The
DC Multiverse
In DC Comics, the Multiverse is a "cosmic construct" composed of the many fictional universes the stories of DC take place in. The worlds in this multiverse share a space and fate in common, and its structure has changed several times in the h ...
is a
fictional
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, ...
continuity construct used in
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
publications. The Multiverse has undergone numerous changes and has included various universes, listed below between the original Multiverse and its successors.
The original Multiverse
Catalogued
Originally, there was no consistency regarding "numbered" Earths—they would be either spelled out as words or use numbers, even within the same story. For example, "Crisis on Earth-Three!" (''Justice League of America'' #29 (August 1964)) uses "Earth-3" and "Earth-Three" interchangeably. However, a tradition of spelling out the numbers emerged in "The Most Dangerous Earth" (''Justice League of America'' #30 (September 1964)). This convention was disregarded in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'', and it became common practice to refer to the various Earths with numerals instead. ''Infinite Crisis'' used both, but ''Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition'' and everything after ''
52'' have referred to the alternate universes with numerals.
Because ''52'' introduced another set of Earths, ''The Flash: Flashpoint'' changed the nature of many of those Earths. ''
The New 52
The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the " Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC canceled all its existing titles and debuted 52 new serie ...
'' and ''
Convergence
Convergence may refer to:
Arts and media Literature
*''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen
* "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics:
**A four-part crossover storyline that united the four Wei ...
'' restored the Pre-''Crisis'' Multiverse; all Pre-''Crisis'' Earths below 52 are spelled out (i.e., Earth-Three), realities from the ''52'' Multiverse use a hyphen (Earth-3), and realities from the ''New 52'' Multiverse use a space (i.e., Earth 3). This helps, as ''The New 52'' introduced a Dark Multiverse that uses negative numbers (i.e., Earth -3).
Also, Earths that were "revealed as a distinct parallel Earth in ''The Kingdom'' #2", i.e., part of
Hypertime
Hypertime is a fictional concept in DC Comics which first appeared in the 1999 '' The Kingdom'' limited series. It is a variation of the Multiverse concept that existed in DC Comics before 1985's ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' limited series and w ...
, are marked with an asterisk. Variations of some of these worlds appeared in the ''52'' and ''New 52'' Multiverses, which are also Hypertime realities.
Note that Wonder Woman met a duplicate version of herself coming from an unnamed twin Earth in "Wonder Woman's Invisible Twin", (''Wonder Woman'' #59 (May–June 1953)). It was the first appearance of an alternate Earth in DC Comics.
Unclassified
Before the formal creation of its Multiverse, DC would use the "imaginary story" label to denote stories that did not fit and never were intended to fit into its canon—a tradition it would continue even after the creation of the Multiverse. Alan Moore's "What Ever happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" (''Action Comics'' #583 and ''Superman'' #423) in 1986 was the last Pre-''Crisis'' story to use the label.
By contrast, other stories were clearly intended to be canonical, but various details were wrong or there were stories told in other media that were never said not to be canonical. As a result, fans and editors would create other Earths to explain things like the ''
Super Friends
''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of ...
'' comic (set on what writers referred to as Earth-B).
Also there were many "one-shot" Earths (such as the Earth shown in "Superman, You're Dead, Dead, Dead" in ''Action Comics'' #399), for which few details were provided and would not be named until ''Crisis on Infinite Earth: Absolute Edition'' (November 2005) was published. Finally, not all alternate reality stories were assigned a name. These included (but were not limited to) the two-page "How Superman Would Win the War" (1940), the ancient Greece/ancient Israel mash-up world from ''Action Comics'' #308 (January 1964), the Earth where "The Super-Panhandler of Metropolis" and "The Secret of the Wheel-Chair Superman!" (''Action Comics'' #396-397) take place, and some of the Earths seen in ''Superboy'' (vol. 4) #61-62.
DC's one universe, one timeline idea was silently killed off with the creation of the pocket universe (which was to explain why the Legion of Super-Heroes still remembered a Superboy when none existed in the Post-''Crisis'' reality). ''The Official Crisis on Infinite Earths Index'' (March 1986) and ''The Official Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Index'' (July 1986) formally canonized the "Crossover Earth" where the Marvel and DC characters co-existed, making multiverse-changing events problematic at best. Then, you had parallel universes (like that of the Extremists) where the counterpart of Earth had a different name, as well as the realities of the ''
Darkstars
The first Darkstars were a group of intergalactic policemen that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics. They were introduced in ''Darkstars'' #1 (October 1992 in comics, 1992), and were created by Michael Jan Friedman and Larry Stroman. ...
'' and ''Justice League'' series.
''Crisis on Infinite Earth: Absolute Edition'' (November 2005) formally canonized and named many imaginary tales, the ''Tangent Comics'' universe and some Elseworlds as part of the Pre-''Crisis'' Multiverse, even though some (such as the pocket universe) had clearly existed ''after'' the Crisis.
In the "With A Vengeance!" storyline in ''Superman/Batman'', the Multiverse is visited by Bizarro and Batzarro. The Joker and Mr. Mxyzptlk summon Batmen and Supermen from various realities, both previously established worlds as well as unexplored ones.
[''Superman/Batman'' #20-24 (December 2005 - April 2006)]
''
Convergence
Convergence may refer to:
Arts and media Literature
*''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen
* "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics:
**A four-part crossover storyline that united the four Wei ...
'' retroactively prevented the destruction of the original DC Multiverse, so all the Pre-''Crisis'' earths exist but in an "evolved" form, though all characters in continuity or canon can be used by writers.
The ''52'' Multiverse
A new Multiverse was revealed at the end of the ''
52'' weekly maxiseries. Unlike the original Multiverse, which was composed of an infinite number of alternate universes, this Multiverse is composed of a predetermined number of alternate universes, which were originally referred to as New Earth and Earths 1 through 51, although erroneously in ''Tangent: Superman's Reign'' #1, New Earth is referred to as Earth-1; however, in ''Final Crisis: Superman Beyond'' #1, New Earth is instead designated Earth-0. Dan Didio has since explicitly denied that New Earth is Earth-1. The alternate universes were originally identical to New Earth and contained the same history and people until
Mister Mind
Mister Mind is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics, he made a cameo appearance in ''Captain Marvel Adventures'' #22 (March 1943) before making his full f ...
"devoured" portions of each Earth's history, creating new, distinct Earths with their own histories and people, such as the Nazi-themed version of the Justice League that exists in Earth-10.
Each of the alternate universes have their own parallel dimensions, divergent timelines, microverses, etc., branching off of them.
The
Guardians of the Universe
The Guardians of the Universe are a race of extraterrestrial superhero characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Green Lantern. They first appeared in ''Green Lantern'' (vol. 2) #1 (July 19 ...
serve as protectors of the new Multiverse.
Each universe within the Multiverse is separated by a
Source Wall
This page list the locations in the DC Universe, the shared universe setting of DC Comics.
Sites
* the Arrowcave – The former base of operations of the Green Arrow and Speedy.
* Avernus Cemetery – A burial ground located in Central City for ...
, behind which the
Anti-Life Equation
The Anti-Life Equation is a fictional concept appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. In Jack Kirby's Fourth World setting, the Anti-Life Equation is a formula for total control over the minds of sentient beings that is sought by ...
keeps the universes apart.
The
Bleed
Bleeding usually means the leakage or loss of blood from the body.
Bleeding, bleed, or bleeder may also refer to:
*Bleed (printing), intentionally printing across the expected trim line or edge of the sheet
*Bleed, or spill (audio), when audio fro ...
permeates the Anti-Life Equation in unpredictable places
behind the Source Wall,
allowing for transport between the universes. The destruction of New Earth would set off a chain reaction that would destroy the other 51 alternate universes at the same time, leaving only the Antimatter Universe in existence.
As a consequence of
Alexander Luthor, Jr.
Alexander Luthor Jr. is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.
Publication history
Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the character made his first appearance in ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' #1 (April 198 ...
's attempts to recreate the Multiverse, 52 new
Monitors
Monitor or monitor may refer to:
Places
* Monitor, Alberta
* Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States
* Monitor, Kentucky
* Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States
* Monitor, Washington
* Monitor, Logan County, West Vir ...
were created to oversee the 52 universes created afterwards. The Monitors seek to protect the Multiverse from people who crossover from one alternate universe to another, through the Bleed or through innate ability, who the Monitors have labeled "anomalies".
[''Countdown'' #51 (May 2007)]
A partial list of some of the alternate universes that make up the new Multiverse was revealed in late November 2007.
The Multi-Multiverse
The New 52 and DC Rebirth
The ''
Flashpoint'' story arc ended with a massive change to the Multiverse; to what extent it is entirely new, and to what extent it is as it was formed in the wake of ''52'', has not fully been established. Some worlds, like Earth-1 and Earth-23, appear to be entirely untouched, while others, like Earth-0, Earth-2, and Earth-16, have changed drastically. A number of worlds from the previous Multiverse were also reassigned; for example, Earth-31, originally the alternate Earth where
Frank Miller
Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on Daredevil (Marvel Comics ser ...
's ''
The Dark Knight Returns
''The Dark Knight Returns'' (alternatively titled ''Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'') is a 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, with color by Lynn Varley, and pub ...
'' and ''
All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder
''All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder'' is an American comic book series written by Frank Miller and penciled by Jim Lee. It was published by DC Comics, with a sporadic schedule, between 2005 and 2008. The series was to be rebooted under the ti ...
'' is set, is now occupied by
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
waterworld
''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Charl ...
analogues of
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
and other DC staples. In July 2014, a map of the Multiverse was released, in promotion of
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...
's ''
The Multiversity
''The Multiversity'' is a two-issue limited series combined with seven interrelated one-shots set in the DC Multiverse in The New 52, a collection of universes seen in publications by DC Comics. The one-shots in the series were written by Grant M ...
'' series.
There are 52 Earths in the local Multiverse home to the DCU Prime Earth, though due to the time-traveling interventions of Brainiac, the Hal Jordan of the Pre-''Zero Hour'' New Earth DCU, and Superman of the Pre-''Flashpoint'' New Earth altering the course of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, an infinite number of universes from previous incarnations of the Multiverse exist beyond these 52. This new model of creation involves multiple incarnations of the Multiverse suspended within a "Multi-Multiverse", with individual Multiverses existing as 'bubble' sets of grouped universes, such as the local 52. In February 2018, the ''Dark Nights: Metal'' series disclosed the existence of an additional Earth within this context, populated by sapient metasimians.
In ''Doomsday Clock'' #12 (2019) it was revealed, that previous incarnations of DC Universe, such as Pre-Crisis Earth-One and New 52's Prime Earth still exist as Earth-1985 and Earth-52, as a way of preserving every era of Superman. However, it is not known if these are part of the Multiverse, if they exist in Hypertime, or something else.
In ''Dark Crisis'' (2022), Pariah engineers a revival of many Earth from the original Multiverse, and adds them to the current Multiverse, removing the 52-world cap.
The Multiverse-2
As it was mentioned in ''
The Multiversity
''The Multiversity'' is a two-issue limited series combined with seven interrelated one-shots set in the DC Multiverse in The New 52, a collection of universes seen in publications by DC Comics. The one-shots in the series were written by Grant M ...
'', this multiverse was destroyed by the Empty Hand.
In ''
Infinite Frontier
Infinite Frontier is a 2021 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles in 2021. It is the follow-up to the 2016 DC Rebirth relaunch. The relaunch and event was sheph ...
'', it is identified as the remnants of the pre-Crisis Multiverse. Pariah uses it to trap various members of the Justice League in private realities that supposedly represent their ideal worlds, as a sort of "honey trap". The only worlds listed here are Pariah's "prison worlds"; for all other Multiverse 2 worlds, see the original Multiverse.
The Dark Multiverse
The Dark Multiverse made its debut on DC's ''
Dark Nights: Metal'' banner. Characters within this storyline are stated as originating from beyond the core ''New 52'' Multiverse that has been depicted until now and contains Dark Knight Batman analogues of the
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
,
Doomsday
Doomsday may refer to:
* Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions.
* Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...
,
Aquawoman,
Green Lantern
Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
,
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
,
Cyborg
A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. and the
Joker. Many of these Earths appear to be highly unstable and pre-apocalyptic, akin to the depiction of the Earths that were consumed during ''
Crisis on Infinite Earths
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March ...
''.
Worlds in the Dark Multiverse are designated with negative numbers.
Animated properties
The following list is for the Multiverse Earths that appear in the
DC animated universe
The DC Animated Universe (DCAU; also referred to as the Timmverse or Diniverse by fans referring to the creators and producers Bruce Timm and Paul Dini respectively) is a shared universe consisting primarily of superhero-based animated televi ...
, the
DC Universe Animated Original Movies
The DC Universe Animated Original Movies (DCUAOM; also known as DC Universe Original Movies or DC Universe Movies or DC Animated Movies) are a series of American direct-to-video superhero animated films based on the DC Comics characters and sto ...
and other animated properties
Television series
''Smallville''
Following the conclusion of ''Smallville'', the series' story was continued in comic book form under the banner ''Smallville: Season 11''. The series ran from 2012 to 2015.
Arrowverse
Pre-Crisis
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
television series ''
Arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
'' received its first spin-off ''
The Flash
The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...
'' in 2014 with both set in the same fictional universe (Earth-1). ''The Flashs second season began to explore a shared multiverse with the appearance of Earth-2, while the series' titular character also crossed over with the parallel universe home to ''
Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...
'' (later designated Earth-38). Additional universes have either been visited or mentioned in dialogue in later seasons of the Arrowverse shows, and some older television series such as the 1990 ''
The Flash
The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...
'' series and films such as the 1989 ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'' film have been retroactively incorporated into the Arrowverse multiverse as their own parallel universes (with the designation ending in the last two digits of the year it was released).
The 2019 crossover event "
Crisis on Infinite Earths
"Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March ...
", inspired by the
comic of the same name, destroyed all universes within the Arrowverse multiverse, both on- and off-screen.
The
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
series ''
Powerless'' (2017), which aired alongside the Arrowverse series, has been informally referred to by its producers as existing on "Earth-P".
Ezra Miller
Ezra Matthew Miller (born September 30, 1992) is an American actor. Their feature film debut was in ''Afterschool'' (2008), which they followed by starring in the drama ''We Need to Talk About Kevin (film), We Need to Talk About Kevin'' (2011) ...
's Barry Allen from the
DC Extended Universe
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films and television series produced by DC Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on characters that ...
makes a cameo appearance in "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four".
Post-Crisis
At the end of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", a new multiverse was created, notably merging Earth-1, Earth-38, the Earth of ''Black Lightning'', and the original Earth-2 into the new Earth-Prime as well as creating a new Earth-2.
Guggenheim also confirmed the characters from ''Smallville'' who existed on the previous Earth-167 survived. Guggenheim had wanted there to only be the single, new Earth-Prime that remained at the end of the crossover, but had that happened, the crossover would not have been able to visit the worlds of other DC properties. A compromise was done, where these properties were put back to various Earths in the multiverse, and the Arrowverse series were combined to a single Earth.
DC Studios
Video games
''Injustice''
''Infinite Crisis''
A convergence of Multiverses
The end of the ''
Convergence
Convergence may refer to:
Arts and media Literature
*''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen
* "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics:
**A four-part crossover storyline that united the four Wei ...
'' series resulted in the retroactive saving of the Pre-''Crisis'' DC Multiverse. In an interview Jeff King stated, "The battle to save not one, but two multiverses in ''Convergence'' provides it", and later states "In ''Convergence'' #8 we reference Multiversity and show you some of the Post-Convergence worlds that make up the reconstituted DC Multiverse. In many ways, the number of Worlds is now infinite. There may even be more than one Multiverse.", as well as "Post-Convergence, every character that ever existed, in either Continuity or Canon, is now available to us as storytellers.".
This leaves open the question of how (or even if) the Pre-''Crisis'',
Hypertime
Hypertime is a fictional concept in DC Comics which first appeared in the 1999 '' The Kingdom'' limited series. It is a variation of the Multiverse concept that existed in DC Comics before 1985's ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' limited series and w ...
, ''
52'' and post-''
Flashpoint'' Multiverses interact.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:DC Multiverse worlds
Multiverse
The multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The di ...