616 Day: All the Most Famous Marvel Alternate Universes

Happy 616 Day! The Marvel Multiverse is a big, confusing place. After all, the possibilities are infinite. Even for seasoned readers and viewers, it’s easy to get lost among all the alternate universes, aside from the main continuity of the 616.

Before we begin, let’s go over a few Multiverse rules. Alternate realities are not quite the same as alternate universes, but these realities do have their own worlds. Some universes also have multiple timeline branches. That’s why the Time Variance Authority pops up all over time and space to maintain the Sacred Timeline.

Feeling like your brain just got pruned? Not to worry. We’ve assembled a handy guide for all your Marvel fandom needs as you explore the most famous Marvel alternate universes.

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Earth-616 is the Prime Universe

Beginning in 1961, with Fantastic Four #1, the main continuity of Marvel Comics lore became known as Earth-616. This universe is viewed as the prime universe, the archetype through which we view all other Marvel alternate universe. You could say it’s full of the originals. How did it get that number, though? Writer David Thorpe came up with it in the early 1980s for the Captain Britain books he was working on, taking inspiration from a certain occult number and subtracting 50. Numerology!

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Earth-199999 is the MCU

As Marvel super heroes and super-villains migrated to the big screen, in one cohesive universe, the Avengers emerged as the focal point. The designation Earth-199999 was first used in Iron Man (2008). Since then, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded across six distinct Phases, including the Infinity Saga and the Multiverse Saga.

Within the MCU, there are also cinematic alternate universes like Earth-838. On this Earth, the Illuminati formed and Doctor Strange became corrupted by power, as seen in The Multiverse of Madness. And then you’ve got Loki’s exploits with the TVA. He ran into a whole host of Variants as he infiltrated The Void, exposing how the Multiverse is full of alternate versions of everyone. But where are the mutants? Well, since it’s the cinematic universe, studio wires got a little crossed and the X-Men lived elsewhere on Earth-10005. This classification was uncovered thanks to the Merc with a Mouth in Deadpool & Wolverine.

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Earth-1610 is the Marvel Ultimate Universe

After decades of status quo, the Ultimate Universe gave fresh beginnings and modern retellings to Marvel’s most popular characters. Origin stories were upended and relationship dynamics were all-new. Most notably, Miles Morales became the new Spider-Man when his world’s Peter Parker died.

Sadly, Miles’ Earth-1610 was destroyed in the Incursions preceding Secret Wars. As universes converged upon each other in epic destruction, Doctor Doom seized his opportunity. With the Beyonder’s power, he created Battleworld, an amalgamation of many other destroyed universes. Battleworld itself was a reference to the Battlerealm created by Beyonder in the 1984 Secret Wars. Now, all that remains of Doom’s kingdom is a leftover piece known as Earth-15513.

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Spider-Verse Alternate Universes

Just like Deadpool, Spider-Man is famous for having a complicated web of Variants making their way across and throughout the Multiverse. While Miles Morales is probably the most famous alternate Spider-Man, there are also others whose names wall-crawl from universe to universe. Ghost-Spider (Gwen Stacy) is from Earth-65, while Spider-Punk is from Earth-138 and Spider-Man Noir is from Earth-90214.

Of course, Miguel O’Hara, AKA Spider-Man 2099, is from Earth-982, a futuristic world. But there are also slightly sillier Spidey Variants like Pter Ptarker, from the prehistoric Earth-66, and Spider-Ham from Earth-8311.

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X-Men Alternate Universes

When it comes to teams with alternate realities, nobody outdoes the X-Men. No matter what timeline or universe we’re in, the mutants really can’t catch a break. On Earth-811, AKA Days of Future Past, Mystique commits a disastrous assassination and causes Sentinels to reign supreme. They annihilate most mutants as well as humans. Elsewhere in history, Professor X’s son Legion tries to save his father and kill Magneto. Yet time travel never really goes as planned. Instead, his actions unleash the Earth-295 reality, known as the Age of Apocalypse.

However, the most famous mutant reality is the creation of Scarlet Witch. In her overwhelming grief, she used her chaos magic to set forth a chain of reality-bending changes. First she created the House of M reality, on Earth-58163, in which mutants were the dominant species. Then she undid it all by whispering, “No more mutants.” Fortunately, mutantkind bounced back as it always does. On a lighter note, mutants also exist on Earth-92131, which encompasses X-Men ’97, X-Men: The Animated Series, and the other animated series from that era.

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What If…? Alternate Universes

In the comics, What If…? stories present a nearly endless supply of hypothetical universes and realities. On screen, the What If…? animated TV series did the same, exploring what would happen if Peggy Carter became Captain Carter (Earth-82111) or if Ultron gathered all the Infinity Stones and destroyed everything (Earth-29929, it was a big disaster). The What If…? series also allowed us to enjoy new heroes like Kahhori and classic favorites like Storm the Goddess of Thunder.

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Earth-2149 is the Zombie Universe

Perhaps you like a dash of horror with your multiversal madness? Well, Earth-2149 has you covered … in brains and zombie goo. That’s right, all the heroes of this universe have been infected with a zombie plague, turning once-trustworthy super heroes into ravenous monsters. This plague was introduced by the Sentry of another universe, who brought the virus with him unknowingly.

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Seeing as how the Multiverse is absolutely infinite, these are all only a small sampling of the Marvel alternate universes. Which means there are still more to uncover throughout Marvel media. Not to mention the different dimensions and planes of existence discovered by groups like the Fantastic Four!

What are your favorite alternate universes? Join the conversation with other Marvel fans over at Sideshow Social Network or in side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!