September 1, 1961: DC Comics publishes The Flash #123, with the story "The Flash of Two Worlds." It introduces the concept of the "Multiverse."
In 1940, Flash Comics #1 marked the debut of The Flash. Jay Garrick is a science student at a university in fictional Keystone City, who inhales hard water vapors, and becomes the fastest man alive. He was a major superhero of the 1940s. But in the mid-1950s, various circumstances brought "The Golden Age of Comics" to an end.
In 1956, Showcase Comics #4 began what came to be called "The Silver Age of Comics." It introduced a new Flash. Barry Allen was a forensic scientist for the police department in equally fictional Central City, and the joke was that he was always late for everything.
A lightning bolt crashed through the window of his lab, electrified some chemicals, knocked them over, and doused him in them. This made him the fastest man alive. He took on the Flash name, and a costume with a lightning bolt on it, although it was different from that of Garrick's character.
In September 1961, Flash #123 was published with the story "The Flash of Two Worlds." The story was written by Gardner Fox, who created the original Flash, Garrick. Robert Kanigher created Allen, but had no role in this particular story, which explained that the Flashes lived in parallel worlds. Eventually, DC would name them "Earth-1" (or "Earth-One"), on which Allen lived; and "Earth-2" (or "Earth-Two"), on which Garrick lived.
At a charity event organized by Iris West, a journalist and Barry's girlfriend (and, eventually, his wife), the Flash performs super-speed tricks to entertain the children there, as the scheduled magician has not come. Recreating a rope-climbing trick, he begins vibrating his molecules when he suddenly disappears from the stage. He finds himself outside near an unfamiliar city, which he discovers to be Keystone City.
On Barry's world, Jay's Flash is thought to be a fictional comic book character. Barry looks Jay up in the phone book, and introduces himself to the older speedster. On this Earth, Jay had retired as the Flash years earlier, the year his comic book series was canceled on Earth-One, and married his longtime girlfriend, Joan Williams. Barry claims Gardner Fox's thoughts must have been tuned in to the events of Earth-Two.
Jay says he is preparing to resume being the Flash, and describes for Barry three incredible crimes that were committed recently. These thefts were perpetrated by three of Jay's former adversaries, who have joined forces: The Fiddler, The Shade, and The Thinker. The Flashes split up, with Jay taking on the Thinker and Barry against the Shade, but they are unable to defeat them. The Flashes regroup and go after the Fiddler together, saving a man from a falling steel girder along the way.
Shade and Thinker meet up and realize that there are two Flashes. They hurry to warn the Fiddler of this turn of events, but the Fiddler has already managed to stop the Flashes with his musical powers. He commands the two speedsters to commit robberies for him. Just as the villainous trio are about to flee with their loot, the two Flashes capture them. It turns out that they had put small jewels in their ears to block the Fiddler's mind-control music after he told them to put them down and take larger jewels, then played along in order to fool the criminals. Barry returns to his Earth after Jay announces he is coming out of retirement, and will continue as the Flash of his world.
The story was so successful, DC brought back the other Golden Age heroes, and put them on Earth-Two, showing them as older, since they had debuted in the 1930s or '40s. But there were some differences, some bigger than others:
* Superman: On Earth-One, Clark Kent was born Kal-El on Krypton, and he was still trying to prevent his Daily Planet teammate, Lois Lane, from finding out his secret identity. On Earth-Two, he was born Kal-L, and Lois knew, and they were married.
* Batman: On Earth-One, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, Catwoman, had a flirtatious relationship, as Catwoman played both sides, sometimes an anti-hero, sometimes a villain. (On the 1966-68 Batman TV series, she was only a villain, and yet, she and Batman had the never-resolved hots for each other.) On Earth-Two, Bruce and Selina were married, and their daughter Helena Wayne became a superhero, the Huntress. She would marry Earth-Two's Robin, Dick Grayson, who never became Nightwing (but did, on occasion, wear the Batman costume), while there were no other Robins (Jason Todd, Tim Drake, etc.).
* The Flash: The power in question was the same, but the names and costumes were different, and they didn't even live in the same city. On Earth-One, Barry Allen lived in Central City. On Earth-Two, Jay Garrick lived in Keystone City. And neither man's city even existed on the other man's Earth.
* Green Lantern: On Earth-One, Hal Jordan was a test pilot who followed an alien ship's crash. The alien was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and, as he died, handed Jordan his "power ring," telling him, "It tells me you are worthy," and Jordan becomes the Green Lantern assigned to protect the sector that includes Earth, and meets the other members of the Corps, frequently teaming up with them. His costume is green with black trim.
On Earth-Two, there is only one Green Lantern, Alan Scott, a railroad engineer who finds a lantern whose backstory doesn't matter here, and he fashions a ring out of it, and his costume is multicolored. Also, Jordan wears his ring on his right hand, while Scott wears his on his left.
* The Atom: This was a huge difference, and an early 1980s story revealed that a man calling himself "the keeper of the cosmic balance" did just that by briefly switching the two men's powers. Both Atoms are, as you might guess (this was very common with both DC and Marvel heroes-to-be), scientists. The Atom of Earth-One was Ray Palmer, a science professor who discovered a way to change his size, allowing him to shrink to subatomic size. Usually, he limited his shrinking to 6 inches, yet he could punch someone with the full force of his usual 180-pound body.
* The Atom: This was a huge difference, and an early 1980s story revealed that a man calling himself "the keeper of the cosmic balance" did just that by briefly switching the two men's powers. Both Atoms are, as you might guess (this was very common with both DC and Marvel heroes-to-be), scientists. The Atom of Earth-One was Ray Palmer, a science professor who discovered a way to change his size, allowing him to shrink to subatomic size. Usually, he limited his shrinking to 6 inches, yet he could punch someone with the full force of his usual 180-pound body.
The Atom of Earth-Two was Al Pratt, a college student who was called "The Atom" because he was only 5 feet tall. As an unexpected result of an experiment, he gained super-strength, but that was the extent of his powers.
The Earth-Two heroes had already had their own team, the Justice Society of America (JSA). The Earth-One heroes developed a team, the Justice League of America (JLA). Each team had its world's Flash, Green Lantern and Atom on it. Occasionally, there would be crossover team-ups.
The JSA included some heroes who only existed on Earth-Two, such as Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, Hourman, Starman, and the Star-Spangled Kid. In contrast, there weren't many heroes from Earth-One that weren't also on Earth-Two. J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, was one of the exceptions.
Eventually, other worlds were created. There was an Earth-Three, in which the classic heroes we know were all villains: Superman was Ultraman, Batman was Owlman, his sidekick Robin was Talon, Wonder Woman was Superwoman (and her real name was Lois Lane, suggesting a relationship with Superman), Green Lantern was Power Ring, The Flash was Johnny Quick, and so on. They called their team the Crime Syndicate of America. And the villains were heroes, including Alexander Luthor (apparently, the Earth-One Lex's full name).
DC bought Fawcett Comics, including Captain Marvel -- or, as his stories had to be titled, since Marvel Comics won a court case over the right to that name, "Shazam!" -- and his stories were placed on "Earth-S," S for Shazam. DC bought Charlton Comics, including The Question, and those stories were put on Earth-Four.
In 1979, to celebrate Batman's 40th Anniversary, a story was written in which the Phantom Stranger tells Batman and Robin that there is a parallel world where the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce's parents, is about to happen, and gives Batman, for once, a chance to prevent it, even sending Robin with him.
Robin discovers that there are not only no superheroes on this world, but no fictional heroes at all. No Sherlock Holmes, no Tarzan, no Zorro -- and in most versions of Batman's origin story, the movie the Waynes went to see right before it happened was a version of Zorro, a character Batman would come to resemble. (His co-creator, Bob Kane, even admitted as much.) Batman and Robin stop the murder -- and inspire little Bruce to become this world's first superhero. As the closing text says, he becomes his world's Batman not out of a desire for vengeance, but out of gratitude for the man who saved his parents. This world was later named Earth-Five.
There were many others, until, in the early 1980s, DC executives realized how confusing it all was, so they decided to consolidate everything onto one world. Marv Wolfman wrote the story, and in 1985, the 12-part Crisis On Infinite Earths was released.
In Issue #7, Superman's cousin Supergirl sacrificed her life to stop the Anti-Monitor, the villain who wanted to destroy all the Earths. In Issue #8, Barry Allen, the Earth-One Flash, sacrificed his life. Each of these was just a temporary reprieve. Finally, in Issue #12, the heroes of all the Earths triumphed, with the Superman of Earth-Two, the first superhero, appropriately being the one to deliver the deathblow.
When it was over, there was one Earth. A retroactive continuity (or "retcon") revealed that the Earth-Two heroes, the JSA, were active in the 1940s, retired in the 1950s because the House Un-American Activities Committee suspected them of Communist ties since they wouldn't reveal their secret identities, and had been exposed to something that reduced their aging, so that they could still be alive and fighting crime into their 70s, their 80s, and beyond. (Most of them would now be around 100 years old.)
The Earth-Two heroes had already had their own team, the Justice Society of America (JSA). The Earth-One heroes developed a team, the Justice League of America (JLA). Each team had its world's Flash, Green Lantern and Atom on it. Occasionally, there would be crossover team-ups.
The JSA included some heroes who only existed on Earth-Two, such as Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, Hourman, Starman, and the Star-Spangled Kid. In contrast, there weren't many heroes from Earth-One that weren't also on Earth-Two. J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, was one of the exceptions.
Eventually, other worlds were created. There was an Earth-Three, in which the classic heroes we know were all villains: Superman was Ultraman, Batman was Owlman, his sidekick Robin was Talon, Wonder Woman was Superwoman (and her real name was Lois Lane, suggesting a relationship with Superman), Green Lantern was Power Ring, The Flash was Johnny Quick, and so on. They called their team the Crime Syndicate of America. And the villains were heroes, including Alexander Luthor (apparently, the Earth-One Lex's full name).
DC bought Fawcett Comics, including Captain Marvel -- or, as his stories had to be titled, since Marvel Comics won a court case over the right to that name, "Shazam!" -- and his stories were placed on "Earth-S," S for Shazam. DC bought Charlton Comics, including The Question, and those stories were put on Earth-Four.
In 1979, to celebrate Batman's 40th Anniversary, a story was written in which the Phantom Stranger tells Batman and Robin that there is a parallel world where the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Bruce's parents, is about to happen, and gives Batman, for once, a chance to prevent it, even sending Robin with him.
Robin discovers that there are not only no superheroes on this world, but no fictional heroes at all. No Sherlock Holmes, no Tarzan, no Zorro -- and in most versions of Batman's origin story, the movie the Waynes went to see right before it happened was a version of Zorro, a character Batman would come to resemble. (His co-creator, Bob Kane, even admitted as much.) Batman and Robin stop the murder -- and inspire little Bruce to become this world's first superhero. As the closing text says, he becomes his world's Batman not out of a desire for vengeance, but out of gratitude for the man who saved his parents. This world was later named Earth-Five.
There were many others, until, in the early 1980s, DC executives realized how confusing it all was, so they decided to consolidate everything onto one world. Marv Wolfman wrote the story, and in 1985, the 12-part Crisis On Infinite Earths was released.
In Issue #7, Superman's cousin Supergirl sacrificed her life to stop the Anti-Monitor, the villain who wanted to destroy all the Earths. In Issue #8, Barry Allen, the Earth-One Flash, sacrificed his life. Each of these was just a temporary reprieve. Finally, in Issue #12, the heroes of all the Earths triumphed, with the Superman of Earth-Two, the first superhero, appropriately being the one to deliver the deathblow.
When it was over, there was one Earth. A retroactive continuity (or "retcon") revealed that the Earth-Two heroes, the JSA, were active in the 1940s, retired in the 1950s because the House Un-American Activities Committee suspected them of Communist ties since they wouldn't reveal their secret identities, and had been exposed to something that reduced their aging, so that they could still be alive and fighting crime into their 70s, their 80s, and beyond. (Most of them would now be around 100 years old.)
Specifically to the Flash, it was revealed that Barry's home, Central City, and Jay's home, Keystone City, were neighbors, across a river and a State Line from each other. Given their location in the middle of the country, they could have been analogous to Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. Barry's nephew, Wally West, had been his sidekick, Kid Flash. At this point, he told Jay that he was taking the Flash name and Barry's costume, and says, "The Flash lives on!" Jay gave his blessing.
As the years passed, there were new retcons, and the 2006-07 series 52 would reveal that the Multiverse had been restored. Later, Barry Allen was brought back from the dead to resume his heroism.
Before The Flash #123, it never would have occurred to anyone to put 2 different versions of the same character together. No one thought of pairing Ronald Howard, who had recently played Sherlock Holmes on television, with Basil Rathbone, who had played the defining version on film a few years earlier. No one thought of putting Guy Williams, the recent TV Zorro, together with Tyrone Power, who starred in a 1940 film version. (It wouldn't have mattered: Power died while Williams' show was still on the air.)
But TV and movies have done it since. In 2012, The CW network began airing Arrow, starting the "Arrowverse" series of superhero shows. In 2014, it began to include a new The Flash series, starring Grant Gustin as Barry.
In 2019, it broadcast a 5-part Crisis On Infinite Earths series, with appearances from Burt Ward, the 1966 TV Robin (that show's Batman, Adam West, having died the year before); Tom Welling, the Clark Kent of Smallville from 2001 to 2011; Brandon Routh, the Superman Returns Superman of 2006 (hinted to be the same Superman played by Christopher Reeve from 1978 to 1987); Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in the DC Animated Universe; Ezra Miller, who was playing Barry Allen in the DC Extended Universe films; and John Wesley Shipp, who played Barry Allen on the 1990-91 CBS series The Flash, and now played both Jay Garrick and Barry's father Henry Allen on the current CW series.
Left to right: Ezra Miller, John Wesley Shipp, and Grant Gustin.
"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive."
"My name is Barry Allen, and I'm the fastest man alive."
And in 2021, the film Spider-Man: No Way Home brought the current version of Marvel Comics' web-slinger, Tom Holland, together with Tobey Maguire, star of 3 Spider-Man films from 2002 to 2007; and Andrew Garfield, star of the Amazing Spider-Man films of 2012 and 2014.
UPDATE: The 2023 film The Flash starred Miller as 3 different versions of Barry Allen, and also starred 3 different Batmen: Current DC Extended Universe Batman Ben Affleck, 1989-92 film Batman Michael Keaton, and 1997 Batman and Robin star George Clooney.
It ended up using computer-generated imagery to bring back George Reeves, who starred in the 1952-58 series The Adventures of Superman, but died in 1959; Christopher Reeve, who died in 2004, and Helen Slater, who starred in the 1984 film Supergirl, still alive at the time of the film's premiere, but appearing as she did in 1984; still images and voice recordings of West's Batman, Cesar Romero's Joker, and Eartha Kitt's Catwoman from the 1966-68 Batman series; a version of Jay Garrick, played by Jason Ballantine; and even Nicolas Cage as Superman from a movie that was announced, but never made.
*
September 1, 1961 was a Friday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. Don Mossi had not only outpitched Whitey Ford, but, with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, he almost had the shutout. Then came 3 straight singles by Elston Howard, Yogi Berra, and Bill "Moose" Skowron to win it for the Yankees. Luis Arroyo was the winning pitcher in relief. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris both went 0-for-4. At the time, Maris had 50 home runs, Mantle 49. Al Kaline had 3 of the Tigers' 7 hits.
The Tigers never recovered: Although they won 101 games this season, they finished 8 games behind the Yankees. Maris ended up with 61 home runs, Mantle 54.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson hit 2 home runs for the Orioles, and another was hit by Whitey Herzog, who would later manage Kansas City and St. Louis to Pennants.
* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Chicago White Sox won the opener, 3-2. The Washington Senators won the nightcap, 5-1.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-3 with a walk. Rookie Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Bowman tripled Joey Amalfitano home with the winning run in the top of the 14th inning. Willie Mays went 2-for-6. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4... with 3 walks.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. John Roseboro singled Ron Fairly home with the winning run in the top of the 9th inning. Hank Aaron went 0-for-4.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4 at the original Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Stan Musial did not play. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-2 before being replaced due to injury.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-4 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. Yes, Los Angeles: The Pacific Coast League's earlier Los Angeles Angels were a Cubs farm team, and William Wrigley Jr. built this ballpark to look like the Cubs' home in Chicago. In fact, this one was named Wrigley Field before the one in Chicago was.
* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Connie Mack Stadium (formerly Shibe Park) in Philadelphia. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the following Monday (which was Labor Day). The Reds won the 1st game, 5-0. Ken Johnson pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Phillies won the 2nd game, 5-3. Over the 2 games, Frank Robinson went 2-for-8 with a walk and an RBI.
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