Hugh Everett - father of rock singer Eels, fact fans - first came up with his many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics back in 1957. It's taken a while to catch on with the fuddy duddies in the scientific world, but a different bunch of brain boxes were all over it. You can't swing a dead Professor Xavier without hitting an alternate earth in comic books, planets which seem a lot like the ones we recognise but with key differences. DC and Marvel have used the concept since the Silver Age, using it to tell "imaginary" stories that were distinct from the imaginary stories they were already putting out (unless there really is a Superman and these have all been documentary comics, if that's a thing): tales of Batman and Superman Jr, young superheroes teaming up to fight young crime; the Elseworlds line, which has seen everything from the Justice League as cowboys and Batman fighting Jack the Ripper; and entire lines of comics distinct from the main one, like DC's Vertigo and Marvel's New Universe. The ones that stand out, though, are the ones that are profoundly dark, downbeat and disturbing. Take the Age of Apocalypse, where the world is a burnt-out husk ruled over by superpeople, Earth-1198 where Superman was raised for evil by Darkseid, or Marvel's Earth on Fire which is a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin deal. Dark timelines have cropped up in everything from Star Trek to Community, creating some of the most well-regarded and best-loved storylines in fandom (along with some sweet goatees) and comics are no exception: here are ten of the darkest.
10. JLA: Earth 2 (DC)
Designation: Earth 1 (confusingly) Throwing caution to the wind and ignoring the complex, intricate designations DC had given to each of the Infinite Earths it sought to wipe clean with each successive Crisis, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's first mainstream collaboration dove right into the most basic of alternate universes found in comics: what if all the goodies were baddies? Except, being a Grant Morrison comic, it all gets a bit more complicated than that. Breaking through the multiverse Alexander Luthor - the good version of the regular continuity's Lex - recruits the JLA to help take down their evil counterparts, the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, who make everyone's life a living hell. With the slogan "Cui bono?" ("Who profits?"), the CSA run their version of Earth but still allow governments to operate, albeit in their pocket. Despite their best efforts Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman can't right the world lorded over by their doppelgangers Ultraman, Owl Man and Superwoman. They conclude that, much like how justice always prevails on their Earth, crime and disorder always will for the CSA's planet. So...they just kind of leave them to it. Well, after stopping Brainiac from crashing the two universes into each other to achieve some God-like powers somehow, anyway. That's probably the darkest part of JLA: Earth 2. Superheroes accepting that this other Earth sucks and it always will. Sorry, inhabitants of Earth 1!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
