Multiverse (Marvel Comics)

Within Marvel Comics, most tales take place within the fictional Marvel Universe, which in turn is part of a larger multiverse. Starting with issues of '' Captain Britain'', the main continuity in which most Marvel storylines take place was designated Earth-616, and the Multiverse was established as being protected by Merlyn. Each universe has a Captain Britain designated to protect its version of the British Isles. These protectors are collectively known as the Captain Britain Corps. This numerical notation was continued in the series '' Excalibur'' and other titles. Each universe of the Multiverse in Marvel also appears to be defended by a Sorcerer Supreme at nearly all times, appointed by the mystic trinity of Vishanti to defend the world against threats primarily magical in nature from within and beyond and bearing the Eye of Agamotto.

Later on, many writers would use and reshape the Multiverse in titles such as ''Exiles'', ''X-Men'', and '' Ultimate Fantastic Four''. New universes would also spin out of storylines involving time-traveling characters such as Rachel Summers, Cable, and Bishop, as their actions rendered their home times alternate timelines.

The Multiverse also plays a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which is also known as Earth-199999 in the comics. Its concept was first introduced in ''Doctor Strange'' (2016) before being explored more deeply in Phase Four of the MCU, starting with ''Loki'' (2021). Additionally, Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) ties into the MCU multiverse. '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (2018) also ties into its own multiverse along with two more upcoming films in the series.

Concept

The Multiverse is the collection of alternate universes that share a universal hierarchy. A large variety of these universes were originated from another due to a major decision on the part of a character. Some can seem to be taking place in the past or future due to differences in how time passes in each universe. Often, new universes are born due to time traveling; another name for these new universes is an "alternate timeline".
Earth-616 is the established main universe where the majority of Marvel books take place.

The Marvel multiverse is protected from imbalance by the Living Tribunal, a vastly powerful humanoid 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 the origin mythology, at the beginning there was only one universe, The First Firmament, but due to actions of Celestials existing there, it diverged. 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 seventh iteration of the Multiverse was destroyed as a consequence of the phenomena known as incursions and was eventually reborn as the eighth thanks to Reed Richards. According to him the ultimate fate of the Multiverse is to perish in all-encompassing heat death.

Nature of the Multiverse

According to Forge, mutants living on these alternate Earths have lost their powers due to M-Day, as stated in " Endangered Species"; however, this mass depowering has not been seen in any of Marvel's current alternate reality publications such as ''Exiles'', the ''Ultimate Marvel'' titles, ''Amazing Spider-Girl'', the ''Marvel Adventures'' titles or ''GeNext'', though it is possible that the issue of time may be related to their exclusion. 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. This, in addition to A.R.M.O.R.'s observation that Lyra arrived from an alternate reality 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.

Other dimensions

Not every alternate dimension is an entire independent universe, but instead maintain a parasitic relationship to a parent reality. Others can exist outside the multiversal structure altogether.

Pocket universes

* Counter-Earth ('' Heroes Reborn''): A pocket dimension where Franklin Richards stored many of Earth's superheroes after the events surrounding the appearance of Onslaught. Doctor Doom saved Counter-Earth from the unstable pocket dimension and placed it in an alternate orbit of Earth-616 on the other side of the Sun.
* The Hill: A dangerous pocket dimension used by Mikhail Rasputin after flooding the Morlock tunnels. Rasputin brought all Morlocks to the Hill to raise them in a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. In this dimension, time runs several times faster. While in Earth-616 only one or two years passed, more than 10 years passed in the Hill. Marrow and the other Gene Nation members grew up in this dimension.
* The Microverse: Originally, many microverses existed within the Marvel Multiverse. The most commonly visited microverse is the one containing the regions known as Sub-Atomica and the Micronauts' Homeworld.
* The Mojoverse: A dimension where all beings are addicted to gladiator-like television programs. Ruled by Mojo and home to Spiral

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