For the explosion in Dakota City, see Big Bang (Dakotaverse).
The Big Bang is a cosmological model of the universe that has become well supported by several independent observations. After Edwin Hubble discovered that galactic distances were generally proportional to their redshifts in 1929, this observation was taken to indicate that the universe is expanding. If the universe is seen to be expanding today, then it must have been smaller, denser, and hotter in the past. This idea has been considered in detail all the way back to extreme densities and temperatures, and the resulting conclusions have been found to conform very closely to what is observed.
History
Pre-Crisis
Krona was an Oan scientist obsessed with observing the creation of the universe, despite an Oan legend that said discovering that secret would cause a great calamity. Krona created a machine that allowed him to see into the moment of creation. He saw an enormous hand holding what appears to be a spiral galaxy.
Somehow, his experiment disrupted the process of creation, with terrible consequences -- it caused the creation of not a single universe, but the generation of an infinite number of universes -- The Multiverse.
The Multiverse co-existed with an Antimatter Universe. The Anti-Monitor caused a wave of antimatter to sweep across the infinite universes in an effort to gain absolute power and remake existence to his liking. He was opposed by his opposite number, The Monitor.
The Monitor's plans did not completely work against the Anti-Monitor, ultimately costing the Monitor his life. Five universes remained. The heroes, at the Spectre's urging, pooled their resources and traveled back to the Dawn of Time where they confronted the Anti-Monitor. The villains, meanwhile (1,000,000,000 years later), traveled to Oa to try to stop Krona from peering back in time and creating the Multiverse (and the Antimatter Universe the Anti-Monitor came from).
The Anti-Monitor revealed to the assembled heroes that he lured them to him to absorb their life forces. He explained:
- Only here, before creation can the future be changed! When Krona taps the cosmic forces, opening the door between matter and antimatter ... it shall be my hand he sees! My hand which shall destroy the positive matter multiverse for now and forever! My hand which shall make the antimatter universe supreme! ... The Multiverse will no longer exist![2]
However, the Spectre, aided by Earths' mightiest sorcerors, managed to (apparently) defeat him.
Post-Crisis
As Krona peered back through the cosmic veil, the Big Bang began:
- In the beginning there were many. A Multiversal infinitude ... so cold and so dark for so long ... that even the burning light was imperceptible ... but then the light grew, and the Multiverse shuddered .. and the darkness screamed as much in pain as in relief. For in that instant a Universe was born. A Universe with mighty worlds orbiting burning suns. A Universe reborn at the Dawn of Time. What had been many became one.[2]
As explained later by Harbinger, in this reality, there only ever was one Earth with one history.[3]
Links and References