History Main / AlternateUniverse

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'': While the actual ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' universe until ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' very much reflected reality like the classic Franchise/MarvelUniverse did, the film uses the ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' concept to take the idea of [[Characters/MarvelComicsMilesMorales Miles Morales]] coming from an alternate reality even further; for example, New York police cars are labeled with "PDNY" rather than "NYPD", {{Bland Name Product}}s abound (with "Koca-Soda" instead of Coca-Cola and "[=RedEx=]" instead of "[=FedEx=]"), ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' became an actual franchise, and Miles doesn't know what Comic-Con is when Peter quips about it. This is cemented by Peter Parker's own universe having a Coca-Cola neon sign and the traditional "NYPD" abbreviation on a police car.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' had several -- the retro-styled world of the Justice Guild in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E18And19Legends Legends]]", the Vandal Savage-ruled world created through time travel in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E24To26TheSavageTime The Savage Time]]", the dark dystopia of the Justice Lords in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E11And12ABetterWorld A Better World]]", and others. Notably, the Justice Lords Universe depicts Arkham Asylum, and Gotham City for that matter, as very bright, Metropolis-esque places, in one of the few instances of the city being shown during the day.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E12BraveNewMetropolis Brave New Metropolis]]" features a universe where Lois is assassinated, prompting Superman to team up with Luthor and take over Metropolis.

[[caption-width-right:347:The criminal and the ape-thing, OK. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking But a]] [[RuleSixtyThree woman]]?!'' That's just crazy.]]

[[caption-width-right:347:The criminal and the ape-thing, OK. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking But a]] ''[[RuleSixtyThree woman]]?!'' ...Huh, if you say so.]]

* ''ARG/CrystoreInc.'' revolves around the titular company and its iterations across the [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience Red, Green, and Blue]] Bridges, alternate universes designated by the colour of their Golden Gate Bridge.
* ''WebVideo/FeatherAdventures'': There are several alternate versions of the titular world which are only accessible by portals during special occasions or episodes.
** The first known one is only accessible on Halloween. The alternate Sqaishey is called 'Sqoshey', the entire world has a much darker atmosphere, mobs like spiders and phantoms are friendly while cows and horses are hostile, and all the pets are bunnies.
** Another example occurs in Episode 336, "Let It Snow!", where an alternate Sqaishey named 'Sqlushey' appears through a portal. Sqlushey looks like a snowman version of Sqaishey and they leave a trail of snow wherever they go, and appears to [[AnIcePerson have some control over ice and snow]]. They have also been featured in later {{Christmas Episode}}s.
** A third one appears in Episode 344, "A Polluted World", where the place looks almost normal at first glance (though a bit darker and less cheery) and houses the green 'Sporshey', who spends a lot of their time clearing out rubbish and smog clouds and [[FisherKing shifts between bright and greyish shades of green]] depending on the level of pollution of the land. [[spoiler:The land becomes a lot brighter and more colourful when the rubbish and smog are cleared out, and once more trees and flowers are planted around. Fittingly, the episode where Sporshey is introduced is released on Earth Day 2022 and has a GreenAesop.]]
* Come on, we have to mention WebOriginal/JennyEverywhere in here somehow! (She is meant to exist in all possible such universes and can shift between them. Conveniently allowing for [[DependingOnTheAuthor variability in settings and variations on the nature of the character in different stories.]])

* ''Literature/{{Phaeton}}'' takes place entirely in and out of alternate universe (Labeled Alpha Gamma 64) and the records of events were somehow sent to our universe, exactly how is as of yet untold.

[[quoteright:347:[[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/even_a_woman_9.png]]]]

[[quoteright:347:[[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/even_a_woman_6.png]]]]

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/WhatIf1952": Mr If's [[CrystalBall scrying glass]] allows people to view "what might have been". Liwy and Norman ask "What if we hadn't met that day?" and see events play out [[ForWantOfANail slightly differently]] because of it.

* The retrofuturistic [[TheEighties Eighties]] setting of ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'' is a FalseUtopia that divorces children from the concept of family, separating them from parents, and eliminating[=/=]repressing memories of siblings and childhood relationships at the age of ten via pharmacology, {{cybernetic|sEatYourSoul}} implants, and batteries of psychological programming. Gradually, the series reveals a PointOfDivergence, a devastating war called "The Great Reckoning." In its aftermath, [[OneWorldOrder The Society]] was created, and it was decided that nationalism, tribalism and familial loyalty were the root causes of war and violence, to be eliminated through drastic social engineering.

%%
%%
%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

[[caption-width-right:347:The criminal and the ape-thing, OK. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking But a]] ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking woman]]''?! That's just silly.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays,'' the whole family (except the female lead's brother) has a twin in an alternate universe, who all try to take out the heroes as PsychoRangers.

* In the season four finale of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler:[[TheDreaded the Lich]]]] finds and opens a portal to TheMultiverse. When Finn and Jake follow, we see them in a universe where the Mushroom War never happened. Thus, the Candy Kingdom doesn't exist, Jake can't talk, and Finn is not the last human. He also has a robot arm.
** We find out more about this in the season 5 premiere. [[spoiler:Finn wished the Lich out of existence, so he and Jake ended up in an alternate timeline where the Ice King performed a HeroicSacrifice to prevent the final bomb from falling in the Mushroom War, and the creation of the Lich, from ever happening.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' had several -- the retro-styled world of the Justice Guild, the dark dystopia of the Justice Lords, the Vandal Savage-ruled world created through time travel, and others.
** Notably, the Justice Lords Universe depicted Arkham Asylum, and Gotham City for that matter, as very bright, Metropolis-esque places, in one of the few instances of the city being shown during the day.
** ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' also featured a universe where Lois is assassinated, prompting Superman to team up with Luthor and take over Metropolis.

** "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" has the crew discover a world where much of their equipment doesn't work, but FunctionalMagic is commonplace. Oddly, [[TheSpock Spock]] adapts quickly.
** "The Counter-Clock Incident." In the other universe, time runs in reverse, and the only way to travel between universes is to go through a dead star/nova at Warp 36.

** ''[[ComicBook/TransformersShatteredGlass Shattered Glass]]'', the 2008 [=Bot=]Con event featuring heroic Decepticons and evil Autobots. With [[BeardOfEvil goatees.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': "[=SpongeBob=]'s Big Birthday Blowout" has [=SpongeBob=] and company going to a restaurant on the surface called the Trusty Slab and encountering live-action human versions of themselves.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'': While the actual ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' universe until ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}'' very much reflected reality like the classic Franchise/MarvelUniverse did, the film uses the ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' concept to take the idea of ComicBook/MilesMorales coming from an alternate reality even further; for example, New York police cars are labeled with "PDNY" rather than "NYPD", {{Bland Name Product}}s abound (with "Koca-Soda" instead of Coca-Cola and "[=RedEx=]" instead of "[=FedEx=]"), ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' became an actual franchise, and Miles doesn't know what Comic-Con is when Peter quips about it. This is cemented by Peter Parker's own universe having a Coca-Cola neon sign and the traditional "NYPD" abbreviation on a police car.

Sometimes everyone has an EvilTwin. Other times, everyone has a twin that's just a little different. Allows the goodies to be baddies for an episode, or for half of the cast to be killed — but [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse not really]]. Sometimes it's just part of SideStoryBonusArt.

* AlternateContinuity — The meta version, where a set of works is declared to take place in different universes (or, more specifically, different ''{{Canon}}s'').
* AlternateRealityEpisode — Asking and exploring a ''[[WhatIf What If X and Y happened differently?]]'' question.
* AlternateUniverseFic — Pretty much the same as above but for fanfics. Here at Website/TVTropes we use slightly different terminology, hence "universe" instead of "reality".
* AnotherDimension — Technically directions, such as left/right, up/down, and forward/backward. Some people say past/future, or time, is another one. Some also say the direction perpendicular to past/future is to different universes, hence over time "dimension" has become synonymous with "universe".
* ConstructedWorld — It's not Earth. Simple, right?

* AlternateHistory — Some major event in the past changed, like the UsefulNotes/RussianRevolution never occurring.
* AlternateTimeline — This alternate reality is reached by rewriting history. Different from AlternateUniverse the same way using a new piece of paper is different from using an eraser or correction fluid.

* AlternateTooniverse — An animated counterpart to reality.
* BizarroUniverse — A lot of things in that world are reversed from the usual context, good is evil or vice versa, etc.
* CrossoverAlternateUniverse — A universe that is created for a crossover.
* DarkWorld — Our world's dark, sinister opposite.
* {{Elseworld}} — Famous characters are placed into a situation which is potentially wildly different from the norm.
* ForWantOfANail — One small change caused a huge difference between the universes.
** InSpiteOfANail — Tiny changes have made the world almost the same but the differences are critical (or wildly different, but the characters are still the same and still together).
* GenderBentAlternateUniverse — Males and Females are reversed.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot — You get to see how the world would have turned out if you were never born/existed.
* MergedReality — A universe where two or more universes are combined together into one.
* MirrorUniverse — Often a subset of BizarroUniverse, Good and Evil are reversed, but otherwise most of the things are the same.
* TheMultiverse — The people involved have the capacity to cross over to more than one additional universe.

* RetroUniverse — The universe obviously resembles the past, and may or may not include additional fantastic elements.
* RoleSwapAU — A universe where some or all of the main characters are the same, but they've rearranged their roles. Often seen in superhero stories, with the same group of characters but the powers, alter egos and origin stories rearranged.
* ShortScreentimeForReality — The alternate universe is incredibly vast and exciting compared to our own limited, ordinary universe.

Another type of Alternate Universe is that which doesn't take any of the characters, but instead takes concepts, or machines. Such Alternate Universes are uncommon, but exist. ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' is the perfect example, with no less than ''ten'' separate universes, all of them rehashing essentially the same plots and concepts — in particular, the conflict between those living in space and those living on Earth. With [[HumongousMecha giant robots.]]

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/BeauIsAfraid[='=]s'' version of 2022 contains a number of differences from our reality, including there existing a US city and state named Corrina, the US being involved in a military conflict with Venezuela, Moviefone still maintaining its now defunct call-in service, and there being no references to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.

* ''Film/TheOne'' is a cross between this and ConservationOfNinjitsu. The villain is traveling around to the various universes killing all the alternate versions of himself so he'll have all the power that would otherwise be spread out between them. Since the hero is one of the alternates, he winds up with bigger and bigger slices of the power pie as well, making for a ''battle royale'' when it's down to just the two of them.

* Several ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign settings are alternate universes to both Earth and each other, though this is rarely referenced in game materials and comes mostly from WordOfGod.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'' exists in a Multiverse (along with Literature/{{Dragonlance}} and the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms), but it's not made up of alternate universes. Rather, it's the term used for the system of heavens and hells, elemental planes, the Astral Plane, and so on; the different campaign settings are planets in the same universe.
** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. The entry for 1357 DR in ''The Grand History of the Realms'' notes that in that year, on an alternate Material Plane world known as Earth, Ed of the Greenwood gathered together various books and maps given to him by Elminster of Shadowdale, and made the first publication of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' supplement ''Shards of the Exalted Dream'' features four versions of the main Exalted universe: a SpaceOpera setting, a modern day setting, a fighting game-style setting, and a setting based on ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003''.

* One ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' story featured Leslie travelling to a universe where the Drama Tag was never pulled. Another one-off strip featured a series of parallel universes in which Hasbro had made different announcements about the new ''Toys/{{Transformers}}'' toy, making the point that the FanDumb would have been unhappy regardless (and ending with what will probably be the only official ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'' crossover.)

* ''Film/BeauIsAfraid''[='=]s version of 2022 contains a number of differences from our reality, including there existing a US city and state named Corrina, the US being involved in a military conflict with Venezuela, Moviefone still maintaining its now defunct call-in service, and there being no references to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic.

[[caption-width-right:347:The criminal and the ape-thing, OK. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking But a]] ''[[RuleSixtyThree woman]]''?! That's just silly.]]