The DC multiverse is home to a handful of neat Earths that can seem so pleasant (or so exciting) that readers might even want to visit there. But that’s far from the standard. Welcome to a list about the most dangerous Earths in the DC multiverse. The Heroes don’t always win on every Earth...sometimes they don’t win at all.
Some of them are based on Elseworlds stories from the past, while others were created wholesale for Grant Morrison’s Multiversity series. Whatever the reason though, they contain either incredibly dangerous environments, the baddest and most violent villains, or both. Most of these locations are places so threatening, even experienced heroes might not make it back to their home planets alive.
10 EARTH-29
For whatever reason, one of the Earths in the multiverse is the Bizarroworld, Htrae. (Yes, that’s literally just “Earth” backwards.) Bizarroverse Earth works with backward laws of physics, and sees Bizarro Superman lead the Unjustice League of Unamerica.
This world seems fairly harmless, but imagine walking into it after existing in another universe? How difficult it must be to make sense of things? Their perception and views on life are twisted and backward. Even their language barely makes sense to people who aren’t from their world.
9 EARTH-17
What if we did a Kamandi shoutout that also included other superheroes from the DC Universe. That seems to be the logic behind this universe, which is dealing with the remnants of a nuclear war that happened back in the early 60’s.
On this world, Adam Strange works with the Atomic Knights of Justice (complete with an Atomic Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman) to save Novamerika from the threats of mutated humans and mad science. This is while simultaneously working on protecting themselves from the threat of Darkseid, who seems to enjoy picking on the weakest possible Earths.
8 EARTH-30
If Earth-10 is the world where Superman crashed in Germany in World War II, Earth-30 sees Superman crashing on a collectivist farm in Soviet Russia. At the height of the Cold War, Superman appears as the ultimate hero of Russia, and eventually becomes the leader of their land.
This sets Lex Luthor on edge, and powered both by his own natural need to prove himself superior to everyone in conjunction with an overly healthy belief in American exceptionalism, winds up plunging both America and Russia into hot and cold conflict with one another for decades.
7 EARTH-40
On Earth-20 lies the Society of Super-Heroes, a collection of pulp superheroes working to make the world a better place. Earth-20’s binary opposite is Earth-40, which collects the Society of Super-Criminals.
This world is made up of all the villains missing from Earth-20, including a more monstrous version of Vandal Savage, a more dangerous version of Lady Shiva who lacks the honor of her Earth-0 self, and a version of Parallax that’s literally just a giant pteradactyl made up of bones, controlled by a version of Sinestro in a tux. They’ve got style, but they’ve also run their world into the ground.
6 EARTH-43
In the early 90’s the genius idea of turning Batman into a vampire got turned into an Elseworlds series with the 1991 comic, Batman: Red Rain. The series lasted a trilogy, but in the end saw Batman expose himself to sunlight to kill himself after taking one too many lives as a vampire.
Earth-43 seems to suggest a different path—one in which everyone seems to have eventually become a vampire. Even characters like Superman and Wonder Woman find themselves turned, and in case anyone believes they might still be good people, the people of the vampire Earth are part of an army led to battle against the mystics of Earth-13.
5 EARTH-45
Earth-45 is basically a world that’s social commentary for how corporations can co-opt the pure ideas of superheroes and transform them into something entirely different and far worse than what they were intended to be.
This world’s primary superhero was a “Superman” invented by thought-powered technology, but eventually he became twisted by the corporation Overcorp, who transformed him into the “anti-hero” known as Superdoomsday. Eventually this version of Superman snapped, even finding his way to other worlds and slaying multiple Supermen, but not before leaving his own world a total wreck.
4 EARTH-51
Earth-51 was once a pure and pristine, perfect planet. But after the events of Countdown, the planet was irrevocably damaged by a disease which resulted in a “great disaster”. In the aftermath of this, the world was conquered by animals while humans regressed to a caveman-like state, allowing themselves to be controlled by the beasts they once held dominion over.
It’s this world that’s home to Kamandi, and while the New Gods supposedly look on at this planet which could become a Fifth World, that doesn’t really make it better. They spend all this time looking but never really intervening.
3 EARTH-33
Earth-33 is also referred to as the “Prime Earth” or our Earth. You’d think it was the safest one, since it has no superheroes other than Ultra, but that doesn’t quite feel right. If our Earth is part of the DC multiverse, a realm where godlike beings exist by the dozens on every other planet, it seems as if this would put us at the most risk.
Ultra has already been beset by the reality-altering Gentry, so this leaves us utterly defenseless if anyone from other realms were to decide to attack us. Our only other potential defender is Superboy Prime, who’s essentially an obsessed comic geek who would destroy the planet if it meant getting comics back the way “he” liked them.
2 EARTH-3
Think the main Earth is dangerous? Try one where there’s no heroes at all. Earth-3 was initially thought up as a world where all of the heroes were actually villains. The Justice League becomes the Crime Syndicate of America. Superman becomes Ultraman, a mob boss who depending on the interpretation, either eats Kryptonite or snorts it like it’s cocaine.
It should follow that all the villains are heroes, but few of them have ever been seen...and even the ones who are mentioned wind up being killed fairly quickly. It’s a world where everyone bows down before the Crime Syndicate...or at least, it was, until Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor completely wrecked it.
1 EARTH-10
The Multiversal Map is one of the most ridiculous and simultaneously coolest things the DC Universe has come up with. It includes so many concepts they’ve used as stories over the years. For instance, there’s only one Hell in the DC Universe, and the Earth closest to it has been irrevocably altered from the proximity. That Earth is the one where Superman somehow landed in Germany during World War II, falling under the care of Adolf Hitler.
From there, things spiraled downward, as they would go on to collect their own Justice League in the New Reichsmen. Though most of them seem to be dead now, there’s still a battle for the very soul of the world going on between the Nazis and Uncle Sam and his Freedom Fighters.