Multiverse (DC Comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
<!-- start content -->In DC Comics,
the Multiverse was a
continuity construct in which multiple fictional versions of the universe existed in the same space, separated from each other by their vibrational resonances. Each universe in this
multiverse varied from the others, in either subtle or profound ways.
In particular, the
Earth of each universe had a different set of
superheroes, or the life histories of its superheroes were different from those of others'. In several cases, characters from other publishers acquired by DC - previously established as a part of a
fictional universe of their own - were assigned their own alternate universe within the Multiverse. The universes were identified by referring to the alternate Earths, known as "Earth-One", "Earth-Two", "Earth-Three", "Earth-X", and so forth. The first such
parallel world was introduced in 1961 in
The Flash #123, in the story "Flash of Two Worlds". They were eliminated in
Crisis on Infinite Earths, a mini-series published in 1985.
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Earth-One
Home of DC's
Silver Age heroes, including the original
Justice League of America. In this world,
Superman had a career as
Superboy while in his teens, and an array of other superheroes first appeared in the
1950s or later.
The Flash was police scientist Barry Allen,
Green Lantern was galactic peacekeeper Hal Jordan,
Hawkman was Thanagarian Katar Hol, and
the Atom was shrinking scientist Ray Palmer. Characters unique to this world included the
Martian Manhunter,
Elongated Man,
Firestorm, the
Guardians of the Universe and
Green Lantern Corps, the
Teen Titans, the
New Gods, and most other heroes introduced by DC in the
1960s and
1970s. As the default Earth for most of DC's comics during the prolific Multiverse era, this was by far the most "populous" and greatly explored.
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Earth-Two
Home of DC's
Golden Age heroes, including the
Justice Society of America. In this world, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman began their careers as adults at the dawn of
World War II (concurrent with their first appearances in comics). The Flash was chemistry student Jay Garrick, Green Lantern was magic-powered Alan Scott, Hawkman was archaeologist Carter Hall, and the Atom was pint-sized powerhouse Al Pratt. Characters unique to this world included the
Star-Spangled Kid,
Huntress,
The Spectre,
Johnny Thunder,
Dr. Fate, and
Mr. Terrific. The heroes of this world appeared as comic book characters on Earth-One (subconsciously channeled by Earth-One's writers).
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Earth-Three
Home of evil versions of Earth-One heroes, including the
Crime Syndicate of America. In this world, history was "backwards":
Christopher Columbus was an American who discovered Europe; Britain fought and won its freedom from the United States in the Revolutionary War; President
John Wilkes Booth was assassinated by actor
Abraham Lincoln; the United States flag had "reversed" colors (black stars on a red background, and alternating blue and black stripes); and so on. Noteworthy characters include
Ultraman (Superman),
Superwoman (Wonder Woman),
Owlman (Batman),
Power Ring (Green Lantern),
Johnny Quick (Flash), and
Alexander Luthor (a heroic version of Lex Luthor). This world is not to be confused with the evil world called
Qward, from
Green Lantern, which is the
antimatter counterpart of Earth and which cannot be entered by the same means that the other Earths can.
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Earth-Four
Home of the former
Charlton Comics heroes. This world was introduced at the beginning of
Crisis and did not survive; several of its heroes did. Noteworthy characters include
Captain Atom,
Blue Beetle,
Nightshade,
Peacemaker,
The Question,
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, and
Judomaster.
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Earth-Six
Home of
Lady Quark and Lord Volt. On this Earth, America lost the Revolutionary War, and was apparently ruled by a royal family of superheroes. Given its appearance, technology seems to have progressed faster on this world as well. It was destroyed in
Crisis, with only Lady Quark surviving.
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Earth-Twelve
Home of the
Inferior Five. Noteworthy characters include Awkwardman, Blimp, Dumb Bunny, Merryman, and White Feather. This world may have been home to other comedic superheroes published by DC.
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Earth-A
Home of the
Lawless League. This world was created by
Johnny Thunder's evil counterpart from Earth-One when he altered the origins of the Justice League. "A" stood for "alternate", since it was an alternate version of Earth-One. The heroes of this world included alternate, evil versions of Superman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter, as the evil Johnny Thunder's criminal henchmen, granted powers and skills identical to the Justice League's members.
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Earth-B
This world was never officially established, but is often cited as the setting for team-up stories told in
The Brave and the Bold which did not always conform to established continuity for Earth-One (or any other established Earth). For instance, one such story featured
Catwoman committing murder, which neither the Earth-One nor Earth-Two versions would ever do as it was strictly against either character's moral code. Notable characters include Batman (who appeared regularly in the series).
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Earth-C
Home of
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew. This world is populated with
anthropomorphic animals. Notable characters include the members of the Zoo Crew: Captain Carrot, Alley-Kat-Abra, Fastback, Little Cheese, Pig-Iron, Rubberduck, and Yankee Poodle.
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Earth-C-Minus
Home of the
Justa Lotta Animals, this world (like Earth-C) is also populated by anthropomorphic animals. Notable characters include Super-Squirrel, Wonder Wabbit, the Batmouse, Green Lambkin, Aquaduck, and the Crash. Events and characters on this world paralleled those of Earth-One; additionally, events and characters on Earth-C-Minus existed only as fictional comics on Earth-C (in his
secret identity, Capt. Carrot was the writer/artist of the "Justa Lotta Animals" comic in his world).
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Earth-D
Home of the
Justice Alliance of America. This world appeared in
Legends of the DC Universe as a previously-untold chapter of
Crisis published more than a decade after the fact. It featured a more ethnically diverse version of several Earth-One heroes, with no major tragedies in the heroes' lives (not counting the Crisis, of course). As such it was a combination of modern multi-cultural sensibilities combined with Silver-Age-style innocence.
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Earth-Q / Earth-Quality
Home of the Freedom Fighters and
Kid Eternity as they were originally published by
Quality Comics in the 1940s (i.e. not the later versions published by DC, set on Earth-X and Earth-S). Not officially identified.
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Earth-S
Home of the former
Fawcett Comics heroes, including
Captain Marvel and the
Marvel (or Shazam!) Family (Captain Marvel,
Mary Marvel,
Captain Marvel, Jr., and
Uncle Marvel). Other noteworthy characters include
Bulletman,
Bulletgirl,
Ibis the Invincible,
Spy Smasher,
Mister Scarlet and Pinky, and
Commando Yank.
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Earth-X
Adopted home of several former
Quality Comics heroes, including the
Freedom Fighters. On this world, Nazi Germany won
World War II, and the Freedom Fighters - originally from Earth-Two - fought to defeat them. Noteworthy characters include
Uncle Sam, the
Human Bomb,
Miss America,
The Ray,
Black Condor,
Doll Man,
Phantom Lady,
Firebrand, and the
Red Bee.
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Earth-Prime
Home of few or no superheroes; this was supposedly "our" world, where the characters of Earth-One were merely comic book characters (the continued existence of the real world following the destruction of Earth-Prime in
Crisis suggests that it was not, in fact, our world). DC editor
Julius Schwartz lived here, and met the Flash of Earth-One who visited this world. The little-used character
Ultraa was the first superhero to appear in this world, but after his initial adventure, he relocated to Earth-One (in light of realizing that Earth-Prime wasn't ready for superheroes). In a story just before
Crisis on Infinite Earths, a young Clark Kent of this world discovered that he had super powers and became Superboy; at the climax of
Crisis, he joined the Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-Two (the originals) in a kind of paradise.
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Other Earths
Various other Earths were arguably depicted in DC's substantial publishing output during the period in which the Multiverse was in effect. Identifiers such as "Earth-Five" or "Earth-K" have been coined by fans and applied to certain characters and stories. Some Earths have been posited to explain (for example)
Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. (the teenage sons of the two heroes who appeared in a handful of stories and cannot be reconciled with any known Earth) or the
Super Friends (based on the TV series). On yet another conjectured Earth, the Silver Age DC Comics heroes lived side-by-side with the Silver Age
Marvel Comics heroes, and it is on this alternate Earth where various team-ups and battles between the two publishers' heroes have occurred over the years. Some of these could instead be categorised using the "imaginary story" identifier which DC occasionally applied to stories they didn't wish to be considered part of continuity, especially before the invention of the Multiverse.
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Contact between universes
Most inhabitants of the Multiverse were completely unaware of the other universes. The first character to cross the gap between them was Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth-One, who accidentally vibrated at just the right speed to appear on Earth-Two, where he met Jay Garrick, his Earth-Two counterpart.
Other characters with super-speed powers were able to duplicate the trick, but it was not often done. Magic and technological devices could do the job as well. The Justice League's "transmatter" device (ordinarily used to transport between their satellite headquarters and the ground), was pressed into service for annual events in which the League and some of their counterparts on other Earths faced a universe-crossing "crisis" of one sort or another. Writers occasionally put characters from different Earths together in the same story without explanation, a
continuity error often cited as a reason for eliminating the Multiverse in
Crisis.
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Pre-Crisis
Characters, events and other elements established before
Crisis (especially those eliminated by it) are considered "Pre-Crisis", and were part of the Multiverse.
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Crisis
The Multiverse was destroyed in the "maxi-series"
Crisis on Infinite Earths by a villain known as the
Anti-Monitor. One by one, the Anti-Monitor invaded each universe and destroyed it. The heroes of Earth-One, Earth-Two, Earth-Four, Earth-S, and Earth-X, along with survivors from at least two other universes, managed to hold off the destruction of these last five universes long enough to defeat the Anti-Monitor. The five were merged into a single universe with its own history combining elements of the five with completely new elements. For example, there was a Flash named Jay Garrick in the JSA during the 1940s, and another Flash named Barry Allen in the JLA during the 1960s. But Superman had a completely new history, different from the Superman of Earth-One or Earth-Two. Several characters famous from Pre-Crisis works (most importantly
Supergirl and Barry Allen as
the Flash) were killed during
Crisis, and, as a result were either erased from history (in Supergirl's case) or simply proclaimed dead in the new, singular universe.
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Post-Crisis
Some fans refused to accept that the Multiverse no longer "existed" after
Crisis, and posited that the "Post-Crisis" DC Universe was merely another alternate universe within the Multiverse, sometimes dubbed "Earth-Zero" or "Earth-PC".
Although DC did not relent on their position that the other Earths no longer existed (and had "never" existed), they published occasional one-shots and mini-series labeled "Elseworlds", many of which would have been consistent with the concept of the Multiverse. But DC officially classified these are stories that perhaps "could have" happened, but had not. They maintained that there was only one canonical Earth in the DC Universe. Although never labelled as "
Elseworlds" tales,
Stan Lee's reimagining of DC heroes and graphic novels such as
Dark Knight Returns, which diverge from established continuity, could be said to also reflect the "Elseworlds" concept.
DC relented somewhat with the introduction of
Hypertime, which provided a conceptual framework to recognize both canonical and apocryphal stories. It was arguably a superset of the Multiverse, including not only the whole range of pre-Crisis stories set on alternate Earths, but any story set in any continuity.
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Representations in other media
The concept of the multiverse has been parodied in an episode of
Futurama. In it, Professor Farnsworth creates an alternate universe inside a
cardboard box, while at the same time, in that alternate universe, alternate-Professor Farnsworth creates our universe in a similar cardboard box. When the characters of the two universes meet, they begin to parody many of DC's multiverse conventions:
- DC's system of naming its universes was parodied when the characters decided to name the two universes "Universe A" and "Universe 1" (with no real reason behind either name).
- Universe 1 Professor states the "fact" that, if an alternate universe exists, it's full of nothing but evil clones (consistent with the idea of Earth-Three, as well as the science fiction cliche of alternate universes frequently only shown as being an all-evil exact "opposite" to the "real" one, akin to Star Trek's "mirror universe")
- Besides a few differences in key colors (such as a red-haired Leela and a multi-colored sky), the two universes are exactly the same except for one thing: all coin tosses made in Universe A have the opposite outcome in Universe 1. This situation parodies DC's tendency to have universes differ based on often arbitrary circumstances.
Likewise,
Bongo Comics has published a
Simpsons/
Futurama crossover titled "Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis", referring to
Crisis on Infinite Earths and
Marvel Comics'
Secret Wars. Numerous conventions of DC's multiverse are parodied, including the practice of having one universe's chracters appearing as fictional comic book characters in another. Futurama's
Fry is quite fond of
Simpsons comics.
