Comic Book Questions Answered – where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com).

Reader AA1250 wrote in specifically about a fight between Superman and Venom in DC/Marvel: All Access #1 and whether that fight was considered to be "canon."

The answer to that, of course, depends on whether the crossover that that miniseries was a sequel to, DC vs. Marvel, is canon, so, well, that is the main discussion that we'll be trying to settle here (a separate question that I will address in the future that ties into this is whether JLA/Avengers is canon).

First off, the answer is currently quite obviously "no," especially since DC has had TWO continuity alterations since this period.

But I don't think that's really the question, right? It's more WAS it ever canon. For instance, the original crossovers between DC and Marvel were very obviously NOT intended to be canon, since they involved the heroes all acting as if they were in the same shared universe, which clearly was not the case.

DC vs. Marvel, though, acknowledged that they were, indeed, in two separate universes.

And the whole thing ended with the establishment of Access, a character jointly owned by DC and Marvel, who could connect between the two universes...

Access was at the centerpiece of the two follow-up crossover miniseries, DC/Marvel: All Access...

and DC/Marvel: Unlimited Access...

However, those series, of course, could possibly be seen as only being part of the continuity of the DC vs. Marvel universe, if we were to assume that it was another distinct universe.

Okay, so what do we have to determine that DC vs. Marvel was, in fact, in continuity?

1. We have Access appearing in an issue of Green Lantern (by Ron Marz, Tom Grindberg and Romeo Tanghal)...

2. We have Blue Beetle making a reference to being inspired by Spider-Man's webbing in Extreme Justice #18 (by Robert Washington, Tom Morgan and Ken Branch)...

3. We have Impossible Man making a reference to Access in Superman/Silver Surfer...

4. And here's the most recent reference, Superman turning to Access to get to the Fantastic Four's universe in Superman/Fantastic Four in 1999...

So it's been 20 years since Access was a deal, but all of this stuff is probably enough to think that it was, at one point, considered canon. And unless Secret Wars changed something, I imagine that this is still canon in Marvel's history (just unlikely to ever be mentioned again).

Thanks for the question, AA1250!

If anyone else has a question, feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!