Multiverse


 * For the behind the scenes concept, see Shared multiverse.

"So, Jay is saying he's from, like, a mirror-world. Or a parallel universe that's very, very similar to ours." "Multiverse would be a more apt description."

- Cisco Ramon and Martin Stein

The multiverse, also referred to as the manyverse by Ralph Dibny, is a concept that refers to the existence of infinite universes that comprise everything that is. Each universe within the multiverse is referred to as a different "Earth," and each vibrates at a different frequency so that they cannot normally interact with or be seen by each other. If one is able to travel fast enough, it is possible to breach the laws of physics and travel between these Earths, although breaches can also be created by Vibers or by technological means. There were originally 52 known Earths in the multiverse, with an additional one lacking a formal designation due to its horrific state, becoming known as "Earth-X". However, the wider scope of the multiverse includes at least 898 alternate universes, which may or may not be a part of the "local" 52-multiverse. Theoretically, for every decision a person makes, there's an alternate universe where they don't act on that decision in the same way.

History
"This is our earth. Let's call it Earth-1. And this second Earth, let's call it Earth-2. This is where Jay claims to be from. And these other Earths, 3, 4, 5, to infinity, all of them, are nearly identical to ours. And they all exist at the same time, giving us endless alternatives to what we have here. For example, the Joe West on Earth-2, your doppelgänger, he might not be a detective. He could be a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. And you, the Barry Allen here is the Flash, but over there, he could be an electrician."

- Martin Stein explaining the multiverse to Team Flash

In January 2015, John Constantine and Ritchie Simpson investigated a case related to the Egyptian dream temple technique. The spell was originally created by priests of Ancient Egypt as a pathway to "the dream temple". It was rediscovered in the 21st century by philosophers and researchers of occult, such as Jacob Shaw. Shaw, who already showed psychopathic tendencies in life by killing his assistant, created an alternate reality, in which he would lure curious students and hunt them down. Ritchie eventually managed to wrestle control over the alternate universe from Shaw, and wished to stay there and make it into something beautiful. However, he was convinced by Constantine to abandon such escapism and come back to his old life on Earth-1.

In early 2015, Barry Allen and the rest of Team Flash accidentally opened a singularity above Central City; though they succeeded in closing it, a series of 52 breaches between Earths-1 and 2 were opened throughout the city as a result of their actions.

Between mid to late 2015 and early 2016, an Earth-2 speedster known as Zoom began exploring the multiverse before using the breaches to launch an assault on Earth-1's Central City in an attempt to steal The Flash's speed. Zoom sent numerous meta-humans through the breaches, each tasked with killing The Flash, but none succeeded. Team Flash, in an effort to stop Zoom's onslaught, systematically sealed each of the breaches, leaving only one open on a lower level inside S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry, Cisco Ramon, and Harrison Wells used the breach to travel to Earth-2 in order to rescue Jesse Wells, sealing the breach upon their return.

Attempting to increase his speed, Barry used a tachyon device, which in turn caused him to run so fast that he accidentally created a breach between Earth-1 and Earth-38.

During his travels, Zolomon discovered that Earth-1 happened to be in the center juncture of the entire multiverse and that from there one could travel to any of the other infinite numbers of Earths. Enthralled by the idea of conquering all of existence, in May 2016 he attempted to use the Mercury Labs Magnetar to instantaneously destroy every Earth in the multiverse besides Earth-1, using its central location as a means of targeting every other universe at the same time. Through the sacrifice of his own time remnant, Barry Allen was able to stop the device moments before it destroyed the multiverse, and also managed to defeat Hunter in the process.

Sometime prior to late 2018, Mar Novu began testing various Earths across the multiverse, stating that he was testing them for an impending crisis. He tested an unknown number of Earths, but after testing and decimating Earth-90, Earth-90's Barry Allen, a speedster known as The Flash, managed flee to Earth-1 to warn its heroes that their universe would be next to be tested.

Between 2018 and 2019, Jay Garrick detected a number of antimatter signatures throughout the multiverse. By October 2019, he had marked multiple antimatter signatures on his map, as he detected them near Earths-2, 6, 7, 17, 21, 26, 32, and X. In that same time frame, antimatter was unleashed upon Earth-2, killing its population and ultimately destroying the universe.

Known extra-dimensional planes

 * Fifth Dimension
 * Heaven
 * Hell
 * Purgatory
 * Speed Force
 * Negative Speed Force
 * Jacob Shaw's alternate reality
 * Juru
 * World between worlds
 * Mallus's realm
 * The Monitor's realm

Pocket dimensions

 * Unnamed pocket dimension

Earth-1

 * Original timeline
 * Pre-Flashpoint timeline
 * Flashpoint timeline
 * Original post-Flashpoint timeline
 * Current post-Flashpoint timeline
 * Legion of Doom's alternate reality
 * Elseworlds (x2)

Earth-90

 * Elseworld

The Flash
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Arrow
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Behind the scenes

 * The fact that the number of breaches that opened in Central City is 52 is a reference to both the multiverse crisis storyline known as 52 and The New 52 imprint in the DC Comics.
 * During an interview, the producers of the NBC television show Powerless, jokingly referred to the multiverse by saying that their show takes place on "Earth-P" as it was a DC Comics comedy. This is of course, unofficial and they actually revealed, at the time of the interview, that there were no plans to crossover with any other DC property, the show has since been canceled.
 * Harrison Wells and Jay Garrick have both stated that there is an infinite number of Earths in the multiverse. On the other hand, Kara Danvers claimed that there were only 52 of them but Wells himself corrected her, describing Earth-X as a 53rd Earth, indicating that, aside for Earth-X, there are 52 known Earths in the multiverse. Since then these have expanded to at least 221 universes. In DC Comics this has been explained with the introduction of a "local multiverse" concept, consisting of 52 universes, and infinite universes outside of the prime multiverse.
 * In the mobile version of the Injustice 2 game, the CW's Black Lightning is named "Multiverse Black Lightning" just like the rest of the Arrowverse characters, indicating that he could possibly exist in the same shared multiverse.