The Multiversity is a two-issue limited series combined with seven interrelated one-shots set in the DC Multiverse in The New 52, a collection of universes seen in publications by DC Comics. The one-shots in the series were written by Grant Morrison, each with a different artist. The Multiversity began in August 2014 and ran until April 2015.
Background and creation In the conclusion to the 1985 comic book crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Multiverse collapsed, merging the history of five universes into one single new universe. In the 1998–1999 series The Kingdom, author Mark Waid and co-creator Grant Morrison introduced the concept of Hypertime, a super-dimensional construct that allowed for all publications to be canon or in-continuity somewhere. Hypertime, although infrequently used, was a replacement and explanation for the multiple timelines and histories DC had published through the years.
In the 2005–06 crossover event Infinite Crisis, the survivors of the first Crisis—Alexander Luthor Jr. from Earth-Three, Superboy-Prime from Earth-Prime, and Kal-L of Earth-Two—attempted to create a perfect world to replace the current DC Universe (DCU), with Luthor restoring, merging, and destroying worlds that had once existed in the Multiverse or were featured in various Elseworlds publications. Luthor failed, due to the intervention of the universe's heroes, and inadvertently altered the history of the DC Universe. Following Infinite Crisis, a single Earth and universe existed in the DCU as a result of Luthor's actions; however, it was later revealed that this was not actually the case and that the Multiverse still existed at this time. Prior to the publication of Infinite Crisis, editor Dan DiDio revealed that Hypertime no longer exists in the DCU.
Following Infinite Crisis, the year-long weekly maxiseries 52 (2006–2007) led to the revelation that the Multiverse still exists, in the form of 52 alternate universes. Morrison stated that the return of the Multiverse was intended to launch new franchises, explaining:
In 2007–08, the weekly series Countdown (a.k.a. Countdown to Final Crisis) was published as a follow-up to 52 and lead-in to DC's next line-wide crossover event Final Crisis, along with various spin-off titles featuring the new Multiverse. The Multiverse plays a large part in the Final Crisis (2008–2009) series, where a team of Supermen from across the Multiverse assemble to defeat a rogue Monitor, Mandrakk. The series introduced Calvin Ellis, a version of Superman from Earth-23 who is the President of the United States. Grant Morrison based the character on Barack Obama. The character would later appear in Grant Morrison's Action Comics #9 (July 2012) and was a central character in The Multiversity. Final Crisis was described by editor Dan DiDio as the finale in a trilogy of stories about the Multiverse, describing each Crisis: "The death of the Multiverse, the rebirth of the Multiverse, and now the ultimate story of the Multiverse."
When asked about their future role in expanding the Multiverse following Final Crisis, Morrison stated: "I'm in the early stages of putting together material for a Multiverse series but I want to spend a lot of time getting it exactly right, so there are currently no deadlines and I don't anticipate any of this coming out until 2010." Morrison later revealed that they had been working on a new book set on Earth-4, featuring Charlton Comics characters, but inspired by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's 1986 limited series Watchmen, which in turn was proposed initially as being based on Charlton Comics characters.
In Wizard #212 (April 2009), Morrison detailed their project, The Multiversity, intended for publication in 2010. Morrison states that the series: "will pick up a bunch of strands from 52 and Final Crisis." They noted that their work would include a one-shot for each of seven different universes, where they "all link together as a seven-issue story that re-imagines the relationship between the DCU and the Multiverse."
Morrison provided Jeffrey Renaud of Comic Book Resources with further details, explaining the reasoning behind the project: "The idea was to do seven books that would be #1 issues for seven different teams on seven different Earths. Each of these would be the bible for what could potentially be an entire comic line for each of these Earths." Originally, their co-writers (Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, and Greg Rucka) on 52 were to have participated in the project.
In 2010, it was revealed that Morrison's frequent collaborators Cameron Stewart and Frank Quitely were, at the time, the only artists chosen for The Multiversity. Quitely would illustrate Pax Americana, featuring Morrison's reworking of the Charlton characters, based on Earth-4. Stewart's one-shot would be Thunderworld, focusing on Captain Marvel of Earth-5. Artist Frazer Irving stated that Morrison "reserved a small part of my soul" to do work on The Multiversity.
In 2011, DC Comics announced that its entire line of publications would be cancelled following Flashpoint (2011), leading into a rebooted DC Universe known as The New 52. The finale of Flashpoint #5 (September 2011) saw three distinct universes from the Multiverse—WildStorm Universe, Vertigo, and the DC Universe—merge into one universe, designated 'Prime Earth' (also later stated to be designated as Earth-33). Dan DiDio clarified that there was still a Multiverse, but gave no details on how it had changed and suggested that The Multiversity might provide answers. Morrison later revealed that The Multiversity would not be out until 2012, noting that Quitely had just begun working on his issue. Morrison also gave a definitive length for the series, nine one-shots, where two are book-ends with the other seven each focusing on a different universe. Tonally, Morrison has described The Multiversity as feeling similar to their work on Seven Soldiers (2005).
In September 2012, as part of MorrisonCon, DC Entertainment officially confirmed The Multiversity, giving the series a publication date of late 2013. It was also revealed that the series would feature eight one-shot issues, each issue being 38 pages plus an eight-page backup. Morrison also confirmed that The Multiversity had not been affected by anything in The New 52, but would still feature a "little sort of wave over to the DC Universe," and that The New 52 fits "really nicely into the scheme without doing any damage."
In February 2013, Morrison stated that they had created a guidebook for DC's Multiverse, incorporating all 52 alternate universes, which other authors reference when working with the Multiverse concept. The guidebook was included as the sixth installment of The Multiversity and was published in January 2015; it contained maps and blueprints to the Multiverse as well as brief descriptions of the meta-humans that populate 45 out of its 52 alternate Earths (with details about Earths 14, 24, 25, 27, 28, 46 and 49 omitted entirely). The only information given in Multiversity about these seven planets is that, in each case, the Earths were 'Created by an Inner Chamber of 7 Monitor Magi for a mysterious purpose yet to be revealed.'
Publication history In April 2014, The Multiversity was announced for publication in August 2014. The announcement also revealed more of the series' artists including Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Ben Oliver, Frank Quitely, Cameron Stewart, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado. In May 2014, the first issue, by artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, was officially solicited by DC Comics. Each subsequent one-shot was published monthly.
In July 2014, during San Diego Comic-Con, DC Comics held a panel titled "The Multiversity Enrollment", featuring creators Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart with editor Eddie Berganza. Posters, featuring a map of the Multiverse, designed by Morrison and Rian Hughes, were handed out to attendees of the panel. DC later included a version of the map as a "Channel 52" exclusive at the end of books published in the week of July 28, 2014.
In May 2015, a director's cut of the Pax Americana one-shot was published.
Synopsis The Multiversity featured a story arc about the DC Comics Multiverse being invaded by a race of extradimensional parasites known as The Gentry. The Gentry come from beyond the immediate DC "local" multiverse, and each member is a cultural fear or "bad idea" personified as a living, demonic entity. Intellectron is the immoral genius; Demogorgunn is the mindless, sprawling horde; Hellmachine is unchecked, uncontrollable technology; Dame Merciless is the ultimate extreme of the femme fatale; and Lord Broken is insanity and despair.
The Gentry were drawn to the Multiverse by the emanations of ruined dreams and negative ideas and they seek to seize ownership of every single mind in existence and, in so doing, to control all thoughts and stories. To this end, they create and use Ultra Comics #1, a "haunted" comic book that can affect and even control its readers, as a vector to infect the Multiverse as well as simultaneously launch an attack on every Earth in the Orrery of Worlds.
Various heroes from across the Multiverse are forced to band together, calling themselves Justice Incarnate, to face this extra-dimensional threat and initiate the "Battle for All Creation."
Structure The series contains nine issues and consists of six one-shots, a guidebook containing a map of the Multiverse and entries describing each of the 52 Earths, and a two-part story bookending the one-shots and serving as a prologue and conclusion—which Morrison described as an "80-page giant DC super-spectacular story." Each one-shot takes place in a different universe, and each publication features different trade dress and a different storytelling approach. Morrison explains: "each comic looks like it comes from a different parallel world, so they're all slightly different."
Morrison stated that when developing the series, they had to think of a way for the featured universes to communicate with each other. They recalled the "Flash of Two Worlds" storyline from The Flash #123, where the adventures of the Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick of Earth-2) were documented as a comic book on Earth-1. Morrison incorporated this device into The Multiversity, stating "they're reading each other's adventures, so there's some way that if a real big emergency arises, they can communicate using comic books. So each world has a comic from the previous world which has clues to the disaster that's coming their way, and they all have to basically start communicating using writers and artists so it's my big, big statement." Morrison further explained how the device was used to create a cohesive story: "[I]t's almost like a baton race or a relay race where each of the worlds can read a comic book that's published in their world but which tells the adventures of the previous world. The characters are actually reading the series along with the readers."
The Multiversity #1 The first chapter, illustrated by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Nei Ruffino, The Multiversity features heroes from all 52 of the Earths in the DC Universe coming together to battle an attack by the Gentry on the Multiverse. Morrison described The Multiversity as a big team book, featuring characters from all over the Multiverse, and featuring a team that looks "after the welfare of the entire multiverse and they're headquartered in a place called the Multiversity." Morrison compared the team to a Justice League of the Multiverse. The team includes characters such as Earth-26's Captain Carrot as well as Thunderer, an Aboriginal version of Marvel Comics' Thor from Earth-7.