The Multi-Verse coming to theatres near you!!!!!

[Barry]

       For those who have seen, or are  about to see, “Spider-Man No Way Home,” the new Doctor Strange movie, or even the New Flash movie (which will have both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck appearing as Batman), I thought you’d like to know the comic book history of the MULTI-VERSE.
 
Briefly, comic books first appeared on stands in the mid 1930s and Superman appeared in 1938. During the 1940’s comics books became very popular and sold upwards of 25 million copies a month. Super-heroes by many companies were popular. But by the late 1940s almost all the super-heroes’ comics (with the exception of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) had died out.
 
In 1956 DC comics introduced a NEW Flash, with no connection to the old one.  That was successful so they introduced a new Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman and even Batman got a “New Look.”
 
Fans started writing in saying “what happened to the old guys?” This surprised the publisher because they not only though only kids read comics not adults but that their old characters were remembered.
 
So in Flash Comics #123, (1963) The new Barry Allen Flash discovers a new dimension, parallel to ours, but vibrating at a different speed. This was the Universe of the ORIGINAL Flash (Jay Garrick) and all those Golden Age DC Characters. The OLD Earth was called Earth II and Barry’s was Earth II. A couple of years later, in Justice League of America #21, the ORIGINAL LEAGUE (called the Justice Society) meets the Justice League and every year, in the summer, they joined forces. I loved those comics.  DC began to add many “Earths.’ For example, when DC bought the original Captain Marvel from Fawcett Publications  he was shown on his own Earth.
 
In 1977, Marvel introduces What If?, which is now series on Disney Plus.  The concept was to show alternative directions that famous stories could have taken.  The author said that these variances existed in alternate universes.
 
 
But the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS occurred in the 1990. DC and Marvel got together and presented: The Amalgam age of Comics for 24 issues!!!  That is, what would happen if the DC Universe merged with the Marvel Universe!  We would get Wolverine and Batman becoming Dark Claw, Superman and Captain America become Super Soldier and we have Bruce Wayne Agent of SHIELD.
 
So now this concept has made into the movies. Like movies, comics share a common talent pool. So when you se the new Spider-Man, note that they hold up a sign at one point that says FLASHPOINT. It is a direct reference to the Flash of Two Worlds. And my childhood.

[SRW1000]

I'm going to activate grumpy old man mode here, and chime in how much I hate the multiverse concept.

At their best, they can result in some interesting stories by twisting well-worn plots, such as was done with Marvel's What If.  In the opposite corner was DC's confusing multiple worlds.  As a kid, I never enjoyed trying to figure out if I was reading a story about the "real" Batman, or the "fake" one from Earth 2, so that cemented me as a Marvel guy.

Bringing things up to current entertainment, the whole multiverse thing, like time travel, opens an avenue to cheapen plots and offer easy outs.  These movies are young enough that there are still may meaningful stories that could be explored rather than take a lazy route rather than coming up with clever stories (I'm looking at you - Avengers Endgame).

Afterall in a multiverse where anything can happen, who cares?

Scott

[tripplej]

for Barry..

"So when you see the new Spider-Man, note that they hold up a sign at one point that says FLASHPOINT. It is a direct reference to the Flash of Two Worlds. And my childhood."

[Barry]

I'm going to activate grumpy old man mode here, and chime in how much I hate the multiverse concept.

At their best, they can result in some interesting stories by twisting well-worn plots, such as was done with Marvel's What If.  In the opposite corner was DC's confusing multiple worlds.  As a kid, I never enjoyed trying to figure out if I was reading a story about the "real" Batman, or the "fake" one from Earth 2, so that cemented me as a Marvel guy.

Bringing things up to current entertainment, the whole multiverse thing, like time travel, opens an avenue to cheapen plots and offer easy outs.  These movies are young enough that there are still may meaningful stories that could be explored rather than take a lazy route rather than coming up with clever stories (I'm looking at you - Avengers Endgame).

Afterall in a multiverse where anything can happen, who cares?

Scott

Scott, I absolutely agree with you. I too am a Marvel guy and have written for them and have several books out that I have contributed to. I stopped reading DC comics for many reasons and one of them was the Multiverse. And I stopped reading Marvel comics soon after Roy Thomas is introduced the Multiverse at Marvel. That was about 1976. Marvel was famous for its continuity, something they didn’t have at DC. They began to lose it when What if was introduced.
Here is one of the books I helped write and gave the scans for.

[SRW1000]

I'll cut What If a little bit of slack.  Yes, they were stories from outside of the Marvel Universe, but they weren't crossovers, but rather alternate takes on some of the most famous moments from various Marvel stories.  And they were one-offs that stood alone.

The multi-verse wasn't used as a way of solving a tough situation, but rather showcasingng what could have happened if actions diverged from the "real" timeline.  This allowed some of Marvel's writers to take stories in a different imaginative direction, often showing how the original storyline was the best, and how what sounded like a good idea might have ended in disaster.  

Having them framed by The Watcher was also an interesting element to the story, adding both continuity and grandeur to the series.  Although I do seem to remember the characterization of The Watcher changing with different writers' pens.  I could be all wet on that point, since I haven't revisited them since they first came out.  And none of this may apply to the second series that I didn't follow.

Not all of them were good and memorable, however.  Just one of the hazards of what was basically an anthology series.

Scott