Earth-616
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In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 or Earth 616 is the name used to identify the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.
Origin of Earth-616
The term originated from writer Alan Moore's run on the Captain Britain comic produced by Marvel UK in the 1980s, in which the main timeline was designated as "616" by Merlyn, the protector of the Multiverse.
Though some argued that stories produced by Marvel UK were not canonical within the greater Marvel Universe published in America, the designation was later confirmed by the main American branch of Marvel Comics in the Excalibur title, which frequently referenced Captain Britain's early UK-published adventures.
Why 616?
In 2005, John Reppion, Alan Moore's son-in-law (by marriage to his daughter, Leah Moore), having asked Alan Moore, confirmed on an Internet message board [link] that the number 616 was arbitrarily chosen by Alan Moore and had no significant meaning, saying it "was just a random number of no significance chosen because people always seemed to be talking about 'earth 2' or 'earth 4' but never any higher numbers." . (This is similar to how Douglas Adams picked the answer to life, the universe and everything in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)
Earlier speculation
Since the name was first used, fans had put forth many theories on why Alan Moore chose to name the Marvel Earth "616". One theory is that Moore simply chose a random number to show the "mainstream" Earth was inherently no more important than any other (unlike DC Comics, whose primary Earth was known at the time as Earth-One).
Some fans speculated that Moore's choice was inspired by the release date of Fantastic Four #1, which is considered by most to be the date the modern Marvel Universe was launched. Although the cover date of the comic book is given as November 1961, there are claims that the comic book was released as early as June 1961, hence, "61/6". The date listed on the front of most modern newsstand-distributed comic books is actually the date on which newsagents are supposed to remove the comic book from their shelves, and are almost always two months ahead of the actual date of publication; if this were true of Fantastic Four #1, then the comic book would have actually been released in August of 1961, and was almost certainly not released any later than that month. However, earlier comics may have been published with a larger lead time between the actual sale date and the cover date and this may account for claims that Fantastic Four #1 was available in June 1961.
The system proposed in this theory was used to number numerous other universes since, beginning with the Marvel Encyclopedias and most prominently being used in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 one-shot. For instance, the MC2 universe was numbered Earth-982; it first appeared in What If? vol. 2 #105, which was published in February 1998. This system remains in use by Marvel resource book writers despite the debunking of this fan theory.
Many fans believed that "616" was a reference to the Number of the Beast in one of the the final chapters of the Christian Bible, the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse of John). While most early manuscripts give the Number of the Beast as "666", the earliest existing fragment of the Greek text of this book gives it as "616". Moore, a student of mystic esoterica from a very early age, could well have known about this alternate rendering. For many years, the headquarters of DC Comics was located at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Thus, the name could be a subtle joke that the DC Universe was Earth-666 while the Marvel Universe was Earth-616.
References to Earth-616
Most references to Earth-616 appear in Marvel UK titles or in Excalibur. However, there are a number of other references to Earth-616:
- In Marvel 1602 #6 (March 2004), Uatu the Watcher speaks of Earth-616.
- In Marvel Knights 4 #15 (April 2005), Earth-616 is mentioned.
- In Uncanny X-Men #462 (September 2005), an alteration in reality of Earth-616 causes trans-temporal devastation, and Saturnyne attempts to destroy that particular temporal continuity to "cauterize the wound".
- In DC Comics' Infinite Crisis #6 (May 2006), the character of Alexander Luthor, Jr., in his attempt to create the "perfect Earth", combines Earths designated 154 and 462, two numbers adding up to 616. Shortly thereafter he decides this is an unsuitable world and destroys it. This is seen by most to be a sly dig at Marvel.
There has been at least one attempt within Marvel canon to change the designation of Earth-616. In the final storyarc of X-Man (issues #71-74), writer Steven Grant began to refer to the planet as "Earth 611" due to the destruction of several other Earths (which were all apparently "higher on the list" of the multiverse than the Marvel Earth) by a godlike entity. This change, an obvious allusion to the events of DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths, was not adopted by other writers because the numbering refers to the universe as a whole not just the planets in them.
See also
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