Earth-A
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Earth-A is a universe in the Marvel Comics Multiverse. It first appeared in Fantastic Four #118. It was given the numerical designation of Earth-721 in the Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 6: Fantastic Four.
On Earth-A, only two members of the famous Fantastic Four (Reed Richards and Ben Grimm) were aboard Richards' spaceship on the fateful day that the group was exposed to cosmic rays. Afterwards, in an inversion of their status in the primary Marvel continuity (Earth-616), Richards became the rocky, monstrous Thing while Grimm became the pliant Mister Fantastic. Johnny Storm (the Human Torch on Earth-616) was believed dead in the Vietnam War, and his sister Susan Storm (the Invisible Girl in Earth-616) married Grimm. The Thing of Earth-616 met this Thing when he was accidentally teleported to Earth-A by the Inhumans' dog Lockjaw.
Later, the extra-dimensional warlord Arkon became involved in a scheme to ignite nuclear war on three worlds (Earth-616, Earth-A, and the Fifth Dimension) so that he could use the energy released by the wave to power his own world. The Thing of Earth-A fought Arkon on Earth-616, confusing Alicia Masters, who was romantically involved with the Thing of Earth-616. Meanwhile, Arkon's ally in Earth-616's Roxxon Corporation used Reed Richards' time machine to unleash dinosaurs and other threats into Earth-A. The Fantastic Four learned the truth and, with the assistance of the Reed Richards of Earth-A, halted the war. The Thing of Earth-616 then traveled to the Nexus through which Arkon hads planned to absorb this energy and destroyed it after defeating its guardian, Gaard. Gaard was actually Earth-A's Johnny Storm, who had been saved from death and given superhuman power by Arkon's scientists. After he failed to stop Grimm, he departed into the multiverse.
Over the following years, Gaard's power would improve to the level that he could eliminate redundant timelines. He somehow physically transformed or gained a suit of armor, and renamed himself Vangaard. He attempted to destroy the extra-temporal realm of Elsewhen, but was opposed by the Elsewhen-raised superhero Huntara and her teammates in the Fantastic Four-allied team Fantastic Force. When Huntara learned who Vangaard really was, her teammate, Earth-616's Human Torch turned off his flame sheath. When Vangaard saw his own heroic counterpart, he had a change of heart, and decided to assist those wayward timelines instead of destroying them.
Marvel's Earth-A is not the same as DC Comics' Earth-A, which was created on a whim by the evil counterpart of Johnny Thunder from Earth-One and subsequently ceased to exist.
