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Access (Axel Asher) is a fictional character owned by both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He made his first appearance in Marvel vs DC #1 (March 1996), a special crossover between the two companies. He was intended both as a way to explain the events of the story as well as a means to enable more such crossovers in the future.

Publication history

Access appeared in two follow-up miniseries, "DC/Marvel: All Access" and "Unlimited Access". In the first, Access helped prevent Dr. Strangefate from re-merging the two universes; in the second, he discovered that the "old bum" was actually his own future self, and that a variant version of himself had joined forces with Darkseid. He also discovered his powers were greater than he believed, and he absorbed his evil self within himself and helped the heroes of both universes defeat Darkseid's scheme.

Access is now a native of both universes and his duty is to keep them separate. If they start to overlap, the universes will merge into the Amalgam Universe again. Access must move from one universe to the other keeping people from crossing over. If he stays in one place too long, he can cause spontaneous crossovers to occur. Access usually works out situations like this without anyone noticing that he is involved. (This is done to explain how the subsequent DC/Marvel crossovers occur. Stories where DC and Marvel heroes appear on a 'shared Earth' are believed to be dimensional fluxes where the two universe have begun to merge again. It has also been explained that once Access has restored the timelines, the characters forget about the crossover.)

Despite shared ownership between DC Comics and Marvel Comics, only DC has used the character in a non-crossover appearance. In Green Lantern #87, Access appears to the green-skinned Jade and claims to be looking for Kyle Rayner. Having no success, he decides to travel to the Marvel Comics universe in order to find the Silver Surfer.

Fictional character biography

Axel Asher first became aware of his extraordinary powers when the two cosmic entities called "The Brothers", who represent the DC Comics Multiverse and Marvel Comics Multiverse, became aware of each other (as a result of the events in crossovers previously published by the companies) and hurled their respective heroes into conflict with each other's. Axel was just a normal teenager living in New York who came across an old bum in an alley, who protected what seemed to be a cardboard box but was actually a portal between the universes. He also revealed that Axel was next in line to bear the powers and responsibilities of being "The Access", the person in charge of preventing the universes from merging into one. This happens because they were originally one universe that split in two when The Brothers first fought; certain "fragments" of the original universe remained. The "box" was one of them- Access was another.

At the height of the Brothers' battle, the universes were combined into a single Amalgam Universe by The Spectre and the Living Tribunal to delay their fight. Access used shards of each universe hidden inside Batman and Captain America to separate and restore both universes. Aided by Batman and Captain America who, in many ways, were the Brothers in miniature Access helped stop the fight between The Brothers, saving the two universes from destruction.

Powers and abilities

Access has the ability to create inter-dimensional gateways between the two universes. He can use these gateways to teleport himself as well as summon others to him. He also has the ability to travel in time when crossing universes. He can feel the presence of anything from one universe in the other. In addition, Access has recently learned that he can create an "amalgamation" of two people he touches from each universe.

Trivia

• In the JLA/Avengers crossover, no mention is made of Access, who should logically have been involved. On the other hand, the events of JLA/Avengers have been referenced by DC comics (see Crime Syndicate); this may imply that the Access stories are no longer considered to have been part of either company's continuity.
• Access is briefly mentioned in a Superman/Fantastic Four crossover. When Superman a (false) holographic message from his father Jor-El, stating that a being from another universe, named Galactus was the one who destroyed Krypton, he flies off uttering the phrase "I need expert help to find him. I must find Access."
• Access' first appearance was foreshadowed in the 1995 DC/Marvel comic Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances. The final frames of the comic show an alleyway in New York where a large cardboard box is beginning to emit powerful beams of energy.

Bibliography

• DC vs. Marvel / Marvel vs. DC #1-4
• Doctor Strangefate #1
• DC/Marvel: All Access #1-4
• Green Lantern #87
• Unlimited Access #1-4

External Links

• The Superman Database - List of every issue of “All Access” comic ever published. Also includes cover art, plot descriptions and more.

• Amalgam Comics superheroes
• DC Comics superheroes
• Marvel Comics superheroes