Earth-4

Earth-4 is a planet that features in DC Comics/Charlton Comics.

History

Pre-Crisis

Earth-4 was one of the "infinite Earths," only revealed to the other worlds shortly before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Its champions included Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, the Question, Thunderbolt, Nightshade, Peacemaker and Judomaster. During the Crisis, a power-amplified Psycho-Pirate inspired paranoia in the planet's inhabitants, but it didn't stop Harbinger from pulling it into the netherverse created by the slain Monitor.

In the 15th century, The vampire Count Gregor Von Bludd rules the village of the Dark Valley somewhere in Europe, where he periodically tortures and kills the villagers for sport and sustenance. Under unknown circumstances, Von Bludd's first wife falls to her death from the tower of his Castle on the Crags. Ten years after his first marriage, Von Bludd forces the lovely young Rosa to become his second wife, the Countess R.H. Von Bludd, after she courageously defends her father from his brutal whims. Shortly afterward, a plague sweeps the village and castle, killing all mortals but the Countess and her maid Olga, who survived the plague as a child. Immune to the plague, Von Bludd nevertheless requires a human victim and transforms the Countess into a vampire; however, through pre-arrangement with the Countess, Olga slays the Count with a wooden crossbow bolt and flees the castle. The Countess departs as well some time later, eventually relocating to America.

Gunmaster a masked hero who helped preserve justice in the Old West with a young sidekick named Bullet the Gun-Boy make their first public case. (Six-Gun Heroes v1 #79)

In the 1870s, Henry McCarty vowed vengeance on every man who participated in the murder of John Tunstall and becomes known as Billy the Kid. (Billy the Kid v1 #1)

Diana the Huntress, glum due to the suffering that has befallen the world, leaves her secure habitation atop Mt. Olympus and journey to the United States, where she has her first public case accompanied by a young child named Billy Kirby. In addition to being skilled with the bow and arrow, Diana was an expert fighter and has superhuman strength and agility. (Yellowjacket Comics v1 #1)

Jonathan Mann, a lame newspaper reporter, hurls a challenge at the gods of Mount Olympus and was endowed with their might to become Son of Vulcan. (Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds v1 #46)

Peter Cannon was trained by Tibetan monks to harness the energy of his entire brain to perform amazing feats and returned to America as Thunderbolt. (Thunderbolt v1 #51)

Eve Eden, the daughter of a United States Senator and an other dimensional princess, with the power to become a living shadow besides her considerable martial arts expertise, becomes Nightshade, the 'darling of darkness', first the partner of Captain Atom and then a solo heroine in her own right. (Captain Atom v1 #82)

Christopher Smith, a diplomat who devises weaponry to be used against the perpetrators of war, made his first public case as the Peacemaker. (The Fightin' 5 v1 #40)

Ted Kord, a scientist who witnessed the death of Dan Garrett, undergoes extreme physical training and develops specialised weaponry to become Blue Beetle III. (Captain Atom v1 #83)

Crusading reporter Vic Sage sought to ferrets out facts by assuming the faceless identity of the Question. (Blue Beetle v1 #1)

Stinson Tempest came to be caught in a time disruption and stranded in the alternate past to him of Doomsday +1. (Charlton Bullseye v1 #5)

An unpublished story by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette for Peacemaker v1 #6 would have revealed that in 1350 A.D. an ancient Egyptian ruler named Chufru the Sun King reigned in Egypt. By 1968, his apparent reincarnation as an Egyptian metallurgist, physicist and chemist of note, attempted to steal the world's gold and use it to coat the building blocks of a new pyramid he is building in the Egyptian desert, as a step towards re-establishing the culture of the Old Kingdom across the world. He was eventually stopped by the Peacemaker.

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Multiverse was destroyed and merged into a single reality with many of the elements of Earth-4 being incorporated into the mainstream Earth.

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

Overview

Organizations and groups that operated on this Earth included:

• Men of the Mask :
• Madmen :
• Squid Gang :

Inhabitants

• Captain Atom :
• Dan Garrett :
• Ted Kord :
• Judomaster :
• Nightshade :
• Peacemaker :
• Question :
• Thunderbolt :
• Sarge Steel :
• Son of Vulcan :
• Yellowjacket :
• Prankster :
• Bess Forbes :
• Mike Fisher :
• Great Pharaoh :
• Kha-Ef-Re :
• Eye of Horus :
• Hooded One :
• Smiling Skull :
• Mister Thunderbolt :
• Mask :
• Jarvis Kord :
• Punch :
• Jewelee :
• Masked Marauder :
• Doctor Spectro :
• Mister Crabb :
• Countess R. H. Von Bludd : Rosa was a red-haired female human who lived in the 15th century in a village that was preyed on by the vampire Count Gregor von Budd. Attempting to save her father, the young girls bravery impressed the count who decided to take her as his wife. Turning her into a vampire, she became Countess R. H. Von Bludd when a plague decimated the village thus depriving Gregor of blood to feast on. It was this reason he turned on his wife but her maid Olga was prepared to kill the count in that moment using a crossbow. In the aftermath, Rosa continued to live the life of a vampire as she departed for the United States.

Notes

• Earth-4 was created by Steve Ditko where it made its first appearance in Space Adventures v2 #33 (March, 1960).
• After the Crisis, Earth-4 merged with the other four surviving Earths to form the new "Earth-Sigma."

Appearances

• Space Adventures v2: (1960)

External Links

• DC Database Entry