When the Avengers assembled in Avengers: Endgame, everyone cheered in theaters. Most even wanted to jump into the screen to join the heroes in the fight against Thanos. But obviously, the Marvel universe isn’t real. But wouldn’t it be great if it was?
Going to the Marvel Earth and meeting heroes like Captain America, Thor, or Iron Man is perhaps the secret dream of many kids.
It turns out that we are connected to their Earth in a way, even though they are just comic book characters. In the Marvel comics universe, their Earth is linked to ours. In fact, fourth-wall-breaking heroes like Deadpool and She-Hulk do know of our existence. As in, they know that there’s a world where they exist only as comic characters.
Our world, or the real world, has been named Earth-1218 in the Marvel comic universe. It is the keystone Earth from which all the other Earths in the Marvel multiverse originate from. Earth- 1218 was created by writer and editor Jordan D. White in 2008’s New Exiles #3 after his own birthday. Volume 1, issue 3 of Indestructible Hulk revealed that four years of Marvel comics published were equivalent to 1 year of action on Earth-616.
What Is Earth-1218 in Marvel?
There are various prominent Earths in Marvel’s multiverse like Earth- 616 is where Marvel comic heroes live, Earth-199999 is the MCU Earth, Earth- O is where it’s impossible to go to, Earth-839 is an alternate reality of Earth- 199999, etc. One such Earth amidst it is Earth-1218. Designated as such in the comics by A.R.M.O.R., it’s our real world.
It’s our Earth where Marvel heroes are present only as comic book heroes. Everyone here can buy Marvel comics and read them, but we aren’t lucky enough to actually have superheroes operate here. There’s a theory that the Marvel comic book writers are connected subconsciously to the Marvel Earth-616, where all the action is happening.
As a result, they can write about it in great detail. Fourth-wall-breaking characters like Deadpool, Gwenpool, and She-Hulk are all aware of our Earth. After all, they have directly addressed people reading their books several times over the years.
Gwenpool once claimed that she hailed from our universe. But that can’t be true. After all, she doesn’t exist on Earth-1218 as a person. So she came from one of the universes similar to ours. It’s possible that her existence was probably the only difference between the two.
Many readers of Marvel comics have termed it as the bleakest Earth in the Marvel multiverse because we don’t have cosmic entities, advanced technology, superheroes, or anything even remotely interesting. In issue 3 of Indestructible Hulk, it was revealed that four years’ worth of Marvel comics published on Earth-1218 was equal to 1 year passing on Earth- 1218.
So can heroes from Earth-616 come to our world? Not really. One of the rules of our Earth in the Marvel multiverse is that superpowered beings wouldn’t be able to access their powers here. Now, this is because, as per the Grandmaster, our reality’s rules are way too strict to allow for the existence of gods and superheroes.
But who created Earth-1218?
Who Created Earth-1218?
Why is our Earth specifically named 1218? Jordan D. White, a writer and editor of Marvel comics, named Earth-1218 in New Exiles issues 3 (2008). He called it as such after his birthday, and it’s the core Earth where other Earths originate from.
In a Twitter post, D. White said:
“I just want to say, also, that when I took the opportunity to give our reality a number and gave it my birthday, I did it for just vanity and coolness reasons… but it is actually super-appropriate & meaningful to me that my reality is the one where the supernatural is not real.”
Here’s the tweet:
However, we aren’t the only ‘real world’ in the Marvel multiverse. There’s Earth-38119, which has a similar reality. In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, evil Spider-Man met Stan Lee, the universe’s creator.
Apart from this, other alternate but similar Earths are Earth-1610 and Earth-12180. It’s assumed that Gwenpool jumped from Earth-1610 to Earth-616 of Marvel. Also, on Earth-1610, it has been shown that Natalie Portman and Benedict Cumberbatch played Jane Foster and Dr. Strange.
Overall, even though Earth-1218 is boring, it’s still a tangible fictional connection to the much-beloved Marvel universe.
So what did you think of the creation of Earth-1218?
Do you think it should be kept as it is in comics, or should we see some superhero action happening in our reality?
Let us know in the comments below.
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