| Earth-One | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Pre-Crisis version: Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956) 52 version: 52 Week Fifty-Two (May 10, 2007) |
| Created by | Gardner Fox |
| In story information | |
| Type | Dimension |
| Notable people | Silver Age Justice League of America |
| Notable races | Humans |
Earth-One (also Earth-1) is a name given to two fictional universes (The Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis versions of the same universe) that have appeared in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. The first Earth-One was given its name in Justice League of America #21 (1963), after The Flash #123 (1961) explained how Golden Age (Earth-Two) versions of characters such as The Flash (Jay Garrick) could appear in stories with their Silver Age counterparts (Barry Allen). This Earth-One continuity included the DC Silver Age heroes, including the Justice League of America. Earth-One, along with the four other surviving Earths of the DC Multiverse, are merged into one in the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. In Infinite Crisis, Earth-One was resurrected and merged with the primary Earth of the publication era to create a New Earth. Later, in 52, a new version of Earth-One was created.
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Characters from DC Comics were originally suggestive of each existing in their own world, as superheroes never encountered each other. However, this was soon changed with alliances being formed between certain protagonists. Several publications, including All-Star Comics (publishing tales of the Justice Society of America), Leading Comics (publishing tales of the Seven Soldiers of Victory) and other comic books introduced a "shared-universe" among several characters during the 1940s until the present day.
Alternative reality Earths had been used in DC stories before, but were usually not referred to after that particular story. Also most of these alternative Earths were usually so vastly different that no one would confuse that Earth and its history with the so called real Earth. That would change when the existence of another reliable Earth was established in a story titled "Flash of Two Worlds"[1] in which Barry Allen, the modern Flash later referred to as Earth-One (the setting of the Silver Age stories) first travels to another Earth, accidentally vibrating at just the right speed to appear on Earth-Two, where he meets Jay Garrick, his Earth-Two counterpart.
Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985–1986) was an effort by DC Comics to clean up their continuity, resulting in the multiple universes, including that of Earth-One, combining into one. This involved the destruction of the multiverse, including Earth-One and the first appearance of the post-Crisis Earth.
At the end of the Infinite Crisis limited series, the realigned world is called "New Earth". There are now 52 universes: "New Earth", and Earths-1 to 51. In the final issue of the 52 weekly series, it is revealed that fifty-two duplicate worlds have been created and all but New Earth have been altered from the original incarnation.
This Earth-One will be featured in the Batman: Earth One and Superman: Earth One graphic novels.[2]
The Earth-One suit of the Batman will be available for download in Batman Arkham City.[3]