Mobius of the Time Variance Authority or TVA, also adapted in Disney Plus' Loki show) laid out a concept that included a nested version of multiple realities, which incorporated most of Marvel's alt-realities and dimensions up until that point, using the term 'Multiverse' for the first time. Editor Mark Gruenwald (known for inspiring Mobius M. This started to change around the time Marvel kicked off What If? (the inspiration for the 2021 Disney Plus animated series) in 1977. Though the Marvel Comics Multiverse was wide open for creators by the '80s, unlike Marvel's closest rivals DC's version of the concept, the mechanics, specific worlds, and implications of the Multiverse hadn't been cataloged and codified (and been totally broken) by the publisher yet. So how did the Marvel Universe become Earth-616, and how did the other Earths get their numbers? Calculating Infinity But this created something of a creative double-edged sword, where Marvel's Multiverse was wide open to writers, but the rules that would later define it - and even the term 'Multiverse' - hadn't yet been codified. Though by the '80s the Marvel Multiverse was technically in full swing, with writers free to come and go from any universe they could dream up for their characters. All of this culminated in 1977's What If? #1 (opens in new tab), which launched a whole ongoing title showcasing alternate versions of the Marvel Universe where characters and events that readers knew took on wildly different identities or outcomes. Throughout the decade, writers introduced numerous alt-realities as elements of new stories, and many previous concepts, like Sub-Atomica (which became part of the Microverse), were revisited and expanded upon. Then the '60s became the '70s, and a new crop of writers came to the Marvel Universe with more outlandish, cosmic visions than even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had already pioneered, and with that, the Marvel Multiverse broke wide open. (Image credit: Marvel Comics) (opens in new tab)Īnd in 1969, The Avengers took the leap, traveling to 'Earth S' (later numbered Earth-712), the home of the Squadron Supreme, analogs of DC's Justice League who later went on to headline their own title set on Earth-712 - and who recently played a key part in yet another alt-reality tale in this summer's Heroes Reborn limited series. Then, 1964's Strange Tales #126 (opens in new tab) ramped the concept of Marvel's alt-realities up again by sending Doctor Strange into the Dark Dimension, home of his arch-foe the dread Dormammu - an alternate world full of non-euclidean geometry, and incomprehensible cyclopean architecture rendered to psychedelic perfection by artist Steve Ditko.įrom there, Reed Richards led the Fantastic Four to pioneer Multiverse travel again in 1968's Fantastic Four Annual #6 (opens in new tab), in which he built the first machine designed to travel between realities, taking his family into the Negative Zone, an antimatter universe full of deadly horrors. Again, 'Other-Earth' was later incorporated fully into the Multiverse under the numeric designation Earth-6311. And that same year in Fantastic Four #19, the team found themselves sent back through time to face Rama-Tut, a time-traveling villain later revealed as one of the many identities of Kang the Conqueror, progressing the idea even further by showing the so-called 'Other-Earth' where Kang resides. Though it wouldn't be formally named till later, the core Marvel Universe's first brush with another reality happened all the way back in 1962's Strange Tales #103 (opens in new tab), in which Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four is transported to an alt-universe called the Fifth Dimension, later designated Earth-1612 of the Multiverse.Īfter that, 1963's Fantastic Four #10 (opens in new tab) sent Doctor Doom to the microscopic realm of Sub-Atomica. The roots of Marvel's Multiverse go back to the earliest days of Marvel Comics itself, in the '60s.
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