Skip to main content

How many Marvel Earths (Universes) are there?


I know that there are at least 3 Marvel Universes:


Marvel Cinematic Universe - Earth 19999



  • Has all of the main ongoing Marvel movies



Marvel's Ultimate Universe - Earth 1610




  • Has the other Marvel movies




Earth 616



  • Main comic book continuity

  • This is the big one, it contains



Then there are apparently off-shoot Earths, continuities which deviate from the main continuity (Earth 616). How many Marvel Earths (Universes) are there?



Further Reading:



Answer



It depends on when you ask the question. Prior to May 6, 2015, the answer was "way too many for anyone to count". After that, it was "about 5."



As far as I know, no one has ever sat down and counted all of the universes that exist in the Marvel (and associated) worlds. The reason is that new universe "numbers" are assigned for several different reasons, and they are not all on equal footing. The Marvel Wikia lists around 1500, including quite a few unofficial ones, but not including temporary universes (which never got a number), and that list is probably incomplete.


Secret Wars


Technically, as of right now, there are very few Marvel universes. The recently released Secret Wars (the 2015 one, not to be confused with the one from 1984) event has effectively erased all numbered comic-book universes from existence, leaving only Battleworld. Once that event series is over, in theory there will only be 1 comics universe.


Note that the cinematic universes are unaffected by Secret Wars, meaning in reality there will be about a dozen universes left, but the vast majority of them are defunct. (See below for what we mean by a "cinematic" universe.)


However, pre-Secret Wars, there were tons, getting assigned numbers for a couple of different reasons:


Mainstream Universes



First of all, there are the "main" universes. These are the ones that include the bulk of Marvel's storytelling, that include multiple characters from multiple titles crossing over into each other's storylines. Of these, there are three "main" ones:



  • Earth-616 - The universe in which the vast majority of the Marvel comics stories take place. Typically, unless otherwise specified, any given Marvel comic book probably takes place in this universe.

  • Earth-1610 - the so-called Ultimate comics universe. An alternate universe that is a "modern reimagining" of the Marvel stories. For the most part, any Marvel comic book who's title starts with the word "Ultimate" (e.g. Ultimate Spider-Man or Ultimate Fantastic Four) takes place here. Notable for being the source of most character and story ideas in the post-2000 Marvel movies.

  • Earth-199999 - The Marvel Cinematic Universe. The universe where every movie produced by Marvel Studios/ABC/Disney takes place, starting with Iron Man through (as of today) Doctor Strange. It also includes all of the ABC and Netflix television shows based on Marvel characters.


Of particular interest here is that the next Spider-Man movie will not get a new universe number, because it will be part of Earth-199999.


Stand-Alone Cinematic Universes


Other than the films produced by Marvel/ABC/Disney, all of the other Marvel-based films exist in their own isolated universes. Typically, all of the films in a given series will exist in the same universe, but each "reboot" gets a new one. Typically, any video games, novelizations, or comic book adaptations based on a movie will also exist in the same universe.


The most notable recent ones are:




  • Earth-10005 - The X-Men Cinematic Universe, the universe where all of Fox's X-Men films take place, including the spin-offs like Logan and Deadpool.

  • Earth-96283 - The Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, where the three Spider-Man films starring Tobey McGuire take place.

  • Earth-120703 - The Amazing Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, where the two Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield take place.


There is also a universe for the Blade movie trilogy, one for the two previous Fantastic Four movies, one for the Daredevil and Elektra movies, etc. There are also a number of older movies, television programs, and unreleased/unaired stuff, all of which get their own universe.


Typically, when a movie series ends its run and/or gets rebooted, its universe is basically put in a state of suspended animation. It still exists, and everyone in it is considered "still around" for continuity purposes, but no further material is ever set in that universe. It is "defunct".


One-Shots and Specials


Marvel frequently releases one-shot or special event comics, that each get their own universe. Statistically, this is probably where the largest number of numbered universes come from.


For example, there's an entire series of Marvel comics called What If?, which explore possible alternate histories like, "What if Spider-Man was a member of the Fantastic Five? (Earth-772), or "What if Daredevil worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" (Earth-8181).



Another big contributor in this vein are the Millennial Visions series, where each story is essentially its own universe, of which I think there's almost 100.


Alternate and Aborted Timelines


Sometimes, characters from Earth-616 (or some other universe) will travel back in time and change things, creating a different world history than the original. Other times, a character might travel forward in time and see a horrible future. In both cases, by the end of the story, the heroes have somehow found a way to save everyone, fix the past, and change the future.


Many of those alternative histories have their own universe numbers, especially if they span more than one issue of a series. For example, Earth-311 is an alternate timeline where Captain America (from a completely different Earth-460) was sent to Earth-616 in the year 1602 and changed history. Thus, Earth-311 split off from Earth-616 at that point.


Visited Alternate Universes


The last group of universes are those that are merely visited and/or mentioned by characters that appear in one of the other mainstream universes. Lots of characters in Marvel (people like Doctor Strange, and the cosmic-level characters) are capable of universe-hopping, and frequently you will see characters from one universe brought (willingly or otherwise) into Earth-616. Other times, characters from Earth-616 find themselves temporarily transported into alternative universes themselves.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more