Comics can be complicated. There are an infinite number of universes in the DC Multiverse "Orrery of Worlds," with a core of 52 worlds in the "local universe." With over a half-dozen more worlds in the Dark Multiverse, that's 60 known worlds in the Multiversity. It can be difficult to keep track of what Earth is what, so we've put together this list of the key inhabitants of each DC Comics Multiverse Earth and what defines it from all the other Earths.
Back in the original DC's Multiverse there were well over a hundred Earths and parallel universes, each with its own version of DC Comics' familiar heroes. Want a Superman who was raised by apes instead of Ma and Pa Kent? Pre-Crisis Earth-183 is for you. With so many worlds and so many storylines, it was a little overwhelming to know what was canon.
In 2007 they tried cleaning things up and streamlined all the places in the old, pre-Crisis storyline down to 52 Earths (with a couple of spots like Limbo and the Antimatter Universe thrown in for good measure). Things still weren't as tidy as they'd like (even though it was still more organized than Marvel's universes) and in 2011, with help from Flash and the always volatile speedforce, DC created the New 52 from Flashpoint, an event that basically destroyed and remade all the universes. It even let them have canon versions of other publisher's properties, like the Marvel Comics on Earth-7 and Earth-8 and Stan Lee's Just Imagine... miniseries on Earth-6.
Inhabitants: Characters in DC Comics's main continuity First appearance: Flashpoint #5 (August 2011)
Created by the temporal merging of Earth-0, Earth-13, and Earth-50 from the previous Multiverse to restore the Timestream in the aftermath of the Flashpoint event.
Inhabitants: Modern interpretations of DC Comics characters First story appearance: Superman: Earth One (December 2010)
The only currently known heroes are Batman, Green Lantern, the Teen Titans, Superman, and Wonder Woman. This is the setting of the Earth One graphic novel series.
Inhabitants: Young versions of the Golden Age, pre-Crisis DC Comics characters First appearance: Earth 2 #1(July 2012)
Notable modernized versions of DC's characters from the Golden Age of Comics include Val-Zod succeeding Superman, an Aquawoman as Queen of Atlantis and Oliver Queen is the Red Arrow. This Earth was destroyed by Darkseid and human civilization was restarted on another planet in Earth 2 Society (2015-2017).
Inhabitants: Versions of the Charlton Comics line of DC Comics characters First appearance: The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1 (Nov 2014)
The comics use both the the visual and character style of the Watchmen graphic novel and retains some similarity to the pre-Crisis Earth-Four and the 52 Multiverse's Earth-4.
Inhabitants: Versions of the Fawcett Comics line of DC Comics characters First appearance: The Multiversity: Guidebook #1 (January 2015)
This Earth retains some similarity to the pre-Crisis Earth-S and the 52 Multiverse's Earth-5. This universe is the closest in the Multiverse to Heaven.
