The crossover must imply that the two franchises occur *in the same universe*. In this vein, the Marvel and DC worlds are not considered as taking place in the same universe merely by virtue of the *DC vs. Marvel Comics* crossover because the plot of that crossover involves characters being transported between universes. Exceptions to this rule can in some cases be made for franchises whose premise prominently and consistently features travel between universes.

* **The link between the franchises must originate within either one or both of the franchises in question.**

Just as *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* and *Spider-Man* do not share a universe simply by virtue of both taking place in New York City, *Archie Comics* and *Scooby-Doo* do not share a universe by virtue of KISS existing in both franchises, because KISS originated in the real world as opposed to within *Archie* or *Scooby-Doo*'s worlds.

* **The franchises must interact in a physical, tangible way.**

Fiction-in-fiction does not make a shared universe; in the same way that we do not share a universe with *Spider-Man*, the appearance of Disneyland in a television program does not mean that program shares a universe with the Disney franchise. The same goes for dream sequences; the protagonist of *Mr. Robot* meeting the titular Alf in a dream does not mean *Alf* and *Mr. Robot* share a universe. A rare exception to this is when a franchise takes place entirely within a dream sequence - as famously occurred in *St. Elsewhere* - in which case the dream would be considered to encompass the world of that franchise.

* **The franchises sharing a world must be justifiable.**

Even in the event of an item with identical form and function appearing in both *One Piece* and *The Walking Dead*, this item could not be taken as evidence that these two franchises take place in the same universe because the map of the planet Earth appears completely different in both franchises. Unless substantial evidence existed to suggest that *One Piece* takes place on another planet entirely, or in a significantly different time to that in which *The Walking Dead* takes place, these franchises would have to be considered as existing in alternate universes.

The above rule, however, only applies between direct connections. If sufficient evidence existed to suggest that *One Piece* existed within the same universe as *Pokemon* (which does not have a global map), and *Pokemon* (which mentions real-world locations) existed within the same universe as *The Walking Dead*, those connections would remain valid.