During DC's Infinite Crisis storyline, Alexander Luthor (son Alexander Luthor and Lois Lane of Earth-3) attempted to recreate his home world (much to the chagrin of a pissed off Superboy-Prime). He first successfully created a new Multiverse although we do not know if that Multiverse was truly the Multiverse of the Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths (COIE) Era. Many Earths were seen in snapshots and numerous Earths were named that previously hadn't been named.

As a result of this tampering with the DC Universe, this new Multiverse proved unstable and collapsed creating a New Earth and 51 identical copies at that time; each separate from one another on different vibrational planes of existence. Based on previous Multiverse behavior, these 52 (good name; DC should use it for something) Earths would begin diverging from one another shortly after their creation. At the end of DC's 52 series (see I told you they should use that title!), Rip Hunter, Booster Gold, and Supernova are battling a highly evolved Mr. Mind throughout the new Megaverse. In each universe, Mr. Mind stole chronal energies and altered the history of each Earth (and I assume, each universe).

New Earth, home to DC's current stable of characters seems to be our point of view universe much as Earth-1 of the Old Multiverse served as the "current" DC Universe. New Earth differs from Earth-1 in that it isn't just the home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League of America, the Teen Titans, et al...; but also has a history of heroes and super-heroes that include the Justice Society of America and Infinity Inc. that were once part of Earth-2; Captain Atom, the Question, Blue Beetle, and other characters of Earth-4 (home to the Charlton characters); or the Shazam/Marvel Family of characters that were from Earth-S in the Old Multiverse.

On page 10 of 52's issue 52, Rip and Company watch as Mr. Mind attacks Earth-17. The alterations Mind caused result in a post-apocalyptic world with armored knights riding mutated Dalmatians. This new Earth-17 is very similar to an alternate Earth-1 Pre-COIE in which Kamandi (the Last Boy on Earth), the Atomic Knights, and Hercules Unbound appeared. In that universe, the Atomic Knights were formed following World War III which occurred in 1986. Mankind was suffering from radiation hazards, famine, and other nightmarish problems. A group of people discovered that several suits of antique armor could provide protection from ray-guns and rad-grenades and formed the Atomic Knights. Hercules Unbound saw the god freed from his imprisonment by the Atomic War and during his adventuring he teamed up with the Atomic Knights. Kamandi lived during a time after this war which was now called the Great Disaster that devolved humans into speechless savages and evolved animals into talking beings that walked upright. (Kamandi's grandfather was Buddy Blank who had been OMAC, the One Man Army Corps.)

On page 11 of 52's issue 52, we see the Earth-3 Justice League members turned into a new version of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika (sometimes spelled America). This new Earth-3 harkens back to the Earth-3 of the Old Multiverse in which history was full of strange reversed events. Columbus discovered Europe. England broke away from the United States of America. President John Wilkes Booth was killed by Abraham Lincoln. On the old Earth-3, the Crime Syndicate of America included Ultra-Man, Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Owl-Man, and Super Woman. The only hero on this world was Dr. Alexander Luthor who used his scientific knowledge to battle the Crime Syndicate. He was married to Lois Lane and they sent their son, Alexander, to the Earth-1 Universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths just before their Earth was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor's anti-matter wave.

Page 12 shows the Freedom Fighters (Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, the Human Bomb, Doll Man, the Ray, and Black Condor) battling a League that fights for the Nazis on Earth-10. This Earth, with the exception of the Nazi League, is a parallel to the Pre-Crisis Earth-X (Roman numeral for 10, by the way!). Pre-Crisis, the Freedom Fighters (who were originally members of the Pre-Crisis Earth-2 All-Star Squadron during World War II) discovered Earth-X lacked any super-heroes to battle the Nazi menace. Uncle Sam put together a team of heroes (which also included the Earth-2 Plastic Man and the Blackhawks) and they traveled to Earth-X to fight the Nazis. Unfortunately, they failed and the Nazis took over Earth-X but the Freedom Fighters continued fighting until a joint JLA/JSA team helped them defeat the Nazis.

Also on page 12, we see Earth-50. This is a new Earth, as Multiverses and Megaverses go, and is home to the Wildstorm cast of characters. I'm sure many Wildstorm fans are upset that the Wildstorm Universe is now officially part of the DC Megaverse but there have already been crossovers prior to Infinite Crisis.

At the bottom of page 12, we see The Shazam/Marvel Family battling Mr. Atom on Earth-5. Pre-COIE, Captain Marvel and his family and enemies were to be found on Earth-S (S - 5? 5 - S? - Naw, must be a coincidence or as the Joker would say, "a co-inky-dink!" On a personal note: I've never felt like Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett characters really fit into the Post-COIE DC Universe. The problems that the writers/editors/artists have had making these characters "work" in the mainstream of DC is that the characters were created to be lighthearted fare, not serious characters.)

Page 13 shows us three more Earths: Earth-22, Earth-2, and Earth-4.

On Earth-22, the events of Kingdom Come have occurred. 'Nuff said. (Oops! I can't say that...that's a Marvel expression!)

Kimgdom Come and Earth-22

Earth-2 is home to a familiar looking, yet slightly altered Justice Society of America. The young woman holding the newspaper is Helena Wayne, daughter of Bruce (Batman) Wayne and Selina (Catwoman) Kyle. That Superman and Power Girl are missing are another Earth-2 tie-in. This is obviously a new version of the Pre-Crisis Earth-2 that was home to the JSA and Infinity Inc., where Batman and Catwoman are dead and their deaths inspired their daughter to become the Huntress. Dick Grayson continues as Robin as an adult. There are minor modifications to the costumes of several characters shown and I don't know if this is because of the artists or the differences between the old and new versions of Earth-2.

Our final entry on page 13 is Earth-4 which appears to be home to the Question (Vic Sage), Nightshade, the original Blue Beetle (Dan Garett), Captain Atom (in his original costume), Judomaster, and (up in the window on the right) Peacemaker. This is an obvious homage to Earth-4 (the Charlton comics universe) that first appeared as part of the DC Multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC had purchased the characters from the defunct Charlton Comics and Earth-4 was one of the five remaining Earths that were later merged to form (what some folks have labled) Earth-Sigma of the DCU.

So what does the introduction of the new DC Megaverse (I still like Multiverse better) mean? Well, according to interviews with Dan Didio and the writers/editors/artists of 52, the DC Megaverse is NOT the old DC Multiverse. While some of the old worlds have similarities to Pre-COIE alternate Earths, there are many and varied differences that we haven't yet seen. Countdown will address how the new Megaverse is acknowledged and what role it will play in DC's future. (Another personal note: I'm terrified that Countdown will end up like a country-western song played backwards - you get your house, wife/husband, kids, truck, and dog back. In short, I'm scared that they'll re-destroy the Multiverse/Megaverse and collapse everything back into one big melting pot again!)

As I've stated before on numerous occasions, the old Multiverse was not that difficult for the readers to follow. I certainly couldn't afford to buy every issue of every comic DC produced, nor did I have E. Nelson Bridwell's photographic memory, nor did I have a local comic book shoppe or the Internet to help me stay up on every possible story. However, I (and many other readers) seemed to understand the Multiverse better than some writers and editors did. They tended to write stories in which characters who lacked the powers necessary to traverse the vibrational barriers between Earths would have adventures together. We readers would send in letters (anybody remember the old letter columns?!?) and chastise them for their mistakes. Perhaps we protested too much.

With the advent of the Internet and Wikipedia, I think the time is ripe for the return of the Multiverse...er, debut of the Megaverse. Folks, this really opens up opportunities for us, the readers, to see our characters in whole new ways. Remember the Elseworlds books? Imagine 52 universes with 52 Earths, each with their unique tales to tell. And when we want the comfort of our more familiar storylines, we have the New Earth Universe right here in front of us.

I hope I've made this informative without being boring. It's been fun writing this. I've updated my old two page Multiverse Chart and have created a web site out of it. (I originally gave copies of the chart to Son #1 and Son #2 when they were little and they grasped the concept immediately and ran with it. Boy, did we have some fun talks!!!) The Multiverse is HERE!

Disclaimer: This page and related pages are a fan website celebrating DC Comics' new Megaverse and its former Multiverse and the characters and events they have contained. All characters, events, images, etc... are copyrighted by DC Comics, Inc. and are used here under the Fair Use principle.