Spider-Man: Far From Home - Everything You Need To Know About Marvel's Multiverse

8. What Is The Multiverse?

Marvel Multiverse Uatu
Marvel Comics

Alternate earth stories might not be exclusive to comics, but the medium was the first to really master them. DC is perhaps better known for its myriad of parallel dimensions, with there being 52 alternate realties that govern the publisher's universe, but Marvel have spotlighted just as many brilliant stories featuring this specific trope.

Whether it's Marvel or DC, both publishers have one key universe situated within each respective multiverse. For DC this used to be New Earth, but is now referred to as Prime Earth, while the main Marvel universe is designated Earth-616. There are 52 parallel realities in the DCU at any one time, while there's almost a limitless array of them over at Marvel, owed in part to the sheer array of 'What-If?' stories published since 1977.

So, how do these alternate 'Earths' tend to differ? Well they can diverge from the 'main' reality in a whole host of different places, even down to the most acute detail. Some present bold departures from the established canon, like the Ultimate Universe, while others boast only minor differences.

The trope effectively affords writers freedom to put their own stamp on iconic characters, storylines and even designs themselves. Whether it's by setting the entire universe in the 17th century, making every character a zombie or simply posing the question of 'What if Spider-Man didn't become a Crimefighter?', these alternate realities all manage to present a unique twist on the classic Marvel formula, and can even intersect with the main universe depending on the scenario.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.