What if Superman and Captain America had gone to different companies?

Ok. So this is inspired by the ''What if Spider-Man was a DC Character thread. My question is, what if Siegel and Shuster had taken Superman to Timely in 1939 and Kirby and Simon took Cap to DC a year later? (as opposed to 1941.) How would the characters and the Creators have been treated as opposed to how things went IRL and how would their inclusions effect the respective universes as a whole? No missing characters, though a few character switches such as the rouges galleries for the two switching companies, as well as The Original Vision going to DC and The Spectre going to Marvel.

I'd say Marvel has always been a lot more about taking their heroes and sort of morally graying them out. Like taking the good guys and having them make hard decisions that make them less heroic but more human (ie. the whole Illuminati destroying worlds during the Incursions). Certain people can be more in favor of that or less, but if Superman had moved to Marvel I think he'd be a lot less "big blue boyscout" and more "superpowered semi-jerk", à la Supreme Power Hyperion.

DC has been a lot more of showing idealized superheroes and how they bring hope to people, which is what Superman is all about. If Cap had been in DC, I honestly think he'd be pretty similar to how he is now, but with less of the moral grayness than before (although Cap is one of the characters that's been kept pretty solid until Hydra Cap, or "Stevil," as Rocket dubbed him).

Not sure if Cap would have been a front man in DC to be honest. SUperman might be for Marvel though, he would also be straight up base in New york.

• DC would have never made it out of the 40s....Superman carried DC for decades until his popularity ultimately lessened and Batman took over in the late 80s early 90s to present...Remember Batman of the 30s wasn't anywhere near as popular or lucrative as he is now...Even in the 60s at the height of the Adam west TV shows popularity he still wasn't anywhere close to as Popular as Superman at the time.
• Cap peaked in popularity during World War 2...And never came close to regaining those levels of popularity even now....Theres no way Cap would have been enough to carry DC through the dark times and for mutlple decades like Supes did...Marvel killed Cap off for decades until bringing him back in the 60s...So that means for two decades Marvel got along just fine without Cap...And was even thriving in the early 60s thinks to Spidey,Hulk and The Fantastic Four..
• With the addition of Supers marvel on the other hand would have likelu acquired something of a Monopoly over Superhero comics....But also with the acquiring of Superman its likely they would have never felt the need to innovate comic books with the creations of Spidey,Hulk, Fantastic Four,Iron Man,Silver Surfer,Doctor Strange or the rest of the iconic countercultural Superheroes from the 60s...And its likely Comic Books would have grown stale and stagnant untimely dieing out completely by the 80s...Remember it was the 60s era of Comics that inspired many the witters of the 80s to push the genre forward...And it was the 60s era that breathed a new life into comics after the Art fourm was nearly rendered extinct by the comics code.
• So theres really no guarantee that either of the two companies would have even made it into the 21st century but its hard to say what exactly would have happen..But i,m positive such a drastic trade early in both companies histories would have likely been not at all beneficial for both.

@jumpstart55: Wasn't Captain Marvel more popular for a while though? Then DC was like: stop it Wiazard comics D:<

And Wizard comics said oke <:(

• He was...But not for long(He ceased outselling Superman after World War 2)....And i doubt he could have carried DC comics for as long as Supes...Its like Cap...He was popular for a time but eventually his popularity would have faded...Even if Fawcett comics didnt end publication in the 50s....I doubt he would have emerged as one of the few post war heroes people still had any interest in reading..
• Remember he safe for a full three decades until being revived in the 80s(By then owned by DC)...So he surived the entire attack on comics from the Comics Code, the need from readers for more grownup less childish comics during the 60s, and a heightened need for more gritty stories during the 70s...

Having Superman at Marvel would greatly increase their sales. Superman defined the comic book genre, with him, Marvel (or Timely Comics, as I believe it was called back then) would have cemented themselves as the kings of comics, the same way DC did back then. As for Captain America, it's a bit complicated.

You see, when Captain America was first created, he was nothing more than WW2 propaganda for children. After the war, Captain America sales tanked, and the character was scrapped until The Avengers formed in 1963. If Cap were DC, then there's a chance he would've been brought back to lead the Justice League, or there's a chance he might have been simply forgotten about, and would go down in comic book history as nothing but war propaganda. Quite frankly, I think the latter is more likely.

@jumpstart55: Yes but for all we know, Marvel could have put Superman on ice like they did with Cap, While still inventing the other characters we know and love, only instead of Jack Kirby collaborating with Stan Lee to make them, it probably would have been Joe Shuster.

Knowing Marvel and how they run things, Superman would most likely be nowhere near as powerful as he is today and probably wouldn't be able to fly either, instead just being able to leap say 1/4 of a mile as opposed to the eighth of a mile he started off travelling. As for Cap, DC would most likely have had him become more powerful as time went on, giving him flight, super strength, heat vision, etc. Eventually there'd probably be a Cap for Earth two and a Cap for Earth one. The Earth Two Cap looking exactly like he did when the character started, triangular shield and all and being created to fight Nazis, the other with a cowl and a round shield that was created to protect america from general evils, in order to preserve relevance in the post war world. Both would probably have their own Bucky.

But that's just my opinion. If there's one thing DC is known for and was even then it's keeping their characters alive through hard times. It's all about how the characters were handled. That's what determines that fate of the two companies. In this case I definitely see a City scale hero Superman and a Planetary/Universal Captain America and Bucky coming out of both sides.

Superhero comics as a whole industry was on the decline after WWII, right? I'm pretty sure that both DC and Timely would have gone out of business if it wasn't for the introduction of the Silver Age and the heroes brought in with that. It's possible they would both have gone out of business before that if Cap and Supes were switched, and there wouldn't have been a Silver Age to save the industry.

@tomkatie: Would you mind explaining how? Keep in mind as I said before, there's no guarantee the two characters would have developed the same way had they been switched. Let's assume for the moment that Cap became the extremely powerful, planet saving boy scout and Supes kept his original socialist ''Champion of the Oppressed'' persona that Siegel and Shuster intended for him. (albeit toned down a bit so that he wasn't kidnapping or endangering people every issue.)

Secret Empire would only take up a few pages in a Batman comic since he'd solo Captain Hydra, and his DC variant goonies, asap.

Cap wouldn't be as big as he is in marvel IMO,theres much better hero's in DC that have better stories imo also. He'd still be recognized and stuff but not as big, meaning another hero would take Superman's place as the main man kind of.. And it wouldn't be cap.

Now in marvel superman would easily be the best and the poster boy, he's loved by so many already and I've always viewed DC as being less dark than DC so supes whole good guy smiles here and there would be great. If he was on the avenger's that would be interesting too, hulk and Thor on a team with him that's something serious. Overall I think superman would excell more in marvel than cap trying to in DC.

As everyone else said, the big question is if, with Superman to fall back on, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee would have felt the need to create the Fantastic Four. Even before that, though, we get Stan Lee writing Superman for at least the 50's, the time where most of his mythos was established, so he'd be a REALLY different character now. And, considering Lee was the one who insisted on the interconnected universe, the Marvel Universe would at least be a very tonally different place.

As for Cap, he'd be part of the JSA, tank after WW2 ended and come back on Earth 2 once the Silver Age started. The only question being, what kind of character would DC create to compete with Superman? Or would they simply promote the hell out of Green Lantern and Flash, in which case we may not even have Barry Allen and the Green Lantern Corps?

Man, this site really doesn't know much about the behind the scenes of comics.

Jeez.

Enlighten us.

I personally believe that DC would try to push Cap any way they could. Having a Cap on Earth two that came about during the war and another that came afterwards on Earth two would fix that issue. Of course to fit in more with the new setting, the Earth One Cap would probably have to be less of a soldier and more of, say, a cop. Or, on the other hand, you could do what Atlas did in the 50s and make him a teacher.

However, it's the parts of your comment that i've highlighted in bold that interest me the most. I'd really be interested to hear your take on what would have happened to both Superman and The MU as a whole if he'd gone to Timely. Hope this message reaches you. :)