Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Comic Book / The Multiversity

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/themultiversity_5684.jpg
You think this is just a trope page, but it's bait. You're bait for them. You!note 
Grant Morrison's 2014-2015 limited series exploring the post-New 52 DC Comics multiverse. It comprises a two-issue framing story, a set of issues each taking place on a different Earth, and a guidebook to the multiverse.

The overarching story sees the rise of a threat to all reality, the demonic destroyers known as the Gentry, and the formation of the Justice League of the Multiverse in response, with the individual Earths' stories being self-contained, akin to the structure of Morrison's Seven Soldiers.

This version of the DC multiverse can be examined here, with all Earths profiled (except for the 7 Unknown Worlds, of course) as well as other aspects of the DC cosmology. A full-size print version of the multiverse map is provided with Pax Americana Director's Cut #1.

At the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, Morrison announced Multiversity Too, a line of original graphic novels set in and beyond the 52 Earths, originally planned to kick off in 2016 with Multiversity Too: The Flash. As of 2020, nothing has come up, and has likely been abandoned by Morrison in favor of continuing the story in their Green Lantern run.

The story of the 52 Earths and the team formed in the aftermath of the story continued across several stories, but they received a self-titled series in 2021, Justice League Incarnate. In 2022, a mini-series set on Earth-11 that used the Multiversity branding titled Multiversity: Teen Justice was released. A year later in 2023, another miniseries using the Multiversity branding was released titled Multiversity: Harley Screws Up the DCU, where Harley Quinn tries to undo her mistakes after she engages in time-travel shenanigans and discovers she's accidentally erased all the DC superheroes from existence.

Now has a character page.

    Bibliography 
  • The Multiversity #1 (released on August 20, 2014)
  • The Multiversity: Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1 (released on September 17, 2014)
  • The Multiversity: The Just #1 (released on October 22, 2014)
  • The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1 (released on November 19, 2014)
  • The Multiversity: Thunderworld Adventures #1 (released on December 17, 2014)
  • The Multiversity Guidebook #1 (released on January 28, 2015)
  • The Multiversity: Mastermen #1 (released on February 18, 2015)
  • The Multiversity: Ultra Comics #1 (released on March 25, 2015)
  • The Multiversity #2 (released on April 29, 2015)
  • The Multiversity: Pax Americana Director's Cut #1 (Pax Americana #1 with full-size poster of the multiverse map and new bonus material; released on May 27, 2015)
  • The Multiversity Deluxe Edition (a hardcover Compilation Re-release of the entire saga released on October 27, 2015)
  • The Multiversity #1 & #2 Director's Cut #1 (The Multiversity #1 and #2 collected as a single issue with new bonus material; released on December 30, 2015)
  • Superman (Rebirth) #14-16 ("Multiplicity" storyline)

The Multiversity provides contains examples of:

  • Adaptational Sexuality:
    • On Earth-36, The Flash and Green Lantern are a gay couple known as Red Racer and Flashlight.
    • The Ray of Earth-10 is gay, in keeping with the theme of each of the Freedom Fighters representing different groups who were persecuted by the Nazis.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
  • Adaptation Dye-Job:
    • The Wonder Woman of the main universe has black hair; however, several of her alternate universe counterparts are red-heads (The unnamed pirate Wonder Woman of Earth-31 and War-Woman of Earth-36), blonde (Brünhilde of Earth-10), purple-haired (Vague of Earth-41) and strawberry blonde (Walküre of Earth-7).
    • The Superman of the main universe has black hair; however, several of his alternate universe counterparts are blond (Hyperius of Earth-8, Savior of Earth-34 and Optiman of Earth-36), green-haired (Super-Martian of Earth-32), white-haired (Supremo of Earth-35) and strawberry blond (Cyclotron of Earth-39).
    • The Catwoman of the main universe has black hair, while her Earth-31 counterpart has purple hair.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Grant Morrison is featuring an ongoing theme of presenting Batman counterparts on each Earth who were all inspired by something besides a bat, as a reference to a short story by Martin Pasko from Batman #256. In the context of the multiverse, Scorpion (inspired by a scorpion) is on Earth-41, Stingray (inspired by a stingray) is on Earth-34, Owl (another Bruce Wayne inspired by an owl) is on Earth-35, Shooting Star (inspired by a shooting star) is on Earth-47, and Iron Knight (inspired by a suit of medieval armor to become a literal knight) is on Earth-36. Morrison seeks to pose the question of how far the character can be stretched before they're no longer Batman.
  • Adaptation Name Change:
    • In pre-Crisis continuity, the pastiche of The Avengers was called The Champions of Angor, who in post-Crisis continuity were retconned to be called The Justifiers. In post-Infinite Crisis/pre-New 52 continuity they were re-imagined as the Meta-Milita of Earth-8. Here they have been re-imagined again as The Retaliators of Earth-8. This has also applied to some of their individual members.
    • Sort of In-Universe example. The heroes of Earth-8 are all rough expies of Marvel Comics characters, with their adventures published throughout The Multiverse as Major Comics. But they also have their own Ultimate Universe comics published entitled Essential Comics, whose characters are also revealed to be their actual alternate universe counterparts residing on Earth-7. The Captain America and Thor expies of Major Comics are American Crusader and Wundajin, but their Essential Major Comics versions are called Crusader and Thunderer.
  • Adaptation Species Change: In pre-Infinite Crisis continuity both the Champions of Angor/Justifiers and the Extremists were Human Aliens from Angor: an earth-like planet that also had similar technology and pop-culture. In their re-imaginings as the heroes and villains of Earth-8 here they are normal humans from that universe's version of Earth.
  • Adapted Out: Sivana's other daughter, Beautia, is nowhere to be seen in Thunderworld Adventures #1.
  • A God Am I: In Pax Americana #1, Captain Adam of Earth-4 veers into this territory, but he also has plenty of humanity left to realize in horror when his actions cross the line, and opts to have himself put on heavier medication to limit himself.
  • Alliterative Name: Earth-8 has a couple of examples, given that that world is based on The Marvel Universe this is to be expected.
  • All Myths Are True: Well, The DCU basically assumes this anyway, but the map of the Multiverse puts it up front, with Dream (the home of the Endless), Heaven, New Genesis, Skyland (the home of the various pantheons), Nightmare, Hell, Apokolips and the Underworld (also known as the Phantom Zone) all co-existing in the Sphere of the Gods. On another level, many of the Earths have heroes that are fictional in each other's worlds.
  • Alliance of Alternates: In Thunderworld Adventures #1 Doctor Sivana allies with alternate versions of himself to invade the Rock of Eternity and steal the power of magic for himself and conquer the multiverse. Unfortunately, Sivanas are as treacherous as they are intelligent and they fail because they were stingy with the resources they conspired to share.
  • All There in the Manual: The Multiversity Guidebook #1 contains both information on the multiverse and a Multiversity story.
  • Alternate Company Equivalent:
  • Alternate History: The events adds to DC: The New Frontier's by revealing John F. Kennedy was never assassinated in that world.
  • Alternate Self: Being what it is, features a number of these, including Earth-4's versions of the Charlton heroes, Earth-5's versions of the Marvel Family, Earth-10's Kal-L, Earth-23's Kalel, etc. Taken to the next level in Thunderworld Adventures #1, which sees Sivanas from across the multiverse team up.
  • Alternate Universe: Has its own page.
  • Alternative Calendar: In Thunderworld Adventures #1, Dr. Sivana attempts to add a new calendar day called "Sivanaday", but it only lasts eight hours.
  • Always a Bigger Fish: Hellmachine is a giant monstrosity, with what appears to be a city on its head, and is apparently the "third angel of despair". After being driven off by the heroes in The Multiversity #2, it's promptly devoured by the hideous things dwelling inside the Bleed.
  • Anachronic Order: How Pax Americana #1 is told: one plotline follows the consequences of President Harley's assassination, while the other shows How We Got Here in reverse-chronological order.
  • And the Adventure Continues: The story ends with the new Justice League being created to fight future threats.
  • Animal Superheroes: Sees the return of Captain Carrot, who last appeared in Final Crisis.
  • Anti-Villain: Earth-10's Overman in Mastermen #1. He feels immense guilt for the lives lost in the creation of his pseudo-utopia, to the point of becoming The Mole for the Freedom Fighters.
  • Arc Number:
    • 8. Pax Americana #1 even replaces Watchmen's 3x3 grid with a 2x4 one.
    • Additionally, of the 7 unknown universes, one of them (Earth-14) appears to be splitting in two; this reflects a theme of groups of 7 with a hidden 8th member in Grant Morrison's works (as seen in Seven Soldiers), thought to be a reference to the original 7 members of the Justice League of America and their honorary 8th member Snapper Carr.
  • Arc Symbol: Doors. Among other things, comic book pages are called "doors" and turning a page is compared to opening a door.
  • Arc Words:
    • "Who's that knocking at the door?"
    • The word "S.O.S." is revealed to be the keyword to operate the Multiversal Cubes, which Red Racer was able to find reading all the Multiversity books.
  • Artifact of Doom: How Grant Morrison describes Ultra Comics #1:
    "It's a haunted comic book, actually, it's the most frightening thing anyone will ever read. It's actually haunted—if you read this thing, you'll become possessed."
  • Ascended Fanboy: Red Racer and President Harley are both comic book nerds who have become superheroes and commanders of superheroes, respectively.
  • Australian Aborigines: The Thunderer of Earth-7 is an Aboriginal thunder god, an Alternate Company Equivalent of Thor.
  • Author Avatar: In The Multiversity Guidebook #1, Earth-44's Doc Tornado looks suspiciously similar to Grant Morrison.
  • Avengers Assemble: Essentially the premise of the entire series. With Nix Uotan captured and corrupted by the Gentry, the greatest heroes of the fifty-two Earths are summoned into the Multiversity itself to stop them. The key plot device in the series is the Transmatter cube, existing in each Earth as a creation of that Earth's villain who is influenced by the Gentry. It is responsible for bringing each Earth's heroes to the Multiversity.
  • Back for the Dead: The Justice League Axis, the previously established version of Earth-10's Justice League from Countdown to Adventure, appear as corpses in Overman's dream in Mastermen #1.
  • Back from the Dead:
    • Lord Volt had been killed in the first Crisis, but is now alive again in the current multiverse.
    • In Pax Americana #1, Captain Atom is supposed to revive President Harley after the assassination, but this is prevented when scientists kill Captain Atom himself by putting a black hole in his head.
  • Badass Boast: In The Multiversity #2, Aquawoman claims that she's the most powerful creature on Earth-11 and does a fine job backing up that claim as she battles Nix Uotan.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: In The Just #1, Damian Wayne says that the world needs a genius supervillain like his mom or his grandad. It has one. He's sleeping with her.
  • Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Nix Uotan, undergoing horrific treatment at the hands of the Gentry and the Anti-Death Equation, becomes the main antagonist.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Captain Carrot, as bizarrely amusing as he may seem, is no slouch when it comes to heroics or combat. This became apparent in the very first issue, when he nonchalantly shrugged off an attack from Earth-8's Behemoth (an Expy of the freaking Hulk), then proceeded to knock him flat on his ass with one punch. You don't argue with Cartoon Physics.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Nix Uotan wants to solve a Rubik's Cube in 17 moves, the impossibility of which will destroy the universe.
  • Biblical Bad Guy: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Vandal Savage of Earth-40 is heavily implied to be Cain, with the meteor that gave him his powers being the rock that he used to kill Abel.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: The Gentry are a cabal of evil beings attempting to infect the multiverse and make all inhabitants thereof become depressed and apathetic to the point of not resisting their invasion.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • Ultra escapes the time loop established at the beginning of Ultra Comics #1 with a promise that everything's going to be okay now, and manages to be the first hero in the Multiverse to successfully fight back against the Gentry... not that it ultimately does any good for more than a few seconds.
    • Played considerably straighter in The Multiversity #2 when the greatest heroes of 50 worlds charge as one to defeat the Gentry.
  • Black-and-Grey Morality: The conflict in Mastermen #1 ends up being this, concerning the New Reichsmen and the Freedom Fighters.
    • With the exception of Overman, none of the New Reichsmen had anything to do with Hitler's original plans and thus aren't concerned with what happened during World War II. But it's blatantly clear that they will still uphold the way of life Hitler established, feel absolutely no shame or guilt about how their paradise was built on the deaths of billions, and hold "under people" in contempt. Overman, for his part, feels incredible guilt and shame for what happened, but feels that he has no way to make it right after going so far. He actually betrays the New Reichsmen by lying about the Human Bomb's ability to generate explosions while held captive in the Eagle's Nest.
    • The Freedom Fighters do commit terrorist acts and have help from Doktor Sivana in terms of technology leading up to the total destruction of Metropolis as the beginning, but because they want Overman and the system he helped put into power to answer for the unspeakable atrocities and genocide that made it possible. There's also the fact that each of the Freedom Fighters represents minorities that the Nazi Party is still persecuting and trying to destroy.
    • To make this conflict even more murky, representatives from both groups are called upon in the final issue to help battle the forces of the Gentry.
  • Bland-Name Product: The stories of Earth-7 and Earth-8 are published in other universes by Major Comics.
  • Blood Knight: In Mastermen #1, Leatherwing of Earth-10 espouses that he only believes in "What's real, dirty... and leaves bruises." His "interrogation" of the Human Bomb included beating him with a baseball bat, and overall he feels similar to the Batman of All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder.
  • Body Horror: The Fantastic Four expies of Earth-7 are incredibly grotesque, due to their world's corruption by the Gentry. In particular, its Reed Richards counterpart is horrifically stretched.
  • Boom, Headshot!: The fate of Cannibal Sivana in the final issue, at the hands (and pistols) of Earth-18's El Diablo.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: From Thunderworld Adventures #1:
    Shazam: Hmm, it's you again. I was just practicing my omniscient narrator voice. Come closer, please.
  • Breather Episode: Thunderworld Adventures #1. The previous four comics had shown possessions, blood sacrifice, suicide, and assassinations, all of them with dark endings. In this one the good guys win, essentially with no fatalities. The one discordant note is the Serial Killer Sivana from another universe, but he doesn't get a chance to do anything, along with his Darker and Edgier nature being used as a punchline.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Five years after Final Crisis, Nix Uotan and Captain Carrot are finally back. Harbinger and Lady Quark also return, after vanishing post-Flashpoint, although Lady Quark had apparently been a prisoner of A.R.G.U.S. in the Vibe book.
    • The 90s version of Doctor Fate, Jared Stevens, appears on the variant cover to Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1. The Multiversity Guidebook #1 shows him as one of the heroes of Earth-13, along with the superheroic version of Hellblazer introduced in The Books of Magic.
    • The Just #1 is an entire bus filled with 90s DC characters, including most of the New Bloods, the third Hourman, Chronos (Gabriel Walker), Tomorrow Woman, and Alpha Centurion. Cameos and returns also included Offspring, Mas y Menos, Jakeem Thunder, Doctor Midnite (Pieter Cross), Artemis (as Wonder Woman), Tempest (as Aquaman), Chris Kent (as Superman), and Arrowette (Cissie King-Hawke).
    • Thunderworld Adventures #1 saw the return of the Monster Society of Evil, Uncle Marvel, the Lieutenant Marvels, and Tawky Tawny.
  • Call-Back:
    • Grant Morrison's map of the Multiverse includes Wonderworld, a dimension that was featured in their JLA run. News articles have also mentioned that some of their characters from Animal Man would appear on one Earth.
    • They revisit some concepts they introduced in Final Crisis, such as President Superman and Earth-23, and Overman and Earth-10, and some they introduced in their run on Action Comics, like the mention of Superdoomsday, and Optiman's allies Red Racer and Flashlight.
    • Earth-10's Batman is called Leatherwing, which was also the name of a pirate version of Batman (who according to The Multiversity Guidebook #1 is the Batman of Earth-31).
    • The variant cover to Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1 featured the Batman-esque version of John Constantine called Hellblazer. Morrison created this version in an issue of Doom Patrol, in a dreamworld that had more superheroic versions of the Vertigo-related characters. This world was seen again in the third The Books of Magic annual.
    • Sasha Norman, a.k.a. Sister Miracle of Earth-16 in The Just #1, was first seen in Seven Soldiers while Shilo Norman was forced to endure alternate lives in the Omega Sanction.
    • Countdown to Final Crisis gets a mention during The Multiversity Guidebook #1, specifically Superboy-Prime destroying Earth-15.

      Morrison references it again in Mastermen #1. In Overman's dream of Lord Broken, the bodies at his feet are those of the Justice League Axis, the version of Earth-10's Justice League that Monarch recruited in Countdown to Adventure.
    • Mastermen #1:
      • Overman's wife mentions that his cousin, Overgirl, was just a clone created from his stem cells, and if he wanted he could have her replaced. It's said that the original Overman in Animal Man had his stem cells harvested by the government to create other heroes, his world's Justice League.
      • Overgirl's death "on a distant world" is another Final Crisis reference, and the scene of Overman holding her corpse is a reference to Supergirl's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
    • The Multiversity #2:
      • The corrupted Nix Uotan threatens to unleash his final attack after completing a Rubik's cube in seventeen moves (something that's supposed to be impossible), much like how he regained his powers back in Final Crisis.
      • The Zatanna of Earth-13 is named Annataz, which was the name of the Earth-3 Zatanna seen in Countdown to Final Crisis.
      • Red Racer and an army of alternate Flashes all use the "infinite mass punch" that Wally West used in Grant Morrison's very first story arc of JLA. He even comments that it came from "one of [his] favorite JLA stories."
      • The Empty Hand mentions that the Gentry is still feeding off the carcass of Multiverse-2, which seems to be the pre-Flashpoint Multiverse created after Infinite Crisis. This seems to highlight the discrepancies between the Multiverse as it is seen here, compared to how it was in Final Crisis.
    • Nix Uotan is seen with a monkey sidekick, possibly the typewriting monkey from Morrison's Animal Man and/or the monkey that helped Nix restore his Monitor powers in Final Crisis.
  • The Cameo: When Red Racer summons a bunch of Flashes, we get a few. There's the Batman Beyond Flash, pre-New 52 Wally West as Kid Flash, the Crime Syndicate's Johnny Quick, pre-Flashpoint Wally West as the Flash, Earth 2's Jay Garrick Flash and the Flash that Stan Lee created.
  • Canon Immigrant:
    • The Just #1:
      • Alexis Luthor was originally a descendant of Lex Luthor from the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon series. On Earth-16 she's Luthor's daughter.
      • Also on Earth-16 is the version of the Joker's Daughter introduced in Kingdom Come.
    • The Multiversity Guidebook #1 confirms that the Justice Lords from the Justice League animated series reside on Earth-50, replacing the Wildstorm Comics characters that had been moved to Earth-0 by Flashpoint.
  • Captain Ersatz:
  • Cartoon Physics:
    • Captain Carrot invokes this in a fight with a Hulk Expy on Earth-8, a fight he won by the way. Being squashed flat doesn't do anything to him, because he can just pop back up again.
    Captain Carrot: Who else wants to argue with cartoon physics?
    • The Multiversity Guidebook #1 notes that this is true for all of Earth-26. Being destroyed apparently isn't much of a problem for it, either.
  • Cast of Expies: See the Captain Ersatz and Expy examples for the very large number of expies in certain universes. A special mention should be made of Pax Americana, which depicts a universe featuring versions of the Charlton Comics heroes who have been turned into Expies of the main characters of Watchmen, who were themselves Expies of the Charlton characters put into a Darker and Edgier storyline. So there we have recursive expies of expies.
  • Celebrity Paradox: At least part of DC's output in the main DCU (Earth-0) is actually inspired by other Earths in The Multiverse; it's no longer limited to just one Earth as it was pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths (where DC's output in Earth-One, the main DCU, was inspired by the heroes of Earth-Two). Marvel Comics have a DC analogue in Major Comics, with their output being inspired by the heroes of Earth-7 and Earth-8.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The alternate versions of Dr. Sivana keep betraying each other. In Thunderworld Adventures #1, they skimped on Suspendium and left the Earth-5 Sivana to rot. After that, the Earth-42 Sivana is eaten by the Earth-26 Sivana, the Earth-43 Sivana is disposed of by the Ax-Crazy Sivana, and when he tries to kill the Earth-26 Sivana he ends up dying as well upon meeting the Justice Riders of Earth-18.
  • Clarke's Third Law: In Thunderworld Adventures Sivana replicates Captain Marvel's thunderbolt with a scientific proof and can use his name to invoke a transformation in him and his family who derive their powers from laws of physics instead of mythic figures. When his plan fails so does the proof.
  • Color Character: Red Dragon of Earth-8 as identified by The Multiversity Guidebook #1.
  • Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: The Just #1, a one-shot about legacy heroes with no evil left to fight, features an Arrowette with a scantily-clad, shorthaired look very much like Miley Cyrus.
  • Comic Books Are Real: A key concept, according to Grant Morrison: each Earth has comics featuring characters from other Earths, through which the heroes can keep informed about what's going on elsewhere. For example, Mastermen #1 begins with Adolf Hitler reading Action Comics while using the toilet.
  • The Constant: There isn't always a Superman or a Batman equivalent on an alternate Earth, but there's always an Atom-themed character in every issue.
    • Lady Quark in The Multiversity #1.
    • Al Pratt the Mighty Atom in Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1.
    • Ray Palmer in The Just #1.
    • Captain Adam in Pax Americana #1.
    • Mister Atom in Thunderworld Adventures #1.
    • Atomic Knight Batman in The Multiversity Guidebook #1.
    • The Human Bomb in Mastermen #1.
  • Continuity Reboot: For Earths 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26, 32, 33, 40, 43, and 50, none of which are their original incarnations - whether that's because of a retool, renumbering from the original Pre-Crisis multiverse, or replacing a different universe with the same number. (In the final issue of Convergence we see many pre-New 52 Earths get "recreated" in their Multiversity forms.)
    • Earth-4 was created and destroyed in Crisis on Infinite Earths, and, coming pre-Watchmen, didn't have any influence from it.
    • Earth-5's Pre-Crisis analog, Earth-S, was destroyed in the Crisis.
    • Earth-6's Pre-Crisis analog was a world where America lost the Revolutionary War and a royal family of superheroes protected the Earth. Its sole survivor was Lady Quark.
    • Earth-8's Pre-Crisis analog was a world home to the heroes who debuted after the first Crisis. After 52 it was designed as a parody of the Ultimate Marvel line of comics and a revision to the Champions of Angor and Extremists. The world still seems to be Marvel-based, but with a team called the Retaliators instead of the Justifiers, for example. The Extremists still exist though.
    • Earth-10's Pre-Crisis analog, Earth-X, was a world where the Nazis won and the Freedom Fighters were La Résistance, but had no Justice League. It was destroyed in the Crisis. When it was restored in 52 it featured a Nazi version of the Justice League, which hadn't been done before. Conflicting portrayals in Countdown to Final Crisis had a standard generic Nazi League and an America covered in concentration camps. In Countdown Arena a Nazi version of the Ray was chosen as a contestant by Monarch, and it was mentioned the current fuhrer was a woman. Morrison disregarded most of this and reestablished their own version of Earth-10 in Final Crisis.
    • Earth-16 was classified as the universe home to the Young Justice (2010) cartoon, although Morrison has stated that they are working on a way that incorporates the TV show with their interpretation of this particular Earth. As of yet, the only incorporation is a one panel reference to the TV show being only a video game on the new Earth-16.
    • Earth-17 before the Crisis was a world where all superheroes were created by the government, until Overman (Superman) contracted an STD, went insane, and destroyed everything. As part of the 52 Earths, Earth-17 was recreated as a world home to the Atomic Knights.
    • Earth-18's status as a western world is taken to the extreme. Originally it was introduced in Countdown Arena as home to the Justice Riders Elseworlds. While that is still partially true, the reason this Earth is western-based is because the Time Trapper meddled in its growth, freezing society in a frontier state but allowing it to develop future technology, such as an internet system based off the telegraph.
    • Earth-19 was just home to the Gotham By Gaslight series, but is now a world home to other Victorian versions of different heroes, including the Amazonia Wonder Woman, who used to be a native of Earth-34 in Countdown Arena.
    • Earth-26 was designated Earth-C Pre-Crisis.
    • Earth-31 was established in Countdown Arena to be the world of The Dark Knight Returns. It's now a world loosely based on the "Captain Leatherwing" pirate Elseworld, apparently due to a veto by Frank Miller.
    • Earth-32 was established in Countdown Arena as the universe home to Batman: In Darkest Knight. That seems to still be true, only now this world is home to numerous other amalgamated characters, such as Wonderhawk (Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl), Aquaflash (Aquaman and Flash), Super-Martian (Superman and Martian Manhunter) and Black Arrow (Black Canary and Green Arrow).
    • The post-Infinite Crisis Earth-33 was originally a magic-based world home to the League of Shamans, but since that was seen in Countdown to Final Crisis naturally it's been ignored just as everything else from that series was. Earth-33 is now the superhero-less "real world", formerly called Earth-Prime.
    • Earth-40, once a pulp Spy Fiction world home to "The Justice Files", has been retooled as an Evil Counterpart to Earth-20, which appears to have taken up its mantle.
    • Earth-43, a universe home to the Batman Vampire trilogy, was originally called Earth-1191 in the first Multiverse before the Crisis.
    • Earth-50 was originally the universe the WildStorm Universe was set. With the universe now merged with the DCU in Flashpoint/New 52, it's now the home of the Justice Lords from Justice League. Almost fitting, considering Word of God said the Justice Lords were based on The Authority.
    • Earth-C-Minus, the home of the Justa Lotta Animals, is shown to still exist as of Captain Carrot and the Final Ark, though its official designation in regards to the rest of the multiverse is still unknown. The Justa Lotta Animals show up in The Multiversity #2 fighting Earth-26's Zoo Crew. Whether they're native to Earth-26 or their own Earth is unknown.
  • The Corruption: "Gentrification" - a frightening term that simultaneously evokes the Gentry and themes of identity usurpation and unwilling change.
    Nix Uotan: We learn from the worst. They make us like them.
  • Crapsaccharine World: How Overman views the utopia he built on Earth-10 in Mastermen #1, disliking the fact that it was built on the brutal deaths of so many.
  • Creepy Good: Abin Sur of Earth-20 from Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1. He keeps his distance from the inhabitants of Earth because he's aware that he resembles the world's interpretation of Satan and doesn't want to freak anyone out. Doc Fate doesn't care what he looks like and considers him an ally.
  • Cross Through: The threat of the Gentry is felt throughout the books, which can still be enjoyed individually.
  • Dark Age of Supernames: The members of The Gentry have such colorful monikers as Dame Merciless, Hellmachine, Lord Broken, Demogorgunn and... Intellectron.
  • A Day in the Limelight:
    • This is basically the Multiverse's day in the limelight, and what makes this even more significant is that so far, the main DC Universe (Earth-0) and its heroes are not going to be the saviors as they were in every other Multiverse-related catastrophe. The main fighting force is comprised of heroes from different Earths, and so far none of them have been forced to measure up to their Earth-0 counterparts.
    • The Just #1 is this for DC's Legacy Characters.
    • The various one-shots are this for their respective universes, which are given less spotlight in the main Multiversity duology.
  • Decoy Protagonist:
    • Pax Americana #1 isn't so much about the Pax as it is about President Harley and his plan for the world, despite him not being a superhero.
    • Also, Nix Uotan and Earth-23 Superman for the main series, both of whom look to be the main characters but don't play much of a role in the anthology structure.
  • Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Doc Fate warns "Atom" Al Pratt away from reading the Ultra comic, citing it as the most dangerous object in his library.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Despite being a main character in The Multiversity Guidebook #1, the only clue to the fate of Earth-42's Dick Grayson fate in The Multiversity #2 is during a brief montage, where it's shown that he was hanged by the Atomic Knights.
  • The Easy Way or the Hard Way: In Mastermen #1, the Human Bomb heals rapidly from a beating by Leatherwing. Overman offers him a chance to make it easy on himself and speak instead of getting a second beating.
  • Eldritch Abomination:
    • The Gentry are a group of evil entities that are roaming the multiverse and destroying every world they come across in really horrific ways. Just seeing them from another universe crippled Lord Havok and drove him mad. They're also powerful enough to trap Nix Uotan, the last Monitor, in the panels of the comic book he's appearing in and convert him into one of their own. On top of all that, it's implied that reading the series will let the Gentry into our universe.

      In the end, it's even worse. It turns out that the Gentry are from our universe, Earth-33. And they are all just servants to an even bigger threat, the Empty Hand, who has all of Earth-42 inhabitants (the Li'l League included) as his servants and spies. And even when the Gentry were beaten, Empty Hand just created new ones like it was nothing and the combined efforts of the entire Multiversity would most likely not be effective as Empty Hand is the personification of our growing real world apathy towards superheroes and comics. And Empty Hand is still digesting and gaining strength from the previous pre-Flashpoint multiverse. The best the Multiversity can do is establish a watch until they can come up with a way to take down Empty Hand and his Gentry... and the rest of Earth-33 if it comes to it...
    • Another one is briefly seen in the final issue inhabiting the Bleedwall, but it appears to be neutral in the conflict and in fact ends up aiding the heroes by eating Hellmachine.
  • Enemy Mine: Superdoomsday wrecked havoc on several Earths, but because he and his fellow Overcorp stooge are the only champions of Earth-45, Harbinger is forced to summon them in the final battle alongside several superhero teams he had previously wronged. Members of the Earth-10 New Reichsmen and Freedom Fighters are likewise recruited. However, due to the sheer immensity of the conflict, these antagonistic groups have little opportunity to lock horns.
  • End of an Age: By the time The Just #1 begins, the legacies of famous superheroes have not seen any real battles since the previous generation had put an end to war and crime, instead living their lives as celebrities. However, after years of complacency, Earth-16's era of peace comes to an end with the rise of Alexis Luthor.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Played for Laughs in Thunderworld Adventures #1, which is set in a Lighter and Softer version of the DC universe populated by the Marvel family. The plot involves Dr. Sivana bringing together an infinite amount of Alternate Universe versions of himself to create a day in which he can defeat Captain Marvel once and for all. One of these versions, it turns out, is a Darker and Edgier Hannibal Lecter-like character who went back in time to horrifically butcher Billy Batson before he became Captain Marvel, and wants other versions to kill. The other Sivanas, who are basically Card Carrying Villains, are clearly pretty weirded out.
    Lecter!Dr. Sivana: Bring them to me! The pretty little heroine, the bright boy! I can't wait to mess them up bad.
    Regular!Dr. Sivana: Er... quite.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: In The Multiversity #2, the heroes of Earth-7 are turned into zombies and summoned by the corrupted Nix Uotan during his attack on Earth-8. Meanwhile, the previously deceased Optiman can also be seen during a montage having been brought back the same way.
  • Evil Chancellor: In Pax Americana #1, the Vice President is revealed to be the story's evil mastermind, trying to prevent the President from being revived from the dead and thereby the best shot at world peace simply so he can be President.
  • Evil Counterpart:
    • As shown in Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Earth-40 is this to Earth-20, with explicit comparisons between the members of their respective teams:
      • Vandal Savage as compared to the Immortal Man, with the meteorite used to create their respective powers being used as the first murder weapon or made into a hallowed holy relic respectively.
      • Felix Faust as compared to Doc Fate, in terms of magical prowess.
      • Lady Shiva as compared to the Blackhawks, as highly proficient female fighters, albeit with her focusing more on swordplay rather than her good counterparts' gunplay.
      • Blockbuster as compared to the Mighty Atom, in terms of Force and Finesse.
      • Sinestro and Parallax as compared to Green Lantern Abin Sur, with opposing powers of fear versus willpower.
    • In Thunderworld Adventures #1, in the Sivanas of the Multiverse, there's a Hannibal Lecter-esque version who is far more bloodthirsty and depraved than the rest of them, who travelled back in time and violently murdered his universe's Billy Batson before he became the Wizard's champion, and as a result has become very bored.
    • The majority of the New Reichsmen in Mastermen #1 are evil Nazi doppelgangers of the Justice League of Earth-0.
  • Evil Knockoff: Thunderworld Adventures #1:
    • Sivana attempts to steal the power of Shazam by... creating a technological version of the Rock of Eternity that is twice the size of the original.
    • And then he creates his own version of the Marvel Family using his children.
  • Expy: Grant Morrison designed an Aboriginal version of The Mighty Thor called the Thunderer. This character and his group seem to be a nod to Mike Friedrich's Wandjina and the Champions of Angor, pastiches of Marvel Comics' Avengers. They get something of an updated appearance as "The Retaliators" when President Superman and the team arrive on Earth-8, one dimension shy of Thunderer's homeworld of Earth-7, indicating this world is connected to it in some way. The Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom receive similar treatment, becoming Earth-8's Future Family and Lord Havok respectively.
    • The Just #1 confirms that the relationship of Earth-7 to Earth-8 mirrors that of the Ultimate Marvel universe to the main Marvel universe, with Earth-7's versions being known as the "Essential" versions.
  • Eye Scream: During his fight with the heroes of multiple words, one of the corrupted Nix Uotan's eyes is destroyed by Aquawoman's lightning. It stays destroyed after he's freed from the Gentry.
  • Face–Heel Turn:
    • The chief antagonist of the series is a former "cosmic defender", Nix Uotan. He gets better in the last issue.
    • In The Just #1, Alexis Luthor turns evil as a result of reading the Gentry's evil comic book and reprograms Superman's peacekeeping robots into weapons.
    • Possibly Ultra Comics, given the very heavy implication that he becomes the Empty Hand.
  • The Faceless: In Pax Americana, Sarge Steel—the Vice President's brutal enforcer—has his head cropped off by the panels for most of his appearances in the comic, with a lot of focus being placed on his mechanical arms. Of the two occasions where it isn't, the first is a shot from behind and at a distance while the other is an extreme close-up of his mouth as he lights a cigar.
  • False Utopia: Earth-10 in The Mastermen #1, an Earth established on the Nazi Party's dogma. It's a very stagnant world as reflected by the architecture. There's no variety, no art of any kind, the cities are literally covered in grossly extravagant eagle statues and swastikas are plastered on everything. This isn't even getting into the rampant racial, religious, and sexual persecutions that have been going on since the 1940s.
  • Fang Thpeak: This is how the snake Sivana speaks, very much averting Sssssnake Talk.
  • The Fantastic Faux: Among the heroes on Earth-8 are an ersatz of the Fantastic Four called the Future Family, the individual members being Frank Future (the Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic stand-in), Fireball (the Human Torch analogue), Ghost Girl (the Invisible Woman stand-in) and Golem (the counterpart to Ben Grimm/The Thing).
  • The Fog of Ages: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Immortal Man notes he's forgotten his own name over the ages. It's not stated if his Evil Counterpart, Vandal Savage, has the same problem.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You:
    • A lot of the captions in issue #1 are threatening warnings along the lines of "You think this is just a comic, but it's bait. You're bait for THEM." In his human identity Nix Uotan is reading the same comic, including scenes from his own life, and that's how he's pulled into the pan-dimensional crisis.
    • Thunderer claims that The Gentry are "pitiless ones from behind the Invisible Rainbow". Given how he uses rainbows to refer to other universes, there's the implication that the fourth wall is incapable of protecting the comic book characters from The Gentry.
    • Several pages in Pax Americana #1 seem designed to resemble an eye. The implication is... not promising.
    • Ultra Comics #1, the Real-World Episode of the series, has its hero warning potential readers that their universe will be endangered if this magazine is read. At the end, you get infected by The Gentry.
    • In issue #2, the newly formed Operation Justice Incarnate trace the Gentry's origin to Earth-33, and state they're coming after them. Oh, Crap!...
  • Franchise Zombie: In-universe, the Gentry use the power of the Anti-Death Equation to keep Nix Uotan alive so they can corrupt him, a likely allusion to companies refusing to let go of concepts they can squeeze profit out of.
  • From Beyond the Fourth Wall: Earth-Prime returns with its own spotlight issue, where the reader becomes its latest superhero.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The Society of Super-Heroes, aka S.O.S from Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1.
  • Gender Flip:
    • Earth-11 is an entire gender-flipped world. One of the major characters in the series is Aquawoman, their Aquaman analogue.
    • Blitzen, The Flash of Earth-10 from Mastermen #1, is female.
  • Genre Roulette: The series does this deliberately with each issue exhibiting the traits of a particular style of comic genre based on the setting.
  • Golem: According to The Multiversity Guidebook #1, the Captain Ersatz of The Thing from Earth-7 is named Golem; this is most likely a reference to the Thing's Jewish background.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The Empty Hand is the representation of our Too Bleak, Stopped Caring reaction for comic books, and it's a Neverending Terror just because we keep getting fed up with comics, both the dumb stuff and the wonderful.
  • Great Offscreen War:
    • The war between Earth-20 and Earth-40, which involves the former being entirely levelled and conquered by Vandal Savage's forces, sending the heroes on the run... is described entirely in the space of a few pages.
    • Earth-33 was the sight of a war between Tor and Epoch. When Tor was defeated in 2240, it managed to take the rest of the millennium with it, turning Earth-33 into a timeless wasteland.
  • Groin Attack: The reaction of Doc Fate to Doc Faust's desire for a Wizard Duel in Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1.
  • Guardian of the Multiverse: This is supposed to be Nix Uotan's role, with his fellow Monitors gone. Unfortunately, the Gentry have other ideas for him.
  • Hanging Judge: The corrupted Nix Uotan becomes this after his disastrous trip to Earth-7. The Earths that break his rules, well, the lucky ones are merely destroyed. Never mind how involved the Gentry were in the violation of those rules.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: In Mastermen #1, Overman attempts to right the wrongs of his making Nazi Germany become the new world by lying about Human Bomb's physiological differences from most people. Unfortunately, Jürgen Olsen figures out that he's not in favor of Hitler's vision and has sympathies with the Freedom Fighters, and thus betrays him, leading to Overman's downfall.
  • Heel Realization: As put by Grant Morrison in one article regarding Mastermen #1, Overman spent years working for Adolf Hitler, then one day he realized "Oh crap it's Hitler!"
  • Hemisphere Bias: In anticipation of the series, DC Comics released a map of the DC multiverse. Earth-23 is a world where most superheroes are black; the picture of the planet provided is centered on Africa. (Although note that all other signs point to the United States still being the center of attention there.)
  • Henpecked Husband: In Mastermen #1, Overman's wife/consort, Lena, harbors no sympathy or compassion towards his feelings of guilt or the mourning of his cousin, and is more concerned with demanding he make more youth serum for her before she starts to age. Their relationship is even described as "loveless" and one of the reasons for Overman's betrayal.
  • Hero Antagonist: Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters in Mastermen #1 - they're fighting Nazis, but in a world where the Nazis are pretty much everyone...
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Ultra Comics sacrifices himself to protect Earth-33 from the Gentry.
  • Herr Doktor: In Mastermen #1, the Sivana of Earth-10 is this trope played to the hilt, complete with Funetik Aksent (since English is meant to be a dead language on that Earth), Scary Shiny Glasses, and a black leather trenchcoat and hat.
  • Historical Domain Character: George W. Bush appears in Pax Americana #1. Since this universe seems to have had its own run of presidents, Dubya's appearance might be a symptom of inter-reality bleed.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Happens several times in Thunderworld Adventures #1. From Dr. Sivana and his counterparts across the multiverse foiling their own plans of creating a 8th day (Sivanaday) where they're allowed to win by cheating themselves out of suspendium to make it an 8-hour day, to Lady Sivana (Georgia Sivana) getting tricked into depowering herself by Captain Marvel Junior, out of her own desire to use her beauty to get her way.
    • Nix Uotan opening the door for the Gentry is also what allows the things from the Bleedwall to consume Hellmachine.
  • Hollow World: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Immortal Man mentions in passing that he just walked back from inside the Earth.
  • Horned Humanoid: Abin Sur of Earth-20 in Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1. He is well aware this makes him look like a demon.
  • HULK MASH!-Up: One of the heroes of Earth-8 is the Behemoth, who is essentially the Hulk, but blue and looking more like a gigantic baby.
  • Hypocrite: The Question towards Blue Beetle in Pax Americana #1. He chastises Ted for relying too much on technology and cool gimmicks, even though Vic has no problem using technology against Ted and leaving behind calling cards with badass slogans on them.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Snake Sivana finds Vampire Sivana's manner of speech irritating:
    Snake Sivana: Did you find hithhh thhhpeech impediment ath annoying athhh I did?
  • Inadequate Inheritor: The major theme of The Just #1. It's not even that the successor heroes are worse or weaker or less effective than the last generation (they frequently aren't, but that's beside the point), it's that the last generation was so good at heroics that they've left nothing for their apprentices and offspring to do.
  • It's All About Me: In The Just #1, Earth-16 is a world where the children of superheroes and supervillains are celebrity darlings since there's no more crime to fight (to the point where the contemporary Justice League roster has done nothing but battle reenactments). The solicits and cover refer to this world as "Earth-Me."
  • It's All My Fault: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, the Mighty Atom believes he was responsible for the arrival of the Earth-40 villains, citing that their invasion had begun not long after he looked into the cursed comic book Doc Fate warned him not to read.
  • Jerkass: The majority of the characters in The Just are self-centered assholes who care little about other people's problems, and that seems to be the point.
  • Just Shoot Him: Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1:
    • Lady Shiva goes on about how the Blackhawk Squadron will never even realize she's cut them up and butchered them by the time she's done with them, when they decide to just shoot Shiva as she's gloating.
    • When Doc Fate meets his counterpart Felix Faust, Faust attempts to pull a magical duel. Fate just kicks him in the balls.
    • The Justice Riders of Earth-18 deal with two of the Sivanas by simply shooting them.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: The Serial Killer Dr. Sivana featured in the Thunderworld Adventures one-shot is said to have defeated his world's Captain Marvel by using time travel to murder Billy Batson before he became Captain Marvel and subsequently escapes to kill other inhabitants of the multiverse after the other Sivanas are defeated. He ultimately gets his just deserts in the series' conclusion when the Justice Riders shoot him in the head.
  • Last of His Kind: Nix Uotan is the last of the Monitors. Thunderer is the last survivor of Earth-7.
  • Losing Your Head: In The Multiversity #2, Captain Carrot gets decapitated by the corrupted Nix Uotan. Being a Toon, however, this does not stop him from continuing to fight, although he is unable to eat his Power-Up Food in order to replenish his superpowers until his head is reattached with Red Racer's help.
  • Mad Scientist: In Thunderworld Adventures #1, Dr. Sivana takes exception to being called 'mad'. He sees himself more as a radical genius. This is as he teams-up with an assortment of Sivanas from other universe to make an artificial day to take over the world, and get back at Captain Marvel.
  • Meaningful Name: Mr. Stubbs appears to take his name from a chimpanzee in Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus, a Victorian novel concerning the difference between the glamour of the circus as seen from outside, and the reality of it as seen from the inside.
  • Medium Awareness: Ultra Comics sees his thought balloons and thinks they make him look dated, so he switches to first person captions.
  • The Mole: The residents of Earth-42 serve as this for the Empty Hand, acting as its eyes and ears.
  • Morality Pet: In Mastermen #1, Overman's cousin Overgirl is pretty much the one person he has a clear, emotional connection towards. He cares for her deeply and her death just multiplied the guilt he was already feeling.
  • Multiple Reference Pun: The Captain Ersatz of Spider-Woman from Earth-8 is named Ladybug, which is both a reference to the insect of the same name and the fact that she is the Distaff Counterpart of Bug, the Spider-Man ersatz from the same universe.
  • The Multiverse: Set in the post-New 52 multiverse, featuring characters from all across its expanse, and the creation of its Justice League.
  • Must Have Caffeine: In The Multiversity #2, thanks to Annataz of Earth-13, the Blood League of Earth-43 are now vampires who feed on coffee instead of blood.
  • invoked Mutually Fictional: Lampshaded in The Multiversity #1 by Captain Carrot, as the Superman of Earth-23 reads a copy◊ of Action Comics #9:
    "I always suspected that one world's reality is another's fiction. That's why I like happy endings!"
  • My Death Is Just the Beginning: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Vandal Savage corners Immortal Man and Immortal Man kills Vandal Savage in order to end the war. Then Savage reveals that "spilling immortal blood summons Niczhuotan - Destroyer of Worlds."
  • My God, What Have I Done?: This is Overman's primary characterization in Mastermen #1, as he's the Superman of a world where the Nazis took over, and he feels horrible knowing the utopia he built was founded on the crimes of Adolf Hitler.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Vandal Savage is heavily implied to be Cain, just as he was in that position during Final Crisis.
    • In Mastermen #1 Overman holds the dead body of Overgirl aloft in the exact same way Superman did Supergirl on the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7.
      • Overman's wife is a self-focused redhead named Lena, whose maiden name is never given. In many continuities, Lex Luthor (who if he isn't bald has red hair) has a relative, either his sister or niece, named Lena.
    • In Pax Americana #1, Blue Beetle (I) suggests "the Sentinels" and "the Law" as names for the Pax. Sentinels of Justice was a proposed Charlton superteam shortly before DC bought the characters, and L.A.W. was the 90s DC version.
    • At one point during Ultra Comics #1, the titular hero encounters several other DC Comics characters who were also named "Ultra," including Ultra, the Multi-Alien and Ultraa, who was originally Earth-Prime's sole superhero Pre-Crisis.
  • Never Bring A Knife To A Gunfight:
    • In the end of Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Lady Shiva is facing off against the Blackhawk Squadron, with them having pistols, and her having a Sinister Scimitar. They shoot her dead in a hail of gunfire while she is gloating about how she is going to kill them all.
    • Doc Faust uses his high grade of magical prowess to make his way through to fight Doc Fate, and prepares himself for a Wizard Duel. Unfortunately for him, that is all he brought to the table, whereas Doc Fate brought his magical prowess, underhanded tactics, and a gun. He manages to hold off the zombies that come at him with the gun, and summarily defeats Faustus with a Groin Attack.
  • Nightmare Retardant: In-universe, Intellectron is considered to be this. Ultra utilizes comments laughing at his appearance and calling him "an evil egg" with "evil batwings" in their battle.
  • No Fourth Wall: In Ultra Comics #1 the memesmiths, the Gentry and the title character all directly address the reader. Theoretically, at least, the last of these is the reader.
  • No Honor Among Thieves: The chibi Sivana in The Multiversity Guidebook #1 thinks the Legion of Sivanas are there to help him conquer his Earth. Instead the snake, vampire and torture porn versions attack and eat him.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Crops up a couple of times in regards to certain Earth-8 residents and their Earth-7 counterparts.
    • Wundajin is the name for a group or cloud and rain spirits from Aborginal Mythology, yet the superhero from Earth-8 with that name is white, whilst his counterpart on Earth-7 who is aboriginal is given the more generic moniker: Thunderer.
    • Another superhero is named American Crusader and whilst he does have elements resembling a Holy Crusader, he doesn't have any design elements that say America. Contrast this with his Earth-7 counterpart Crusader, who lacks the American part of the former's name, but is near-identical to Ultimate Captain America with the Wearing a Flag on Your Head slightly toned down.

      Subverted in Mastermen #1 which shows an in-universe comic book depicting a Golden Age American Crusader with more American elements played up. This seems to imply that he dropped those aspects in the Modern Age but kept the name and that his Ultimate Universe counterpart is an In-Universe back to basics approach.
  • No Name Given / Only Known by Their Nickname: Many characters from the alternate Earths are only known by their codenames. As many of them are counterparts of Earth-0 heroes (most notably the Justice League members), the readers can infer they have the same real names of the Earth-0 ones, but it isn't clearly stated. And there are some universes without clear Earth-0 analogues, like Earth-8, which characters are based on Marvel Comics' The Avengers, rather than the Justice League. Its only named characters are American Crusader, named Jack and Behemoth, real name David Dibble.
  • Noodle Incident: In Mastermen #1, apparently one of the many opponents Overman and his world's league faced was the "Luthor League". No further details on that are given, however.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Abin Sur of Earth-20 defeats Count Sinestro of Earth-40 completely off-panel.
  • Oh, Crap!: The wizard Shazam gets a rather darkly funny instance of this when he realizes that he's being overshadowed by Sivana's mechanical Rock of Eternity.
  • One-Eyed Bats: One of the Gentry of is Intellectron, a giant bluish-black egg with one eye and bat wings, which, given how meta Grant Morrison usually is, may be a comment on DC Comics's obsession with Batman and occasional single-mindedness.
  • Only Sane Man: In Thunderworld Adventures #1, one of the alternate Sivanas is much, much more restrained than the others, identifying himself as "a man with personal problems," and is greatly disturbed by his insane and violent (and violently insane) counterparts. There's also the fact that he believed the other Sivanas were going to save the world, not enslave it, so he's pretty much the good Sivana counterpart.
  • Our Presidents Are Different:
    • Kalel/Calvin Ellis, the Superman of Earth-23, is a black Kryptonian, and in his secret identity as Calvin, President of the USA.
    • Earth-4's president is assassinated by Peacemaker at the beginning of Pax Americana #1.
  • Packaged as Other Medium: The cover of The Just #1 resembles the kind of celebrity-interest magazine sold at supermarket counters.
  • Painting the Medium: The Empty Hand's dialogue bubbles are designed to look like tears in the page, to represent the sheer wrongness it represents.
  • Power-Up Food: Captain Carrot gets his powers from eating his "cosmic carrots," and has a set time limit before his powers run out and he needs to eat another one.
  • Punny Name: Earth-8's American CrUSAder.
  • The Queen's Latin: Despite existing on a world where English is a dead language, all the characters in the modern day of Mastermen #1 are written speaking in English, while actually speaking German, with no authorial note stating otherwise, beyond Doktor Sivanna noting to the Freedom Fighters he has difficulty speaking English.
  • Race Lift:
    • The new version of the Thunderer is Aboriginal.
    • The Justice League of Earth-23 consists of black versions of the mainstream DCU heroes.
    • In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Doc Fate, the Doctor Fate of Earth-20, is a black gunslinger.
    • The Wonder Woman of Earth-31 has a darker skin-tone than her Earth-0 counterpart.
    • According to one interview, in Mastermen #1, Earth-10's Freedom Fighters represent ethnic, sexual, and religious minorities targeted by the Nazi Party. The Ray is homosexual, Doll Man is a Jehovah's Witness, Phantom Lady is Romani, and Black Condor is African.
  • Real-World Episode: Ultra Comics #1 features the most literal Real-World Episode ever. This chapter takes place on the real world, but it isn't the world depicted inside the comicbook. Earth-33 (a.k.a Earth-Prime) is the world of the readers themselves. The comicbook Ultra Comics is just a character in the actual story, a comicbook-shaped superhero made of paper and ink (or digital data) that acts like an avatar to its reader to fight The Gentry.
  • Really 700 Years Old: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Earth-20's Immortal Man has been around somewhere in the region of forty to fifty thousand years, and looks to be in his 20s/30s.
  • Recursive Canon: In The Multiversity #1, Nix Uotan is reading The Multiversity comics - specifically, The Multiversity #1 and Ultra Comics #1. Looking closely at the Ultra Comics issue Nix is reading, Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke are residents of The DCU.
  • Retcon: Captain Carrot has always operated under cartoon physics, but they were the burlesqued physics of Golden Age comics, not the outright Toon Physics of Looney Tunes. No previous incarnation of the character, even relatively recent ones, could possibly have survived decapitation.
  • Robotic Reveal: In The Multiversity Guidebook #1, the heroes of Earth-42 are revealed to be androids, explaining how they are incapable of being killed.
  • Seen-It-All Suicide: One interpretation of Sapphire Mason's building dive.
  • Self-Deprecation: Ultra Comics #1 makes fun of Morrison's No Fourth Wall style of writing by having some internet trolls roll their eyes at Ultra Comics' meta-textual premise.
    Troll: Yet ANOTHER comic-about-comics treatise retreading the SAME tired themes. How about a simple adventure story for once?
    Ultra Comics: Ha! You and me both!
  • Shmuck Bait: Ultra Comics #1. Its cover has the eponymous Ultra Comics warning the reader that only they can save the universe and themselves by not reading this comic. Earth-20's Atom didn't heed the warning in Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World #1. Will you?
  • Shout-Out:
    • The Human Torch Expy from Earth-8 is African-American.
    • It's mentioned that the heroes of Earth-8 appear in extremely popular movies on other Earths.

      In The Just #1, Earth-16's Kyle Rayner vaguely remembers a Bug movie, although it's not clear which one he's thinking of.
    • The Hulk Expy has the real name of "David."
    • The House of Heroes is also called Valla-Hal.
    • In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquest of the Counter-Earth #1, the Blackhawks of Earth-20 were designed with the Spice Girls in mind.
    • The Just #1:
      • Chris Kent mentions he had a team up with "the Sandman". Damian then asks if he specifically meant the Neil Gaiman Sandman.
      • The Philip Larkin quote.
    • Mastermen #1:
      • The "American Crusader" comic is clearly meant to be a reference to the Captain America counterpart from Earth-8, albeit a Golden Age version. However, the character's design is based off the actual American Crusader, a Golden Age character that fell into the public domain and has been used in both Tom Strong and Project Superpowers.
      • The whole issue can be seen as a shout-out to The Ring of the Nibelung as detailed here.
    • In The Multiversity #2, Stingray, the Batman of Earth-34, is briefly seen with the same color scheme as the Stingray from The Avengers.
    • Earth-40 Flintstein is based on Rob Liefeld's creation Badrock. Both names are shout-outs to The Flintstones cartoon: Badrock is a reference to the show's city Bedrock, while his counterpart Flintstein is closer to Flintstone ("stein" is "stone" in German).
    • Nix Uotan wears a golden eyepatch after losing his right eye.
  • Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Essentially the theme of Thunderworld Adventures #1; tellingly, it's the only issue of the series where the invasion of the Gentry is completely repelled, because the heroes are just too damn idealistic, good-natured and optimistic to be corrupted.
  • Snicket Warning Label: The series was advertised with warnings not to read the comic, with the fate of the universe depending on it. The end of the first issue also has the narrator shouting that it's not too late if you stop reading right now. The plot is about a multiversal invasion by Eldritch Abominations coming through comic books, which are actually windows into different universes. By the way, it is too late.
  • Squishy Wizard: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Doc Faust proves to be this, concentrating so heavily on his magical skill that he has no defensive abilities whatsoever outside of those, and goes down in a single Groin Attack.
  • The Stars Are Going Out: Ultra Comics #1 ends with constellations going out one-by-one for lack of oxygen, portraying the rupture of the mental bonds between Ultra Comics and each one of his readers while he dies.
  • Summon Bigger Fish: In The Multiversity #2, the Earth-5 Marvel Family defeat Hellmachine of the Gentry by throwing him into the Bleedwall, where he is promptly devoured by a larger Eldritch Abomination residing there.
  • Symbolism:
    • Of particular note with the Earths on the multiverse map. Earth-10, based on Earth-X, has a red 'X' on it; Earth-11, a Gender Flip of Earth-0, is upside-down relative to the other Earths; Earth-43, home of the Vampire League, is a blood-red shade; Earth-26, an Alternate Tooniverse, has a face; and so on.
    • Earth-1, which has comparatively very little written about it, is depicted as a glowing ball of light. It's still "cooling", as The Multiversity Guidebook #1 puts it, and has very little established history.
  • Take That!:
    • The most distinguishing feature of Earth-8, based on Marvel Comics, on the interactive map is that its heroes "fight with each other as much as they fight the bad guys". Notably, the Behemoth (its version of the Hulk) transforms into a raging, giant, blue baby◊ instead of a jade titan when aggravated.
      • It's taken a bit further in the Hardcover where he's renamed Big Baby.
    • The Gentry appear to be manifestations of the stagnation found in mainstream comics. Intellectron, a one-eyed bat-winged creature, in particular is seen as a parody of DC Comics, representing the company's obsession with Batman, a singular vision, and lack of depth perception.
    • In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Abin Sur's fight with Count Sinestro and Parallax, as well as Abin Sur beating both of them on his own, may be criticism at DC dragging out the emotional entity concept in Green Lantern and how Parallax has become a diminished threat in recent stories. As well, the use of Parallax to power the Transmatter Engine for Doc Fate can be a reference to how Parallax himself has been used as a tool rather than an actual villain in his own right in his stories since the advent of the New 52.
    • Earth-41's Nimrod Squad is a blatant shot at Youngblood (Image Comics).
    • Thunderworld Adventures #1 feels like a huge shot at how DC has handled the Marvel Family in the last few years, due to the fact that the Billy, Mary, Freddy, and Wizard of Earth-5 are much more wholesome and well-adjusted compared to their main Earth counterparts. There's also the fact that Sivana, who is still a Card-Carrying Villain, is disturbed by an Ax-Crazy counterpart who makes very unsavory comments about what he did to his world's Marvel Family. Said villain feels sadly similar to the villains who've become common in Earth-0's universe.

      Thunderworld Adventures #1 also comes off as a Take That! to the New 52 as a whole, seeing how its lack of Darker and Edgier elements seems to be what allowed it to repel the Gentry's invasion in the first place. It goes to show that you don't need hyper-realism and grim elements to create a good story, and that the optimism and fun of Pre-New 52 DC still has a place in comics. And, given how well-received Thunderworld Adventures has been, it's something that hasn't been lost on the general comic-book readership either. Captain Marvel even lampshades how silly the darker and edgier stories are when it comes down to it, and asks just what's wrong with a happy ending.
    Captain Marvel Junior: S.O.S.... They cancelled that book.
    Captain Marvel: No wonder. What happened to happy endings? "I'll get out and destroy everything..." HA! I don't know about you. But, that sounds to me, like tomorrow's big adventure!
    Crumples up the Gentry's cursed comic-book, chucks it into the trash, and flies off with Mary and Junior to their next big adventure with smiles on their faces.
    • Not to mention that when Sivana takes over the Rock of Eternity, and starts plundering the magic from it, he redecorates it to look like a corporate office, complete with cubicles and potted plants. Possibly a comment on how the comics industry has now become one big corporation.
    • The very fact that Billy's alter ego is named, once again, Captain Marvel, outright disregarding his New 52 renaming as Shazam.
    • Pax Americana #1 is a not too subtle one to Alan Moore, and how he deconstructed superheroes in a cold mechanical way through the visuals and narrative of Watchmen.
    Captain Atom: I had to take a closer look... I thought the pieces would explain the whole. But... It's hard to love the pieces like... like... I thought I could locate the source of these feelings doctor. Then I realized... What have I done? I just killed Butch. My faithful little dog.
    • As well as Moore's later attempts at reconstructing the genre through his later work Supreme, and giving a reason as to why Alan Moore or any writer who did Deconstruction stories can never return to anything upbeat and meaningful. (Of course, that interpretation brings up some very interesting questions regarding how Morrison views their own attempts after infamously ultra-super-grimdark stories like their Kid Eternity revamp.)
    Captain Atom: Except... what if Butch is alive as well as dead? Why not? [Another dog similar visually to Butch appears next to the body of the dead dog] Hm. Not the same.
    • As a further jab at the overdependence on hyper-realistic grimdark story-telling, Earth 31 - previously established as the universe that Frank Miller's Dark Knight series is set in - has been retconned into a world where everyone's a sea-faring swashbuckler with a fancy costume. It also acknowledges human-influenced climate change as a serious issue, showing further disregard for Frank Miller and his right-wing comic fans. (Although, according to Morrison, they planned to include Dark Knight World, but it was Miller who "didn't want his take on all of that to be seen as just another parallel world." Whether what they did instead was intended as a Take That, they haven't commented on.)
  • Thanatos Gambit:
    • In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Vandal Savage hoped to spill an immortal's blood to summon Niczhuotan, the Destroyer of Worlds, to Earth-20. Vandal was not picky if he killed Immortal Man, or if Immortal Man killed him.
    • In Pax Americana #1, President Harley planned to have himself killed and resurrected to rid Earth-4 of the Gentry's curse, simultaneously making him pay for murdering the first superhero and redeeming him for the crime.
  • That Man Is Dead: In Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1, Doc Fate's greatest fear lies in how he fears nothing because his superhero persona has gradually made him more detached and ruthless, replacing the man he originally was.
  • 13 Is Unlucky: Earth-13 is a Vertigo-y Dark Fantasy world where the greatest superheroes are Super-Demon and Hellblazer.
  • Thought Bubble: Early in Ultra Comics #1, Ultra Comics uses these at first, until he decides, "Thought balloons make me look dated." He switches to caption-box-based Internal Monologues from then on.
    Ultra Comics: How about I express myself using first person narrative captions?
  • Time Crash: Earth-33 has become victim of one, thanks to Epoch and Tor fighting. There's no past, no present, only an endless "now".
  • Titled After the Song: The story in The Multiversity Guidebook #1 is called "Maps and Legends", from the R.E.M. song.
  • Token Good Teammate: Among the many alternate Sivanas that have gathered together to invade Earth-5 is one who has won the Nobel Prize and describes himself as basically just a guy who has a few personality issues. He's quite disturbed to find out the rest of the Legion of Sivanas are all criminals and supervillains.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: In The Just #1, the older heroes of Earth-16 have no issue with re-enacting major battles for fun, regardless that some of their closest friends and allies actually died in those battles. For example, they have Red Amazo (the combination of Red Tornado and Amazo) participate in the recreation of the event that actually created him, but pretty much killed the Red Tornado in the process.
  • Torture Porn: Parodied, as the mass villainous team-up of all the alternate versions of Dr. Sivana includes a Darker and Edgier "depraved serial killer" Sivana. He wears a Hannibal Lecter mask, and his constant brandishing of rusty surgical instruments and ranting about how he wants to torture the young Marvels to death creeps the other Sivanas out.
  • Tragic Hero/Villain Protagonist: Overman from Mastermen #1, or he may count as a Tragic Villain depending on your point of view. He began as a Nazi Superman, but he's actually incredibly guilt-ridden over what he did in their name, and realizes the world he created needs to be destroyed.
  • A True Story in My Universe: The comics of the various Earths of the DC multiverse recount the adventures of the heroes of other Earths in the multiverse.
  • Two Girls to a Team: The New Reichsmen of Earth-10 from Mastermen #1 appear to have only two female members: Brünhilde and Blitzen.
  • Ultimate Universe:
    • The aim of Thunderworld Adventures is to be an updated retool in regards to Shazam!.
    • Earth-7 was this to the Major Comics characters of Earth-8, being a pastiche of the Ultimate Marvel continuity.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Ultra Comics is exploited by the Gentry as a means to infiltrate the multiverse. While he manages to seal Earth-33 off from them, he's ultimately unsuccessful in defeating the villains.
  • Unwitting Pawn: A number of characters unknowingly further The Gentry's invasion.
    • Ultra Comics #1: Ultra Comics itself acts as vector of contagion to The Gentry in different worlds (including ours).
  • Valkyries: Two alternate versions of Wonder Woman are valkyries.
  • Victory Is Boring: The heroes of "earthme" in The Just have so little to do with Superman's army of robots on constant patrol that they do nothing but recreate past victories or throw wild parties.
  • Villains: According to Word of God, each one of The Gentry represents a villain archetype taken to its limit. Their agents in each universe also mirror those concepts.
    • Ax-Crazy / Bedlam House: Lord Broken (Vandal Savage, cannibal Doctor Sivana, Nazi Doctor Sivana)
    • Evil Genius: Intellectron (Felix Faust, Doctor Sivana, Alexis Luthor)
    • Femme Fatale: Dame Merciless (Lady Shiva, Georgia Sivana, Alexis Luthor)
    • The Horde: Demogorgunn (Faust's Zombies, Legion of Sivanas, Superman Robots, Brainwashed Li'l League)
  • Whole Costume Reference: In Mastermen #1, the Sivana of Earth-10's outfit is exactly the same as Major Toht. Fitting, considering what his world is like.
  • Wizard Duel: Amusingly subverted in Society of Superheroes: Conquerors from the Counter-World! #1. The issue appears to set up a Mirror Match between Doc Fate and Doc Faust, but when Faust shows up before Fate, Fate just kicks him in the balls and drags him away.
  • Would Hurt a Child: In The Multiversity Guidebook #1, the alternate Sivanas have no problem luring a chibi Sivana into their number so that one of them can eat him. Given everyone else on his world was a robot, that Sivana was found unpalatable.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In Mastermen #1, with help from Overman, the Human Bomb threw off Leatherwing and the rest of the New Reichsmen by pretending to be gravely injured by Leatherwing's interrogation, giving him the chance to wait to break free and then destroy the Eagle's Nest.
  • Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The "Freedom Fighters" of Earth-10 are flat out said in The Multiversity Guidebook #1 to be terrorists. Their actions in Mastermen #1 show this in full, especially after they received help from Herr Doktor Sivana.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top