Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: 616, G.O.D.S.

616 Day Identifies A Moment That Began The Marvel Universe (Spoilers)

616 Day identifies the moment that began the Marvel Universe in Giant Size Spider-Man #1 from Al Ewing and Mark Buckingham (Spoilers)

Al Ewing has a lot of time for the original Human Torch as the very first Marvel superhero, from Marvel Comics #1 in 1939, the first comic to use the name 'Marvel' that would one day name the company publishing it. The star of his Marvel Panel By Panel newsletter posts, for the first year at least…

That saw Professor Horton create a living, sentient android figure, who burst into flames on contact with air. And in doing so creating Marvel's first superhero.

And when he got to write Marvel Comics #1000, published eighty years later in 2019, he really went to town with it.

Revisiting that second page of the comic book, with Steve Epting, he reprised the first time the Human Torch was shown to the Scientists Guild.

As well as capping the volume off with the observation that "this all started with the Human Torch".

In today's Giant-Size Spider-Man #1's short story 616 Day, drawn by Mark Buckingham, coloured by Rachelle Rosenberg and lettered by Joe Caramagna, he returns to Eternity, the giving embodiment of the universe. Which, of course, means that he is the very model of the 616.

616, the numerical definition of the Marvel Universe's own reality. In 1981, Dave Thorpe was writing original Captain Britain comics for Marvel Superheroes, drawn by Alan Davis and Paul Neary. These were surreal, satirical, allegorical and political tales, which weren't that appreciated at the time. He was replaced by Alan Moore, who amped up the weird, but Thorpe created a number of concepts taken up by Moore. Mad Jim Jaspers, Saturnyne, The Crazy Gang, the Jaspers Warp – and the idea that the Earth Captain Britain was fighting on, was designated 616.

It was a joke. DC Comics had Earth One, Earth Two and Earth Three – so this Earth that Captain Britain was on was Earth 616. While DC Comics had Earth 1, Earth 2, and Earth 3, Dave Thorpe put Marvel Comics further down the dial. Thorpe told Bleeding Cool "616 was the worst of the parallel Earths that was holding the others back from achieving the shift forward to the next evolutionary stage, which is why Saturnyne turned up to administer the evolutionary fluid to its population. 666 = number of the beast (Crowley). It would have been too obvious to use that. I chose 616 = 666 – 50. Why 50? A nice round number, but the school in the world's coldest town in Siberia closes when the temperature reaches -61.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It's an extreme tipping point."

For the previous couple of years, Bryan Talbot was publishing Luther Arkwright, also with high numbers for different parallel worlds such as Para 00.38.56 on the very first page. Alan Moore would write the foreword to the comics in question.

The phrase 616 wasn't published in the comic when Dave Thorpe wrote it, but this was meant to be the parallel universe in which his Captain Britain was fighting. When Alan Moore began writing the Captain Britain strip, he took on the idea of the Omniverse and created the Captain Britain Corps. During which, in an issue of UK magazine Daredevils #7, he used the numbers for the first time, now stating that the parallel universe Dave described above was to be designated 238 and that the Marvel Universe, in which Captain Britain originally resided and returned to, was to be 616.

Chris Claremont was a big fan of Alan Moore's work. When he wrote Excalibur with Alan Davis, he picking up on a number of characters from Captain Britain and the number 616 began to pop up. And other Marvel Comics engaged in dimensional travelling storylines used the same number for the Marvel Earth.

And soon it became a fan favourite way to designate the Marvel Universe reality to the extent that, Joe Quesada and Tom Brevoort spoke out about their hatred in using it. Creators were given a last hurrah, to use it, get it out of their systems on stories such as Spider-Verse, Infinity and Time Runs Out, culminating in the Secret Wars comic that destroyed the 616 Universe and then recreated it as Prime Earth.

But people loved 616 so much, and creators kept using it that they had to throw in the towel. Especially when it started getting used in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Far From Home and the new Marvel TV series Marvel's 616. And today, having Eternity use it a lot in Giant-Size X-Men. Well, it is only five days until the 16th of June.

Or 6.16 in American date form. And waking at 6.16 am. With Peter Parker led on a journey…

Of course, 616 16th Avenue isn't actually there. But that's because magic is in the air. And it looks like Al Ewing is on hand to try and help Marvel make G.O.D.S. happen.

And giving 616 its own day, in five days' time.

And explaining the origin of the name in Marvel continuity at least, as down to the Time Variance Authority.

The ordinariness of the number is part of the very British self-deprecation and negging wit that inspired it. But Wyn is here to note the instigating moment that formed the 616.

Going back to Marvel Comics #1, and claiming the Human Torch activation as the moment the 616 split off and became its own thing. And that's as All-American as you get."That decision – to create something alive, to make art in the form of a burning man – that's where this universe got started." That's official, or at least as it can ever be.

Something that Al Ewing may have set up recently in Immortal Thor #23, having the great god Atum from beyond time somehow being inspired by this moment as well…

As other times make their way through the holes, battle for the 616 takes place, and we have a Very Happy 616 Day. Will there be cards?

Five days to go. What are you doing for 616 Day?

Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 is published today from Marvel Comics.

GIANT-SIZE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1
(W) Chip Zdarsky, Al Ewing, Kevin Smith, Mitsuyasu Sakai, (A) Giuseppe Camuncoli, CAFU, Mark Buckingham, Gerardo Sandoval (CA) Greg Capullo
Summer starts with a bang with GIANT-SIZE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1! Kevin Smith makes his triumphant return to Marvel with a Spider-Man story that will have your heart beating in overdrive and your sides hurting from how much you're laughing. As if that wasn't enough, Al Ewing and Mark Buckingham spin a decade-spanning adventure with Spider-Man and some of his best friends! And if that weren't enough, Chip Zdarsky and CAFU introduce a brand-new character who will play a big role in the future of Marvel Comics! Don't miss it! Rated T In Shops: Jun 11, 2025 SRP: $7.99

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