Origin

The New Universe was a line of comics released by Marvel in the 80s. The New Universe line took place in a separate reality that is slightly more realistic than the regular Marvel Universe. Superpowers were given to various people in an astronomical phenomenon called the White Event. These people became known as Paranormals.

Creation

The New Universe was created by Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Mark Gruenwald also played a big part in establishing the New Universe and maintaining it after Shooter's departure from overseeing the line.

History

Eventually the New Universe line was cancelled due to several factors, above all else constant failure for creative teams to commit resulting in dwindling sales. The New Universe returned in books such as Exiles, Quasar and the Starblast crossover.

Later the New Universe became a major plot point and subsequently destroyed in the Avengers Incursions storyline..

The New Universes alternate reality designation is Earth-148611.

There are other realities that are alternates of the New Universe. Some of them are:

• Earth-541, Earth-723, Earth-886 and Earth-1090 where the Untold Tales of the New Universe: Star Brand takes place
• Earth-15731. The Exiles chased Proteus to Earth-148611 whose actions there created the divergent timeline Earth-15731.

For the reality where the newuniversal stories take place, see: Earth-555.

White Event

A cosmic occurrence that has affected multiple universes, creating various avatars who possess powers.

The White Event is a mysterious astronomical phenomenon that has appeared in multiple universes within Marvel. It first appeared in the New Universe line of titles in 1986. Supernova would have left visible traces. The White Event was over in 1.3 seconds.

It was later re-used as a plot point in the newuniversal re-imagining by Warren Ellis. Recently, Jonathan Hickman has incorporated the White Event and the characters it creates in his current Avengers run.

The event will generally grant humans powers, and always seems to create the same avatars in each universe it takes place in. These avatars are known as:

• Star Brand
• Nightmask
• Spitfire/Cipher
• Justice

The cause of the event differs depending on the series. In the original Star Brand series, it was explained that the White Event was caused by the actions of The Old Man, who attempted to rid himself of the Star Brand by transferring it to an asteroid close to Earth. This engulfed the planet in a white light and new heroes were born.

In the current Avengers series, it is explained that the White Event came from a machine in the Superflow and that due to the machine being broken, avatars are not being selected correctly.