Earth-One is a name of a fictional universe that has appeared in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. Earth-One was given its name in Justice League of America #21 (1963), after The Flash #123 (1961) explained how Golden Age (Earth-Two) versions of characters such as The Flash (Jay Garrick) could appear in stories with their Silver Age counterparts (Barry Allen). This Earth-One continuity included the DC Silver Age heroes, including the Justice League of America. Earth-One, along with the four other surviving Earths of the DC Multiverse, are merged into one in the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. In Infinite Crisis, Earth-One was resurrected and merged with the primary Earth of the publication era to create a New Earth.
Publication information
Publisher: DC ComicsFirst appearance: Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956)
Last Appearance: DC Comics Presents #97 (September, 1986)
Created by: Gardner Fox
Earth-One itself was populated by various individuals who resembled those of its primary Multiversal counterpart, Earth-Two. Some were direct parallels to their predecessors (ex. Superman (Earth-One) and Superman (Earth-Two)), some less so (ex. Atom (Al Pratt) and Atom (Ray Palmer)). The two Earths were closely linked in terms of parallel development, although Earth-Two individuals usually predated their Earth-One counterparts by a few decades.
The primary superheroes were limited to the western heroes of the eighteen hundreds and few others, until Superman arrived from Krypton and ushered in a new age of heroes. On this Earth, Superman had a career as Superboy and teamed with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century.
From the perspective of the Earth-One Universe, the first travel to another parallel universe occurred when The Flash (Barry Allen) accidentally changed his vibrational frequency to match that of Earth-Two, where he met Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash. That meeting resulted in years of interaction between the original super-hero team, The Justice Society of America, and their younger Earth-One counterparts, The Justice League of America.
As Barry Allen was the first traveler, the honor of naming the two Earths fell to him - his universe's Earth was called Earth-One, Jay Garrick's became Earth-Two. As noted years later by the elder Superman, they (the JSA) were too polite to mention that they were around first [1].
As Allen explained to Garrick in their first meeting:
Created by: Gardner Fox
In story information
Official Name: Earth-One
Aliases: Earth
Status: Destroyed
History
Earth-One was the designation for an Earth, and the Universe it inhabited, that existed prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths.Earth-One itself was populated by various individuals who resembled those of its primary Multiversal counterpart, Earth-Two. Some were direct parallels to their predecessors (ex. Superman (Earth-One) and Superman (Earth-Two)), some less so (ex. Atom (Al Pratt) and Atom (Ray Palmer)). The two Earths were closely linked in terms of parallel development, although Earth-Two individuals usually predated their Earth-One counterparts by a few decades.
The primary superheroes were limited to the western heroes of the eighteen hundreds and few others, until Superman arrived from Krypton and ushered in a new age of heroes. On this Earth, Superman had a career as Superboy and teamed with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century.
From the perspective of the Earth-One Universe, the first travel to another parallel universe occurred when The Flash (Barry Allen) accidentally changed his vibrational frequency to match that of Earth-Two, where he met Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Flash. That meeting resulted in years of interaction between the original super-hero team, The Justice Society of America, and their younger Earth-One counterparts, The Justice League of America.
As Barry Allen was the first traveler, the honor of naming the two Earths fell to him - his universe's Earth was called Earth-One, Jay Garrick's became Earth-Two. As noted years later by the elder Superman, they (the JSA) were too polite to mention that they were around first [1].
As Allen explained to Garrick in their first meeting:
"..I vibrated so fast -- I tore a gap in the vibratory shields separating our worlds! As you know -- two objects can occupy the same space and time -- if they vibrate at different speeds!
My theory is, both Earths were created at the same time in two quite similar universes! They vibrate differently -- which keeps them apart! Life, customs -- even languages -- evolved on your earth almost exactly as they did on my Earth! Destiny must have decreed there'd be a Flash -- on each Earth!" [2]
