Counter-Earth

The Counter-Earth is a hypothetical body of the Solar system hypothesized by the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Philolaus (c. 470 – c. 385 BC) to support his non-geocentric cosmology, in which all objects in the universe revolve around an unseen "Central Fire" (distinct from the Sun which also revolves around it). The Greek word Antichthon (Greek: Ἀντίχθων) means "Counter-Earth."

In modern times a hypothetical planet always on the other side of the Sun from the Earth has been called a "Counter-Earth", and has been a recurring theme in fiction, science fiction and UFO claims.

Greek Pythagorean universe

An astronomical system positing that the Earth, Moon, Sun, planets and unseen "counter-earth" revolve around an unseen "Central Fire" was developed in the 5th century BC and attributed to the Pythagoreanphilosopher Philolaus. Philolaus' universe moved "the earth from the center of the cosmos", and provided the insight that "the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies" was (in large part) due to "the real motion of the observer"—i.e. Earth.

Counter-Earth (comics)

Counter-Earth is the name of a fictional planet in Marvel Comics. There have been four versions of the hypothetical planet known as Counter-Earth, each one a near-duplicate of Earth.

Publication history

The first Counter-Earth has appeared in Marvel Premiere #1-2 (April 1972), Warlock #1-3 (August–December 1972), #5-6 (April, June 1973), Incredible Hulk #176-178, Fantastic Four #172-175, and Marvel Two-in-One #61-63 (March–May 1980). Counter-Earth received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #17 (2005).

Fictional history

High Evolutionary Counter-Earth

The first Counter-Earth was built by the High Evolutionary with the help of at least some of the Infinity Gems as part of his "Project Alpha". The High Evolutionary artificially creates a Counter-Earth specifically located to hide it from "True Earth", on which he has greatly accelerated evolution and the passage of time. He plans to populate it with a purified human race, but shortly after the creation of the "new Adam", Man-Beast interferes in an act of revenge and introduces a killer instinct into the new human race. Human history repeats itself (including the crucifixion of Christ), but without the benefits of superheroes (or the misfortune of supervillains). So that the High Evolutionary does not have to destroy his creation, Adam Warlock descends to the new planet to save it from Man-Beast as well as humankind's violent tendencies.