Multiverse

The **Multiverse** is a fictional cosmic construct, consisting of multiple universes existing in the same physical space and kept separate by differing vibrational speeds, in comic books published by the American company DC Comics. It first appeared in *The Flash* #123 (September 1961), but its first appearance in *Swamp Thing* comics was in *Swamp Thing* Vol. 2, #46 (March 1986). It was created by Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox.

## History

The **Multiverse** consists of multiple universes existing in the same physical space, kept separate by differing vibrational speeds.

1. **Perpetua's Multiverse** was the original form of the multiverse, but it was twisted by its creator, Perpetua, into a dangerous self-sustaining weapon. It was reformatted into the **Original Multiverse** by the Source with Perpetua sealed behind the Source Wall.
2. The **Original Multiverse** was created as a result of Krona's interference in the Big Bang. This multiverse consisted of an infinite number of universes, but was destroyed during the *Crisis on Infinite Earths*, resulting in the creation of a single New Earth. Unfortunately, the New Earth universe was unstable.
3. The **Zero Hour/Hypertime Multiverse** is a concept in which multiple earths can exist instead of branching timelines separate from other Earths. It was later revealed that these were part of the **Hypertime Multiverse**, a series of different timelines, with diverging branches that occasionally merge back into the original. The *Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium* listed these timelines, alongside the Pre-Crisis Earths, as part of a larger Multiverse.
4. The **Interregnum Multiverse** was created by Alexander Luthor, Jr. during Infinite Crisis. Many members of this incarnation of this Multiverse resembled Pre-Crisis Earths. Inherently unstable because it had been formed out of Hypertime, it collapsed, restructuring New Earth's history.
5. With the instability of a singular collapsed New Earth. It would then result in the universe splitting into a "local multiverse" of 52 identical copies via Hypertime. The actions of Mister Mind resulted in these realities being becoming entirely different from the primary reality resulting in a "local" **52 Multiverse**. "Dan DiDio explained that there are 52 Earths, and then alternate dimensions within each universe, as well as alternate timelines and microverses within each." Many of these worlds resembled Pre-Crisis and Elseworlds universes such as *Kingdom Come*, *Red Son*, and *The Dark Knight Returns*.
6. At the end of *Flashpoint*, the Flash attempted to restore the timeline, which he had inadvertently altered. Pandora interfered in the process, merging three separate realities into one. Dr. Manhattan further altered the resulting timeline, removing 10 years from it. This resulted in the 52 worlds undergoing changes of varying degrees, creating the **New 52 Multiverse**.
7. At the end of the *Convergence*, Brainiac sent Superman, Supergirl, the Flash, and Parallax back to prevent the destruction of the original Multiverse during the *Crisis on Infinite Earths*. They succeeded, resulting in the return of the original Multiverse, albeit in an evolved state. However, John King stated "Post-Convergence, every character that ever existed, in official DC Canon, is now available to us as storytelling." Logically this means that there are at least four multiverses: the defunct original Pre-Crisis multiverse, the 52 Multiverse, the The New 52 Multiverse, the Watchmen Universe and Hypertime. This leaves the question of what is the actual relationship of these multiverses to each other and to Prime Earth.
8. It should be mentioned that the live action shows and cartoons also had multiverses. The names given to the Earths of those Multiverses are separate and don't always line up with the comic version.

### Perpetua's Multiverse

This was the original form of the DC multiverse. Concerned that their mother, Perpetua, had turned her creation into a self sustaining weapon the Monitor, Mobius, and World Forger called on her masters, the Source. The Source imprisoned Perpetua behind the Source Wall and restructured her creation into the Original Multiverse.

### The Original Multiverse

#### History

##### In the Beginning

Krona was a member of the ancient race of powerful, blue-skinned immortals from the planet Maltus. The Maltusians would later relocate to Oa and style themselves the Guardians of the Universe. He was obsessed with observing the creation of the universe, despite an Oan legend that said attempting to uncover the secret would cause a great calamity. Krona created a machine that allowed him to witness the dawn of time. However, his machine interfered in the process, with terrible consequences—instead of a single universe, infinite universes were born in that moment.

##### Flash of Two Worlds

From the perspective of the Earth-1 Universe, the first transuniversal journey occurred when the Flash accidentally changed his vibrational frequency to match that of Earth-Two, where he met Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash and his childhood comic book hero. That meeting resulted in years of interaction between the original super-hero team, the Justice Society of America, and their younger Earth-1 counterparts, the Justice League of America.

Despite the Earth-2 Wonder Woman having encountered an alternate Earth years ago, Barry Allen is given the honor of naming the two Earths — his universe's Earth was called Earth-1, Jay Garrick's became Earth-2. As noted years later by the elder Superman, the JSA were too polite to mention that they were around first.

As Allen explained to Garrick in their first meeting:

"*...I vibrated so fast — I tore a gap in the vibratory shields separating our worlds! As you know — two objects can occupy the same space and time — if they vibrate at different speeds! My theory is, both Earths were created at the same time in two quite similar universes! They vibrate differently — which keeps them apart! Life, customs — even languages — evolved on your Earth almost exactly as they did on my Earth! Destiny must have decreed there'd be a Flash — on each Earth!*"
―The Flash
##### Crime Syndicate

After Earth-2, the next parallel world encountered by the JLA was that of Earth-3, a partially "reversed" Earth populated by their evil "opposites", the Crime Syndicate of America. However the general populace of Earth-Three reflected a society based on laws and good values, despite the majority of their super powered beings having evil natures. The Syndicate would eventually be imprisoned by the JLA and JSA, escaping at various times throughout the years to cause trouble.

Over the years, various other Earths were visited by super-heroes (and villains).

##### Passage of Time

The JSA and JLA would get together once a year when the temporal matrices of the two universes were at their closest point, using a dimensional transporter.

As Batman once explained about the differences between Earth-1 and Earth-2:

"*This Earth (Earth-2) rotates at a slower speed — time passes less quickly than on our Earth!*"
―Batman
Green Arrow added:

"*The idea is that Earth-2 is about 20 years behind because of some time flux.*"
―Green Arrow
##### The End of All Things

When Krona accidentally created the Multiverse, an Antimatter Universe was formed at the same time. The Anti-Monitor caused a wave of antimatter to sweep across the Multiverse, in an effort to gain absolute power and remake existence to his liking. He was opposed by his opposite, the Monitor.

The Monitor's plans did not fully succeed in conquering the Anti-Monitor, ultimately costing the Monitor his life. In the end, only five universes remained. The heroes, at the Spectre's urging, pooled their resources and traveled back to the Dawn of Time where they confronted the Anti-Monitor. The villains, meanwhile (1,000,000,000 years later), traveled to Oa to try to stop Krona from peering back in time and creating the Multiverse (and, by extension, the Antimatter Universe the Anti-Monitor came from).

The Anti-Monitor revealed to the assembled heroes that he lured them to him to absorb their life forces. He explained:

"*Only here, before creation can the future be changed! When Krona taps the cosmic forces, opening the door between matter and antimatter ... it shall be my hand he sees! My hand which shall destroy the positive matter multiverse for now and forever! My hand which shall make the antimatter universe supreme! ... The Multiverse will no longer exist!*"
―Anti-Monitor
The Spectre, however, aided by the mightiest sorcerers of five Earths, managed to defeat him.

Because of this battle at the dawn of time, the Multiverse was erased from existence. When Krona peered through the cosmic veil, he witnessed the birth of a single reality:

"*In the beginning there were many. A Multiversal infinitude ... so cold and so dark for so long ... that even the burning light was imperceptible ... but then the light grew, and the Multiverse shuddered .. and the darkness screamed as much in pain as in relief. For in that instant a Universe was born. A Universe with mighty worlds orbiting burning suns. A Universe reborn at the Dawn of Time. What had been many became one.*"
―Krona
As explained later by Harbinger, the new reality contained only a single universe, with one Earth, and a single history.

From a functional perspective, the histories of Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-4, Earth-S, and Earth-X were effectively merged together, forming a single universe with elements of each, the Post-Crisis Earth. Earth-One became the template for this new Earth, onto which elements of the remaining four were added.

In theory, stories like *Legion of Super-Heroes* Vol. 3, #18, *All-Star Squadron* #60, and *The Legend of Wonder Woman* #4 provided reasons for any differences between the merged Earth seen in *Crisis on Infinite Earths* #11 and a handful of other books and DC's formal Post-Crisis DCU.

#### List of Original Universes

Below is a partial list of notable alternate worlds, and universes with known numerical designations. Beyond these, many other alternate worlds have been visited or explored by denizens of the DC Universe. The mixture of Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Earths provided by the *Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium* can be found on its page.

Some of the supposedly destroyed Earths were revealed to live on in Hypertime, and even Earths that were destroyed (like Earth-3 or Earth-S) were found to have Hypertime equivalents. In any case this set of infinite Earths was restored with the reconstruction of the Multiverse in the events of *Convergence*.

### Zero Hour/Hypertime Multiverse

#### History

After the *Crisis on Infinite Earths*, it quickly became clear that Harbinger's claim that only a single Earth and history existed was untrue.

The Legion of Super-Heroes continued as if the Crisis never happened. This discrepancy was discovered by Cosmic Boy and it was explained that the past the Legion thought they knew was in reality a Pocket Universe created by the Time Trapper. However, this still left some discrepancies, notably the existence of Mon-El, and the Legion's numerous visits to the 20th century.

*Armageddon 2001* raised more questions as since post-Crisis Barry Allen had still faced Professor Zoom from the 25th century and Abra Kadabra from the 64th century the timeline of the DC universe should have been "set" well past 2001, but there were still alternate timelines to that year which per Harbinger's claim shouldn't have existed.

Soon afterwards, Coast City was devastated by Cyborg Superman and Mongul. Hal Jordan was driven mad with grief, driven over the edge by the callous behavior of the Guardians of the Universe, he destroyed both the Guardians, and the Green Lantern Corps. After absorbing their powers, he took on a new identity. Calling himself Parallax, Hal would later use his newfound powers to tighten the loop of time that Krona had created in the Post-Crisis history to collapse reality, and rewrite it from the Big Bang forwards.

This temporal collapse caused various alternate timelines to temporarily merge with the main reality, again raising the question of whether the first Crisis had indeed wiped out all alternate realities, or whether some remained.

At the end of *Zero Hour*, Waverider claimed that all alternate timelines had been retroactively erased. However, Armageddon 2001 still occurred in this new timeline, which would require the continued existence of alternate realities. Furthermore, Matrix (Pocket Universe) still existed after Zero Hour, despite having originated in an artificial timeline.

Eventually it would be revealed these alternate timelines were part of Hypertime, as the Superboy who had briefly appeared in the main timeline during Zero Hour still remembered meeting the mainline Superboy. It would also be revealed there were Hypertime versions of Earth-3 and Earth-S.

*Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium* lists both Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Earths (such as the Pocket Universe) together. Some of these realities appeared in the Hypertime montage at the end of *The Kingdom* effectively weaving the Pre-Crisis and Hypertime multiverses together.

JLA: Syndicate Rules established that the Antimatter universe rebooted as the results of Krona's actions (heavily hinting at the events of JLA/Avengers as the cause)[citation needed] and that New Earth "is settling into new and different patterns" due to a cosmos wide change.

### Interregnum Multiverse

#### History

Many years later, survivors of the first Crisis, consisting of Alexander Luthor of Earth-3, Superboy of Earth-Prime, and Superman and Lois Lane of Earth-2, set out to remake the Multiverse and create "the perfect Earth", after witnessing atrocities and catastrophes that had befallen the heroes of New Earth.

They intended to fabricate a machine that would recreate the multiverse and allow them to fuse and combine Earths until the perfect reality was created. A chain of events was set into motion, including the takeover of Batman's Brother Eye satellite, the unification of Earth's villains under the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the manipulation of the Spectre, and the movement of planets to spark war and unrest. The magic destroyed and recreated by the Spectre would serve as fuel for the machine, Brother Eye would give the machine programming and directive, the villains united under the Society would gather those people who still contained the genetic code of Pre-Crisis realities (i.e. those who had existed in Pre-Crisis realities prior to the original Crisis), and the wars throughout the universe would shift the center of the universe away from Oa to where Earth-2's center was, allowing the tower to open an access point. Though their efforts failed, the consequences of their actions fundamentally altered New Earth, and gave birth to 51 additional identical universes, which were later altered by the malevolent Mister Mind to become entirely separate realities.

Luthor's plan to use the Multiversal essences of natives of the original Universes to recreate Earth-2 also required:

"*...the rest of the Multiverse back as well. I need thousands and thousands of worlds. Worlds I can sift through like sand, one grain at a time, combining and mixing until I find it. Until I find the perfect Earth.*"
―Alexander Luthor of Earth-3
Luthor further noted that:

"*The Superman of Earth-2 is the key to the return of the rest of the Multiverse. For some reason I can't explain or understand, and probably never will...everything comes from Superman.*"
―Alexander Luthor of Earth-3
After activating his device and the program "Earth: Spawn", a multitude of Earths (and their respective universes) appeared.

The elder Superman, Kal-L, explained to his younger counterpart that:

"*...your Earth (New Earth) has been splintered back into a multiverse made up of thousands of worlds. But the Multiverse is unstable. The Earths will become weaker and weaker as they're divided. And if they aren't brought back together soon, the entire universe will explode in a new Big Bang. Everything will be destroyed. We need to get back to Earth-1.*"
―Superman of Earth-2
That proved a difficult task, as the sky was filled with visions of multiple Earths, some mirroring Pre-Crisis Earths, others representing visions of past and future timelines, some known, some unknown.

This unstable collection of realities collapsed back into a single New Earth after the *Infinite Crisis*.

#### List of Interregnum Universes

Below is a partial list of alternate worlds created by Alexander Luthor in his attempt to create the perfect Earth.

### 52 Multiverse

#### History

##### In the Beginning

After the events of *Infinite Crisis*, the remaining Earths created by Alexander Luthor collapsed back together, combining elements to form one New Earth. However, the single universe was too small to contain the energy inside it and via Hypertime it began replicating — into 52 identical Universes: a new Multiverse.

As Rip Hunter revealed to Booster Gold aboard his Time Sphere, in the few seconds after the creation of this new Multiverse, the Earths (and their corresponding Universes) "will occupy the same space, each on a different vibrational plane."

During their efforts to stop the vastly powerful Mr. Mind from destroying every universe, Hunter described Mind's efforts as "eating years and events from this universe's history—altering the Earth with every flap of his wings". This resulted in the Earths changing, becoming different from New Earth in varying degrees.

Hunter further states that "the notion that there's a Multiverse beyond the reality we know—that's too dangerous a secret to spread." Hunter, however, had let that very thing slip in front of Doctor Sivana.

Hunter also revealed that there is a coming Megaverse. How this related to Hypertime and the formation of the New 52 multiverse is unknown.

The parallel dimensions were separated by an an inter-dimensional sub-reality barrier called The Bleed. The Bleed was also spatially connected with the Source Wall, the Multiversal Nexus and the Nanoverse. The Bleed was completely collapsed in the Final Crisis event by Nix Uotan.

The Source Wall and the Anti-Life Equation exist between each matter universe. Knowledge and control of the Anti-Life Equation, the Speed Force, and quantum mechanics are needed to travel between universes. Some have learned to travel the universes between the dimensions without knowledge of the Anti-Life Equation, such as Professor Michael Holt of Earth-2, though on a limited basis.

The Multiversal Nexus is the reality in between known parallel matter based universes. The Nexus was formerly occupied by the Monitors. From here, they observed and analyzed variances within the Multiverse; specifically citing instances wherein individuals migrated from one reality to another.

According to the Guardians of the Universe:

"*...upon Earth now rest 51 more parallel Earths—and beyond this universe, 51 parallel universes ... if Earth is ever annihilated, it will start a chain reaction that will destroy the others. The Multiverse will collapse, leaving only our opposite antimatter universe in existence.*"
―Guardians of the Universe
#### The "original" 52 Universes

Earths of unknown designation known to have existed in this Multiverse include an Earth similar to that of *Justice League: The Nail*, a dimension home to a black President Superman that would be continued after *Flashpoint* in the form of Earth 23, a recreated Earth-Prime, and the home universe of Hot Pursuit, as well as possibly the world of *All-Star Superman*. The Antimatter Universe is also present, with its incarnation of Ultraman appearing in *Final Crisis*.

Following the company-wide reboot in 2011 (see below), this multiverse was restructured with some worlds existing as before (such as Earth-1) with others changed drastically. However, DC still published stories set on Earth-16 and Earth-40 after the reboot, and the events of Convergence fully restored these worlds.

### The New 52

At the vulnerable moment of a reality-altering Flashpoint caused by The Flash, Pandora and Dr. Manhattan altered the timeline, such that the state of the multiverse was changed significantly — for the greater good according to Pandora, and for unkown reasons by Manhattan. Though Wally West believes it may in fact have been to weaken it for an upcoming attack. The result was 10 years being taken from the main timeline, as well as a merger of three disparate universes: the DC Universe, the Wildstorm Universe, and the Vertigo Universe, the latter of which was comprised of those characters who began their existence within the mainstream DCU, but continued on under the Vertigo imprint beginning in April 1993. Other Vertigo properties remain disconnected from this multiverse. There are 52 Earths in the local Multiverse home to the DCU Prime Earth, though due to the time-traveling interventions of Brainiac, the Hal Jordan of the pre-*Zero Hour* New Earth DCU, and Superman of the pre-*Flashpoint* New Earth altering the course of the *Crisis on Infinite Earths*, an infinite number of universes from previous incarnations of the Multiverse exist beyond these 52.

This new model of creation involves multiple incarnations of the Multiverse suspended within a "Multi-Multiverse", with individual Multiverses existing as 'bubble' sets of grouped universes such as the local 52, with mention of a destroyed "Multiverse-2" by the Empty Hand. The "local" Multiverse is constructed on a central axis of the House of Heroes, former headquarters of the Monitors rotating through the Fifth Dimension, now headquarters of the team Justice Incarnate, and the Rock of Eternity, connected to the cornerstone Earths 0 and 33, aka Prime Earth and Earth Prime. The Orrery is structured that the position of universes within it relative to certain realms in the Sphere of the Gods denote aspects of their nature: those closer to New Genesis are often kinder and nobler, those close to Apokolips often far darker, while the proximity to the realms of Dream or Nightmare denote Order and Chaos, respectively. Additionally, each Earth is parallel another Earth; in at least once instance with Earths 20 and 40, these parallel Earths have been seen to phase into a state of being capable of interaction.

The universes are capable of communicating with each other through comic books, chronicles of the adventures of the heroes of the universes being published on various different worlds, similarly to the relationship displayed between the pre-Crisis Earth-2 and Earth-1, and Earth-1 with Earth-Prime. These publications include DC Comics (representing multiple Earths), Quantum Comics (Earth 4), Keystone Comics (Earth 5), Essential Major Comics (Earth 7), Major Comics (Earth 8), Spire Comics (Earth 34), Blue Stamp, and Victory Comics. Earths 14, 24, 25, 27, 28, 46 and 49 are unknown worlds, created by an Inner Chamber of 7 Monitor Magi for an as yet unknown purpose. Earth 14 was later revealed as the home of the Justice Assassins.

On the border of the Orrery of Worlds containing the universes (the border itself composed of the **Speed Force Wall**) are several other realms, at least half of which are currently unknown. Those known include:

* **Wonderworld:** Former home to a host of godlike superheroes, such as Adam One, Nightmare, the Glimmer and the Mote, banded together as the Theocracy to defend reality. Now an abandoned cosmic graveyard in the wake of the attack of the Old God war machine Mageddon.
* **Blood Moon:** Formed by Brainiac opposite Wonderworld, home to cities from various realities altered or destroyed in the wake of the various Crisis events. Following the events of Convergence, this world was been moved into the universe of Earth 2 by Telos to replace its shattered Earth until Earth 2 was itself recreated, leaving the status of both the world and the source dimension unknown.
* **Kwyzz:** Radio universe embedded in the Speed Force Wall formed as one of the Monitor Bleed Siphons punches through Skyland in the Sphere of Gods to enter the Orrery, home of the super-fast champion Krakkl.

#### Sphere of the Gods

The metaphysical reality just outside the physical Orrery of Worlds. This reality is home to eight realms — six of which connect to Earths in the Orrery — that include:

* **Dream:** Domain of the dream-king Morpheus; home to Gemworld, Oberon and Titania, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, as well as the Halls of the Endless.
* **Nightmare:** Reverse side of Dream, home to the Corinthian, the Land of Nightshades and the Boogeyman, among other haunts.
* **Heaven:** Home of the four Guardian Angel hosts of the Pax Dei (Bull, Eagle, Lion and Adam), as well as the Spectre. It is connected to Earths 30 and 49.
* **Hell:** Home of Demons and Djinns, as well as the likes of Neron. It is connected to Earths 24 and 43.
* **Skyland:** Home of various pantheons, including the Olympian gods, as well as the Norse, Mayan and Egyptian gods. It is connected to Earths 11 and 25.

Underworld: Reverse side of Skyland, home to the likes of Hades, Pluto and Erishkagal; also known as the Phantom Zone, dwelling place of various Kryptonian criminals. It is connected to Earths 31 and 46.

* **New Genesis:** The shining home of the magnificent New Gods, such as Orion, Highfather and Lightray. It is connected to Earth 51.
* **Apokolips:** Reverse side of New Genesis, a fiery globe enslaved by the tyrant deity Darkseid and his acolytes. It is connected to Earth 6.
* **Limbo:** Home of heroes lost from the Multiverse, waiting to fade back into the immensity of the Overvoid. Limbo serves as the border between the Sphere of the Gods and the Monitor Sphere.

#### Monitor Sphere

Beyond either the Orrery or the Sphere of the Gods. Former home of the Monitors, abandoned in the wake of the Final Crisis. The Source Wall on the border of the Monitor Sphere is the border between the Multiverse and the massive cosmic consciousness known as the Overvoid.

#### Overvoid

An inconceivably massive cosmic consciousness, the infinite, timeless white void within which the Multiverse floats, also known as the Over-Monitor. Upon discovering the existence of Creation within itself, the Overvoid extended a probe into the Multiverse, which upon reporting back the concept of events, irreparably altered the Overvoid's awareness. The probe (having been split in two) withdrew, and left behind as a result of the contact was a titanic entity in the shape of one of the inhabitants of the Orrery; the Overvoid itself remains implacable, though the presence of the giant would infect its mind with perpetual questions, and thereby the concept of "story".

#### Convergence

Brainiac observed and pulled cities from various Earths many of which belonged to the Pre-Crisis multiverse. Brainiac reveals that the multiverse is unstable and will again collage into one universe unless the first Crisis is changed. Brainiac sends Superman, Supergirl, the Flash, and Parallax back with the promise that if they prevent the collapse of the original multiverse "everything will reset and return to what it was before I brought you all here." They succeed but Brainiac comments that "each world has evolved but they all still exist."

The only way any of this makes any degree of sense is if Brainiac reached into hypertime (as we know there were hypertime versions of Earth-3 and Earth-S) for the Earths he got his cities from. The idea that Brainiac used hypertime is supported by the fact several of the cities were taken from hypertime realities.

Based on Brainiac's (and John King's "Post-Convergence, every character that ever existed, in DC Canom, is now available to us.") comments and other events there must be at least five multiverses: the original Pre-Crisis multiverse, Hypertime, 52 Multiverse, The New 52 Multiverse, and the "evolved" Pre-Crisis multiverse.

#### Rebirth

Mister Oz revealed that the merging of the New Earth Superman and Lois Lane with their Prime Earth counterparts caused the New Earth and Prime Earth realities to merge into a new reality both familiar and new. What, if any, effect this had on the local 52 multiverse is unknown.

In the infinite Earths known to exist beyond the borders of the local 52 universes, including the "defunct" infinite pre-Crisis Earths, the 52 post-Crisis Earths, and the far-flung realms of Hypertime, those additionally indicated as being included in the scope of the "Multi-Multiverse":

* **Flashpoint:** A darker universe accidentally created by the Flash where Aquaman and Wonder Woman are at war, Thomas Wayne is a murderous Batman after his sons' death, Cyborg is America's greatest hero, and Kal-El was experimented on by the government after crash-landing in Metropolis, among other differences.
* **Futures End:** A grim future to Prime Earth where its heroes have been converted into murderous OMACs; the final stronghold of Neo-Gotham is protected by the Batman, a time-displaced Tim Drake taking the place of Bruce Wayne's deceased latter-day protégé Terry McGinnis.
* **Injustice:** A world where, after being tricked by the Joker into murdering Lois Lane and their unborn child, a grief-stricken Superman goes power-mad and conquers the Earth alongside his allies to form The Regime, with only Batman's Insurgency fighting to free the Earth.
* **Batman in Bethlehem:** A future where Jon Kent succeeds his father as Superman, while Damian Wayne has become a brutal new Batman in the wake of his predecessor's murder.
* **Justice League: Legacy:** A post-apocalyptic world home to the children of the Justice League, overseen by the Sovereign, embodiment of the darkness that has corrupted this future.
* **Titans Tomorrow:** A near future where the now-adult Titans such as Tim Drake and Conner Kent have succeeded their mentors in their mantles, but under unknown circumstances have become a global force of tyranny in the name of a lethal justice.
* **Justice League 3000:** A future where volunteers have been genetically engineered to return the long-long Justice League to life into a new era, but with memory loss, and significant physical and psychological changes due to the imperfect nature of the process.
* **All-Star Superman:** A universe somewhat resembling Earth-One and New Earth where a virtually all-powerful but slowly dying Superman must perform his final tasks to protect his adoptive world and prepare it for his absence, guarded in the future by his descendants in the Superman Squad.
* **Earth-M:** Home to the characters of Milestone Comics such as Static and Icon.
* **Marvel Universe:** A parallel universe of heroes similar to those of Earth 8 such as Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in a separate Multiverse that has crossed paths with incarnations of the DC Universe in the past.
* **Watchmen:** A world with generations of vigilante costumed crimefighters hiding dark secrets and pathologies largely forced into retirement by the government, with humanity as a whole on the brink of nuclear war. This world's sole superpowered being, the reality-warping Dr. Manhattan, eventually left this Earth and is apparently responsible for radically altering the timeline of the main DCU.

#### The Dark Multiverse

The Dark Multiverse is thought to be composed of dark energy and dark matter which is neither matter nor anti-matter. It is believed to be far vaster and older then the 52 multiverse which Prime Earth Barry Allen believed was all there was, somehow enclosing it in its mass and made up of the fantasties and fears of its inhabitants.

* **Earth -52:** A universe where a grief-stricken Batman, having failed to save his crime-fighting family, kidnaps Barry Allen and forcibly merges with him, gaining the power of the Speed Force and becoming the murderous Red Death.
* **Earth -44:** A universe where several of Batman's villains, having learned his true identity, breach the Batcave and murder Alfred Pennyworth. Grieving, Batman turns to Cyborg in creating an Alfred AI program, but its desire to protect its "son" leads to it murdering the supervillains of Gotham and ultimately the Justice League, subsuming Batman into itself to become the Murder Machine.
* **Earth -32:** A universe where a young Bruce Wayne, chosen as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 in the immediate wake of his parents' murder, used his power to unleash his fury on the criminals of Gotham, his willpower ultimately overpowering the ring and unleashing the void within his heart onto the world, even overpowering the Green lantern Corps and Guardians of the Universe as he became the Dawnbreaker.
* **Earth -22:** A universe where Joker at last drove Batman to kill him, consequentially infecting him with a purified Joker toxin that destroyed his brain's moral center and effectively turned him into his successor; with no compunctions but his abilities entirely intact, The Batman Who Laughs slaughtered his way through ally and enemy alike until his entire planet lay barren.
* **Earth -12:** A universe where at the culmination of a two-year war with Ares, Batman stole his helm and power in an attempt at redefining war for the better as its new god and ending the conflict; it instead lead him into madness, killing the rest of the Justice League and storming Olympus as the Merciless.
* **Earth -11:** A universe of gender-reversed roles where Bryce Wayne, after the death of her lover Sylvester Kyle, lost all trust in anyone and killed many rogue metahumans before drowning the entire world after a war with Aquawoman's Atlantean army, becoming the Drowned.
* **Earth -1:** A universe where Superman turned evil for unknown reasons, killing many heroes, villains, and his own wife before being killed by Batman wielding the Doomsday Virus, who subsequently became the Devastator.

## Notes

* DC Pre-Crisis multiverse didn't really denote the difference between parallel universe and a divergent timeline and in some cases confused the two. For example, Earth-32 had Guardians that resided on the planet Oa...a planet that was unique to the Earth-1 reality meaning that it had to be a divergent timeline but *Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium* lists it as a parallel universe. The same thing is true of Earth-AD where *Superman* #295 itself says possible it is a possible future for Earth-1 while *Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium* references the work saying it was revealed as a "parallel universe".
* It is never stated just how divergent the timelines of the various Earths of the 52 and new 52 multiverse are. As a result there is nothing that indicates there can't be a different timeline of Earth 3 that is effectively identical to Earth-3.
* In fact, at the end of *Convergence* #8, Brainiac states "Each world has evolved, but they all exist. But there were far more then 52 Pre-Crisis realities so for Brainiac's many of those realities have to be divergent timelines of the 52 main Earths."

## External links

* Multiverse on Wikipedia
* Multiverse on DC Wiki
* Multiverse on Comic Vine