Marvel Comics has a history of creating multiple Earths through its multiverse concept in crossover storylines. This has happened extensively in X-Men comics. The Days of Future Past and Age of Apocalypse storylines have been two of the most significant X-Men events, and those broken multiversal Earths have been hugely instrumental in future storylines and even unique new characters introduced into the Marvel Universe. What is always most interesting about these events is that, in most cases, the entire storyline’s plot revolves around the fact that they claim things aren’t really that bad on Earth-616, because they could always be worse, as these broken Earths all demonstrate.
Videos by ComicBook.com
From mutant apocalypses to worlds where villains finally won and conquered the planet, here is a look at the most broken Earths in the Marvel Comics multiverse.
9) Battleworld
There have been more than one Battleworld. While the first was Beyonder’s planet, where he placed Marvel heroes and villains to fight, the one from the most recent Secret Wars was constructed by Doctor Doom to become the savior world for those rescued from the Incursions. Doom made himself God Emperor Doom, and he ruled over the world with a heavy fist. This world seemed medieval and harsh for most people living there.
Doom weaponized the Thor Corps, sent people into the pits of the planet to die, and mind-controlled several people to worship him, including Susan Richards and her daughter, Valeria. Doom believed he had saved the world, but his arrogance had created a world where no one was truly free, and he had built it solely to boost his own ego.
8) Maestro’s Earth
Earth-9200 first appeared when The Incredible Hulk accidentally ended up on a different Earth and faced a futuristic version of himself who had made himself the ruler. It seemed like a terrible place, and Rick Jones said as much when Hulk found him still living there. This Earth was devastated by a nuclear war, and the survivors tried to make it before Hulk rose from a sleep in a cave and decided to become the new ruler.
Calling himself Maestro, he began to kill anyone who rejected his place as the ruler, including Hercules, and forced the people to serve him whether they liked it or not. Hulk was able to beat him when he showed up, but the Maestro comic books of the 2020s finally showed what he did before Future Imperfect introduced the Earth.
7) Old Man Logan
Earth-807128 was a shocking, futuristic Earth when it introduced the world to Old Man Logan. On this Earth, the villains all teamed up together and finally beat the heroes, splitting the United States into territories with the bad guys running everything. Wolverine was the weapon used to kill the X-Men, as Mysterio used his powers to make it appear that villains were overrunning Xavier’s school.
Logan killed them all before Mysterio revealed it was the X-Men that he had just slain. Logan retired and disappeared, getting married and having kids. The United States became a wasteland, comparable to the Mad Max movies, and was a terrible place to live. Hulk even became a villain and had his kids murder Logan’s family to force him out of retirement. Nothing here was good, and only the darkest heroes were able to last.
6) Age of Apocalypse
Legion is one of the most powerful mutants alive, and he is responsible for Earth-295. That is because Professor X’s son went back in time to kill his father’s most dangerous enemies, and when he tried to kill Magneto, Xavier sacrificed himself to save his friend. This made Legion disappear from existence.
In this world, Magneto took Xavier’s place to lead the X-Men, but he wasn’t strong enough to stop Apocalypse, who conquered the world. Apocalypse ruled the world with an iron grip and killed anyone who dared threaten him. Even after Apocalypse died, Wovlerine ended up going evil and became the new ruler as Weapon Omega, proving that this world would never be a safe place to live.
5) Days of Future Past
The first major X-Men alternate universe Earth appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past. This was Earth-811, and in this world, the assassination of an anti-mutant presidential candidate named Robert Kelly caused the planet’s governments to ramp up their Sentinel production to protect them from mutants. Unfortunately, the Sentinels decided to attack everyone, killing other heroes, such as the Avengers, and seizing control of the government.
Kitty Pryde was sent back in time to prevent the assassination attempt and succeeded in altering the future of Earth-616. However, as time showed, Earth-811 could never change its future and remained a wasteland for mutants and humans alike. This was evident when Rachel Summers made the jump to Earth-616, and the X-Men realized that changing the timeline only benefited their Earth.
4) Age of Ultron
A rare “Age” crossover series that had little to do with the X-Men, Age of Ultron was a 2013 series that saw Ultron succeed in his goal of defeating Earth’s heroes and attempting to eliminate all humankind. He killed billions of humans and countless heroes and villains who tried to stop him. There were only a few heroes still alive, and they sought to find a way to stop Ultron.
This was Earth-61112, a deadly place where Ultron ruled from the future, beyond the heroes’ reach. While the heroes went to the future and failed to defeat Ultron, Wolverine traveled to the past to kill Hank Pym before he could create Ultron, which ultimately made the Earth an even more broken place when Logan returned to his future.
3) Marvel Zombies
Marvel Zombies is easily one of the most broken Earths, and it was even worse than that. This Earth had zombified heroes who were still able to use their brains and found their way to travel to other Earths in the multiverse, infecting and destroying them as well. Earth-2149 (also known as Earth-Z) began with the appearance of an unidentified hero in the world, bringing a plague with him that rapidly spread, ultimately evolving into a zombie outbreak.
Since zombie heroes like Reed Richards kept his intellect, and the zombies beat Galactus and stole his Power Cosmic, they destroyed all life on Earth until there was no one left to eat. They became almost unstoppable and destroyed multiple Earths along the way.
2) Ruins
There was a brilliantly conceived Marvel Comics series called Marvels, which retold the origins of superheroes in the Marvel Universe from the point of view of ordinary people on the streets. In 1995, Marvel decided to play with this idea, but it instead told the story of an Earth that was devastated, with most heroes drastically different.
The Fantastic Four died rather than becoming heroes, the Avengers all perished while trying to lead a rebellion, Peter Parker and Bruce Banner became mutated creatures instead of heroes, and Professor X held mutants prisoner due to horrible side effects. In this story, Phil Sheldon sought to learn what caused the Earth to go horribly wrong to write a book about it.
1) Cancerverse
Earth-10011 is the most broken place in the entire Marvel Comics multiverse. This began when Captain Mar-Vell died from cancer and cursed Death, which ultimately corrupted his allies in the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Defenders.
The heroes then cast a dangerous spell that actually killed Death. This caused the elder gods, known as the Great Old Ones (here referred to as the Many-Angled Ones), to take control, and every living being in existence is corrupted and serves them. Cancerverse ultimately turned not only Earth but the entire universe into a corpse.
What Earth in Marvel Comics do you consider the most broken? Let us know your pick in the comment section below.
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Ufotable -
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
