Earth 616

In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 is the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.

History of the term

The term was first used in "Rough Justice", a story credited to both Alan Moore and Alan Davis published in July 1983 by Marvel UK in the anthology comic ''The Daredevils'' (and was later reprinted in the ''Captain Britain'' trade paperback). Saturnyne uses the term to differentiate Brian Braddock, the Captain Britain of the regular Marvel Comics universe, from the other members of the Captain Britain Corps, each of which inhabit different universes. The designation was later used by the American branch of Marvel Comics in the ''Excalibur'' title, which frequently referenced Captain Britain's early UK-published adventures. This comic was written by Chris Claremont, who had created Captain Britain, and pencilled by Alan Davis, the artist on the UK-published series. Davis later had a run as both writer and artist on the book.

Alan Moore is usually credited with creating the term. However, Alan Davis has said that it was invented by Dave Thorpe, the previous writer of the UK-published ''Captain Britain'' stories.

A difference of opinion exists regarding the selection of the number 616. In 2005, Moore's son-in-law John Reppion said on an Internet message board that the number was arbitrarily chosen by Moore, saying it "was just a random number of no significance chosen because people always seemed to be talking about 'earth 2' or 'earth 4' but never any higher numbers." However, Davis has said that it comes from a variation on the number of the beast, picked because Thorpe "wasn't a fan of the modern superhero genre" and expressed this in his stories, "such as recording his opinion of the Marvel Universe with the designation 616."

In the climaxes of the "Goblin Nation" and "Spider-Verse" storylines in ''Superior Spider-Man'' and ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', respectively, it is revealed that Marvel 2099/Earth-928 is the same universe as 616, dubbed as Earth-616 circa 2099.

References to Earth-616

Most references to Earth-616 appear in Marvel UK titles, in ''Excalibur,'' or in Marvel reference texts such as the guide to ''Alternate Universes'' (2005). In addition, there are a number of other references to Earth-616:

* In ''Marvel 1602'' #6 (March 2004), Uatu the Watcher refers to the universe as Earth-616.
* In ''Marvel Knights 4'' #15 (April 2005), Earth-616 is mentioned.
* In ''Uncanny X-Men'' #462 (September 2005), an alteration in reality of Earth-616 causes trans-temporal devastation, and Saturnyne attempts to destroy that particular temporal continuity to "cauterize the wound".
* In ''Iron Man: Fatal Frontier'' #10, Dr. Doom mentions that they are in either Earth-616 or in Earth-615.
* In all issues of ''Deadpool Kills Deadpool'' (July 2013), the story centers around the timeline of Earth-616 Deadpool rather that any of the alternate universe versions.
* In ''Secret Wars'' (2015) #1, the universe where the main storyline takes place is referred to as Earth-616.

The term has also appeared in '' Exiles'' (in, among others, the House of M tie-in issues) and is in regular use by the writers of Marvel's Official Handbooks for the simplicity of the term.

There has been at least one attempt within Marvel canon to change the designation of Earth-616. In the final story arc of ''X-Man'' (issues #71–74), writer Steven Grant began to refer to the planet as "Earth-611" due to the destruction of several other Earths (which were all apparently "higher on the list" of the multiverse than the Marvel Earth) by a godlike entity. This change, an allusion to the events of DC's ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', was not adopted by other writers.

In other media

Marvel Cinematic Universe

* In the film '' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013), Erik Selvig is portrayed as being somewhat mentally unstable and in his time at a mental hospital he draws a number of diagrams and equations on a blackboard. Near the center of all of this, the words "616 universe" can be seen underlined.
* In the second season of '' Iron Fist'' (2018), Misty Knight is driving with Colleen Wing when they hear a police radio broadcast alerting all units to "multiple fatalities at a nearby nightclub" and a "code 616". Misty explains that 616 is the police code for a "possible suspect with abilities".
* In the film '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019), Ant-Man's van was being held in a storage area labeled "616".
* In the film '' Spider-Man: Far From Home'' (2019), Mysterio claims that the main Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity exists on "Earth-616". However, the MCU was previously designated as Earth-199999 in the 2008 coffee table book '' Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z, Vol. 5'' and is referred to as such in other media. It is left unclear if this is a misdirect by Mysterio.
* In the film ''Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'' (2022), Christine Palmer of Earth-838 informs Doctor Strange that his universe is "Earth-616".

Other films

* In the film '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', Earth-616 is seen in a monitor along with other Earths, while Peter B. Parker arrives on Earth-1610 (the Ultimate Marvel Universe) when the interdimensional machine starts malfunctioning.

Editorial reaction

Former Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort have each stated their dislike for the term Earth-616.

References

External links

*

Earth-616
at Spider-Man Wiki

{{Marvel Multiverse
Fictional elements introduced in 1939
Marvel Comics dimensions
Fictional dimensions
Fictional universes
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