Earth-616

In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 or Earth 616 is the name used to identify the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place.

Origin of Earth-616
The term was first used in "Rough Justice," a story credited to both Alan Moore and Alan Davis published in July 1983 by Marvel UK in the anthology comic The Daredevils (and was later reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperback). Saturnyne uses the term to differentiate Brian Braddock, the Captain Britain of the regular Marvel Comics universe, from the other members of the Captain Britain Corps, each of which inhabit different universes. The designation was later used by the American branch of Marvel Comics in the Excalibur title, which frequently referenced Captain Britain's early UK-published adventures. This comic was written by Chris Claremont, who had created Captain Britain, and by Alan Davis, the artist on the UK-published series.

Alan Moore is usually credited with creating the term. However, Alan Davis has stated that the designation of Earth 616 was actually first made by Dave Thorpe, the previous writer of the UK-published Captain Britain stories.

In addition, a difference of opinion exists regarding the selection of the number 616. In 2005, Alan Moore's son-in-law John Reppion (who is married to Alan Moore's daughter Leah Moore), stated on an Internet message board that the number 616 was arbitrarily chosen by Moore and had no significant meaning, saying it "was just a random number of no significance chosen because people always seemed to be talking about 'earth 2' or 'earth 4' but never any higher numbers." However, Alan Davis has said that it comes from 616, a variation on the Number of the Beast, picked because Dave Thorpe "wasn't a fan of the modern superhero genre" and expressed this in his stories, "such as recording his opinion of the Marvel Universe with the designation 616."

References to Earth-616
Most references to Earth-616 appear in Marvel UK titles, in Excalibur, or in Marvel reference texts such as the guide to Alternate Universes (2005). In addition, there are a number of other references to Earth-616:


 * In Marvel 1602 #6 (March 2004), Uatu the Watcher refers to the universe as Earth-616.
 * In Marvel Knights 4 #15 (April 2005), Earth-616 is mentioned.
 * In Uncanny X-Men #462 (September 2005), an alteration in reality of Earth-616 causes trans-temporal devastation, and Saturnyne attempts to destroy that particular temporal continuity to "cauterize the wound".

The term has also appeared in Exiles (in, among others, the House of M tie-in issues) and is in regular use by the writers of Marvel's Official Handbooks for the simplicity of the term.

There has been at least one attempt within Marvel canon to change the designation of Earth-616. In the final story arc of X-Man (issues #71-74), writer Steven Grant began to refer to the planet as "Earth 611" due to the destruction of several other Earths (which were all apparently "higher on the list" of the multiverse than the Marvel Earth) by a godlike entity. This change, an allusion to the events of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, was not adopted by other writers.

In other media
In a superhero themed episode of  NCIS, an excused suspect states "Why on Earth 616 would I know?". The actor pronounces each digit, referring to "Earth six one six".

In the film Thor: The Dark World, Erik Selvig is portrayed as being somewhat mentally unstable and in his time at a mental hospital he draws a number of diagrams and equations on a blackboard. Near the center of all of this, the words '616 universe' can be seen underlined.

In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Repairs", Phil Coulson refers to his team's plane as "S.H.I.E.L.D. 616".

Editorial reaction
Former Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort have each stated their dislike for the term Earth 616.