Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is in an alternate multiverse which has its own series of superpowered beings, such as the cosmic radiation powered family the Fantastic Four; the hard-luck, wall-crawling web-slinger Spider-Man; the mutant X-Men that defend a world which hates and fears them; and the union of their Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers.

History

Some denizens of the DC Universe have encountered beings from, or have traveled to, these Marvel universes.^[1] The Justice League met the Avengers from the Marvel universe during an adventure involving Krona.

It is the primary Marvel universe and is sometimes designated as the Earth-616 universe by its own natives. During one instance, the primary Marvel universe was combined briefly with New Earth to form the Amalgam Universe, in which superpowered beings from each universe were merged into beings with characteristics from both (e.g., Super-Soldier, a merger of Superman's cells and Captain America).^[2]

History: The following is a bulleted list of historical events that took place between the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe.

Mantis moves from the Marvel Universe and lives in the DC Universe as Willow.
During Trial of Superman!, the Cyborg Superman is exiled into a black hole. He is transported to the Marvel universe, where he fights Silver Surfer and Parallax. Cyborg Superman escapes and returns to his native universe.^[3]
The Brothers enter into a conflict with one another, using their respective universes' Earths' superheroes as proxies.
The Amalgam Universe fights to preserve itself from destruction.
The JLA and The Avengers fight to win a cosmic game between Krona and the Grandmaster. The cosmic egg created at the end would be encountered again by the JLA.

Differences with the Marvel Earth

The Marvel Earth is slightly smaller than the Earth native to the DC Universe.^[4]
The Marvel Earth has fewer cities and less urban growth, at least on the east coast of the United States.^[4]
For various reasons, including racial prejudice, mutants are openly persecuted by the human populace in the Marvel universes, where in the DC universes, many "mutants" (i.e. metahumans with innate powers) are accepted and some are even idolized by public opinion.
On this Earth, Hercules is a respected hero and did not rape Hippolyta.^[4]
Whereas in the DC universe Atlantis is led by Aquaman and is divided between Tritonis and Poseidonis (among other cities), the counterpart of Atlantis in the Marvel Universe is a unitary city-state headed by Namor. In addition, there are some differences between the physiology of the Atlanteans in the DC Universe and the Atlanteans in the Marvel Universe.
There is no recognized analog to the Speed Force in the Marvel universes. The Flash, having traveled to the Marvel Universe with his powers, found it difficult to maintain his internal vibrations in order to remain there due to the absence of Speed Force.^[5] Hence most speedsters in the Marvel Universe are usually not able to attain lightspeed directly, unless they exist as, or are able to convert into, light particle beings such as one of their Captains Marvel (currently Spectrum).
Chaos Magic is much less powerful in the temporarily shared Marvel universe.^[4]
There were considerably fewer active heroes during World War II on Marvel Earth (A logical reasoning if you compare the number of All-Star Squadron members with those of the Invaders and All-Winners Squad).
The Marvel counterpart of Adolf Hitler was killed by Human Torch ^[6], and resurrected by scientist Arnim Zola as the Hate-Monger. In the DC Universe (or at least Earth-One), Hitler was killed by the Unknown Soldier and stayed dead.
Considerably more Marvel Western Characters than DC Western Characters.
The gods in the Marvel Universe have a greater involvement in the mortal world; for example, Thor, Hercules, and Gilgamesh are or have been members of the Avengers at some point of time. In the DC Universe, the gods prefer to act more subtly and use agents, such as Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman.
In Marvel Universe, Captain Marvel was not a mystical champion, but an alien hero.

Residents

See Characters of the Marvel Universe

Notes

Crossovers between Marvel and DC in which the characters of both publishers seem to live in the same universe occur on Crossover Earth. Examples are Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and Batman vs. Hulk. JLA/Avengers (Volume 1) is an example of a crossover in which the mainstream DC and Marvel universes' characters actually cross over.

Trivia

There have been many characters and teams inspired by Marvel characters over the years, such as the Retaliators, Assemblers, and Maximums.
In JLA/Avengers #3 Hal Jordan briefly refers to the Marvel universe as "Earth-Two".

Links and References

References

↑ see Category:DC Marvel Crossovers and Category:Marvel DC Crossovers
↑ Super-Soldier #1, April 1996
↑ Green Lantern Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 Avengers/JLA #2
↑ JLA/Avengers #1
↑ Saga of the Original Human Torch #3

[1] see Category:DC Marvel Crossovers and Category:Marvel DC Crossovers

[2] Super-Soldier #1, April 1996

[3] Green Lantern Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1

[AJLA2-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 Avengers/JLA #2

[5] JLA/Avengers #1

[6] Saga of the Original Human Torch #3

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Marvel Universe

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