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This is the origin of one of the most compelling concepts in comic book history: the DC Multiverse, first imagined in The Flash #123.
September 1961. The magazine shelves received the number 123 of Flash, the famous DC Comics character who had conquered comic book lovers since his appearance 21 years ago. However, this was not an ordinary installment, on the contrary, over time it would become one of the milestones in the world of comics for proposing the origin of an attractive concept that today, 60 years later, continues to amaze everyone: the DC Multiverse.
But what is special about this edition that cost 10 cents and that did not miss an opportunity to present the “Flash of two worlds” on its cover? Why did this comic that announced “a spectacular story that will surely become a classic” become the start of one of the great proposals of the editor of Batman and Superman?
The origin of the DC Multiverse: what happens in the number 123 of The Flash?
Written by Gardner FoxThe Flash #123 seemed to tell a typical story in comics. Barry Allen, the coroner who can run at superhuman speeds after having an accident in his lab, is late for an appointment at the Central City Social Center. To make amends for his irresponsibility, he offers to save the day for his hostess (and love interest). iris west doing him an unusual favor: introducing himself as the Flash to entertain a group of orphans.
Also read: Unlocking the history of the DC Multiverse
After speeding up a rope, Allen disappears from the center stage. “What has happened to the Scarlet Runner? By vibrating his body and spinning the rope at super speed, he disappeared from sight, but… where did he go, ”the comic reads. The illustrations of Carmine Infantino show us the whereabouts of the speedy hero, a city he knows only as the home of a legend: Jay Garrickthe first Flash.
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With that premise, in which Allen and Garrick join forces to save the world from Golden Age Flash, the 1961 issue presented the existence of a parallel universe where the lives of the heroes are reflected in other people, with other stories and perhaps other intentions. Upon entering Keystone City, one of the cities of Earth-Two as he would later be known, the red speedster laid the foundation for the origin of the DC Multiverse.
Also read: Stories from the Dark Multiverse – The tragic twist to iconic DC stories
The importance of #123 of The Flash
Although The Flash number 123 only presented the meeting between the two most popular Flash to that date, the crossing of the worlds of Barry Allen and Jay Garrick established one of the keys for the possible meeting between other heroes or other versions of the same character. In the comic, Earth-One and Earth-Two are located in the same space, but have different vibration frequencies. If a character –as was the case with Allen– managed to synchronize his body to the vibration of the parallel universe, he could enter it.
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A couple of years later, the concept of alternate Earths was exploited in issue #21 of Justice League of America where the Silver Age Justice League he met with the Golden Age Justice Society. During the following years, the publishing house continued to develop stories in this scenario full of universes where its heroes could meet and live together; Take your powers and save your world and the world of others.
Although the possibilities, as well as the universes that could be portrayed in the pages of the comics, seemed endless, the DC Multiverse ended –temporarily– with the publication of the limited series. Crisis on Infinite Earthsin 1985. There, the writer Marv Wolfman it caused a cosmic catastrophe that not only brought together almost all the characters of the publishing house, it also destroyed all the Earths created to that date, except one. With this event, the canon that today governs the DC Universe was formed.
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As if it were fate, Crisis on Infinite Earths also ended the story of Barry Allen, the character who two decades earlier had managed to occupy more than one universe for the first time in DC comics.
The DC Multiverse in film and television
The DC Multiverse returned to the role in the sagas Infinite Crisisfrom 2005; 52from 2006 and End Crisis, from 2008. In the latter, the existence of 52 Earths was reestablished, thus solidifying the scenario we know today. They also laid the foundation for some of DC’s ambitious projects on film and television.
Also read: The meetings that revolutionized the history of DC Comics
One of them is the crossover that the television series Arrow and Flash –both from The CW– had in 2015, starting the arrowverse located on Earth-One. This union also allowed the crossing with the series Supergirlthe animated web series Vixen and the drama DC’s Legends of Tomorrowwhere characters from the different universes detailed in the comics and in the previously created series flow.
Perhaps the most anticipated project related to the DC Multiverse is the movie Flashwhich will premiere in 2022. In the director’s project Andy Muschietti will open the DC Extended Universe –where there are also titles such as man of steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017) and Aquaman (2018)– to projects previously addressed in the cinema outside the DCEU label.
Proof of this is the presence of michael keatonwho will reprise his performance as Bruce Wayne / Batman that made him famous at the end of the eighties in movies of Tim Burton. Ben Affleck He will also appear as the Dark Knight and ezra miller will once again wear the Scarlet Runner costume.
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