Thoughts from the Multiverse: Mirror-verse · 3:46am Jan 25th, 2017
It seems it would be a bit remiss of me to start these blog entries without a little visit to the one that's practically the codifier of AU's in general:
The Mirror-verse
Now, before anyone reads too much into that, I'm not talking about Canterlot High here. I mean the more traditional sort of reflected universe. The traditional one seen in many superhero cartoons and comic books and even our own little ponies' adventures. The sort where every major hero and villain (and occasionally the minor characters as well) have been swapped to the opposite side of the alignment pool. The villains are the heroes of this world, the heroes are its greatest threat, and the main characters that we normally follow are confused as all get-out when they find themselves in that world.
I'm not going to pretend to know whether this is the first ever type of alternate universe ever shown in media, but when you consider how far back it goes it wouldn't be hard to believe if it was. It's practically becoming a cliche with how often it comes up. So what compels people to keep writing stories involving it? Why do we keep going back to the Mirror-verse?
Admittedly for some it really seems to come to a lack of ideas. As said, everything from fanfiction to comics to television and movies takes a dive into the Mirror-verse at some point. For a not-inconsiderable number of them it may simply be because they've done everything else or that it was the easiest way to think of and establish a conflict for the story. These things tend to get a bit formulaic after so long after all.
1. Main Hero is foiling Main Villain's latest plot.
2. Science/Magic/Cosmic Event/other weirdness happens.
3. Main Hero (and possibly Villain) find themselves in the Mirror-verse and/or their versions from the Mirror-verse are released into their world.
4. Shenanigans ensue
5. By the end, everyone is back home in their own worlds. Possibly with the Main Hero vowing to return to Mirror-verse someday and set things right there.
The Mirror-verse basically becomes an "easy button" for story-telling. As good, noble, and pure as the hero is, his Mirror Counterpart is selfish, evil, and cruel. What's more they usually have all the same powers and abilities, thus a challenging conflict is inevitable. If you need Superman to beat Superman, why not just employ an evil Superman?
Now I know it seems I'm knocking the Mirror-verse and how easy it is to write stories around it. But actually, I think the simplicity is rather a good thing. Most of the examples of poor implementation of it (such as, in my opinion, the Mirror-verse from the MLP comics) stem from actually failing to take advantage of that simplicity. If the story is pretty much packaged for you ahead of time, then that means you can focus more effort on the "why" to this alternate reality.
Perhaps some examples might help.
From MLP comics we have the Mirror-verse that Twilight and her friends accessed. A world ruled over and protected by the good King Sombra, whose chief defenders seem to include Discord (excuse me, Captain Goodguy), an alicorn version of Trixie, Queen Chrysalis, and quite a few other characters we recognize as villains. Meanwhile, their greatest threat is the wicked Princess Celestia and her (more recently fallen to the darkside) sister Luna. In this terrible reality Sombra is struggling to defend his borders from these two, driven to the point where Canon Celestia needs to send Twilight and her friends through to help him. What follows is a struggle for the safety of two worlds as Evil Celestia and Luna plot to conquer both Sombra's kingdom and Canon Equestria.
And on the other hand, we have the Justice Lords from the DC Animated Universe. Not truly evil versions of the heroes from the Justice League, just extremely proactive versions. Heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman who decided that rather than simply reacting to the villains and their plans and tossing them in jail, they would deal with them more permanently. To the point where they basically control the world now, keeping the people safe but crushing their liberties under laws and ever-present police systems that arrest people for even the most minor of infractions or dissent. And when the Justice Lords learn about their Justice League counterparts and the world they live in, they decide the only right thing to do is head over and spread their help. No matter how little it's actually wanted.
So, the question: What makes the Justice Lords' world a superior Mirrorverse to Mirrorquestria?
Explanations
We know why the Justice Lords are doing what they're doing. Their version of The Flash died in a fight against Lex Luthor, and so Superman killed Lex. Together they decided that the only way to protect the world was to crush it beneath their collective heels. Everytime they show up, the Justice League have to struggle with the knowledge that this could have been them. That they are only one disaster, one bad decision, away from usurping control of the world and robbing people of their civil liberties.
So what's Mirror-lestia's excuse for being evil? We don't actually get one. Or for why Luna stopped being Sombra's ally and sided with her sister. There's a little something mentioned about how Celestia and Starswirl's visits to Mirrorquestria had started synchronizing their worlds, but considering Starswirl then sealed the gate himself that kind of feels like a cop-out. Even if it wasn't, we don't learn anything about what events might have lead to Mirror-Luna's corruption or why the Mirrorquestria Mane Six still apparently work together even when they're just small time criminals. In the end we just get Mirror-lestia and Celestia fighting one another without really seeing each other.
See, the Mirror-verse is at its best when it serves as a literal mirror as well to let a character realize something about themselves. It's not just a tool to shock the heroes and create conflict, but to show them that this is how things could have been. They can still see parts of themselves, their friends and allies, and their world in this other universe and its residents. It just took one bad day, one slight change in circumstances, or even simply lacking the moral fiber to use their powers responsibly to change their home into something completely different.
That, friends, is why the simplicity to the Mirror-verse is a good thing. When all you have to go on is "I've got an evil version of my main hero", then you've got an entire ocean of possibilities to explore just why your hero would be evil.
Pretty good. And you're right as to why the Justice Lords was better. That and Batman's conversation with himself.
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4396819 And of course, the preceding conversation...
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Chilling moments, and ones that emphasize my point above. Both Batmen (Batmans?) can see elements of themselves in the others. That's what makes their conflict and attempts to persuade one another so effective.
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Two of my favorite webcomics, Sluggy Freelance and General Protection Fault, have also done the multiverse/mirror-verse theme pretty well, with world-shattering implications on both the heroes and the villains of the stories. GPF's Trudy, the Big Bad from the first five or so years, ended up getting a second chance and a face turn in year 8, which hasn't been truly accepted by the main cast until a couple of comics ago in year 17.
Pete and Jeff went out of their way to ensure that their alternate universes weren't just the main characters with goatees and Fu Manchu mustaches to twirl. Alt-Zoe was a major turning point for Torg. Dexter the Diabolical was so over the top, even his prime counterpart had difficulty tolerating him, commenting at one juncture "I'm disappointed... in myself." Never mind the fact that Fooker disowned two of his best friends for the next 9 years because of what he saw their counterparts do in the alternate dimension.