Why did Marvel choose the number 616 as it's primary Earth? Why not 1?

i have wondered this before too... :O

I don't know maybe it is a date.

Well 616 is the true number of the beast. Maybe they just wanted to sound all cool and devilish without using the more obvious 666.

I always figured it was because, in the universe, characters like Mr. Fantastic, Hank Pym, and Iron Man never considered their universe to be the "main one" but simply one universe amongst millions of others.

From what I read, it was Alan Moore´s idea during his run in Captain Britain. He indeed intended a pun about the infamous number of the Beast.

But it is also my understanding that "officially" Marvel doesn´t care or use the 616 designation ( I mean beyond its manuals about other universes). At least Joe Quesada and Tom Brevoort have gone on record on more than one occasion as hating that particular number designation for the "main" MU.

I always thought it had something to do with the Marvel Universe launching with the creation and publishing of "Fantastic Four" #1 in 1961.

This.....explains a lot actually.......starting to understand why life sucks so much for nearly everyone there now.

Don't really know. Moore always insisted it was arbitrary.

I do know however that the Ultimate designation 1610 was taken as an indirect inverse of 616. But yeah that explains nothing.

If I remember, Universe 1 in marvel is either a fictionalized version of reality or full of bad juju.

Cuz stan lee says so

I think that the Marvel multiverse catalyzed into it's current form after the era of Lee, Kirby, and Dikto doing absolutely everything.

But yet Earth seems to be the "main one" among most universes of Marvel it seems.

Hnn. I don't mind it - Satanic associations and all - it's a pretty cool number.

@v_scarlotte_rose: pro tip, they both are. Check up cesar Nero. It's his name in numbers, just like Jesus followers used the "Fish" symbol so they wouldn't be pursecuted the one / ones who wrote 616 (Greek) 666 (Latin) or vice versa can't remember, wrote propaganda about cesar Nero.

I can't quite put my finger on it but I think something similar was hinted in a what if where Mephisto (was a really old comic so back in the marvel day they didn't have many other devil representatives) observed possible futures and gave them numbers.

To us, the readers, it appears to be, but to the characters in these universes their Earth is just one of a million others. To call their Earth "the main one" would be a bit arrogant, even for guys like Mr. Fantastic, Hank Pym, and Tony Stark.

@war_killer: I was referring to Earth as a planet, not as a universe.

@veshark: @doctor_bong_crosby: @v_scarlotte_rose: You can take just about any number and attach a biblical meaning to it. There are tons of them, especially in judeo-christian religions, so I wouldn't put too much importance on the religious side of that number. The only reason 666 is associated with the devil is because of the significance of the number 7. In the bible, God had completely finished creating a perfect world on the 7th day. 7 is associated with a perfect number. The 6th day was not yet perfect. So the number 6 is associated with being the opposite of perfect. Satan is considered even worst then the worst thing one can imagine. (The worst thing one can imagine =6) There is no word or symbol that represents something worst then 6, but two 6's would be even worst then one (Even more worst then the worst thing one can imagine = 66). Satan is supposed to be considered even worst then 66 though, so a third 6 was attached. (Worst then something even more worst then the most worst thing one can possibly imagine = 666 = Satan). Anymore 6's would become redundant which is why it was left at three. You guys probably didn't care about all of that, but I find it interesting so I thought I'd share. lol.

Yeah, I've read about all that before. Interesting Biblical numerology, but like I said, it's a comic-book term, so I don't care too much for the number associations. Plus, 616 rolls off the tongue nicely.

Just for reference