Changes: Earth 1956

Revision as of 21:23, 4 April 2019

Target Earth — **Earth-Thirty-Two / Earth 1A**

Earth-Thirty-Two is most likely^[1] the official name for the universe the Super Friends lived in.

One of the most striking elements of this reality was that its heroes were absolute paragons of virtue, with no fault or flaws to speak of. They were incorruptible and wholly committed to helping others while preserving the doctrines of “truth, justice and peace for all mankind.”

Naming the universe

Note, this portion of the article is to be understood from the real world perspective.

The naming of the universe of the Super Friends franchise is a bit complicated. When the Super Friends comic first came out, E. Nelson Bridwell wanted the setting to be Earth-One. There were multiple references to other comics that were clearly set on that Earth, and there were even stories that firmly named it Earth-One. However later episodes of Super Friends and also DC books made it impossible for the Super Friends to exist in that Earth, which at the time was the mainstream world of the DC Multiverse. One thing is for sure though, that the Super Friends consider their Earth Earth-One, no matter what otherworlders call it.

Because of the obvious fact that the two Earths were in different universes, fans used the name Earth-1A while Bob Rozakis suggested the name Earth-B^[2] for the universe that the Super Friends franchise took place in.

Some people included DC's humor comics (like the the Inferior Five) as part of Earth-B^[3] while others listed it as a separate reality called Earth-Twelve.^[4] In any case E. Nelson Bridwell was the writer of the Super Friends comic series which clearly put it on "Earth-B" and since it tied into the Super Friends television show, that also took place on "Earth-B". More recently, Super Powers comics volumes 1-3 were formally assigned to Earth-Thirty-Two. It stands to reason because of this, the universe that the Super Friends were part of was indeed Earth-Thirty-Two.

Since stories that happened after Crisis were assigned to Earth-Thirty-Two (including DC Challenge #5–12 and Batman: The Last Angel, 1994) it's clear Earth-Thirty-Two was not part of "another corner" of the multiverse seen in DC Comics. This is also clear, in that the Crisis on Infinite Earths also happened in the Superfriends reality, and not only that, it happened from the same perspective as it did for Earth-One in the comics.

In other words, Earth-One had a similar Crisis in another corner of the multiverse, with this version of Earth-Two. That was shown in DC Comics. However, on another corner of the multiverse, another Earth, also called Earth-One by the local Super Friends, or Earth-1A or Earth-Thirty-Two; also had a completely identical Crisis, but it instead involved this version of Earth-Two, or Earth-2A.

What this tells us is quite a bit, and that's that the DC Comics Earth-One and the Superfriends Earth-1A, or Earth-Thirty-Two or whatever we're calling it, are very much distinct realities, but they share a common history. This has been demonstrated again and again. And yes, the Superfriends comics have referenced other DC Comics that were also set on Earth-One as well. This also doesn't mean that they are one in the same, just very similar. Even the Super Amigos Comic Books and the Super Powers comics have complete reprints of DC stories; but that doesn't make them part of that continuity. They just have a similar history.

Another way to illustrate this is this way: In the Super Friends coninuity, many events happened that also happened in the comics; such as the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Destruction of Krypton, the Park Row tragedy and the origin of Superman. Are we to assume that since those events happened in both continuities that they are one and the same universe? Of course not. If we did, we might as well say that the Nolanverse is also part of the Super Friends continuity, since it had the Park Row tragedy as well, and can anybody actually name a continuity in which Krypton didn't blow up? It would be silly to say such a thing, because these wouldn't be compatible.

Continuity With 'Other' Universes

Here are a few of the similarities between Earth-1A and Earth-One

Most of the Heroes and Villains resembled the Silver Age / Earth-One Characters exactly

(Earth-One characters link directly to the DC Database wiki):

Silver Age / Earth One

Earth-1A

The Batman of Earth-One and the Batman of Earth-1A (according to the SuperFriends Comic Book issue #14) had a relationship with Silver St. Cloud.

Earth-1A effectively merged the histories of Earth-One and Earth-Two

The SuperFriends Universe included characters that had counterparts on Earth-Two but not Earth-One

(Earth-Two characters link directly to the DC Database wiki):

Silver Age / Earth One

Earth-1A

T.N.T. (Earth-1A)^[5]
Dan the Dyna-Mite (Earth-1A)^[6]
Huntress (Earth-Two / Earth-1A)^[7]
Icicle (Earth-1A)^[8]

Earth-1A effectively merged the histories of Earth-One and Earth-S

The SuperFriends Universe also had a Captain Marvel^[9] - as seen in Legends of the Superheroes (1979)
The main version of Captain Marvel existed on Earth-S.^[10]
- NOTE: he did have close analogs such as Captain Thunder (who was Billy Batson on Earth-Forty and William Fawcett on Earth-276). There was another unnamed analog who with a different version of Superwoman was seen on Earth-423.

Characters Created for This Reality:

To date a few of these characters have been recreated for various TV shows (links below are external).
From the DCAU Universe, we have:

Black Vulcan aka Juice
Samurai aka Wind Dragon
Apache Chief aka Long Shadow

From the Young Justice Universe we have:

Apache Chief aka Tye Longshadow

Earth 1B

Earth-1B was the unofficial designation of the universe that the Super Powers Vol. 3 (1986) takes place in. The Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium assigned these stories to Earth-Thirty-Two which seems to be a hypertime reality. Furthermore, CoIEAE has an "Earth-B2" which refers back to a Earth-Forty-Six which has no listing in the index so how it figures in all this is unknown though the name suggests something similar to "Earth-B".

List of similarities

In both universes the Justice League are referred to as the Super Powers Team.
In both universes the Super Powers Team's headquarters is the Hall of Justice. (Note: On Earth-One, there never was a Hall of Justice. There was a version on New Earth, however.)
Robin is a member of the team on both earths, whereas on Earth-One, he's only part of the Teen Titans, and he was known as Nightwing at that point.

References

↑ See reason why I say "most likely" in the "naming the universe" article.
↑ Earth-B was eventually expanded to out of continuity "Earth-One" stories edited by Murray Boltinoff, written by Bob Hancy or E. Nelson Bridwell, and/or appeared in Brave and the Bold and World's Finest Comics. (Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index)
↑ Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition
↑ Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index
↑ As seen in the SF Comic Book, issue #12 (June/July 1978).
↑ As seen in the SF Comic Book, issue #12 (June/July 1978). On Earth-Thirty-Two Daniel Dunbar's brain was replaced with that of Adolf Hitler and he died fighting the remains of the JSA.
↑ As seen in Legends of the Superheroes (1979).
↑ As seen in a commercial from Post Cereals in 1982
↑ Captain Marvel is shown in the live action Superfriends special Legends of the Superheroes, establishing that he is most likely a native of Earth-1A. However, it is vaguely possible that he was visiting from another earth, perhaps an earth similar to Earth-S or brought in due to Earth-Thirty-Two's hypertime nature.
↑ Go to the DC Database for more on Earth-S.

[1] See reason why I say "most likely" in the "naming the universe" article.

[2] Earth-B was eventually expanded to out of continuity "Earth-One" stories edited by Murray Boltinoff, written by Bob Hancy or E. Nelson Bridwell, and/or appeared in Brave and the Bold and World's Finest Comics. (Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index)

[3] Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition

[4] Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index

[5] As seen in the SF Comic Book, issue #12 (June/July 1978).

[6] As seen in the SF Comic Book, issue #12 (June/July 1978). On Earth-Thirty-Two Daniel Dunbar's brain was replaced with that of Adolf Hitler and he died fighting the remains of the JSA.

[7] As seen in Legends of the Superheroes (1979).

[8] As seen in a commercial from Post Cereals in 1982

[9] Captain Marvel is shown in the live action Superfriends special Legends of the Superheroes, establishing that he is most likely a native of Earth-1A. However, it is vaguely possible that he was visiting from another earth, perhaps an earth similar to Earth-S or brought in due to Earth-Thirty-Two's hypertime nature.

[10] Go to the DC Database for more on Earth-S.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Because of the obvious fact that the two Earths were in different universes, fans used the name [[Earth-1A]] while [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Rozakis Bob Rozakis] suggested the name [[Earth-B]]<ref>Earth-B was eventually expanded to out of continuity "Earth-One" stories edited by Murray '''B'''oltinoff, written by '''B'''ob Hancy or E. Nelson '''B'''ridwell, and/or appeared in '''''B'''rave and the '''B'''old'' and ''World's Finest Comics''. (''Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index'')</ref> for the universe that the Super Friends franchise took place in.
-Some people included DC's humor comics (like the the Inferior Five) as part of Earth-B<ref>''Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition''</ref> while others listed it as a separate reality called Earth-Twelve.<ref>''Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index''</ref> In any case E. Nelson Bridwell was the writer of the [[Super Friends (comic book)|Super Friends comic]] series which clearly put it on "Earth-B" and since it tied into the [[Super Friends (TV Series)]] that also took place on "Earth-B". Finally, [[Super Powers (comics)|Super Powers comics]] volumes 1-3 were formally assigned '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' it stands to reason the entire Super Friends occurred on '''Earth-Thirty-Two'''.
+Some people included DC's humor comics (like the the Inferior Five) as part of Earth-B<ref>''Crisis on Infinite Earths: Absolute Edition''</ref> while others listed it as a separate reality called Earth-Twelve.<ref>''Official Crisis on Infinite Earth Crossover Index''</ref> In any case E. Nelson Bridwell was the writer of the [[Super Friends (comic book)|Super Friends comic series]] which clearly put it on "Earth-B" and since it tied into the [[Super Friends (TV Series)|Super Friends television show]], that also took place on "Earth-B". More recently, [[Super Powers (comics)|Super Powers comics]] volumes 1-3 were formally assigned to '''Earth-Thirty-Two'''. It stands to reason because of this, the universe that the [[Super Friends]] were part of was indeed '''Earth-Thirty-Two'''.
-Since stories that happened ''after'' Crisis were assigned to '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' (including [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/DC_Challenge_Vol_1 DC Challenge] #5–12 and [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_The_Last_Angel Batman: The Last Angel, 1994]) it would appear that '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' was not part of the "original" multiverse but part of the [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Hypertime hypertime] multiverse.
+Since stories that happened ''after'' Crisis were assigned to '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' (including [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/DC_Challenge_Vol_1 DC Challenge] #5–12 and [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_The_Last_Angel Batman: The Last Angel, 1994]) it's clear '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' was not part of "another corner" of the multiverse seen in [[DC Comics]]. This is also clear, in that the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' also happened in the Superfriends reality, and not only that, it happened from the same perspective as it did for [[Earth-One]] in the comics.
+In other words, Earth-One had a similar Crisis in another corner of the [[multiverse]], with this version of [https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Earth-Two Earth-Two]. That was shown in [[DC Comics]]. However, on another corner of the multiverse, another Earth, also called Earth-One by the local [[Super Friends]], or [[Earth-1A]] or '''Earth-Thirty-Two'''; also had a completely identical Crisis, but it instead involved this version of [[Earth-Two]], or [[Earth-2A]].
-As a hypertime reality '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' would be subject to distortions and alterations as it interacted with the "main" DC reality and other hypertime realties (such as '''Earth-Forty'''<ref>Superfriends Wonder Woman related events of Earth-Forty ([[Wonder Woman, Vol. 1 168 |''Wonder Woman, Vol. 1 #168'']]) in [[Super Friends 30|''Super Friends #30'']]</ref>). It certainly would explain inconsistencies within and between seasons (like the Legion of Doom and Superfriends forgetting all the time travel and extra dimensional means at their disposable when the Legion destroys the Earth in an attempt to take it over) as well as the comics.
+What this tells us is quite a bit, and that's that the [[DC Comics]] Earth-One and the [[Super Friends!|Superfriends]] Earth-1A, or '''Earth-Thirty-Two''' or whatever we're calling it, are very much distinct realities, but they share a [[Continuity with Earth-One|common history]]. This has been demonstrated again and again. And yes, the [[Super Friends (comic book)|Superfriends comics]] have referenced other [[DC Comics]] that were also set on [[Earth-One]] as well. This also doesn't mean that they are one in the same, just very similar. Even the [[Super Amigos Comic Books]] and the [[Super Powers (Volume Four)|Super Powers]] [[Super Friends books|comics]] have complete reprints of DC stories; but that doesn't make them part of that continuity. They just have a similar history.
-For example, the information about [[Rayna]] in the Super Powers comics contradicts the information about her in the Super Friends comics. For one thing, she has a different name, among other things. Read the [[Rua]] article as an example of how to write an article like that. Originally this fandom wiki used the designation [[Earth-1B]] to describe volume three of the Super Powers comics but since ''Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium'' stated that it was part of '''Earth-Thirty-Two''', we have made that a redirect page.
+Another way to illustrate this is this way: In the Super Friends coninuity, many events happened that also happened in the comics; such as the [[Crisis on Infinite Earths]], [[Destruction of Krypton]], the [[Park Row tragedy]] and the origin of [[Superman]]. Are we to assume that since those events happened in both continuities that they are one and the same universe? Of course not. If we did, we might as well say that the [https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Nolanverse Nolanverse] is also part of the Super Friends continuity, since it had the Park Row tragedy as well, and can anybody actually name a continuity in which [[Krypton]] didn't blow up? It would be silly to say such a thing, because these wouldn't be compatible.
 ==Continuity With 'Other' Universes==