The Marvel Universe is a fictional universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Defenders, the Inhumans, the Eternals, and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe, including characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Wolverine, the Hulk, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, the Wasp, the Punisher, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Deadpool, Blade, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Storm, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, Shang-Chi, Nova, and numerous others.
The Beyonder is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter and artist Mike Zeck, the Beyonder first appeared in Secret Wars #1 as an unseen, claimed to be omnipotent being who kidnapped the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe and had them do battle on another planet called Battleworld.
Crisis on Infinite Earths is an American comic book published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March 1986. As the main piece of a crossover event, some plot elements were featured in tie-in issues of other publications. Since its initial publication, the series has been reprinted in various formats and editions.
The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. DC superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Booster Gold, Captain Atom and Wonder Woman are from this universe, and it also contains well-known supervillains such as Lex Luthor, the Joker, Brainiac, Professor Zoom, Mister Mind, Black Adam, Sinestro, Deathstroke, Anti-Monitor and Darkseid. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC continuity.
In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 is the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.
What If, sometimes rendered as What If...?, is a series of comic books published by Marvel Comics whose stories explore how the Marvel Universe might have unfolded if key moments in its history had not occurred as they did in mainstream continuity. What If comics have been published in thirteen series as well as many stand-alone issues since the 1970s.
Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring re-imagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Those characters include Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Ultimates, the Fantastic Four and others. The imprint was launched in 2000 with the publication of the series Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men followed by The Ultimates and Ultimate Fantastic Four in 2002 and 2004 respectively providing new origin stories for the characters. The reality of Ultimate Marvel is designated as Earth-1610 as part of the Marvel Comics Multiverse.
The Living Tribunal is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Strange Tales #157 and was created by Stan Lee, Marie Severin, and Herb Trimpe.
The Celestials are a group of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Immensely powerful and of huge humanoid shape, the Celestials are some of the oldest entities in the Marvel Comics universe. They debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have appeared in Marvel publications for four decades.
Amalgam Comics was a publishing imprint shared by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones. These characters first appeared in a series of 12 comic books which were published in April 1996, between issues #3-4 of the DC vs. Marvel miniseries. A second set of 12 comic books followed one year later in June 1997.All 24 of these issues occurred between the aforementioned issues #3-4 of DC vs. Marvel.
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that comprise all of reality.
In the Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-1121 or Earth 1121 is, according to the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Alternate Worlds 2005, the designation used to identify a continuity similar to Earth-712, home of the Squadron Supreme. In the Earth X sequel miniseries Paradise X: Heralds, a counterpart of Hyperion was recruited to X-51's cross-timeline team of Heralds. This Hyperion had survived a government-initiated nuclear holocaust following the Utopia Program.
One of the key aspects of the Modern Age of Comic Books was that it was the beginning of big events. In 1984, Marvel Comics debuted the first large crossover, Secret Wars, a storyline featuring the company's most prolific superheroes, which overlapped into a 12-issue limited series and many monthly comic books. A year later, DC Comics introduced its first large scale crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths, which had long-term effects on the "DC Universe" continuity.
The Multiverse, within DC Comics publications, is a "cosmic construct" collecting many of the fictional universes in which the published stories take place. The worlds in this multiverse share a space and fate in common, and its structure has changed several times in the history of DC Comics.
The Multiversity is a limited series of interrelated one-shots set in the DC Multiverse in The New 52, a collection of universes seen in publications by DC Comics. The one-shots in the series were written by Grant Morrison, each with a different artist. The Multiversity began in August 2014 and ran until April 2015.
The Ultimates is a fictional group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Although the team takes its name from the unrelated team Ultimates, which was the Ultimate Marvel version of the Avengers, it is set in the standard Marvel Universe. The title has been used for two volumes, both written by Al Ewing. The first was part of All-New, All-Different Marvel and the second as part of Marvel NOW!. Both volumes have the same team and their goal is to protect Earth and the larger universe from cosmic threats.
DC Multiverse is an American action figure toyline from Mattel. Primarily consisting of 6-inch figures, the line is based on properties owned by DC Comics. The line was launched as a continuation of Mattel's DC Universe Classics line, and utilizes the same same scale, sculpt and articulation style.
