Jul 24, 2013

2014 is shaping up to be the year of the comic book crossover.

Given that three crossover events have already been announced for next year, 2014 could be the year of the animated mash-up.

With only three weeks to go until "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel," in which Phineas and Ferb team up with Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Thor, it was announced at Comic-Con that the horn-cut stepbrothers will move to the desert planet of Tatooine and take on the sci-fi world of Luke Skywalker, the The brothers will star in a one-hour episode in which they live next door to a popular sci-fi figure named Luke Skywalker. When plans to destroy the Death Star accidentally fall into their hands, they are recruited by the galactic rebel forces.

In addition, there was a recent announcement that when The Simpsons join forces with both Futurama and Family Guy, they will rub shoulders with not one, but two 'toons of the same generation. Serving as either the finale of "The Simpsons" Season 25 (May 2014) or the premiere of Season 26 (Fall 2014), Futurama's Bender will travel back in time with the intention of killing Bart before his actions negatively affect the future. Meanwhile, an episode of Family Guy, for which a date has not yet been set, will feature the Griffins visiting Springfield on a road trip, followed by a quick get-together with the Homer family.

These episodes are guaranteed to please fans, but they also appear to be carefully orchestrated maneuvers for ratings. With fewer and fewer media conglomerates taking ownership of entertainment, we will likely see such opportunistic crossovers more frequently in the future.