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Multiverse
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Avengers #85 (February 1971)
In story information
TypeUniverse continuity
Element of stories featuringMarvel Universe (features)

Within Marvel Comics, most stories take place within the Marvel Universe, which in turn is part of a larger multiverse. Starting with the Captain Britain story in The Daredevils #7, the main continuity in which most Marvel storylines take place was designated as Earth-616.

Other writers would use and define the Multiverse in titles such as Exiles, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and Spider-Verse. New universes would also spin out of storylines involving time-traveling characters such as Rachel Summers, Cable, and Bishop, as their actions would render the worlds they visit as alternate timelines. Various organizations attempt to safeguard and protect the universe, among them the Captain Britain Corps, the Council of Watchers, the Exiles, the Council of Reeds, and the Time Variance Authority (TVA).

The multiverse also plays a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with its main universe having originally been known as Earth-199999 in external media and as Earth-616 in internal media. The concept was first introduced in Doctor Strange (2016) before becoming the focal point of the franchise in "the Multiverse Saga" (2021–present). Additionally, the multiverse has also been explored in the X-Men film series, Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), and the Spider-Verse franchise, with an emphasis on the latter regarding multiple versions of Spider-Man across different universes, and connecting the former two with the MCU.

Publication history

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In 1977, Marvel Comics started depicted parallel universes to the main setting of their stories in the What If series, narrated by the Watcher and depicting alternate histories that diverged from the familiar Marvel Universe in key moments. In 1983, Alan Moore's Daredevils series featuring Captain Britain for Marvel UK explicitly introduced the travel between the alternate worlds, establishing that each was protected by its own version of Captain Britain, collectively known as Captain Britain Corps. The series was also the first to refer to the alternate words by the Earth-### numerical designations, establishing the home reality of the Brian Braddock version of Captain Britain as Earth-616.[1] That number carried over into the American Marvel Comics through the Excalibur series also featuring Captain Britain and has been used to refer to the "main" Marvel Universe ever since.

In 1992, Senior Editor Mark Gruenwald, creator of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, wrote "Marvel's official rules of time travel" in Marvel Age #117. These established that each act of time travel always produces an alternate universe, diverging it from the original timeline in which the time travel never took place.[2] This led to alternate futures from storylines such as Days of Future Past age Age of Apocalypse being classified as alternate realities within the Multiverse, persisting even after they were supposedly "undone" by the actions of time-travelers. In Nightcrawler #1 (1985) the X-Men traveled into the reality of a fairy tale which Kitty Pryde had previously seemingly "invented" in Uncanny X-Men #153 (1981). This established the precedent of in-universe fiction representing the factual truth of alternate realities, later explicitly confirmed by the Official Handbook.

During the 2000s, Marvel began consistently numbering prominent alternate universes in the issues of the Official Handbook, beginning with one-shot handbooks published in 2004-2005 and later publishing a comprehensive numbered list in the Appendix to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z (2008). The list included designations for alternate universes seen in comics books such as Marvel Comics 2, Marvel 2099, and Exiles, but also various film and television series based on Marvel Comics, establishing adaptions in non-comic media as part of the wider Marvel Multiverse. At the end of the printed list, a wink was provided for the online Appendix[3] which remained consistently updated and as of 2026 is approaching 4,000 entries.[4] The online list extended the designations to stories published by Marvel but lacking any familiar Marvel superheroes, including creator-owned stories published under the Epic Comics imprint, licensed comics including Heathcliff and ALF, and original series by CrossGen and Malibu Comics, publishers that were later fully acquired by Marvel.[3] The classification system for alternate realities was devised, in part, by Mark Gruenwald.[5]

Numeric designations originating from the Handbooks and the online Appendix have sporadically been used within Marvel Comics, video games, and the 2023 film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, confirming their canonicity. However, during the publication of the "Spider-Verse" storyline in 2014, writer Dan Slott had stated on Twitter that the numbers that appear in handbooks do not count, and only those that are published within "actual" stories do.[6] This was in response to some reality numbers in the pages of Spider-Verse not matching the previous designations, such as the home reality of Spider-Ham, previously Earth-8311, being re-designated as Earth-25 instead. Subsequent Handbooks have dealt with contradictions both ways: while the attempted change of Spider-Ham's reality had been ignored, the home reality of Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy) previously numbered by the online appendix had been adjusted to that used in the pages of the comics.[7][8]

Definitions

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A glossary of terms was provided in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Volume 2 (2008):

  • Dimension - an area of interest containing space, time, matter, and energy. A dimension can be virtually infinite or clearly finite, "Earth-like" or guided by magic or alien physics.
  • Universe - a single dimension, such as Earth-616, the Prime Marvel Universe.
  • Reality - a collection of an Earth-like universe and the various other dimensions associated with it, such as the Microverse, the Dark Dimension, and the Negative Zone. Versions of these dimensions exist in most alternate realities.
  • Multiverse - a collection of alternate realities with a similar nature and a universal hierarchy.
  • Megaverse - a larger selection of alternate realities that lack a common hierarchy.
  • Omniverse - a collection of every single universe and dimension. The Omniverse contains the real world plus every possible fictional reality, including all the works that are outside of Marvel's copyright restrictions, and therefore also outside the Marvel Multiverse. This was based on Mark Gruenwald's original definition of the term.[9]

While the Official Handbook tends to stick to the nomenclature of "alternate realities", various comic writers had used "alternate universes", "alternate timelines", and "alternate dimensions" interchangeably.

Fictional History

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Originally, there was only one universe, the First Firmament. Due to the actions of Celestials existing there, it diverged.[10] Then, the Multiverse went through several incarnations and eventually the Big Bang caused the existence of the Seventh Cosmos, where most well-known heroes originated. The Marvel multiverse is protected from imbalance by the Living Tribunal, a cosmic entity, who is one for the entire multiverse. It may act to prevent one universe from amassing more power than any of the others or from upsetting the cosmic balance in some way. It is only overseen by the One-Above-All, an omnipotent entity said to have created the entire Marvel Multiverse.

According to Forge, mutants living on these alternate Earths have lost their powers due to the M-Day happening on Earth-616, as stated in "Endangered Species". However, this mass depowering has not been seen in many of Marvel's current alternate reality publications such as the Exiles, the Ultimate Marvel titles, Amazing Spider-Girl, the Marvel Adventures titles or GeNext. This was apparently retconned during the "X-Men: Messiah Complex" storyline, where Forge stated that all mutants in possible future timelines were depowered, not in parallel universes.[11] This, in addition to A.R.M.O.R.'s observation that Lyra arrived from an alternate reality[12] indicates that the topology of the Marvel Multiverse is based on new realities branching off from key nodes of a timeline instead of strictly parallel dimensions.

In the 2015 Secret Wars series, a confrontation with the Beyonders over the fate of the various alternate versions of Molecule Man results in the destruction of the Multiverse, triggering various 'incursions' as Earths crash together and destroy each other, the Beyonders' assault culminating in Doctor Doom stealing the power of the remaining Beyonders and bringing the remaining universes together into a single 'Battleworld'. Molecule Man, who had been the source of Doom's power, transfers Doom's power to Mister Fantastic when Doom acknowledges that Reed would have done a better job as 'God' than he did. Having restored Earth-616 as it was before the Beyonders' incursions began, Mister Fantastic departs to recreate the multiverse with the company of his restored family. The seventh iteration of the Multiverse was destroyed and was reborn as the eighth.[13]

List of notable alternate universes

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This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Below is a short, non-comprehensive list of some of the most noteworthy and significant universes in the Marvel Multiverse. Most of these were designated in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe in either the physical print or the digital Appendix.[3]

Name First appearance Notes
Earth-42 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2, 2023)
  • An alternate setting within the animated Spider-Verse franchise created by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and David Callaham.
  • In this reality, there is no Spider Man as a result of the spider intended for him being transported to Earth-1610B by Wilson Fisk's multiversal "super-collider" prior to the events of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, leaving Earth-42 infested with crime. Jefferson Davis was killed in action some time ago, while his son Miles Morales becomes involved with his uncle Aaron Davis' criminal activities, becoming an antiheroic version of the Prowler. He and Davis use money secured from heists against the Cartel that took over New York City to financially support Miles' mother Rio Morales.[14]
Earth-65 Edge of Spider-Verse #2 (Nov. 2014)
Earth-295 X-Men: Alpha (January 1995)
Earth-311 Marvel 1602 #1 (August 13, 2003)
  • Primary setting for the 1602 limited series written by Neil Gaiman and its various spin-off titles.
  • In this reality, Silver Age-era Marvel characters have awakened 400 years earlier in England
Earth-358 Marvel Tōkon: First Strike #1 (August 6, 2026)
Earth-616 Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 (1939)
Earth-688 Venom (October 5, 2018)
Earth-712 Avengers #85–86 (Feb.–March 1971)
Earth-811 Uncanny X-Men #141 (1981)
  • The setting of Days of Future Past, a dystopic version of the near-distant future where mutants are actively hunted and sent to concentration camps, and whose timeline diverges from Earth-616 in occasion of the assassination of Senator Kelly.
Earth-828 The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25, 2025)
Earth-838 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6, 2022)
Earth-928 Spider-Man 2099 #1 (1992)
Earth-982 What If? (vol. 2) #105 (1998)
  • Main setting of MC2. Home reality of Spider-Girl, J2, A-Next, Wild Thing, the Fantastic Five, and other children of the Marvel heroes and villains.
  • Set in an alternate version of Earth-616 in the late 1990s.
  • First numbered in Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four.
Earth-1048 Spider-Man (2018 video game) (September 7, 2018)
Earth-1136 Miss Fury Special Limited Edition #1 (August 1991)
Earth-1226 M.O.D.O.K. (May 2021)
  • The setting of M.O.D.O.K. and Hit-Monkey television series.
Earth-1287 Strikeforce: Morituri #01 (1986)
  • Reality where a scientist named Dr. Kimmo Tuolema in 2072 discovers a process which can provide humans with superhuman powers to fight back a ravaging alien invasion that started in 2069.
  • First numbered in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005.
Earth-1298 Mutant X #1 (August 1998)
Earth-1610 Ultimate Spider-Man #1 (2000)
Earth-1610B Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (December 1, 2018)
Earth-2149 Ultimate Fantastic Four #21 (2005)
  • Reality of the original Marvel Zombies series, where an outbreak of a zombie virus that came from another alternate Earth turned all of its superheroes and supervillains into cannibalistic, flesh-eating zombies.
  • First numbered in Alternate Universes 2005.
Earth-2301 Marvel Mangaverse: New Dawn (March 2002)
Earth-5724 Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (film) (May 26, 1998)
  • Main setting of the 1998 Nick Fury film, with Fury being portrayed by David Hasselhoff.
Earth-6109 Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (October 24, 2006)
  • Primary setting of the first two games in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series.
Earth-6160 Ultimate Invasion #1 (2023)
  • The setting for the rebooted Ultimate Universe which spun out from the events of the miniseries Ultimate Invasion (2023) by Jonathan Hickman and Bryan Hitch. This continuity serves as the setting for the eponymous Ultimate Universe #1 one-shot, as well as the new iterations of Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Black Panther, The Ultimates, and future books under the relaunched Ultimate imprint.
    • The history of Earth-6160 was substantially altered by the original Ultimate Universe's Reed Richards / Maker, resulting in a shadow government controlled by him and his allies. Due to the Maker's sabotage, Peter Parker does not receive powers until he is an adult. Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are killed in the space flight that would have given the Fantastic Four their powers, while Susan Storm is inflicted with terminal radiation poisoning. Reed Richards survives the flight, but is tortured by the Maker, becoming his universe's equivalent of Doctor Doom.
Earth-6799 "The Power of Dr. Octopus" (September 9, 1967)
Earth-7642 Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Jan. 1976)
Earth-7964 X-Men Legends (September 24, 2004)
Earth-8096 "Hindsight (Part 1)" (January 23, 2009)
Earth-8101 Marvel Apes #1 (2008)
  • Reality in which all Marvel characters are sentient apes.
Earth-8107 "Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble" (September 12, 1981)
Earth-8311 Marvel Tails #1 (1983)
  • The Larval Universe is the home reality of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham and various intelligent, talking, anthropomorphic funny animal parodies of the Marvel characters.
  • First numbered in Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four, and later adapted into various other media.
Earth-9602 Amalgam Comics (April 1996 – June 1997)
  • An amalgamation of the Marvel and DC universes that occurred during the DC vs. Marvel crossover event.
  • Characters from both franchises were merged to create new ones (e.g., DC Comics' Batman and Marvel Comics' Wolverine become the Amalgam Comics character Dark Claw).
Earth-9997 Earth X #0 (Jan. 1999)
Earth-10005 X-Men: Days of Future Past (May 10, 2014)
Earth-11052 X-Men: Evolution (November 2000 – October 2003)
Earth-11714 Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (June 14, 2011 – January 4, 2014)
  • Primary setting for the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark and its characters with music and lyrics written by Bono and The Edge. The plot of the show is inspired by the events of Earth-616 and the Sam Raimi films.
  • This production is the most expensive Broadway production in history. The production ended in January 2014.
Earth-12041 "Great Power" (April 1, 2012)
Earth-12131 Marvel Avengers Alliance (March 1, 2012)
  • Primary setting of the Marvel Avengers Alliance game series.
Earth-13122 Lego Marvel Super Heroes (October 22, 2013)
Earth-13625 Deadpool (video game) (June 25, 2013)
  • Main setting for the 2013 Deadpool video game.
Earth-14042 "The Mightiest of Heroes!" (April 2, 2014)
  • Main setting of Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers.
  • This Earth shares the normal conventions of the Marvel universe until Loki traps the Avengers in experimental devices called DISKs. Five kids are assigned by the Avengers to carry around the DISKs and use them to bring out the Avengers to fight villains.
Earth-14123 Big Hero 6 (November 7, 2014)
  • Main setting of the 2014 Big Hero 6 film, an alternate history world with San Fransokyo instead of San Francisco.
Earth-15866 Fantastic Four (August 4, 2015)
  • Setting for the 2015 film Fantastic Four directed by Josh Trank.
  • This film was originally meant to take place in the same reality as the X-Men film series also produced by Fox, crossing over with various characters from the films, but due to its critical and financial failure at the box-office, 20th Century Fox cancelled all plans to continue with the franchise.
Earth-17040 "Chapter 1" (February 8, 2017)
Earth-17315 Logan
  • The setting of the film Logan (2017). Home to Laura, portrayed by Dafne Keen.
Earth-17372 "eXposed" (October 2, 2017)
Earth-17628 "Origins" (August 1, 2015)
Earth-17741 "Destroy the Avengers" (July 22, 2017)
Earth-18878 "Ghost Hunter" (August 13, 2018)
Earth-10022 Planet Hulk (February 2, 2010)
  • Main setting of the Planet Hulk film.
Earth-20051 Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1 (March 2005)
  • Main setting of Marvel Adventures, an all-age series not directly tied to then-current Marvel continuity.
Earth-20824 Spider-Man (2000 video game) (September 1, 2000)
Earth-21178 Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (October 25, 2021)
  • Main setting for the 2021 Guardians of the Galaxy video game.
Earth-21642 "WEB-STER" (June 2021)
Earth-21923 Old Man Logan #1 (May 2015)
Earth-26320 Blade (film) (August 21, 1998)
Earth-26496 "Survival of the Fittest" (March 8, 2008)
Earth-30847 The Punisher (1993)
Earth-32102 "Moon Girl Landing" (February 2023)
Earth-38264 Marvel's Avengers (September 4, 2020)
Earth-41578 X-Men (July 12, 2000)
Earth-45828 Razorline: The First Cut #1 (Sept. 1993)
Earth-47281 Punisher: War Zone (December 5, 2008)
Earth-51778 Spider-Man (Japanese TV series) (May 1978 – March 1979)
  • Main setting of the Japanese Spider-Man TV series, also known as Supaidāman.
  • In this Earth, Spider-Man is a Japanese man called Takuya Yamashiro.
Earth-58163 House of M (June—Nov. 2005)
  • A world created by the Scarlet Witch, who wished mutants were the dominant species instead of humans.
Earth-58470 Howard the Duck (film) (August 1, 1986)
  • Main setting of the 1986 film Howard the Duck.
Earth-58627 The Punisher (1989 film) (October 5, 1989)
Earth-58732 The Punisher (2004 film) (April 16, 2004)
Earth-88194 Dr. Zero #1 (1988)
  • The setting of Shadowline, created by Archie Goodwin under the Epic Comics imprint as a mature-themed line for Marvel Comics.
  • Home reality of Doctor Zero, Power Line and St. George, and the origin of Terror Inc.
  • First numbered in Alternate Universes 2005.
Earth-90214 Spider-Man Noir #1 (Feb. 2009)
Earth-92131 "Night of the Sentinels" (Part 1) (October 31, 1992)
Earth-93060 Hardcase #1 (June 1993)
Earth-96283 Spider-Man (film series) (May 3, 2002)
  • Setting of the Spider-Man film trilogy directed by Sam Raimi.
Earth-120703 The Amazing Spider-Man (film series) (July 3, 2012)
  • Setting of The Amazing Spider-Man film duology directed by Marc Webb.
Earth-121347 Ghost Rider (February 16, 2007)
  • Setting for the films Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
  • Official designation revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Volume 5 hardcover book.
Earth-121698 Fantastic Four (July 8, 2005)
Earth-148611 Star Brand #1 (Oct. 1986)
Earth-199999 Iron Man (May 2, 2008)
  • Main setting of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
  • Official designation revealed in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Volume 5 hardcover book.
  • This designation was ignored by the live-action MCU media, which refer to its main setting as Earth-616 instead. However, the Earth-199999 number was nevertheless used in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) film, while the Marvel Comics crossover with the MCU, such as the TVA comic series, continue to use "Earth-616" exclusive to refer to the comics universe.
Earth-400005 The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series) (November 1977 – May 1982)
Earth-400083 Hulk (June 20, 2003)
Earth-534834 "And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead" (September 24, 1994)
Earth-634962 "The Origin of the Silver Surfer" (February 7, 1998)
Earth-700029 Generation X (February 20, 1996)
  • Main setting of the Generation-X television film.
Earth-701306 Daredevil (February 14, 2003)
Earth-730784 The Avengers: United They Stand (October 1999 – February 2000)
Earth-760207 "Heroes and Villains" (August 22, 2003)
Earth-807128 Wolverine (vol. 3) #66 (Aug. 2008)
  • The setting of Old Man Logan where the supervillains united and killed all of the superheroes, then divided up the world into their respective territories.
Earth-904913 "Iron, Forged in Fire" (April 24, 2009)

Marvel Cinematic Universe

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Daredevils #7 (1983)
  2. ↑ Marvel Age #117 (1992)
  3. 1 2 3 "earthteaz". www.marvunapp.com.
  4. ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5 (2008)
  5. ↑ "Alternate Earths". Marvunapp.com. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  6. ↑ Slott, Dan [@DanSlott] (November 10, 2014). "@AyrMen Sorry. Was swamped w/work. Unless mentioned in actual stories, designations in Wiki entries & handbooks don't count. That answer it?" (Tweet). Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2020 – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ Feldman, Steffi (February 12, 2019). "5 Easter Eggs from Earth-65, Home of Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  8. ↑ Spider-Geddon Handbook (2018)
  9. ↑ "Roberson's Interminable Ramble: Mark Gruenwald, the father of modern superhero comics". Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  10. ↑ Ultimates 2 (vol. 2) #6
  11. ↑ David, Peter. X-Factor (vol. 2) #25
  12. ↑ All New Savage She-Hulk #1
  13. ↑ Secret Wars (vol. 1) #9
  14. ↑ Zahed, Ramin (July 3, 2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. p. 200. ISBN 978-1419763991.

Bibliography

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  • Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 6: Fantastic Four (November 2004)
  • Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005
  • Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook (2006)
  • Marvel Legacy: The 1970s Handbook (2006)
  • Marvel Legacy: The 1980s Handbook (2006)
  • Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook (2007)
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