Tracking the 52 Earths *SPOILERS*

**Seraku** · 02-03-2009, 08:51 AM

Let's hope the multiverse will be left alone for a while now...

DiDio flat out said they're leaving it be since Countdown beat it to death with readers. only multiversal plans is for some sort of special one-shot by Morrison sometime in the next few years

**Buried Alien** · 02-03-2009, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Seraku

DiDio flat out said they're leaving it be since Countdown beat it to death with readers. only multiversal plans is for some sort of special one-shot by Morrison sometime in the next few years

As long as it remains there for use when appropriate, that's fine. Just because there's a Multiverse is no reason it has to come into play in *every* story, but we also shouldn't revert to the Post-COIE model of, "What Multiverse? There never was a Multiverse."

I'd *still* like to see what Earth-1 is about, though.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

**Seraku** · 02-03-2009, 03:07 PM

Stan Lee heroes refers to the "Just Imagine" line where he created his own versions of Superman, Flash, etc.

**Alpinemaps** · 02-04-2009, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by Buried Alien

As long as it remains there for use when appropriate, that's fine. Just because there's a Multiverse is no reason it has to come into play in *every* story, but we also shouldn't revert to the Post-COIE model of, "What Multiverse? There never was a Multiverse."

I'd *still* like to see what Earth-1 is about, though.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

QFT.

I'm still curious about Earth-2, as well. Did we ever get an official answer as to what was up with that? Do we know whether that's the same Earth-2 as the Pre-COIE Earth-2? Was there ever an explanation given?

I'm not necessarily convinced that the multiverse ceased to be after COIE, based on this story. Why should it have? It almost seems like the Source Wall went up, and while we were stuck looking at one universe, the others were still out there (at least 52 of them anyway). I know Rip Hunter had his version of what happened (end of 52), but, isn't that open to interpretation?

**Buried Alien** · 02-04-2009, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by Alpinemaps

QFT.

I'm still curious about Earth-2, as well. Did we ever get an official answer as to what was up with that? Do we know whether that's the same Earth-2 as the Pre-COIE Earth-2? Was there ever an explanation given?

Earth-2 was seen some months ago in JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, when New Earth's Power Girl traveled there and found, among other things, an alternate version of herself (more similar to the old Pre-COIE Earth-Two version of herself than her current incarnation). This world is *similar* to the old Earth-Two, but there are some subtle, but significant differences. For starters, this Earth-2's Justice Society of America has renamed itself the Justice Society Infinity, combining classic surviving JSA members (which includes a Jay Garrick Flash very similar to the more familiar one) with members of Infinity, Inc. This world's Kal-L, however, is MIA. Overall, this new Earth-2 resembles what the old Earth-Two might have evolved into had the COIE never occured.

I'm not necessarily convinced that the multiverse ceased to be after COIE, based on this story. Why should it have?

The last five universes of the Pre-COIE Multiverse managed to survive the antimatter wave, but when the DCU was rebooted in COIE # 11, the implication was that they had been fused into the Post-COIE DCU.

But now, perhaps it's been revealed that that wasn't the case at all. Perhaps the Pre-COIE Multiverse worlds exist in addition to the singular Post-COIE Universe.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

**Munkiman** · 08-03-2009, 03:20 PM

Wait, Earth-22 was destroyed?

And Earth-Prime still exists?

**Hullababy** · 08-15-2009, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by Buried Alien

The last five universes of the Pre-COIE Multiverse managed to survive the antimatter wave, but when the DCU was rebooted in COIE # 11, the implication was that they had been fused into the Post-COIE DCU.

But now, perhaps it's been revealed that that wasn't the case at all. Perhaps the Pre-COIE Multiverse worlds exist in addition to the singular Post-COIE Universe.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Wait towards the end of COIE it was still Earth 1 supes and Earth 2 jay garrick on the newly fused earth right ?

I thought they were later reformatted to fit the history of New Earth or post COIE earth.

If the pre COIE multiverse wasn't destroyed then shouldn't they have been on their respective earths rather than New Earth ?

**THEDOC** · 08-15-2009, 12:06 PM

So wher does Earth-Prime fit as it was indicated being re-established after Final Crisis so it must be one of the 52. I don't think the Multiverse as we knew it before COIE is back.

**JerryvonKramer** · 03-30-2010, 08:10 AM

Guys, does the new prime earth REPLACE Earth 1 and 2 or are they still in tact?

If "everything" is now in continuity, what about times when Earth 1 characters meet Earth 2 ones?

**John Asperger** · 04-06-2010, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by Seraku

Stan Lee heroes refers to the "Just Imagine" line where he created his own versions of Superman, Flash, etc.

...I have wondered if those have ever been seen since that much-publicized mini concluded

!

**Free-Man** · 04-07-2010, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by JerryvonKramer

Guys, does the new prime earth REPLACE Earth 1 and 2 or are they still in tact?

If "everything" is now in continuity, what about times when Earth 1 characters meet Earth 2 ones?

Earth-2 is close to it's original counterpart. Earth-1 is now NOTHING like the Silver Age Earth-1. It's being explored in a series of graphic novels, but so far all indications make it seem more like Marvel's Ultimate Universe than anything else.

**Buried Alien** · 04-07-2010, 11:59 PM

Originally Posted by JerryvonKramer

Guys, does the new prime earth REPLACE Earth 1 and 2 or are they still in tact?

Pre-COIE Earth-One and Earth-Two are part of the makeup of New Earth, but the events of INFINITE CRISIS and FINAL CRISIS have compounded whatever changes were caused by COIE.

Incidentally, INFINITE CRISIS resulted in the creation of a *new* Earth-2 that closely resembles the old Pre-COIE Earth-Two in many aspects, but is not identical to the old Earth-Two. Power Girl visited this world a year or two ago and found a counterpart to herself there who greatly resembled her Pre-COIE self.

Apparently, there's a new Earth-1 which we'll be seeing in an upcoming set of miniseries, but it's *not* very much like the old Earth-One from the Silver/Bronze Age at all.

If "everything" is now in continuity, what about times when Earth 1 characters meet Earth 2 ones?

The version of events that the characters remember experiencing are the Post-CRISIS (all of them) ones, but they are now abstractly aware (because of encounters with Kal-L, Superboy-Prime, and other Pre-COIE Multiverse survivors) that they were once part of a destroyed Multiverse. They have no first-hand recollection of such experiences, though.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

**BryonY** · 04-10-2010, 03:30 PM

One thing I wonder, guys. Even if we have 52 Earths, what's to say the Multiverse doesn't have more? It seems to me that Final Crisis hinted at more than the 52... so perhaps some of them aren't as important as the 52 are in the scheme of things.

Bryon

**Mulett** · 05-07-2010, 01:01 AM

Can I just correct a major point about what happened at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The remaining five Earths did not merge together to form a single Earth. The heroes battled the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time - at the exact moment when the multiverse had been accidentally created.

As a result of this battle history was changed retrospectively right from the dawn of time and the multiverse was never created.

This did not mean that the remaining five Earths merged into one - it meant that only one Earth/reality had ever existed. The single Earth we've had since then is therefore not a 'merged' reality, but what reality should have been without the multiverse.

I hope that makes sense!

**Lorendiac** · 05-17-2010, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by Buried Alien

As long as it remains there for use when appropriate, that's fine. Just because there's a Multiverse is no reason it has to come into play in *every* story, but we also shouldn't revert to the Post-COIE model of, "What Multiverse? There never was a Multiverse."

It's long seemed to me that what was really pathetic about the Post-COIE DC's official attitude of "Multiverse? We don't do that anymore!" was the way it evolved, throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, into implicitly meaning such things as:

1. "Yes, the Superboy who worked with the Legion was from a Pocket Universe Earth, and so was our new Supergirl, but that's completely different from them being part of a 'parallel world' in a 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

2. "Yes, the Team Titans come from a dystopic alternate future timeline which they hope to prevent from ever happening, but that's completely different from them being part of a 'parallel world' in a 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

3. "Yes, we are publishing lots of Elseworlds material in which character strongly resembling the old favorites are living in worlds much like the standard one, only somewhat different -- but that's completely different from saying that they live in 'parallel worlds' which are part of a 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

4. "Sure, we saw a lot of 'alternate timeline' variations of Batman and others rubbing shoulders with denizens of different timelines during the Zero Hour event -- but that's completely different from saying that they live in 'parallel worlds' which are part of a 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

5. "Sure, the Green Lantern Corps still has recurring problems with the Weaponeers of Qward from an Anti-Matter Universe, but that's completely different from saying that the Qwardians live in a 'parallel world' which is part of a 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

6. "Sure, the Silver Sorceress and Wandjina and Bluejay immigrated over to the main Earth of the DCU in the Giffen/DeMatteis run, to be later followed by their old foes the Extremists who had killed all the regular humans on their native Earth and started looking for, literally, new worlds to conquer -- but that's completely different from saying that those characters started out in a 'parallel world' which is part of a 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

7. "Sure, the 'DC Vs. Marvel' mini introduced a character called Access who was supposed to be jointly owned by DC and Marvel, and sure, he also got to appear in an issue of the regular 'Green Lantern' title to prove that he, and by extension the whole DC vs. Marvel event, had 'really happened' to th e heroes of the mainstream Earth of the Post-Crisis DCU -- but that's completely different from saying that Marvel's heroes and DC's heroes are, in some odd way, residents of 'parallel worlds' which are parts of a larger 'Multiverse.' Sacred Dogma says we don't have a Multiverse any more!"

Remember, all of the above happened before anyone ever dragged the new buzzword of "Hypertime" into the dialogue of any DC comic book . . .

It was the sort of thing which made me want to shake someone at DC by the shoulders and say: "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, you know!"

Therefore, back around early 2005 when we knew DC was building up to some sort of "sequel to COIE," but we weren't even sure what its title would be, some fans were wondering if DC would finally "bring back the Multiverse." I was wondering: "Or at least admit they already did reinstate the concept of lots of parallel worlds/alternate timelines/etc. and maybe it would be reasonable to start calling whatever they've already got by the name 'Multiverse' all over again?"