These cross overs are going to have very little canonical substance. I suppose the point is for us to enjoy the team up interaction and leave it at that. I recall reading Marvel Team-up in the 70’s, Spider-man teaming up with a different character in each issue; they were pretty lame stories that had zero impact on the ongoing sagas going on in the characters’ main titles. Yet MTU sold pretty well, because of the novelty of seeing these pairings.
Apparently Curtis and Ettinger are paid by the panel