Earth-Prime

Earth-Prime
Gallery
Official Name	Earth-Prime
First Appearance	Flash #179
Last Appearance	Crisis on Infinite Earths #10 (January, 1986)

     Reality names were reused several times. See also Earth, Earth 33.

History

Pre-Crisis

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. However, Earth-Prime is shown to be an alternate reality when the Flash (Barry Allen) accidentally travels 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

The second superhero became known as Superboy-Prime. This Superboy's powers first manifested around the time of the passage of Halley's Comet in Earth-Prime. Just after manifesting his powers, Superboy-Prime met Earth-One's Superman. 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 or may not have existed 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 aparantly destroyed them both (although Superboy-Prime was later seen alive and well on this new Earth-Prime). If this new Earth-Prime reality is one of the 52 universes, then its designation number has not been revealed.

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.

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

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.

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