Earth-Prime

     Reality names were reused several times. See also Prime Earth, Arrowverse: Earth-Prime, Earth-Prime Vol 1.

Earth-Prime is one of the infinite number of divergent realities that made up the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Multiverse. In the original Multiverse, Earth-Prime was presented as the "real" Earth, the actual reality where the readers lived, DC Comics operated as a publisher and all superheroes are fictional.

History

Pre-Crisis

The Flash (Barry Allen) accidentally traveled there from Earth-One. The Flash, stranded, contacts DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, who helps him construct a cosmic treadmill to return to Earth-One. Eventually it was stated that the writers of DC Comics of Earth Prime unconsciously base their stories on the adventures of the heroes on Earth-One and Earth-Two.^[1]

Earth Prime's Cary Bates travels to Earth-One, where he discovers that the stories he writes are not only based on events on Earth-One but can actually influence these events as well.^[2] This power turns for the worse when Bates is accidentally transported to Earth-Two. The interdimensional trip temporarily turns Bates into a supervillain, and he quickly kills the Justice Society of America.^[3] Luckily, fellow DC writer Elliot S! Maggin, with the help of the Justice League and the Spectre, is able to restore matters on both Earths.^[4]

Earth-Prime's history significantly deviated from the "real" Earth's history with the advent of two native superheroes. The first, Ultraa, was the sole survivor of a destroyed alien world, rocketed to Earth-Prime as a baby. After his first encounter with the Justice League, Ultraa decided Earth-Prime was not ready for superheroes and relocated to Earth-One.^[5]

The second superhero became known as Superboy-Prime. This Superboy's powers first manifested around the time of the passage of Halley's Comet on Earth-Prime. Just after manifesting his powers, Superboy-Prime met Earth-One's Superman.^[6] Very soon thereafter, Earth-Prime was destroyed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Superboy-Prime escaped his universe's destruction and later joined Earth-Two's Superman and Lois Lane Kent and Earth-Three's Alexander Luthor in a "paradise dimension". Superboy survived and reappeared at the dawn of a new crisis.

Post-Crisis

After the Crisis, a duplicate of the original Earth-Prime universe was first seen at the end of Final Crisis: Legion Of 3 Worlds. How, exactly, this new Earth-Prime was created remains unclear. It may have existed (unseen) since the introduction of the 52 multiverse, or it may have been created retroactively when the Time Trapper/Superboy-Prime was punched by the younger version of his own self at the the conclusion of Final Crisis: Legion Of 3 Worlds, which created a paradox that apparently destroyed them both (although Superboy-Prime was later seen alive and well on this new Earth-Prime). Post-Flashpoint, this new Earth-Prime reality was given the name Earth 33.

This new Earth-Prime reality differs from the pre-Crisis version in that super-powered aliens are known to have existed and openly interacted with 20th century Earth. The "Threeboot" alternate Legion of Super-Heroes are now stated to originate from this reality. Earth-Prime was restored in full to the Multiverse by the events of Convergence.

Points of Interest

• Earth
  • Hampton Beach: Located in a small New England coastal community on Earth-Prime. This was where Superboy-Prime first discovered his Kryptonian heritage.
• Krypton
  
  

Residents

• Julius Schwartz
• Cary Bates
• Elliot S! Maggin
• Ultraa
• Jerry Kent
• Laurie Lemmon
• Naomi Kent
• Superboy-Prime
• John F. Kennedy
• Nikita Khrushchev
• Fidel Castro

Notes

• This was one of the alternate realities of the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Multiverse.

• In 2004, DC revisited the Earth-Prime concept in the miniseries Superman: Secret Identity. Writer Kurt Busiek states in the introduction to the collected volume of the series that the original appearance of Superboy-Prime was the inspiration for his graphic novel.

• In Infinite Crisis #6 mini-series, a now villainous Superboy-Prime convinced Alexander Luthor Jr. that Earth-Prime was the ideal world and urged him to draw his inspiration for making a new Earth from Earth-Prime. As a sort of amusing hint that Earth-Prime was "our reality", Alexander Luthor's hands are seen reaching out from the page toward the reader.

• This reality is not to be mistaken for Prime Earth, the one seen in the New 52 as a result of the merger of New Earth, Earth-Vertigo and Earth-Wildstorm.

• Nor is this Earth to be mistaken for Earth-Q, which is also supposedly our Earth.

• It also should not be mistaken for Arrowverse: Earth-Prime.

Trivia

• Post-Crisis, when there was no longer an Earth-Prime or greater multiverse, Ultraa was retconned into being from the planet Almerac, homeworld of Maxima.

See Also

• Characters from Earth-Prime
• Other things related to Earth-Prime
• Earth-Prime's Comic Appearances
• Reality Gallery: Earth-Prime

Links and References

• Crisis on Infinite Earths
• w:c:Marvel:Earth-1218
  

References