Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and is the only planet that contains organic life forms. It is sometimes referred to as The World, The Blue Planet or its Latin name Terra.
Name:
Earth
Aliases:
- The World
- Blue Planet
- Terra
- Sol III
- Midgard
Start year:
1938
General Information
Earth is home to millions of organic species that include humans and is currently the only planet where life is known to exist. It was formed 4.54 billion years ago, and life appeared on its surface in a billion years. The earth has seven continents (Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, South America, and Antarctica) and five oceans (the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and the Southern Ocean).
In comics, Earth is where the majority of stories are set due to the majority of characters being human, with various comic publishers known to add fictitious countries, cities and landmarks as well as the use of existing areas.
Countries of Earth
For a detailed list of countries featured in comics, click here.
The Earth in Golden Age Science Fiction
Much as the USA and the ideals of its founding fathers are used as the inspiration for certain heroes (Superman, Captain America) so too in golden age comics did Earth become a stalwart as humanity was depicted as having an incorruptible and indomitable will.
At the center of it all
As most of the major comic book publishers incorporate cosmic stories into their universes, it invariably comes to portray Earth as somewhat of an anomaly in the universe. Despite its relatively remote location on one of the arms of the Milky Way galaxy, the Earth becomes the center for much intergalactic attention. Despite the obvious real world explanation that this occurs because this is where the comic books are published, in the comics the writers occasionally attempt to give some explanation to this. In some cases this derives from the fact that Earth people have an uncanny tendency to develop super powers. In other cases it is because the superpowers of Earth dwellers at times become enough to overcome galactic threats (as might be the case with Galactus or the Sun-Eaters.) One of the more elaborate stories was compiled by DC Comics in the story arcs Blackest Night and Brightest Day, where it is explained that so much focus is on Earth because this is where all life in the universe began.
As a planet which is treated somewhat differently in fiction, there are a number of characteristics which make it noteworthy as well. It is usually depicted as the only planet whose inhabitants break their governing powers into different countries, and one of the one planets where different religions predominate. As well natives to Earth also have much more variation as a species compared to most alien species.
Our Earth in Marvel Comics
In Marvel Comics our Earth is Earth-1218.
